Posted on 12/02/2004 4:19:10 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
La Voz, one of Houston's most-read Spanish publications, is now the centerpiece of the Houston Chronicle's Spanish language products. "We think the Chronicle's future is in both English- and Spanish-language products for the Houston audience," Chronicle Publisher Jack Sweeney said today, announcing the Chronicle's purchase of La Voz. "Our vision is to serve the Spanish-language market with a series of special-interest publications." Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the two privately-held companies.
The Chronicle has printed, distributed, contributed some editorial content to and sold advertisements for the weekly newspaper since 1991. La Voz, which means "the voice" in Spanish, was founded by Cuban refugees Armando and Olga Ordóñez in 1979. Armando Ordóñez, a chemical engineer, owned a soup company in Havana before the couple abandoned their home in 1962 to escape the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. They moved to Texas, where Olga Ordóñez worked as a school teacher and Armando Ordóñez worked first as a chemical engineer and later as a general manager of Houston's La Tremenda radio station.
But Armando Ordóñez always wanted to provide a newspaper for the Hispanic community, recalls Olga Ordóñez. So the couple started the publication in a small house they used as an office. Their children, Carlos and Laura, helped produce the newspaper, while the couple wrote articles and ran the newspaper. Then in 1984, Armando Ordóñez died, leaving Olga Ordóñez alone at the helm of the newspaper. "It was very hard," said Olga Ordóñez. "I had determination." Ultimately, she grew the newspaper to a circulation of 100,000, with 35,000 of those copies distributed every Wednesday to Chronicle subscribers.
Olga Ordóñez will continue in her role as publisher of La Voz and report directly to Sweeney. And the newspaper's 14-member staff will remain with the paper. Its office will relocate from the Southwest Freeway to the Chronicle's plant at the Southwest Freeway and Loop 610. The move follows the Chronicle's April launch of La Vibra, a weekly Spanish-language entertainment magazine. That magazine targets bilingual and Spanish-speaking readers and is distributed in primarily Hispanic neighborhoods.
Thursday's sale follows a trend in the industry. Last year, newspapers targeting the Hispanic community totaled 666, up from 355 in 1990, according to Carlsbad, Calif.-based Latino Print Network, which tracks Hispanic publications. In August, San Antonio-based publisher Meximerica Media launched the Spanish-language daily newspaper Rumbo de Houston. Rumbo newspapers are now available in the Austin, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley markets.
Newspapers are increasingly desperate for readers, which is why you see them producing Spanish-language editions and offering more tabloid-like content.
Seems like a lot of folks are interested in these demographic-journalistic changes. :-D
LOL. There were over 400 posts a few weeks back when some 70s rock station switched over to Spanish language programming. Alot of FR metalheads were pissed!
Your wrong on count number 1. The problem with this acquisition is not the language of the paper but rather that the Houston Chronicle, aka the nation's worst newspaper, is involved. This will severely harm the quality of La Voz and possibly sink the franchise.
Probably the same folks who whined about some stupid rock station in Houston that is now all-Spanish language programming a few weeks back.
You're wrong on count number 2 as well. The problem with the loss of the station you speak of is, again, nothing to do with the fact that it's Spanish (as far as I care put as many spanish stations as you want on the air. I'll simply choose not to listen to them). Rather, the switch of KLOL (along with the switch of KRTS to Spanish a few months ago) has suceeded in making Houston the largest city in the nation without a non-NPR classical station and without a hard rock station. In exchange we got two Spanish stations that play very similar musical genres. Nor was this exclusively a "market" decision. It was an oligopolist media conglomerate decision, where KLOL was acquired not for its old genre or any significant ratings failure but rather because it happened to use the same frequency as a Spanish station in Los Angeles - 101.1
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