In May 2022, RBR+TVBR first reported that Hemisphere Media Group, a Spanish-language multimedia entity with a presence across the U.S. MVPD landscape and in Puerto Rico thanks to longtime local news leader WAPA-TV, would be obtaining ownership of TelevisaUnivision‘s radio stations serving the Caribbean commonwealth.
That transaction has now closed, but TelevisaUnivision’s presence is still very much in place and will remain so, per the terms of the transaction.
On September 1, spoken word leader WKAQ-AM 580, a go-to during the devasting Hurricane Maria in fall 2017 and longtime Puerto Rican Top 40 WKAQ-FM 104.7 “KQ105” — along with its owned cadena partners, WUKQ-AM & FM in Ponce, became Hemisphere-owned stations.
“We are excited to welcome WKAQ AM and KQ105 FM into the Hemisphere Media Group family,” said Alan Sokol, the longtime President/CEO at Hemisphere Media Group. “These stations have long been cherished by audiences in Puerto Rico, and we are committed to upholding their legacy while continuing to evolve and deliver exceptional content. Our ownership of the leading TV, radio, and digital properties in Puerto Rico will allow us to provide our audiences with the best and most innovative news, sports, and entertainment content available. We are privileged to work with the great team that has made the radio stations the most popular on the Island.”
As previously reported, the TelevisaUnivision Uforia programming team will continue to program heritage Latin Top 40 KQ105. WKAQ-AM & FM and WUKQ-AM & FM General Manager Héctor Martínez Souss retains his role.
“The sale of these two iconic stations to Hemisphere ensures that these stations will be led by a great management team,” said Jesus Lara, who recently rose to the role of President of Local Media for TelevisaUnivision. “We look forward to providing music strategy support for KQ105FM and the station’s continued music leadership position.”
The transfer in control of WKAQ-AM and the “KQ105” network’s FM properties in Puerto Rico completes 19 years of ownership of the stations by Univision and a predecessor company. When the former Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. announced in February 2003 that it was purchasing WKAQ-AM & FM in San Juan and WUKQ-AM & FM in Ponce from a foundation set up by the stations’ founder, Angel Ramos, it was hardly greeted with cheers across Puerto Rico. For some, HBC was seen as an outsider group, and control of two of the commonwealth’s biggest properties were being taken by “mainlanders.”
Heavy opposition arose from several Puerto Rican politicians and recording artists as one . Bernardo Vazquez Santos filed a petition to deny the transaction. The FCC rejected the petition without comment, and in June 2003 approved HBC’s $32 million acquisition of the four radio properties.
Meanwhile, the FCC at the time was reviewing the sale of Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. to Univision Communications. Valued at $3.1 billion, the transaction was first announced in June 2002 but did not win Commission approval until September 2003.
