About The Author
Joe Ortiz was born in Indio, a small desert town in Southern California. After a stint as a military policeman in the United States Air Force, he became involved in political and social service activities, before gaining fame and fortune as a radio and television talk show host, news reporter and newspaper columnist.
He has the distinction of being the first Mexican American in US history to conduct a talk show on an English-language, commercial radio station. He began his broadcasting career in 1971 at KABC TALK RADIO 790 AM in the highly competitive Los Angeles media market. He went on to become an award-winning broadcaster, news reporter and newspaper columnist in Los Angeles for over 20 years.
Fascinated by prophecy and end time’s topics, and his journalistic penchant for delving into the true meaning of words found in the Bible, Joe began an extensive study of prophecy and eschatology, using various Greek and Hebrew dictionaries and concordances to provide him greater clarity as to what biblical words truly meant.
As he continued studying the Bible, he began to notice inconsistencies in the prevailing pre-tribulation “Rapture” theory the Assemblies of God Church professed. Not wanting to offend his pastors or teachers at the churches he attended, he took a leave from his local church and his broadcasting activities to begin writing The End Times Passover in 1985.
Throughout his researching and writing of The End Times Passover, he operated his own public relations company, Joe Ortiz & Associates, where he developed and implemented publicity services for numerous clients, including special events and fund raising campaigns that featured many celebrities and sports personalities, including Milton Berle, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rita Moreno, George Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Pia Zadora, Freddy Fender, Sha Na Na, Paul Rodriguez, Boy George, Ricardo Montalban, as well as sports celebrities such as LA Dodgers Manny Mota and NFL Football legends Jim Plunkett and Tom Flores.
He has also provided public relations services to numerous community organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America, Manny Mota International Youth Foundation, Hollenbeck Youth Center, Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Salesian Boys and Girls Club. He also managed the press relations for many elected officials including California State Senator Diane Watson (now a member of the US Congress), former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (now deceased), and Los Angeles City Councilmen Richard Alatorre, Robert Farrell and John Ferraro (also deceased.)
Prior to forming the company in 1988, Joe worked at various social service and public relations positions including Job Agent for the California State Employment Development Department; Parole Officer for the State of California; public information specialist for the Greater Los Angeles Community Action Agency; teacher/counselor at the Los Angeles Unified School District's Skills Center Program; Director of Employer Relations at South Bay College and as the National Director of Corporate Development for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
A 20-year veteran news reporter and talk show host, Joe Ortiz began hosting shows on KABC-AM 79 in 1971. He also conducted radio and talk shows at KLOS-FM; KCBS (then KNXT) Television; KPFK-FM Radio (where he was Chief News Reporter from 75-76) and the "Prime Time With Joe Ortiz" show, which aired on KPPC-AM in Pasadena (85-86) and KPZE-AM in Anaheim (88-89). He also starred in a 6-9 a.m., weekday, drive time show (Mornings With Joe & Cris) with comedian Cris Franco at KPZE-AM Radio in 1989.
His last stint on radio was in 1992 as a substitute host for Dennis Prager on KABC TALK Radio during the Persian Gulf War. |