By Adam R Jacobson
MIAMI — In a somewhat surprising move, Univision Communications today relieved José Valle–president of Univision Radio–of his duties.
Effective immediately, Valle takes on a new role as president of political and advocacy sales.
Univision Local Media EVP Jaime Jiménez takes on Valle’s former duties, which Valle had held since 2011.
Valle’s specific tasks as president of political and advocacy sales were not disclosed by Univision. However, the move comes just one day after Univision News and The Washington Post announced a partnership for political coverage tied to the 2016 Republican presidential nomination process and next year’s presidential campaign.
Valle will remain based in Los Angeles and retains his seat as a Univision Communications Inc. Officer of the Company.
UCI president of advertising sales and marketing Keith Turner, who Valle will continue to report to, commented, “José brings a fantastic background with diverse experience in sales, general management, local television and radio which make him uniquely qualified to help potential Political and Advocacy clients see all of the opportunities Hispanic constituents and UCI present.”
Valle’s resume includes stints as president and GM of KVEA-Channel 52 in Los Angeles, one of Telemundo’s biggest O&O TV stations. He’s also been VP/GM of KXTX-Channel 39 in Dallas, another Telemundo O&O.
Meanwhile, Jiménez will now oversee all content for 67 AM and FM radio stations serving U.S. Hispanics–including Talk WKAQ-AM and Hispanic Top 40 WKAQ-FM (KQ105) in Puerto Rico. He will also effectively serve as the operations and management leader for Univision Radio’s stations in Los Angeles, Miami and San Antonio.
Jiménez has been SVP/GM for Univision Radio/Los Angeles and previously held LSM duties for Univision’s two broadcast TV stations in Los Angeles: KMEX Univision 34 and KFTR UniMas 46. Prior to that, Jiménez enjoyed a career at Telemundo.
As part of the changes, Univision Radio’s AM stations “will be integrated locally,” effective immediately. What this means was not immediately clear; many recent Univision AMs took on a underperforming nationally distributed Spanish News/Talk format. However, the company notes the integrated local content approach “will allow for more targeted local content, giving listeners more of the fresh, localized content they want and advertisers the opportunity to reach a hyper engaged, market-specific consumer group.”
In unrelated news, Univision Communications today terminated its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is part-owned by Donald J. Trump. The decision was based on Trump’s recent remarks about Mexican immigrants.
“At Univision, we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country,” the company said in a statement. “We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12 or work on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization.”
However, the company did note that Univision News and the local news division will not censor any coverage of all candidates, including that of Donald Trump, thus ensuring its audience continues to have access to all points of view.
ARJ
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