A Short History of the National Association of Hispanic Publications
By Kirk Whisler
Part One: Three Key Things That Happened to Allow for the NAHP to be Created
In the late 1970s the media landscape for Spanish language media and media targeting Latinos had a ver small presence compared to today. There were nearly a hundred small to very small Latino newspapers and magazines around the USA.
These were of two types of media outlets:
In early 1982 the CCNMA held the first National Spanish Language Media Conference at UCLA. About 80 people attended, but the energy level for creating something great was much bigger. At the end of the conference we had a round-table and nearly everyone there felt we needed a national pressence for Latino media and journalists. Fortunately one of the attendees was Frank Gomez, an executive with Philip Morris who truely believed in the power and importance of media by and about Latinos. He committed Philip Morris resources to planning what became the Fist Nation Hispanic Media Conference in San Diego in December of that year. There were a couple dozen of us doing all the planning and we all saw the potential ultimately for two organizations to grow out of these efforts: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, serving journalists both in mainstream and Latino media, and the National Association of Hispanic Publications, serving all the Latino newspapers, magazines, and other print publications that existed across the USA.
At the same time Latino media entities were starting to work together the same thing was happening within the entertainment industry. In 1970 Ricardo Montelban founded Nosotros to bring together Latino actors, producers, screenwriters, and others in the industry to collectively increase the chances of professionals succeeding. By the late 1970’s Ricardo’s efforts, combined with leaders like Jerry Velasco and many others, had propelled the Nosotros’ Awards program into a must attend event for everyone in the industry.
Also at the same time, civil rights organizations like the National Council of La Raza, headed by Raul Yzaquirre, were also realizing they needed to help the entertainment and media industries be more responsive to the growing Latino community. In 1981, the NCLR obtained small grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that they used to fund the film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, which was produced by Moctesuma Esparza and starred Edward James Olmos. After the film aired on PBS in only a couple of markets around the USA in June of 1982, many saw that as the end of its run.
Eddie Olmos strongly believed the film had a life much larger than that, and so he, along with me and a couple of other people, sought a movie studio to do a real distribution of the movie. Six months later, after numerous meetings, the film had a deal with Embassy Pictures, owned by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio. A side note, Jerry Perenchio was extremely interested in the Latino market and Spanish language media. With advice from Eddie Olmos and myself, Jerry bought his first Spanish language radio stations during our stay at Embassy. In 1992, Jerry purchased the Univision television network for $550 million and, under his leadership, added 35 more TV stations, numerous radio stations, and much more. In 2007, he sold the company for $13.5 billion.
With the Embassy Pictures deal in late 1982 Eddie hired me as Executive Director of Media and empowered me to create a real database of Latino media. At the time the only listing of Latino publications that existed had only 16 outlets. Please also remember there were only four Spanish language TV stations in the entire USA – that is individual stations, not networks. Because of this Eddie and I decided that the most important job for me was to create the largest database of Latino media anywhere.
Over the next nine months Eddie and I, along with others helping, put together a list of over 120 Latino newspapers, magazines, journals, directories, and more, along with a listing of over 70 Spanish language radio and TV stations. With that media database and the sincere involvement of Edward James Olmos, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez went on to open the doors for movies like La Bamba and Stand and Deliver later in the 1980s. At the same time the Latino print database became the foundation for the early growth and development of the NAHP. Further, over the decades Edward James Olmos has attended the NAHP Convention at least seven times. The NAHP owes Eddie a HUGE thank you for all that he’s done for our organization.
In December all the forces described above came together at the First National Hispanic Media Conference in San Diego.
We will be adding a couple of times a year more insights from the long and productive NAHP history. Part Two will focus on the early years of the NAHP and how quickly it reached across the USA.
By Kirk Whisler
Part One: Three Key Things That Happened to Allow for the NAHP to be Created
In the late 1970s the media landscape for Spanish language media and media targeting Latinos had a ver small presence compared to today. There were nearly a hundred small to very small Latino newspapers and magazines around the USA.
These were of two types of media outlets:
- Traditional Spanish language newspapers covering local news, sports, and lifestyle issues.
- Newer publications that often tended to focus on the issues, problems, and leaders within their Chicano or Puerto Rican communities. Some of these were in bilingual formates and a few were just in English.
In early 1982 the CCNMA held the first National Spanish Language Media Conference at UCLA. About 80 people attended, but the energy level for creating something great was much bigger. At the end of the conference we had a round-table and nearly everyone there felt we needed a national pressence for Latino media and journalists. Fortunately one of the attendees was Frank Gomez, an executive with Philip Morris who truely believed in the power and importance of media by and about Latinos. He committed Philip Morris resources to planning what became the Fist Nation Hispanic Media Conference in San Diego in December of that year. There were a couple dozen of us doing all the planning and we all saw the potential ultimately for two organizations to grow out of these efforts: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, serving journalists both in mainstream and Latino media, and the National Association of Hispanic Publications, serving all the Latino newspapers, magazines, and other print publications that existed across the USA.
At the same time Latino media entities were starting to work together the same thing was happening within the entertainment industry. In 1970 Ricardo Montelban founded Nosotros to bring together Latino actors, producers, screenwriters, and others in the industry to collectively increase the chances of professionals succeeding. By the late 1970’s Ricardo’s efforts, combined with leaders like Jerry Velasco and many others, had propelled the Nosotros’ Awards program into a must attend event for everyone in the industry.
Also at the same time, civil rights organizations like the National Council of La Raza, headed by Raul Yzaquirre, were also realizing they needed to help the entertainment and media industries be more responsive to the growing Latino community. In 1981, the NCLR obtained small grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that they used to fund the film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, which was produced by Moctesuma Esparza and starred Edward James Olmos. After the film aired on PBS in only a couple of markets around the USA in June of 1982, many saw that as the end of its run.
Eddie Olmos strongly believed the film had a life much larger than that, and so he, along with me and a couple of other people, sought a movie studio to do a real distribution of the movie. Six months later, after numerous meetings, the film had a deal with Embassy Pictures, owned by Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio. A side note, Jerry Perenchio was extremely interested in the Latino market and Spanish language media. With advice from Eddie Olmos and myself, Jerry bought his first Spanish language radio stations during our stay at Embassy. In 1992, Jerry purchased the Univision television network for $550 million and, under his leadership, added 35 more TV stations, numerous radio stations, and much more. In 2007, he sold the company for $13.5 billion.
With the Embassy Pictures deal in late 1982 Eddie hired me as Executive Director of Media and empowered me to create a real database of Latino media. At the time the only listing of Latino publications that existed had only 16 outlets. Please also remember there were only four Spanish language TV stations in the entire USA – that is individual stations, not networks. Because of this Eddie and I decided that the most important job for me was to create the largest database of Latino media anywhere.
Over the next nine months Eddie and I, along with others helping, put together a list of over 120 Latino newspapers, magazines, journals, directories, and more, along with a listing of over 70 Spanish language radio and TV stations. With that media database and the sincere involvement of Edward James Olmos, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez went on to open the doors for movies like La Bamba and Stand and Deliver later in the 1980s. At the same time the Latino print database became the foundation for the early growth and development of the NAHP. Further, over the decades Edward James Olmos has attended the NAHP Convention at least seven times. The NAHP owes Eddie a HUGE thank you for all that he’s done for our organization.
In December all the forces described above came together at the First National Hispanic Media Conference in San Diego.
We will be adding a couple of times a year more insights from the long and productive NAHP history. Part Two will focus on the early years of the NAHP and how quickly it reached across the USA.
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