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Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Organizations that provide news through mass media in the Puerto Rico are collectively known as the news media in Puerto Rico.
News Media in Puerto Rico can be dated back to the invasion of the Spaniards and the introduction of a Spanish led government. Captain General, Toribio Montes established a printing press at the Spanish government's headquarters and began publishing "La Gaceta del Gobierno de Puerto Rico. The newspaper would be published twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) and would cost 1 Spanish dollar. Through the 1800s several newspapers began publication including "Diario Economico de Puerto Rico, "El Cigarrón, El Investigador, and "Diario Liberal y de Variedades de Puerto Rico the former being the first one to be published daily. Most newspapers were being published out of the capital city of San Juan. The western city of Mayagüez became the first city to have its own newspaper in the island. "El Imparcial" began publishing in 1848 but was quickly shut down by the Spanish government because it included articles criticizing them. [1]
In 1909, El Diario de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico's Diary) was founded in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico by Guillermo V. Cintron. By 1911 the newspaper had changed its name to El Día (The Day), a name that remained for over 70 years. In 1945 El Día was sold to Luis A. Ferré, when Ferré was elected governor of Puerto Rico in 1968 he sold the paper to his son Antonio Luis Ferré who then moved the paper's headquarters from Ponce to the capital San Juan, Puerto Rico and changed the newspaper's name to El Nuevo Día. On November 17, 1997, the Ferré-Rangel Family launched a secondary newspaper known as Primera Hora, the paper's mission was to deliver the news in a more laid back mode as opposed to the hard hitting journalism that could be found in El Nuevo Dia, while it started with a price of .25 cents, Primera Hora is now distributed free in Puerto Rico and through its website. In 2011, The Ferré-Rangel family created GFR Media (Grupo Ferré-Rangel Media) a holdings company that administers El Nuevo Dia, Primera Hora, Shop.PR, Clasificados PR, and Oferta del Dia. [2] [3] [4]
In 1919, Romualdo Real founded "El Mundo" (The World) which quickly became a national newspaper with a wider audience. In 1929 Angel Ramos and journalist José Coll Vidal bought "El Mundo" and in 1944 Ramos acquired sole ownership of the newspaper. In 1922, Puerto Rico received its first radio station WKAQ-AM which focused on a talk radio and news format. [5]
In 1952, Ramos acquired WKAQ-AM and met with governor Luis Muñoz Marín to express his intention on creating the first ever media conglomerate in the island. The agreement between Ramos and Marín stated that Empresas El Mundo Broadcasting would be allowed to use the services of Engineer Rafael Delgado Márquez, who was the administrator of Authority of Communications of Puerto Rico, to develop the first commercial station in Puerto Rico WKAQ-TV however due to the FCC freeze of 1948 the development of the station was held back until 1954. On March 28, 1954, at 6:45pm WKAQ-TV started broadcasting the first ever newscast in the history of the island "Telenoticias" anchored by Evelio Otero. Otero served as anchored and producer of "Telenoticias" until 1962, he became known for editorializing on the stories presented and for translating stories in English received from American news outlets. In 1962, ahead of the arrival of colored television, El Mundo Enterprises decided on moving their headquarters to a new state of the art facility in Hato Rey. The new headquarters would become Puerto Rico's first ever communications building housing the operations of WKAQ-TV, WKAQ-AM and the newspaper El Mundo. Currently the building still houses the studios for WKAQ-TV however the radio operations have moved to Guaynabo and the newspaper operations have shut down. [6] [7]
WAPA-TV would begin broadcasting in March 1954 but it wasn't until 1967 when the network aired their first newscast. Evelio Otero would jump from WKAQ-TV to anchor the new space called Noticentro (NewsCenter), Otero remained as the sole news anchor for NotiCentro until 1980 when he left the station and was replaced by Guillermo José Torres who would set the Guinness World Records as the anchorman with the longest career in the same station after 43 years. In September 2023, WAPA's owners would finalize a deal to buy WKAQ-AM and WKAQ-FM to launch their new venture called WAPA Media. [8]
In 1974, El Vocero began publishing as a newspaper. Founded by journalist and economist Gaspar Roca El Vocero looked to become a crime oriented tabloid, however in the late 1980s after the closing of El Mundo, El Vocero looked to become a mainstream newspaper by adding legitimate news articles and well known columnists. In April 2007, Roca died and his son Miguel Roca took over leadership of El Vocero. The newspaper would declare bankruptcy in December 2013. After its bankruptcy El Vocero was bought by a local group of entrepreneurs under the name Publi-Inversiones. El Vocero would relaunch in 2014 as a free newspaper a practice that was later adopted by competitor GFR Media with their Primera Hora newspaper. [9] [10] [11] [12]
In 1976, WLII-DT doing business as Telecadena Perez Perry launched their news segments called Un minuto en las noticias (A minute in the news) hosted by Annie Alfaro, and later Braulio Castillo Jr. the segments were short in length and highlighted the day's most important stories. Later in a joint venture with WSTE-DT (then known WLUZ) they presented the news magazine, Camara 7. In 1986 WLII launched their official newscast known as Las Noticias (The News). WLII-DT was later sold to Univision in 2002 and the newscast was dubbed Las Noticias Univision to reflect the change. On October 17, 2014, Univision announced that Jaime Bauzá was ascending his position to senior vice-president and general manager of all of the network's operations in Puerto Rico. The first change he made was the firing of 109 employees. This caused the closing of the entire news department, including reporters, anchors, cameramen, etc. On that day, the morning show Tu Mañana was shown normally, but after that, the midday show Tu Mediodia wasn't shown. Instead, a Mexican drama was shown. During that time, reporter Daisy Sánchez published on her Twitter account the announcing of the news department's closing. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
On February 18, 2021, TeleOnce hired José Enrique "Kike" Cruz, who was news director at WAPA-TV for 32 years and who worked at the station from 1976 until his retirement in 2018 as an adviser for the revamped news department after more than six years without newscasts. [18] On April 14, 2021, TeleOnce hired Jenny Suarez, a former news producer at WAPA-TV, as its vice-president of the revamped news department. [19]
On June 7, 2021, WLII-DT confirmed their intentions to relaunch their newscasts with the new telecast set to premiere in late July/early August 2021 in the 5 p.m. slot. [20] Celimar Adames Casalduc (who anchored WAPA-TV's NotiCentro for 18 years) would join TeleOnce as the lead anchor for the newscast and Deborah Martorell (who served as WAPA-TV's Chief Meteorologist for 27 years) would also be joining as TeleOnce's Chief Meteorologist. [21] Nuria Sebazco (who previously hosted TeleOnce's morning newscast Tu Mañana) was also announced to be returning to the network (migrating from WKAQ-TV) and Tatiana Ortiz (also from WKAQ) was also announced as on air talent. [22] On June 8, 2021, WLII-DT announced that Ricardo Currás (formerly of WKAQ-TV and who anchored morning newscasts from Univision O&O WXTV-DT), would join Adames as co-anchor. [23]
On June 23, 2021, WLII-DT announced that their relaunched newscast would be called Las Noticias TeleOnce thus reviving the original brand that ran for almost 30 years. [24] Las Noticias TeleOnce premiered on July 12, 2021, with three editions: Las Noticias: Ahora (The News: Now) at 3:55 p.m., Las Noticias: Prime (The News: Prime) at 4:55 p.m. and Las Noticias: Última Edición (The News: Final Edition) at 10:00 p.m. All three editions will be anchored by Adames and Currás and will feature Martorell on the weather and Luis Joel Aymat (who anchored the former Edicion Puerto Rico newscast) in sports. [25] [26] [27]
In 1958, WIPR-TV was launched as a non-commercial public television station owned by the government of Puerto Rico and operated through the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation but it wasn't until 1995 when the station would launch their own news operation called NotiSeis (News Six). The newscast was anchored by Gloria Soltero and Pedro Luis Garcia. Currently the newscast carries the name Notiseis 360.
Other media ventures in Puerto Rico include The San Juan Star, Metro Newspaper, Claridad, Caribbean Business, NotiCel and a series of regional papers such as Vision, La Calle, Jornada PR, among others. [28]
The Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation owns and operates two stations WIPR-TV channel 6 in San Juan and WIPM-TV channel 3 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Both channels operate under the name Puerto Rico TV and feature a mix of locally produced programming and PBS programming from the United States. The company also operates a streaming app called PRTV+ which features episodes of their locally produced shows as well as their newscast Notiseis 360.
On radio the PRBC operates WIPR (AM) which is a talk based radio station and WIPR-FM which rebroadcasts NPR programming.
Since 2005, NBCUniversal has owned and operated WKAQ-TV (presented as Telemundo) and its sub channels which include Punto 2 and NBC Puerto Rico (a repeater of WNBC).
Holdings include WAPA-TV, WAPA Deportes (WAPA Sports), WAPA América, WKAQ-AM and WKAQ-FM (known as KQ-105). [29]
Holdings include El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora.
Holdings include WUNO, WPRP, WORA (AM), WNEL, WFID, Cadena Salsoul, WTOK-FM, WCMN-FM and WMIO
Holdings include WBQN, WAPA (AM) , WTIL, WXRF , WVOZ (AM) , WMTI (AM) and WMIA (AM)
Holdings in Puerto Rico include WMEG, WRXD, WZNT, WODA and Mega TV
WAPA-TV is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by WAPA Media Group. WAPA-TV's studios are located on Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in Guaynabo, and its transmitter is located at the WKAQ-TV transmission tower at Cerro La Santa in Cayey near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.
WKAQ-TV is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, serving as the U.S. territory's dual Telemundo and NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-TV's studios are located on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan near Hiram Bithorn Stadium, and its transmitter is located on Cerro la Santa in Cayey near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.
WSTE-DT, branded on air as Teleisla, is a Spanish-language independent television station serving San Juan, Puerto Rico, that is licensed to Ponce. It is owned by TelevisaUnivision. The station maintains its studios on Calle Carazo in Guaynabo. To provide island-wide coverage, WSTE maintains a network of five transmitter sites, located at Cerro Maravilla in Ponce, at Cerro La Marquesa in Aguas Buenas, at Cerro Canta Gallo in Aguada, on Highway 22 in Arecibo, and at the Monte del Estado in San Germán.
WLII-DT, branded on-air as TeleOnce, is a television station licensed to Caguas, Puerto Rico, serving the U.S. territory as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. Owned by Liberman Media Group, the station maintains studio facilities on Calle Carazo in Guaynabo, with additional studios at The Mall of San Juan. Its transmitter is located near the Bosque Estatal de Carite mountain reserve.
Braulio Castillo Jr. is a Puerto Rican actor and radio host. He is the son of Braulio Castillo, an actor across Latin America, and the brother of the lesser known Jorge Castillo, also a television and theater actor.
The media of Puerto Rico includes local radio stations, television stations and newspapers; for the majority of all these the language is Spanish. There are also three stations of the US Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Las Noticias Teleonce is the flagship news program for Puerto Rican television network TeleOnce it is currently anchored by Celimar Adames Casalduc during its day editions and by Ricardo Curras and Shirlyan Odette during its night edition.
WORA-TV branded on-air as ABC Puerto Rico, is a television station in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, affiliated with ABC and owned by Telecinco Media Holdings. WORA-TV's studios are located on Ponce de León Avenue in Santurce, with additional studios at the Guanajibo Building in Mayagüez. The station's transmitter is located at Monte del Estado in Maricao.
WOLE-DT is a television station licensed to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, serving Mayagüez and the western part of the island as an affiliate of Univision and UniMás. It is a full-time satellite of San Juan–based WLII-DT, owned by Liberman Media Group. WOLE-DT's sales office is located in the Westernbank Building in downtown Mayagüez, and its transmitter is located at Monte del Estado in Maricao. Its parent station maintains studios on Calle Carazo in Guaynabo and has additional studios in Barrio Palmar in Aguadilla.
WKAQ is a commercial AM radio station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Currently owned by WAPA Media Group, the station airs a Spanish language talk radio format. Its programming is repeated on WUKQ, which broadcasts on 1420 kHz in Ponce, and WYEL which broadcasts on 600 kHz in Mayagüez. The station was the first radio station to broadcast in Puerto Rico. According to Ernesto Vigoreaux, in the early days of music in Puerto Rico, the musicians would record music at the WKAQ radio station. WKAQ is the Puerto Rico primary entry point station for the Emergency Alert System.
Día a Día con Raymond y Dagmar is a variety program on WKAQ-TV Telemundo Puerto Rico hosted by Raymond Arrieta, Dagmar and Gil Marie Lopez that airs weekdays from 1pm to 4pm AST on Telemundo Puerto Rico. The show premiered on January 15, 2007, and marked the return of Arrieta to television after having his long running show cancelled on rival station WAPA-TV.
WKAQ-FM along with its satellite WUKQ-FM are a pair of radio stations in Puerto Rico broadcasting a bilingual contemporary hit radio format. Licensed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, WKAQ-FM serves the eastern half of the island while WUKQ-FM, licensed to Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, serves the western half. The stations are currently owned by WAPA Media Group.
En La Mañana is a Puerto Rican breakfast television show that airs on TeleOnce. The show is a revival of the original breakfast show called Tu Mañana that aired on TeleOnce from 1991 to 2002 and in Univision Puerto Rico television network from 2002 to 2014. The original version of the show debuted on March 11, 1991, and was aired on weekday mornings. On October 14, 2014, the show was cancelled as part of a restructuring of Univision Puerto Rico's operations that included the closure of its news department. With the sale of WLII-DT from Univision to Liberman Media Group the new owners have announced they intend to revive Tu Mañana in 2023. The show's revival was officially announced on October 17, 2023, with a premiere date set for October 30, 2023. For the revival, the show's name was slightly tweaked from Your Morning to In The Morning
SuperXclusivo is a Puerto Rican gossip show broadcast on TeleOnce (WLII-DT). The show, originally premiered on WAPA-TV as SuperXclusivo on January 24, 2000. It is hosted by puppet gossiper La Comay — The Gossiper, created, voiced and puppeteered by Kobbo Santarrosa. La Comay is joined by a co-host and sidekick, which has been filled by Héctor Travieso, Roque Gallart and, currently, by Yan Ruiz. La Comay, the character, presents celebrity and political gossip, as well as news and social commentary on local issues. Through its original run, SuperXclusivo maintained the top position in local ratings. The show ended its original run on WAPA-TV on January 9, 2013, after Kobbo Santarrosa resigned from the network amid boycotts against him for homophobic allegations he made on air through the puppeteering of La Comay. On December 19, 2018, it was confirmed that La Comay would be returning to television to Mega TV after years of speculation. The new show, titled after the puppet gossiper, premiered on January 28, 2019 and ended on December 18, 2020, after Santarrosa decided not to renew the show's contract with the network. This resulted the show to move to TeleOnce as of March 1, 2021, with comedian Yan Ruiz as the new co-host and sidekick.
Jesús Omar Rivera Dávila, better known as El Boricuazo, is a Puerto Rican radio and TV personality, writer, tour guide, college instructor, and public speaker from Bayamón. Rivera is known for his appearances on Puerto Rican television and radio, where he offers stories, facts, and trivia about Puerto Rico that are not well known to the general public.
The Mall of San Juan is a 650,000 sq ft (60,000 m2) upscale shopping mall located across from the San José Lagoon at the south end of the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge, near the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It opened its doors on March 26, 2015 and it was anchored by Nordstrom, being the first store in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The mall also had a Saks Fifth Avenue until September 20, 2017 when it was destroyed by Hurricane Maria and on October 30, 2019, Saks announced that it would not reopen at the mall. Original plans included the construction of an office tower and a hotel and casino and was originally set to begin construction later in 2015 and to be completed by 2017. However, it was never built. The mall was constructed at a cost of $475 million by Taubman Centers.
Hoy Día (Today) is an American Spanish-language morning television show broadcast by Telemundo. The show is broadcast from Telemundo Center in Miami, and is hosted by Penélope Menchaca, Andrea Meza, Lisette Eduardo, Daniel Arenas and Danilo Carrera
Cyd Marie Fleming is a Puerto Rican television news journalist. She was once an anchorwoman for a show named "Las Noticias" on Tele-Once, a major Puerto Rican television network.
WAPA Media Group is an American mass media and entertainment corporation that is a division of Hemisphere Media Group with headquarters in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
Jugando Pelota Dura is a Puerto Rican television talk show hosted by Ferdinand Perez. The program initially premiered on Sistema TV network in 2012 before moving on to Univision Puerto Rico in 2017 after the passing of Hurricane Maria left WMTJ unable to broadcast the show. The show shares its name from Perez's radio show Pelota Dura that airs on WUNO. The program primarily features coverage of political issues and headlines, along with discussion from a panel of analysts and political figures.