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.
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