AMERICAN IDOL: JLO VS. MINAJ AND LATINO SCOTTY MCCREERY GETS PLATINUM ALBUM

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

(Photos: Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup)

It was the battle of the divas on American Idol Thursday night as Nicki Minaj jokingly took a stab at Jennifer Lopez being the only female superstar judging the popular singing competition. The MC performed her latest single “Starships,” wearing a tiny dress that barely covered her curvaceous figure.

“I want to be a guest judge,” Minaj told American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

Jennifer Lopez didn’t mind that telling Minaj to “come over.” But it was when Minaj asked “JLO can you scoot over?” that the Bronx diva was quick to mark her territory.

“I don’t think there is enough space for the both of us,” Lopez replied with a smile.

Minaj, a native from Queens was all giggles with Seacrest as he told the audience “Starships” is one of his favorite songs.

“Hello cute thing,” said Seacrest. “There were parts of the performance that were high risk,” he said, in reference to Minaj almost slipping out of her barely-there dress. The rapper avoided having a wardrobe malfunction by toning down her dance moves and opting to pump up the crowd instead, letting her backup dancers do the moving.

Getty Images for 'American Idol'

“Who wants to party right now?” Minaj yelled. The crowd responded with a loud roar.

Last year’s American Idol winner, Puerto Rican singer Scotty McCreery, took the stage and had the fans going wild.

McCreery, whose maternal grandmother is Puerto Rican and lives on the island, performed his latest single “Water Tower Town.”

Getty Images for 'American Idol'

“Feels like it was just yesterday,” McCreery told Seacrest about winning American Idol.

To McCreery’s surprise, Interscope Records executive and mentor on the show, Jimmy Lovine, came out. McCreery was speechless. Lovine handed McCreery a nicely encased platinum album.

“On behalf of Interscope and Universal music studios we’d like to thank Idol and the judges that picked you out of that crowd on the rainy day,” said Lovine.“[He is the] youngest male to have his album hit Billboard’s Top 200,” Lovine added.

Getty Images for 'American Idol'

McCreery, visibly stunned, was all smiles.

To date, McCreery’s freshman album “Clear As Day” is one of the highest selling debuts from an American Idol winner, selling over one million copies in the first three months, The Hollywood Reporter stated. Billboard magazine also named McCreery top new Country artist of the year in 2011. And he won the distinguished “New Artist of the Year” award at the American Country Awards last December. McCreery also became the youngest male singer in music history to open at number one on Billboard’s all-genre chart with his first album. “Clear As Day” stayed at number one for six consecutive weeks.

Read more: FOX LATINO NEWS AND CHECK OUT ALSO FROM FOX LATINO NEWS American Idol Best Latino Moments

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ENTRAVISION WINS 2 HISPANIC RADIO AWARDS FROM RADIO INK

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

 

 

 

Entravision Communications Corporation (NYSE: EVC) announced that it was honored with two Medallas de Cortez Awards at the Hispanic Radio Awards hosted by Radio Ink in San Diego. Entravision’s Matt Cardenas, the General Sales Manager for Entravision’s radio cluster in Los Angeles, California, was honored with the “Sales Manager of the Year: Markets 1-25” award and El Gato KDLD-FM and KDLE-FM Los Angeles, California received the “Station of the Year: Markets 1-25” accolade.

 

Cardenas leads national and local advertising for Entravision’s Los Angelesradio stations: Super Estrella 107.1 FM, El Gato 103.1 FM and Jose 97.5 FM. He has been a member of Entravision’s sales team for the past three years.

                                                                                                photo source: Dulce Maria website

“Entravision has a long history of providing the best content to our listeners and, with stations in 47 of the top 50 fastest growing U.S. Hispanic markets, we are well positioned to continue to entertain and inform Hispanic audiences for years to come,” said Jeffery Liberman, President of Entravision’s Radio Division. “We are thrilled to be honored among this prestigious group of Spanish-language broadcasters. Congratulations to Matt and the staff of El Gato 103.1 FM, as well as all of our stations and employees who were nominated this year. We are proud of all of their hard work, dedication and service to our local communities.”

The Medallas de Cortez awards were created by Radio Ink Magazine to recognize outstanding achievements and leadership in the Hispanic radio marketplace. The awards are named after Raoul Cortez, a pioneer in Hispanic radio in America.

The Hispanic Radio Awards were held as part of Radio Ink’s Hispanic Radio Conference, held March 21-22 also in San Diego. Key members of Entravision were present among the prestigious group of speakers and panelists speaking at the event including Jeffrey Liberman, President of Entravision’s Radio Division, Phillip Woodie, President of LER (an Entravision company) and Christopher Moncayo, Vice President and General Manager of Entravision Phoenix properties.

About Entravision Communications Corporation

Entravision Communications Corporation is a diversified Spanish-language media company utilizing a combination of television, radio and digital operations to reach Hispanic consumers across the United States, as well as the border markets of Mexico. Entravision is the largest affiliate group of both the top-ranked Univision television network and Univision’s TeleFutura network, with television stations in 19 of the nation’s top 50 Hispanic markets. The company also operates one of the nation’s largest groups of primarily Spanish-language radio stations, consisting of 48 owned and operated radio stations. Additionally, Entravision has a variety of cross-platform digital content and sales offerings designed to capitalize on the company’s leadership position within the Hispanic broadcasting community. Entravision shares of Class A Common Stock are traded on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: EVC.

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GARCIA WINS IT ALL WHILE KIRKLAND AND MOLINA ERUPT

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

Mexican ring legend Erik Morales spoke to the press after his twelve round unanimous decision defeat to Danny Garcia in a clash for the WBC 140lb title on Saturday night. “I don’t know what I want to do next,” said Morales. “I have to sit down with my family and look at my health and the desire to keep fighting. One of the reasons I fought Garcia was that I was sure that I still have what it takes to beat some of the best competition out there. After tonight I need to take a step back and really look at what I want to do next. I would like to go out on my own terms, perhaps a fight in Tijuana, Mexico.”

photo source: stacey verbeek

photo source: Stacey Verbeek

Regarding the fight, ‘El Terrible’ stated, “He did a good job early on, but this is a 12 round fight. I knew that around the sixth or seventh round, my work rate would increase and after the eighth or ninth, I would increase it even more. It’s good to have a good first or second round, but what’s important here is to know how to finish, not just how to start.”

Images from the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia HBO bout from Houston, Texas. Garcia captured the WBC jr. welter crown via unanimous decision... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Garcia was emotional at times during the time at the podium. “This was a difficult fight, as are all fights at this level,” admitted Garcia. There are no easy fights in boxing. He was elusive and had a good defense. I give it to Morales that he busted me up pretty good, no disrespect to Erik, but you had your time, it’s my time now to shine and that is what I was looking to do. I just fought some hard twelve rounds with a legend and I plan to be around here for a long time.

Images from the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia HBO bout from Houston, Texas. Garcia captured the WBC jr. welter crown via unanimous decision... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

“I feel great, I’m still taking it all in, I’m glad that all the hard work has paid off for me and I plan on doing what it takes to stay as a champion.

“At times I tried to finish him off, but I didn’t want to get greedy and walk into anything. You have to remember that he has been in the ring with some of the best fighters in the world and has faced hall of fame fighters.”

photo source: Stacey Verbeek

Promoter Oscar de la Hoya added, “Garcia did well against a legend fighter tonight. I was telling him that he has to put his combinations together and not just sit on certain punches. There is no reason that the new WBC super lightweight champion shouldn’t get better after tonight. He did show some flaws and I told him that after the fight and that he’s a good kid and besides the conditioning he has to get back in the gym and get better with his combinations and adjusting in the fight. Those are the type of fights though that makes a fighter mature.”

Controversy in Kirkland-Molina Post-Fight Session

Bonus images from Houston as James Kirkland wins a controversial one over Carlos Molina via disqualification... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

After the drama in the ring on Saturday night, the drama spilled over into the post fight press conference as both James Kirkland and Carlos Molina had to cool down and collect their thoughts on the events that took place earlier. Kirkland (31-1, 27 KOs) who won by tenth round disqualification over Molina (19-5-2, 6 KOs) felt that if the fight hadn’t been stopped he was on the verge of knocking out Molina in either the 11th or 12th round.

Molina: “I felt good, I was ready to go, I was ready to fight. He caught me with a shot, the bell rang, I got up, I didn’t think there was anything wrong.”

Bonus images from Houston as James Kirkland wins a controversial one over Carlos Molina via disqualification... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Kirkland: “I felt that if had gone on to the 11th or 12th round it was going to be over. His ass was on the ground already and I got stronger in the fight. I was going to bring it in the next round. I would give Molina the first 10 seconds of the next round and then I was going to take him out anyway. I didn’t think I needed a knockout at that point in the fight. I was just going to keep bringing my punches together and continue with the game plan.”

Molina would like nothing more than to face Kirkland again in an immediate rematch to settle the unfinished business that he felt occurred in the fight.

James Kirkland wins a controversial one over Carlos Molina via disqualification... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Kirkland: “The second time around, I’m going to do what it takes to make it a fight that is not even close. Ann was telling me to not hold back and put that pop on him. She was trying to motivate me to get him out of there and not play with him. If Molina, wants to go again, than I don’t mind whooping his ass again. I don’t care. My job is to train and get ready for the opponent the team puts in front of me.”

Bonus images from Houston as James Kirkland wins a controversial one over Carlos Molina via disqualification... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Molina: “He can say what he wants, I would fight him right now, and he knows that he didn’t knock me down. He knows that he was losing the fight.”

Bonus images from Houston as James Kirkland wins a controversial one over Carlos Molina via disqualification... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Kirkland trainer Ann Wolfe: “I wish the fight would have gone on for the twelve rounds. This is not what I wanted to happen. I do want people to know that this was a dog fight and Molina was holding and head-butting and I was getting tired of it. I told James, that since he wants to make a dog fight out of it, you do the same thing.”

Images from the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia HBO bout from Houston, Texas. Garcia captured the WBC jr. welter crown via unanimous decision... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

De La Hoya: “I personally don’t like the outcome of the Kirkland-Molina fight. It’s not good for boxing because those are the type of decisions people just don’t want to see and are tired of, including myself. It was a stoppage that you can argue it both ways. The corner should have not been in the ring and that is an automatic DQ. The referee is in charge of the match. I heard the bell ring, but he was still counting Molina as well. That was a tough call to end the bout, things like this look bad on boxing. It was a good fight that was about to turn into a great fight and we as fans were robbed of that.”

The possibly of a rematch still looms for the way the bout ended. Fightnews asked De La Hoya about the chances of a rematch.

De La Hoya: “Both teams need to sit down and see what the best thing to do is. I would like to see him fight Molina again. Kirkland wants to fight for a world title so there are some possibilities that we need to talk about.”

Garcia gets called out

Images from the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia HBO bout from Houston, Texas. Garcia captured the WBC jr. welter crown via unanimous decision... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Not even more than an hour after becoming the WBC super lightweight champion, Danny Garcia was called out by Ajose Olusegun, the WBC #1 contender. Olusegun was in the crowed for the post-fight press conference and waited patiently the right moment to speak out about getting dismissed for his mandatory title shot against Morales in favor of Golden Boy fighter Danny Garcia.

Images from the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia HBO bout from Houston, Texas. Garcia captured the WBC jr. welter crown via unanimous decision... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Olusegun: “Now that you are the WBC champion, when are you going to fight me? Are you going to fight me or duck it?

Garcia: “First of all, I’m a fighter, I’m a champion, I will fight anybody any place anywhere, even in their backyard. If you get in there with me I will beat you too.”

Images from the Erik Morales-Danny Garcia HBO bout from Houston, Texas. Garcia captured the WBC jr. welter crown via unanimous decision... Credit: Naoki Fukuda

Olusegun: “Enjoy it while it lasts. I’m coming for you.”

Read more: FIGHT NEWS

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MONDO GUERRA IS THE WINNER: FROM PROJECT RUNWAY TO NEIMAN MARCUS AND MARIE CLAIRE

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

On Thursday’s “Project Runway All Stars” finale, Mondo Guerra beat out Austin Scarlett and Michael Costello to win the cut-throat fashion design competition.

Photo by Jeff Ball for Vivid Photography Studio

A 5th generation Mexican-American, Guerra has been a fan favorite since he first appeared on the show in Season 8. He’s the first Latino to win in the “Project Runway” franchise. During the All Star finale runway show, Guerra described what went into make his winning collection, “Therapy.” After weeks of stressful design challenges, Guerra said “I needed some therapy, I put all my passion into my work.”

The six piece collection was true to Guerra’s signature design esthetic.  A master of mixing prints, Guerra’s use of black and white geographic patterns and unexpected pops of red wowed the judges. Judge and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi told Guerra that of the three collections in the finale, his was “the most cohesive, in the whit of it.” Co-founder of fashion label Marchesa, judge Georgina Chapman, couldn’t rave enough about Guerra, calling him a brilliant designer. When host and model Angela Lindvall told Guerra he was the winner, he couldn’t believe it.

Designer Mondo Guerra speaks on the runway at the Project Runway Spring 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Theater at Lincoln Center on September 9, 2010 in New York City.
(September 8, 2010 – Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America)

“Being on ‘Project Runway All Stars’ was the hardest thing I’ve done.” Guerra continued, “I came here with such confidence, understanding who I was…but being here has made me realize I can’t…take what I’ve been given for granted.”
Guerra made it into the finale in Season 8 as well, but lost the title to fellow designer Gretchen Jones. While in Season 8 the designer walked away empty handed, Guerra’s ‘All Star’ win has him taking home the biggest prize in “Project Runway” history.Aside from $100,000 in cash, Guerra also received a yearlong guest editor position at fashion magazine Marie Claire and an exclusive boutique in select Neiman Marcus department stores.

Read more: FOX NEWS LATINO

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HISPANIC NETWORKS MADE $88 MILLION IN NEW BUSINESS LAST YEAR

THE HISPANIC BLOG IS THE LATEST HISPANIC NEWS BY JESSICA MARIE GUTIERREZ

The race is on to capture the U.S. Hispanic market, with mainstream networks and their Hispanic counterparts battling for primacy. The result is an increasing cross-pollination of programs and a proliferation of networks, with Fox, Lionsgate and NBCU among those joining Hispanic allies to find and produce content aimed at the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S.

New Hispanic channels are emerging, some in Spanish, some in English, in a bid to appeal to a mix of generations and language preferences that can exist under one Latino roof: The latest census reveals that of the 50.5 million Hispanics in the U.S., 30% are Spanish-dominant while the rest are either English-speaking or bilingual.

Broadcast leader Univision is now the clear No. 5 broadcast network (behind the Big Four) while rival Telemundo has been picking up steam.

'Q'Viva'‘Q’Viva’

“The number of networks focused on the Spanish space has increased from around 12 in 2001 to 100 just a month ago,” says Univision networks prexy Cesar Conde, who points out that Univision alone will have a dozen networks by year’s end compared with three last year.

These include Univision’s upcoming news and sports pay TV nets in addition to the telenovela channel now on Dish Network plus the six TuTV pay TV channels, jointly owned with Televisa.

One of the most anticipated new players is MundoFox, a joint venture between Fox Intl. Channels (FIC) and Colombia’s RCN, due to launch in the fall. The new Spanish-lingo network will showcase edgier Colombian telenovelas and look to build on Fox’s success in inserting itself into a market. Meanwhile, Fox and Univision recently bowed Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s pan-American talent competish “Q’Viva! The Chosen,” while Fox’s “Family Guy” airs on Univision sibling web TeleFutura.

Elsewhere, sister networks NBC and Telemundo share talent and resources in the exec ranks as well as on-air.

In the 2011-12 upfront season, an estimated $88 million of new business came to Spanish-Language TV, with Telemundo taking more than half (55%) of the new business, according to Lauren Zalaznick, chairman of NBCUniversal entertainment, digital networks and integrated media.

GUTIERREZ (CREATOR OF THE HISPANIC BLOG) WITH CESAR CONDE PRESIDENT OF UNIVISION

“The reported 2011/2012 upfront numbers were $1.75 billion for Univision, and $400 million for Telemundo, up 20% from the 2010/2011 upfront,” says Antonio Ruiz, partner-communications planning at leading Hispanic ad agency, the Vidal Partnership. Telemundo and its youth-skewed bicultural cable sibling Mun2 delivered more than 20% growth year-to-year, marking their best upfront season ever.

“Our Hispanic strategy is not limited to Telemundo (or Mun2) alone,” says Zalaznick, who points out that NBCUniversal’s theme parks, studio, cable and broadcast networks, digital assets and Comcast’s leading position among cablers in the U.S. allows the company to collectively reach 93% of all Hispanics. She adds that landing the Spanish-language U.S. rights to World Cup Soccer matches in 2018 and 2022 would not have happened without the joint efforts of NBC Sports and Telemundo Deportes.

NBCU parent Comcast has begun to fulfill its pledge to launch 10 independently owned channels on its cable systems over the next eight years. Of these, four will have Hispanic ownership.

Leading the initial pack is young-male-skewed El Rey from Latino helmer Robert Rodriguez and partners John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa of FactoryMade Ventures.

“When Fogelman approached me with the idea for this channel, I immediately said yes,” says Rodriguez. He’s building soundstages on his 25-acre property in Austin for the English-language channel, which will include animation, music, reality, scripted shows, movies, docus and sports programming.

“The key is to make it universal; I want viewers to watch it because it’s cool, not Latino,” adds Rodriguez.

Another upcoming Latino-owned Comcast network is BabyFirst Americas from Spanish-lingo TV exec Constantino “Said” Schwarz, which is slated to launch by April.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate and Mexican partner Televisa have expanded their joint film venture, Pantelion Films, onto the smallscreen as well. (Over the March 16-18 weekend, Pantelion scored big at the B.O. with “Casa de mi Padre,” which nabbed $2.4 million on 382 screens.) The partnership will include English-lingo format adaptations of TV content from Televisa’s library, and the development of scripted and unscripted English-language original programming.

The companies have set up a hefty development fund to enable them to attract top showrunners and talent for an average output of six to eight projects a year, including the sitcom spinoff of Pantelion’s debut pic, “From Prada to Nada”; “Badlands,” a scripted drama at ABC based on Televisa hit telenovela “Soy tu Duena“; Televisa’s drama skein “Terminales” for ABC Family; and “Teresa,” based on another Televisa telenovela.

Univision, an erstwhile strictly Spanish-language network, recently began providing English close-captioning for its primetime block of telenovelas and other programs, including long-running variety show “Sabado Gigante.” The network is a ratings winner, especially among adults 18-34, where its season average is double struggling English-language broadcaster CW (1.6 vs. 0.8) and is now within shouting distance of ABC, CBS and NBC. (No. 2 Hispanic-language net Telemundo has been offering English closed captions in its primetime block since 2004.)

“Forty-two of the top 50 shows are already watched by bilinguals on Univision,” says Conde.

But U.S.-partnered players aren’t the only ones gearing up to deliver Latino shows to the U.S.: Venezuela’s RCTV, once the oldest and most dominant broadcaster in Venezuela until president Hugo Chavez shuttered it for allegedly inciting rebellion, revived its production capabilities in October, keenly aware of the growing interest in Latino-themed stories.

RCTV Intl. head Jorge Granier is opening a Los Angeles office and has been meeting with showrunners and talent agencies to package English-language versions of RCTV telenovelas selected from its trove of 300 titles.

Latin America’s wealth of talent, formats, stories and programming innovations has not been fully tapped in the U.S., says Joshua Mintz, exec VP of Telemundo Studios, which is churning out six to seven telenovelas a year, mainly in Miami. Mintz points to ABC’s hit adaptation of Colombia’s “Ugly Betty” and, most recently, Fox Television Studios plans for an English-lingo version of “La Reina del Sur,” Telemundo’s biggest hit telenovela.

“If the U.S. TV industry needs new stories to tell, it doesn’t need to look any further than Latin America,” Granier says.”

READ MORE: VARIETY

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