[NYTr] Miami Becomes Hub of New anti-Chavez Radio Free Gusano Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 15:04:43 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - July 6, 2007 [The Miami media have become a hub for Venezuela-related programming critical of Chavez, the Miami Herald reports, a fact due partly to a perceived convergence of interests among the Cuban exile community and members of the Venezuelan opposition involved in radio, TV, and newspapers. -VIO] The Miami Herald - July 6, 2007 http://www.miamiherald.com/583/story/161817.html Venezuela Rules the Airwaves So.Florida Spanish-language radio stations are homing in on Venezuela. By Castro Ocando Angela GonzC!lez, a direct-marketing promoter from Doral, has news of the ever-changing events in her native Venezuela right at her fingertips. Literally. By switching on the radio in her car or at home, she can enjoy all kinds of programming on the subject from studios in Miami and live from Venezuela. The media broadcast menu in Miami includes a very profitable range of Venezuela-related programs, from political analyses and interactive newscasts to news magazines and musical programs. The most important Spanish-language stations in South Florida have scheduled prime-time segments on the topic of Venezuela. Stations that broadcast via the Internet carry those programs even farther. Covering Venezuela ''is our top priority,'' said Daniel Torres, news director at WQBA-AM (1140). ``The main reason is that it guarantees us a large audience, because many people -- particularly Venezuelans -- have no other way to get information.'' The WQBA news department has instituted live coverage of events in Venezuela, with frequent reports from correspondents and contributors in that country, such as Carlos GuillC)n, a reporter for Union Radio in Caracas who appears daily on WQBA. ''We are in touch with everybody in Venezuela and everybody is very receptive to our needs,'' Torres said. According to Manuel Corao, a commentator for Miami's La Poderosa (670 AM) and editor of the magazine Venezuela al Dia (Venezuela Up to Date), the topic of Venezuela became important to listeners in Miami ``from the day when the problems created by Hugo ChC!vez in Venezuela were identified with those created by Fidel Castro in Cuba.'' ''Today, radio stations know that if they remove the topics of Venezuela and Hugo ChC!vez from their programming they run the risk of losing an important segment of their audience,'' said Corao, who for five years directed a Venezuela-related program in La Poderosa and Cadena Azul (1550 AM). The growing interest of South Floridians in the Venezuelan crisis has resulted in major radio efforts to attract larger audiences. The Venezuelan-Cuban group OlC) Communications, which holds the rights to Spanish-language telecasting of The History Channel, A&E, Cinemax and HBO Hispano, in September 2006 launched a Miami radio station that devotes almost half of its programming to news from Venezuela, including live coverage. TALENT ABOUNDS ''We have a growing market and the talent necessary to deal with it,'' said Fred Medina, OlC)'s executive vice president for new business. OlC) Communications coordinates the operations of Union Radio Miami (1210 AM). The company developed a daily program, seven and a half hours long, that is aired as paid programming on 1210 AM. The program includes a three-hour live segment that is produced in Venezuela, along with three programs and a newscast produced in Miami and directed to South Florida's Hispanic audience. ''We want to reach a community of 250,000 Venezuelans who are interested in knowing what happens in their country. Also, we want to offer local topics so they can improve their lives in this region,'' Medina said, alluding to South Florida. Union Radio can offer live coverage not only of Venezuela but also of Latin America, said Julio CC)sar Camacho, Miami correspondent for Voice of America. He hosts a daily talk show from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Nelson Rubio is a journalist in WQBA's news program who lived in Venezuela after he left Cuba. ''The topic of Venezuela has great importance for [Miami] Cubans because they became frustrated with the way the history of Cuba was being repeated in Venezuela,'' Rubio said. That interest has generated new ways to attract listeners, he said, such as the news program's interactive segment, in which listeners phone in their comments on the main news topics: Cuba and Venezuela. Topic penetration is so profound, Rubio said, that ``you hear the Cubans mention Venezuelan political personalities with the same ease they mention Cuban dissidents. That didn't happen before.'' ''Cubans and Venezuelans share many defects and virtues,'' said Chuni Montaner, Internet coordinator for UnivisiC3n's radio stations. Montaner co-hosted a Cuban-Venezuelan program, De Vez enCuando (From Time to Time), with Venezuelan actor Orlando Urdaneta. NEWS MAGAZINES Venezuelans also have ''invaded'' news magazines, variety and romance shows that have great impact in Miami's radio audience. ''The advantage Venezuelans have is that Venezuela produces good radio programs and does very well when it comes to creativity,'' said Alberto SardiC1as, host of Intimo (Intimate), on Amor 107.5 FM in Miami, 7 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday. Beyond the topic of news, ''there is great interest in Venezuelan culture -- music, arts and talent,'' said SardiC1as, who worked on Venezuelan youth radio before coming to Miami in 2000. ''Something like an explosion has occurred,'' said former Venezuelan model Paula Lamas about the presence of Venezuelans in a medium dominated by Cubans, Colombians and some Spaniards. Lamas produces Efecto Secundario, or Secondary Effect, on Radio Caracol. ``We all have landed directly on radio.'' * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================