The first full-power Hispanic-owned TV station in the Big Easy officially debuts this Friday. KGLA-42, a Telemundo affiliate will attempt to reach out to the estimated 75,000 to 135,000 Hispanic households in the New Orleans area.
“Latinos are grossly underrepresented in all the population studies done in the area,” says Jorge Fuentes, the station’s Director of Programming. “But the increase in Latino businesses gives us a better perspective of our audience. Before, Latinos in New Orleans were transitory migrants. Now, a lot of the folks that came for reconstruction after Katrina are staying in the city.”
Fuentes promises to deliver local programming, including soon- to-air news briefs and eventually a daily newscast. It would be the only television station in the area to provide local news in Spanish.
Its sister station, KGLA 1540 AM, Radio Tropical Caliente was the only source of news and access to resources for the Spanish-speaking Latino community after hurricane Katrina.
Ernesto Schweikert, III bought the radio station in 1990 and in May of 2007, bought WHMM-42, switching its call letters to KGLA-42. He is the General Manager of both stations, operated under Mayavision, Inc.
KGLA-42 is digital only station. It currently can only be seen on digital television sets, or via cable and DirectTV.