Julio Martinez is el hombre de la calle, the man of the streets. The Mexican-born radio personality, newspaper reporter and community organizer wants to help Latinos.

Martinez will host Durham's Latino Festival this Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m. at Rock Quarry Park, 701 Stadium Drive.

Martinez has always been interested in helping the common person. In Mexico, he won local political office but was never seated because of corruption, he said. After receiving threats, he moved his family to Winston-Salem, where friends he had helped in Mexico helped him settle.

His first job in the United States was as a waiter. But he soon noticed there was no Spanish media in the region. So in 1992, Martinez started the first Spanish-language newspaper in the area. He then persuaded a local radio station to sell him 30 minutes of air time every Saturday. That quickly increased to two hours.

At first he focused on community news and played some Hispanic music. But he soon expanded it to activism. "We did a lot of work for the community in Winston-Salem," the 51-year-old Martinez said. He also worked with others to get materials at the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles written in Spanish and to get the Mexican embassy to open a permanent consulate in the area. Instead of opening it in the Triad, it opened in Raleigh in 2000.

Today Martinez lives in Raleigh, hosting a show weeknights from 7 to 9 pm on La Regia 540 AM, reaching from Burlington in the west to Wendell in the east.

"I talk to the people about everything," said Martinez. He's had doctors discussing health issues, lawyers talking about immigration, and police officers talking about one's rights.

Martinez likes helping Latinos on the macro level, where he says the economy and immigration are the biggest issues. Interestingly, in the Triangle, Martinez said discrimination is not a major issue. And when it is, it is often among Latinos themselves. Legal immigrants sometimes discriminate against illegal immigrants, he said, especially when it comes to jobs. Some bosses exploit their illegal workers by paying them little.

But Martinez says his biggest impact sometimes comes at the micro level. Last New Year's Eve, while on the air, he got a phone call from a man who thanked Martinez for being on the radio because he was lonely. The caller said how his wife had kicked him out of the house two weeks earlier. Martinez had the man apologize to his wife on the air. Around 30 minutes later, the man called back. His wife had been listening to the show, heard the apology, and asked him to come back.

On a different day, a woman recognized Martinez on the street and told him her 14-year-old daughter had been missing for several days. He announced this on the radio and the next day the daughter called her mom to say she was OK.

"You don't know when you can help someone," Martinez said.

In addition to being a radio personality, Martinez is also the publisher of a relatively new newspaper, El Norte.

Although the majority of Hispanics lives in the western United States, North Carolina experienced the biggest growth in Latinos during the 1990s, nearly 400 percent. The U.S. Census estimates 12 percent of residents of Durham are Hispanic or Latino.

The festival is not just for Latinos. There will also be music, food, and community resources at the fifth annual event. Rosalie Hernandez, community relations coordinator for Durham's Parks and Recreation Department, said the event attracts several thousand people of all races and ethnicities.

Hernandez is especially excited to have Martinez host again. "He loves to help everyone," she said. "He has a passion for the community."