Barrio Television

Barrio Television is about a band of Puerto Rican filmmakers in 1972 who refused to take no for an answer. When New York’s local public television station WNET canceled their pilot because it touched on racism too much for their liking, the filmmakers padlocked the door to WNET’s live pledge drive and hijacked the event. Then, they filled the sidewalks outside their Columbus Circle office with protestors until the executives gave in. They finally got their own show—the way they wanted to make it. That is the birth of “Realidades”: the first bilingual Latino television show in American history.