[IRCA] Fwd: [HCDX] South Florida Radio to Blast Chavez

[Nick Hall-Patch <nhp@xxxxxxxx>]

This from the hard-core-dx list via Dino Bloise:




>Venezuelans in South Florida turning to radio to blast Chavez
>
>Expatriates in Florida among shows' audiences
>
>By Tal Abbady
>South Florida Sun-Sentinel
>Posted February 4 2007
>
>Taking a cue from the Cuban-American exile community, Venezuelans in 
>South Florida are turning to radio to slam their homeland's 
>controversial leader and unify their community.
>
>The move is happening on two fronts: Venezuelan radio networks are 
>buying time on local airwaves, broadcasting fiery political talk 
>shows directly from Caracas; and Cuban-owned stations in South 
>Florida are hiring Venezuelan journalists to produce shows that 
>blast President Hugo Chavez's self-styled Bolivarian revolution.
>
>Venezuelan radio network Union Radio's star commentators, pundits 
>and journalists, including some of Chavez's fiercest critics, now 
>reach thousands of listeners in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade 
>counties through new prime-time programming on a local airwave, WNMA 1210 AM.
>
>The network's owners say they are nervous about conditions in 
>Venezuela and bought the air time to build an audience here.
>
>"We're witnessing something that's never happened before in 
>Venezuela, and people are concerned," said Eduardo Cusco, one of 
>four brothers who own Union Radio, which has 40 percent of the radio 
>market in Venezuela.
>
>He spoke at the Coral Gables office building where Union Radio edits 
>its South Florida-tailored programming through a partnership with 
>Ole Communications.
>
>"There's been a great migration of Venezuelans to South Florida and 
>we plan to reach them," Cusco said, adding that Union Radio seeks a 
>balance of views on Chavez and includes Venezuelan government 
>figures on its shows. Union Radio producers say they hope eventually 
>to reach a general Hispanic audience.
>
>Cusco and others have tapped Florida's radio market at a precarious 
>time for private media in Venezuela. Chavez, who won re-election in 
>December, has expanded government-backed media like the cable 
>network Telesur and the news service Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias 
>(Bolivarian News Agency). His recent decision not to renew the 
>broadcasting license of the opposition-aligned Radio Caracas 
>Television network also has media owners worried about the future.
>
>Union Radio began airing evening programming on 1210 AM in September 
>with pilot programming from 5 p.m. to midnight. The prime-time 
>lineup, introduced Feb. 1 from noon to 7 p.m., features some of the 
>biggest names in Venezuelan political commentary. They include Pedro 
>Penzini Fleury, whose show airs at 2 p.m.; Chavez critic Marta 
>Colomina, who comes on at 3 p.m.; and Nelson Bucaranda, whose 
>popular political gossip show, Run Runes (scuttlebutt) de Nelson 
>Bucaranda, airs at 4 p.m.
>
>Besides Union Radio, Venezuelans at several Cuban-owned Miami 
>stations such as La Poderosa 670 AM and Cadena Azul 1550 AM are 
>producing and directing shows aimed at the Venezuelan expatriate community.
>
>"Venezuelans here have to launch their fight through the local 
>media. It's what I call civic activism on the air," said Ricardo 
>Guanipa, of Weston, a radio journalist and former correspondent for 
>Venezuela's El Nacional newspaper.
>
>A Chavez critic who sought asylum in Florida in 2005 after receiving 
>death threats in Caracas, Guanipa is planning an evening talk show 
>on La Poderosa focused exclusively on Venezuela.
>
>Venezuelan exiles say they want to use talk radio much in the same 
>way Cuban-Americans have for decades. Many also hope the U.S. 
>government eventually will finance a Radio Marti-style station for 
>their country.
>
>The idea gained traction in a bill sponsored by Rep. Connie Mack, 
>R-Fort Myers, in 2005. So far, however, the government's only plans 
>are to increase the Voice of America's Venezuela programming, said 
>spokesman John O'Connell.
>
>"[Venezuelans] have this political agenda that is similar to the 
>Cubans [and] radio has been the single most importance force to 
>mobilize the Cuban American community," said Damian Fernandez, who 
>heads Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute.
>
>Humberto Garcia, a Venezuelan who is news director at La Poderosa 
>and Cadena Azul, owned by Radio Mambi founder Jorge Rodriguez, says 
>Chavez is replacing Cuba's Fidel Castro as the hot-button topic on 
>Spanish-language radio shows like El Mundo Al Dia Con Matias Frias. 
>La Poderosa, which reaches 80,000 listeners per hour, plans to 
>partner with radio networks in Caracas to air shows produced there.
>
>Miami radio host Eli Bravo, whose general news show, Radio Global, 
>airs on 1210 AM at 5 p.m., is banking on the Cuban model.
>
>"What we can learn from the Cubans is how they used the airwaves to 
>build solidarity in their community," he said. "It allowed them to 
>grow economically and have more political influence."
>
>73.
>Dino Bloise
>FL,USA.
>

****************************************************************************
Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, B.C.
Canada

**************************************************************************** 

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