After years of whining about "Spanish-language disinformation" and watching the Democrats continue to lose Hispanic electoral share to the GOP, the left has had enough.
In what is clearly a panic move, a Soros-led investment group has backed the acquisition of 18 Univision radio stations by a media organization led by former Obama and Clinton operatives.
As it focuses more on video following its merger with Mexican media giant Televisa, Univision is paring back its radio portfolio. The company has cut a $60 million all-cash deal to sell 18 radio stations in 10 cities. The buyer is the Latino Media Network (LMN), a new company founded by social entrepreneurs Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto with support from a group of investors.
Among those investors, as Axios reported:
Lakestar Finance, an investment entity affiliated with the Soros Fund Management, is leading the investment, and other individuals, including Hollywood actress and entrepreneur Eva Longoria, are also investing.
Award-winning Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas and Al Cardenas, former chair of the Florida Republican Party and American Conservative Union will serve as advisers.
The deal fundamentally recreates the footprint of the failed Univision America talk radio network, with affiliates in: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, McAllen, Miami, San Antonio, and Fresno. As a deal sweetener, Univision threw in WADO-NY, the Spanish-language home of the New York Yankees, and most importantly WAQI 710 in Miami- the iconic anti-communist Radio Mambí.
The latter is important because Mambí has long been a thorn on the side of an entitled left that demands absolute control over what media Hispanics consume.
Consider the ongoing war over censorship of conservative Spanish-language media, especially in Miami, under the guise of “disinformation.”
With this move, the left doesn’t just establish a beachhead -- it also seizes the opposition’s crown jewel. Give the outbursts of glee among Hispanic progressives on social media when the deal was announced, it is hard to imagine Mambí not getting shut down or "restructured" once the deal closes.
But will “Radio Soros” be a commercial and political success, though? Hard to tell.
The former Univision America launched and folded at a time when Hispanics trusted their media institutions and the sitting Democrat president enjoyed the support of over 70% of Hispanics. This is not that time, and Joe Biden’s Hispanic support is nearly inverted in comparison to that of Barack Obama.
Furthermore, “Radio Soros” can’t fill shelves with baby formula, bring gas prices down to $2/gallon, fix the border crisis or reduce crime in the cities.
In sum, the move appears to be primarily fueled by panic over Democrats’ continued loss of influence over the Hispanic vote ahead of the 2024 presidential election. This is a significant development inasmuch as it lays a marker down, but not one that is permanently transformative or even a game-changer, given the left's current existing near-monopoly on Spanish-language media.
One does not imagine that this venture will successfully wokeshame folks along the Rio Grande Valley into changing their existing voting patterns, or that the potential shuttering of the Cuban-American flagship radio station will go unanswered.
Time will tell as to what the conservative countermove looks like, or whether one is even made.
