10-04-2002

Printable Version

As the West Coast’s first and oldest Spanish-language broadcaster, founded on September 29, 1962, KMEX-TV has played an instrumental role in molding the local broadcast landscape of the city, while simultaneously impacting the lives of millions of Latinos who reside in Southern California.

Over the last four decades, Univision’s flagship station has matured from 16-mm film to digital photography, while active in its role as the eyes, ears and voice of a growing Latino community in Southern California.  Historical events, such as the Chicano Moratorium of the late 60’s and early 70’s, the 1984 Olympics, and the first California gubernatorial debate broadcast in Spanish are just a few of the events that have become an integral part of KMEX-TV’s tradition of broadcast excellence.

“KMEX-TV today is without a doubt the result of continuous viewer support”, said Jorge Delgado, KMEX-TV President and General Manager.  “Our audience’s backing is what has propelled this station since its beginnings, fostering a solid, mutual relationship based on respect and trust.  We greatly appreciate our viewers’ tuning in these past 40 years and look forward to serving their entertainment and informational needs for many more years to come.”

The station’s signature newscast, “Noticias 34”, has come on strong to the local TV scene in recent years, making significant strides for Spanish-language news since its beginning and influencing English-language stations’ coverage of the market.  One of the station’s first news reporters, Fernando Escandon recalls only months after KMEX-TV’s inception that “Noticias 34 acted as the pulse for the community, reporting on issues many times that specifically affected our audience’s daily lives.”

Today, “Noticias 34” carries on this same pledge of delivering the news that matters most to the local Latino community.  Over the last eight years, “Noticias 34” has emerged as the #1 early local news program in Los Angeles, repeatedly outperforming the English-language stations in the market among key demographics, including KABC, KCBS and KNBC.  According to the latest data available from Nielsen Media Research, “Noticias 34” has now ranked number one among Adults 18-34 and Adults 18-49 for 34 consecutive Nielsen “Sweeps” (since July 1994), regardless of language.

KMEX-TV’s unquestionable success lies in its ability to speak to the community it serves.  Stories focus on the issues and events that are most relevant to the Spanish-speaking population, while providing access and a voice for them today as it did forty years ago.  The station’s long standing commitment to broadcast excellence has been recognized by various organizations, most recently by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, who bestowed KMEX-TV with its third “Best Newscast” Emmy Award in five years, and this year for “Best Local Daytime Newscast”.  During its long history, the station has also earned the prestigious Peabody Award and Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence in Television including multiple Emmys and Golden Mike Awards among many other honors.

KMEX-TV, Channel 34, is the flagship station of the Univision Television Group, Inc., the country's leading Spanish-language television station group.  The company operates 22 full-power and seven low-power television stations and two television translator stations.