In 1962, he had arrived in New York from Cuba, seeking opportunity in a democracy after fleeing the regime of Fidel Castro. He ended up as a radio sales executive for WBNX-AM, which would become the first station in the nation’s biggest market to air Spanish-language programming for the majority of its broadcast hours.
Eduardo Caballero would go on to a long and prosperous career in both U.S. Hispanic radio and television, thanks to roles as EVP/Director of Sales of Spanish International Network, the predecessor to Univision, and for his many years starting in 1973 as the owner of Caballero Spanish Media.
Now, the U.S. Hispanic media and advertising industry is paying tribute to Caballero, who has died.
He was believed to be in his early 90s.
Known as “The Godfather of Hispanic Marketing & Radio,” Caballero created the first-ever U.S. syndicated Spanish-language television program, “Lo Mejor del Cine en Español” (or, The Best of Spanish Movies).
The show ran every week, for five consecutive years, in 29 U.S. television stations — 27 of them general market stations. At the time, only seven stations in five cities aired Spanish-language television programming.
This was in the early 1970s, and the show’s host was Ricardo Montalbán, of “Fantasy Island” fame — prior to that program’s run on ABC.
In 1975, just 44 radio stations across the U.S. aired Spanish-language programming. Still, Caballero saw dollars for the taking, and growth. He would create what became the nation’s first national Spanish radio sales rep firm — Caballero Spanish Media. In just a few short years, CSM would grow to represent more than 200 full-time radio stations, covering close to 90% of the Hispanic household market within the U.S.
After selling Caballero Spanish Network, and acquiring Spanish-language radio rights to Major League Baseball’s World Series, he partnered with MTV by producing and syndicating a network-branded radio product en español.
He wasn’t done with taking a successful cable brand and adapting it to a Spanish-language radio audience. Working with Turner Broadcasting, Caballero created and syndicated CNN Radio Noticias.
By 1998, Caballero — still a pioneer, of source, founded Caballero Television. It owned one dozen Class A and low-power television stations in California and Texas and created the Más Música TeVe network.
In 2006, Caballero sold 10 of his 12 stations and the network to Viacom. It became MTV Tr3s. Caballero would stay on as a Strategic Ad Sales Consultant to MTV tr3s until 2008.
Caballero is survived by a son, Luis Angel, a Virginia businessman; and daughter Rosamaria, an entrepreneur and a graduate of Wellesley and Georgetown Law.
“For those that work with Eduardo Caballero and those that knew Eduardo will be eternally impacted by the man, the professional, the pioneer and the Industry Advocate,” said Gene Bryan, Publisher of HispanicAd, the leading trade publication for the U.S. marketing and advertising industry. “Many of the professionals in the business do not know the impact Eduardo Caballero had in the design of their futures in our industry. I for one, cannot put into words how grateful I am for the opportunity to have started my career at Caballero Spanish Media. Those were the days of educating all of the advertising industry to the power of the Hispanic Consumer.
Caballero is the first Hispanic to be inducted into the American Advertising Foundation Hall of Fame. In May 2009, Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink awarded Caballero the
“2009 Medallas de Cortez Lifetime Achievement in Hispanic Radio” and dedicated that month’s issue to his accomplishments in Spanish-language radio.
