From Univision to Telemundo and Galavision, Spanish-language media has become commonplace in televisions across the United States.
The nation’s largest Spanish-language TV service provider, Univision, recently celebrated its 70th anniversary last year.
Mexican media executive Raoul Cortez founded KCOR-AM radio in San Antonio in 1946 and later expanded his broadcast empire to launch KCOR-TV in 1995. The channel laid the foundation for the Spanish International Network (SIN), which later became Univision.
The book Live from America: How Latino TV Conquered the U.S. details the powerful figures who worked behind the scenes to make Spanish-language media successful.
Author Javier Marín said the role of Spanish media in a political campaign was first documented in the election of San Antonio Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez.
“When Gonzalez was elected, SIN took an important (role in) his first election in the `60s because … Cantinflas (came) to San Antonio to do campaigning with Gonzalez,” he said. “And then he never lost an election — never.”
Marín also described how the sale of SIN to Hallmark Cards in the 1980s sparked transformational growth.
“They had to keep Spanish as a language and they were eager to Americanize,” he said. The first instructions to (the new CEO) were, ‘We want Oprah in Spanish, we want a Grammys in Spanish, we want Entertainment Weekly in Spanish.’”
