[HCDX] South Florida Radio to Blast Chavez

["Dino Bloise" <dbloise@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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