Media Moves

New bilingual magazine enters the market

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:54:00 +0000

The first issue of Latin Star is out on the street. The new bilingual lifestyle magazine, targeting men and women ages 18-49 is hoping to gain footing in the national marketplace. Los Angeles-based Latin Star Corporation, which also promotes concerts, publishes the magazine.

Tatiana Bedoya, the founder of the short-lived Vixta magazine in Sacramento, is the co-publisher.

"My vision has always been to speak to Latinos through a publication that shows the respect I have towards our culture," she tells me. "I was unable to continue publishing Vixta magazine at a local level due to lack of financing, but it was thanks to my magazine that Latin Star Corporation found me."

The second issue is in the works and will be released shortly.

Entravision's revenues drop

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Entravision Communications reports its revenues are down 17% - from $61 million a year ago to $50.8 million in Q3 of this year. The company attributes its more than $10 million drop to a decrease in local and advertising rates in both its TV and radio properties, due to the weak economy.

On the other hand, the company decreased its operating expenses by more than $6 million, by eliminating jobs and salary reductions.

Telemundo station group management shuffle

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Celia Chávez was named President and General Manager for WSNS-44 in Chicago. Until recently, she was overseeing KBLR-40 in Las Vegas and KDEN-25 in Denver. Celia has been with Telemundo for 14 years.

After a 22-year run at KSTS-48 in San Jose, Erika Diaz has been promoted to Station Manager from Operations Manager.

Manuel Abud, President and GM of KXTX-39 in Dallas, will now also oversee the Telemundo Production Center (TPC). Prior to landing in Dallas, he was VP and GM of KVEA-52 and KWHY-22. He was removed from the job by Telemundo after the Mayor Villaraigosa-Mirthala Salinas scandal, for violating conflict of interest policies.

Efren Padilla was promoted to VP of Sales for Arizona KTAZ-39 and KHRR-40, reporting to recently promoted Araceli de León, who is now in charge of 4 Telemundo stations.

David Padilla was promoted to General Sales Manager, reporting to Erika Diaz at KSTS-48.

Regalado elected Miami mayor

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Journalist Tomás Regalado was elected mayor of the city of Miami with 72% of the vote. He replaces 2-term mayor Manny Diaz.

Tomás, who has been a city commissioner since 1996, is also the news director for Spanish Broadcasting Systems, a daily host and commentator on WWFE 670 AM, "La poderosa" and host of "El informativo," on cable network TeleMiami.

Born in Cuba, he arrived in Miami at age 14 in 1962. He is the son of Tomás Regalado Molina, the last president of the Cuban Association of Journalists and Reporters and a political prisoner for over 22 years.

Tomás started his journalism career at WFAB "La Fabulosa." He went on to work at WCKT, an NBC affiliate (which later became Fox affiliate WSVN-7) as Latin American news editor, returning to WFAB 2 years later. He also worked as an international news correspondent and later, as a reporter for WLTV-23 (then SIN). He eventually returned to radio. Tomás, who was a member of the White House press corp in the early '80's, also worked as a weekly columnist for the Miami Herald.

The new mayor legally takes office on November 11.

Limón leaves Telemundo for CBS

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Alexandra Limón is heading to Fresno to become nightside general assignment reporter for KGPE-47, the CBS affiliate. Her first day on the new job is next Monday, Nov. 9.

She leaves Tucson, where she has been a reporter for the Telemundo TPC regional newscast since April of 2008. Her last day there was yesterday.

Before joining Telemundo, she worked at then-owned Pappas stations KREN (CW) and KAZR (Azteca América) in Reno as a bilingual video journalist, doing camera, editing and reporting.

Telemundo L.A. talent update

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Dunia Elvir, whose 1 pm newscast on KWHY-22 got canceled last month, is now anchoring morning news briefs at KVEA-52.

When the morning newscast at KVEA got canceled, it was unknown where

its anchors would land. I'm told José Ronstadt is now doing special reports, while Azucena Gómez is field reporting for the 6 pm newscast.

El Sol de Alaska shuts down

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:21:00 +0000

After more than 10 years providing information to Hispanics in Alaska, publisher Gil Sánchez was forced to shut down his Web site El Sol de Alaska.

Gil tells me that he had two main reasons for calling it quits: "The first reason was all the hate mail, malicious viruses and attacks on the Web site. Secondly, the demand of time in order to do a good job was ever increasing."

Gil points out there was also a cost issue involved in hosting the site and as he did it as community service, he wasn't even charging people to advertise on El Sol de Alaska.

Arizona paper to shut down

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:55:00 +0000

The East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Arizona will stop publishing both its print and online editions on Dec. 31. About 140 people will lose their jobs.

E&P reports Freedom Communications, the paper's parent company had put the Tribune up for sale but failed to get decent offers. Facing a $770 million debt, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in August.

The Tribune this year won a Pulitzer for local reporting.

De León promoted to regional VP

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:57:00 +0000

Araceli de León, who was named President and General Manager of Telemundo stations KTAZ-39 and KHRR-40 in Phoenix and Tucson in May of 2008, has been handed the reins of 2 more stations.

Promoted to Regional Vice President and General Manager, she will now also oversee sales, news, programming, marketing and operations of KBLR-40 in Las Vegas and KDEN-25 in Denver.

Araceli originally joined the Telemundo Arizona station as VP and GM from February 2003 to January 2005. She spent 2 years in Los Angeles, as VP and GM of KWHY-22, but returned to Phoenix in 2007.

Before joining Telemundo, she was GM of KORO-28, the Univision station in Corpus Christi. Prior to that she was Assistant News Director at KENS-5, the CBS affiliate in San Antonio.

Araceli began her career in 1978 at KENS in the Engineering department. She would later be recruited as Associate News Producer in NYC.

Morales named VP Content at WNJU

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:10:00 +0000

José Morales has landed the newly created position of VP of Content, at Telemundo's O&O in New York. He will be in charge of the news department, creative services and all digital platforms.

It was just 2 weeks ago that Telemundo announced layoffs and restructuring of its news operations, which included the elimination of the news director position at WJNU-47, leaving Hugo Balta without a job.

José comes to WJNU after working a year as Director of Digital Content for Telemundo Local Media. He was previously Director of News Operations for the NBC Television Stations Division, where he managed the broadcast division and several internet operations for the O&O's. Before that, he was Director of News Operations for the Telemundo Television stations. Prior to joining Telemundo, he worked as News Director for Univision in Puerto Rico and as Assistant News Director for Univision NY.

Newsday to charge for online access

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Newsday online readers will have to pay up if they want to get the paper's content. The pay wall site was launched yesterday, allowing full access only to print subscribers of the newspaper and to customers of Cablevision's high-speed internet service Optimum Online.

Only subscribers will see stories, photos and video. Others will catch a glimpse of a headline and summary and will have to log in with a password in order to get more info. Those who are not subscribed to the paper or Optimum Online can pay $5 per week to view the online content. According to E&P there's just one exception. All users will have free access to classifieds, entertainment listings, weather and obits.

News Website to launch in D.C.

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Allbitron Communications, the parent company of Politico, ABC affiliate WJLA-7 and NewsChannel 8 in Washington, D.C., plans to launch a new Web site in the spring of next year that will cover local news in the area. The company plans to staff the new project with 50 people. Content will be shared with the 2 TV stations.

In a staff memo published on Politico, chairman and CEO Robert L. Allbitron wrote he was committed to making the "new enterprise among the nation's most ambitious and innovative projects of its kind," and that the launching of the new model "will test ideas for harnessing the power of the Internet."

The Web site will be run by Jim Brady, the former executive editor of WashingtonPost.com.

Latina blog relaunches as news site

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Marisa Treviño's Latina Lista blog today relaunches as a multimedia news site. Founded in 2004, her blog has been delivering political analysis with a "Latina perspective."

Latina Lista's editorial mission is to feature stories about Latinos not found in mainstream media. The site will showcase news videos, documentaries, films and webisodes. It has also struck partnerships with regional Hispanic English-language publications, bloggers and a network of women writers from South American countries.

Rodriguez, Iglesias win Emmys

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Telemundo's Janet Rodriguez picked up her first Emmy on Saturday, for best General Assignment Report. Janet is part of the Telemundo Production Center news team, which also won Best Newscast - daytime or evening for "Decisión 2008." Pablo Barragán, also from TPC, won in the On-Camera Talent - Anchor News category.

Univision's Erick Iglesias (right) won 2 Emmys - one for Feature News Report and the other for best Human Interest Feature. He also picked up a third shared win in the News Special category, along with Patricia Benavides and Mario Barraza, who also got his own Emmy for best Photographer - News and Sports.

Janet and Erick are both based in Phoenix.

Other wins from the Rocky Mountain Emmys include: KPHO-5 photojournalist Serjio Hernández and TPC editor Oscar Gómez. From KNXV-33 (Univision): editor Ramona Ramos, writers Lissette Martinez and Rubén Pereida, and for Journalistic Enterprise, María Tomasch.

Univision Radio business manager guilty of embezzling

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Anselmo "Sam" Potter, the business manager for Univision Radio Florida pleaded guilty to 6 counts of wire fraud and embezzling about $550,000 from the company. He faces 2-4 years in prison. His sentencing is Dec. 30.

According to the Miami Herald, the money was embezzled between Dec. 2004 and Jan. 2009.

CNN's Latino in America disappoints

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:44:00 +0000

CNN's "Latino in America" series missed an opportunity to paint a more accurate picture of the largest minority in the United States. The 2-part series starts with a story on the anti-immigrant sentiment in Arizona and how a sheriff in that state has become an immigration enforcer.

That story seems to set the tone for the series as if the Latino experience in America is mostly one of illegal immigration, desperation, poverty and bad choices. With the exception of 2 success stories - one of a chef and the other of a Cuban-American senator, Latino in America seems to give the impression the majority of Latinos are unwilling to learn English, assimilate and effectively improve their lives.

The series didn't explore other aspects of legal immigration, didn't even mention the numerous contributions of Latino doctors, attorneys, scientists, entrepreneurs, educators and politicians to this country, and failed to delve into the economic importance of this ethnic minority. It failed miserably in showing positive and more of middle-class Latino culture stories and there are definitely a lot of them out there.

Also missing from "Latino in America" - historical background of Latino migration waves, the differences between the diverse Latino nationalities and first, second and multi-generational Latinos.

With the amount of time and resources allegedly spent and the hype, I definitely expected more. Any comments?

Changes at Mega TV

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Starting Monday, October 26, Mega TV will be doing some changes to its programming, including some on-air talent shuffling.

Six months after bringing Fernando del Rincón on board to be one of the hosts of "Paparazzi TV Sensacional," the former Univision newsman has been pulled off the 7 pm show and switched to the 10:30 pm slot to host Mega News late edition.

Poncho de Anda, who was hired in August to co-host "Los Implicados," described by Mega as an "infotainment" show, was moved to "Paparazzi." The show will now be hosted by Camilo Egaña and recently hired Angie Pérez Capoblanco.

Ruiz heading to Seattle

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:02:00 +0000

After almost 2 years on the job, Joe Ruiz's last day as a news editor for ksat.com is tomorrow. He landed a new gig as Lead for News - Associate Producer at seattletimes.com.

Talk about a short turnaround... Joe is leaving San Antonio and moving to Seattle on Sunday and starting his new job on Monday morning!

Joe says he's thrilled about the move, even though he's leaving his home state. "It's my first time out of Texas, so the move is going to be a little shocking for sure, but it should be fun moving to a new part of the country. I'm prepared to miss my favorite Mexican dishes and will have to learn how to make them like mom."

Before his KSAT job, Joe worked as a sports freelancer for the San Antonio Express-News for 2 years. He was also a professional blogger and worked for various Web sites covering sports.

Prisa buys stake in V-me

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:37:00 +0000

Spanish media group PRISA has bought a 12% stake in the V-me television network as part of its North American expansion plans and global strategy.

With the deal, according to a PRISA press release, the Spanish company foresees taking over control of V-me in the future.

More layoffs at L.A. Times

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Rumors have been swirling since Monday that the L.A. Times was axing more jobs this week. According to Kevin Roderick from L.A. observed, staffers are expecting 35-40 positions eliminated in layoffs and "voluntary escapes."

Apparently staffers who were laid off yesterday were given packets that identified the elimination of 10 positions: 5 reporters, 2 producers, a photographer, a librarian and a Web producer.

New Spanish-language show to launch in Colorado

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:10:00 +0000

"Allimite," an entertainment show targeting young Latinos, will be taping its first show this Sunday, Oct. 25 in front of a live studio audience. The show will air on Thursdays at 10 pm on Azteca América in Denver.

The program's host is María Paula Ramirez.

NYT to cut staff by 100

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:17:00 +0000

The New York Times plans to cut 100 newsroom jobs by the end of the year. It will be offering buyouts and will resort to layoffs if the company doesn't get enough people to leave voluntarily. The entire newsroom will get buyout packages and will have 45 days to decide whether or not to apply.

The paper has been making cuts in other non-newsroom departments, but according to a story in the Times, the drop in ad revenue "has forced cuts in the news operation as well." Budgets for freelancers have been reduced and employees took a 5% pay cut for most of 2009.

The current headcount at the Times is 1,250 - larger than any other U.S. newspaper.

Telemundo NYC news director update

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

A spokesman for Telemundo tells me the company eliminated the news director position in New York and created a VP of Content position "to oversee the news department, creative services and all digital platforms. This way we have one person overseeing all content created locally regardless of who produces it at the station."

The VP of content will oversee the news department, Acceso Total, the web and cell phone platforms. Applications for the new job are currently being reviewed and Telemundo will announce who's taking over the gig when the selection process is completed.

Balta among Telemundo casualties

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:04:00 +0000

Hugo Balta, news director for Telemundo's WNJU-47 in New York, also got pink-slipped during the company's latest round of cuts.

Hugo had a 14 year career with Telemundo and NBC. Prior to his move to New York, he worked at WTVJ-6 (NBC) in Miami. He was part of the integration team assigned to Telemundo during the merger with NBC. Before Miami, he worked at MSNBC and WNBC in NYC.

Hugo is the VP of Broadcast of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Telemundo layoffs nationwide

noreply@blogger.com (Veronica Villafañe) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:50:00 +0000

I reported yesterday of layoffs at KVEA-52 in Los Angeles, but the cuts weren't just there. In an email, Telemundo network spokesman Alfredo Richard tells me "the Telemundo Station Group moved forward with a head count reduction across several stations and multiple functions."

In all, he said about 40 positions were eliminated from the Telemundo workforce. He did not provide a breakdown of how many people were cut from each station. He stressed the "reductions are not related to the performance of these employees, but are necessary adjustments we have to do to navigate through these difficult times."