Univision layoffs affect several conservative radio shows in Miami and Padre Alberto
This week’s layoffs at the Univision Network has left popular Cuban exile figures with outstanding careers on Radio Mambí 710- AM and WQBA 1140-AM off the air. A nationwide wave of layoffs came after the recent sale of the Spanish-language media colossus to investment firms.
Univision Radio stations parted ways with hosts José Alfonso Almora, José “Pepe” Forte, Humberto Cortina and Father Alberto Cutié, sources confirmed to El Nuevo Herald.
“There remains a void of the traditional voices of Cuban exile,” Cortina, who for 20 years hosted Al Ritmo de Miami, at Mambí, told el Nuevo Herald.
“The losses of Cuban conservative voices can have strong repercussions on the audience,” said the former state legislator and Bay of Pigs and United States Army veteran.
Univision did not specify how many employees it had laid off, but confirmed to different media outlets the layoffs at television and radio properties in multiple markets.
The most prominent dismissal in Miami was on Channel 23, the network’s flagship local station, which impacted Alina Mayo Azze, one of the most admired and beloved faces on Spanish-language television in Miami.
“The changes reflect a reorganization of the way we work and, in some cases, we have to say goodbye to some colleagues,” the corporation said in a statement quoted by La Opinion.
The layoffs come days after the majority stake in Univision Communications, the network’s parent company, was sold to investment firms Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight LLC.
“They are corporate decisions that are made. It has to be an economic problem,“ said Cortina, 79, who expressed that he felt very honored by his 20-year career.
Another from the old guard of popular Cuban presenters who aired his last show on Monday was Forte, known for his iconic show El Ático de Pepe.
“No one can get angry despite the fact that this reality affects you, me and the station,” Forte told listeners when saying goodbye on Monday.
“As happens in the corporate world, there are changes in guidelines,” he explained, simultaneously broadcasting on Facebook.
Similarly, the departures of the journalist Almora and Father Alberto, who had just joined the team of Univision Radio presenters last year, were surprising, although their radio careers date back decades.
Father Cutié, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Cuban parents, presented Speaking with Father Alberto on WQBA, where he addressed familiy-related issues. His media career has encompassed jobs on Telemundo, EWTN in Spanish and Radio Paz, the Archdiocese of Miami radio station.
Almora, 59, began his career at WQBA in 1987 and was one of Channel 23’s best-known reporters until his retirement from Univision 23 in 2018 for medical reasons.
“I have been off Univision Radio since Monday, Jan. 11, the day I did my last program,” the Cuban journalist told El Nuevo Herald; he had been broadcasting his show A esta hora con Almora for nine months.
Almora explained that the dismissal is due to economic adjustments by the company as a result of the spread of COVID-19 and the arrival of a new administration.
“What has happened to me is what is happening to millions of Americans,” added the communicator, who said he was compensated well when he was laid off.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
