News (Noticias) Tagged ‘newspaper’

Norsan Media Group, owner of the No. 1 Hispanic Radio Network in the South East, has established a partnership with Mi Gente, the nationally awarded Charlotte based Spanish-language weekly newspaper. This joint venture creates the most powerful mass media Latino conglomerate in the Charlotte Metro region, with print, radio and Internet outlets.

“We have decided to invest in Mi Gente because it has persistently pursued a mission to offer excellent journalism and coverage of relevant issues to the Charlotte Hispanic Community,” said Norberto Sánchez, CEO of Norsan Media.

With the joint venture, the editorial content of Hola Noticias, a Norsan Media Group Charlotte weekly newspaper, will be incorporated in Mi Gente.

“Through Hola Noticias we will have the best coverage in several significant subjects, among them, education, health and community services. For a long time Mi Gente has been the indisputable leader in reporting immigration, political, and police matters,” said Rafael Prieto, Publisher and Editor of Mi Gente.

Norsan Media Group is offering special packages to advertisers, which include radio, print, Internet and new media combo options.

“Internet and new media will be a priority in our new alliance. We will develop and enhance our Web sites to the top,” said Sánchez.

The synergy between Norsan Media and Mi Gente will play a crucial role in producing newscasts and community programs for La Raza 102.3 FM, La Tremenda 1310 AM and Latino Hits 1060 AM.

The first issue of Mi Gente was published on March 18, 2002. With a circulation of 25,000 copies, audited by Circulation Verification Council (CVC), Mi Gente reaches over 125,000 readers every week, in 14 counties of North and South Carolina. Mi Gente, which is printed at The Charlotte Observer, will continue delivering its outstanding opinion section as well its colorful, easy-to-read, easy-to-carry, 64 pages format.

Mi Gente has won six national journalism awards in the last two years — five from the National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) and one from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).

Norsan Group is based in Atlanta, GA and owns one of the fastest growing Latino broadcasting groups in the country, with stations in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Additionally, Norsan Media owns Hola Noticias, a sister publication in Jacksonville, FL, which has been the leading Spanish-language newspaper for the past four years in that market. According to Hispanic Business Magazine, Norsan Group is ranked the 67th Latino-owned company in the country, with revenue of $106 million per year.

For further information, call Rafael Prieto at (704) 492-1530.
To schedule an interview with Norberto Sanchez, please call (704) 999-3048. “

Two $10,000 National Awards for Excellence in Spanish-Language Journalism - the first Felix Varela Awards — will be presented by the AL DIA Foundation at 4:30 p.m. Tues., Sept. 30, in the Great Court at Temple University’s Mitten Hall, 1913 N. Broad St., Philadelphia.

The prizes will go to Claudia Nuñez of the Los Angeles daily La Opinión in the category of Spanish-language Journalism, and to Matt O’Brien of the Daily Review of Hayward, Ca., for English-language coverage in the Hispanic Immigration Stories category.

“Hispanic print journalism has been contributing to the national dialogue for the past 200 years, ever since Father Felix Varela y Morales founded the first known Spanish-language newspaper on the East Coast in Philadelphia,” stated Hernán Guaracao, Chairman of the AL DIA Foundation and Editor and Publisher of AL DIA Newspaper.

“It is about time we recognize this type of overlooked American journalism produced today by hundreds of Spanish-language publications across the nation,” he added.

Guest speaker at the event, which is co-hosted by Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater, will be Alberto Ibarguen, President and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which invests in journalism excellence worldwide.

Father Felix Varela y Morales was born in Havana in 1788, and died in Saint Augustine, Fla., in 1853. In 1824, at 37 years of age, Father Varela, escaping political persecution in Spain, found refuge in Philadelphia where in Old City he published “El Habanero,” a newspaper in which he passionately wrote for the independence of Cuba.

Father Varela also was a prolific writer and the author of multiple essays on cooperation between the English and Spanish-speaking communities. He translated into Spanish several important English-language books, including Thomas Jefferson’s A Manual of Parliamentary Practice. In 1997, the U.S. Postal Service honored Varela by issuing a commemorative stamp. “

HoyInternet.com is being re-launched as ViveloHoy.com. ViveloHoy, which means “Live it Up Today”, is a national website which includes news and information from Tribune Company’s Spanish-language daily Hoy, and will enjoy a new design, name and logo as part of its robust series of interactive content. “Our goal is to create engaging ViveloHoy.com content offering visitors a daily dose of the best of being Hispanic,” says Simpson. “Visitors can now enjoy ViveloHoy.com in Spanish or English,” adds Simpson. ViveloHoy.com offers a variety of choices, including five video channels and five interactive segments. “Our visitors and advertisers will be able to engage in a number of new and exciting channels and segments,” says Kim Johnson, Senior Vice President of Local Sales for Tribune Interactive. “What makes ViveloHoy.com distinctive is its unique ability to combine relevant content with product integration.” Video Channels: Deportes de Hoy — a video channel dedicated to Latino sports stars, covering stories from all sports, including everything from scores and stories to gossip and scandals. Estrellas de Hoy — the video channel full of celebrity entertainment, bringing viewers the latest celebrity gossip, not sparing any juicy detail. From movie reviews, interviews, music reviews and much more, fans will be updated on the latest. De Moda Hoy — the video channel that will keep young adults up to date on the latest trends from dining and cars to fashion and the latest electronic gadgets. De Lujo Hoy — the video channel for fine living, with information and insights for those with a penchant for the good life with topics from fine dining and cigars, to art and culture. ConserVerde Hoy — Hispanics across America are discovering a new and better way to conserve our environment. ConserVerde Hoy channel provides useful information and tips on how Latinos can live green. Interactive Segments: Cancion de Hoy — A song contest where contestants submit their performances and visitors vote for their favorite. Cumpleanos de Hoy — The “Happy Birthday” segment where birthday wishes and birthday celebrants are posted everyday. Chistes de Hoy — A daily laugh from jokes posted online by ViveloHoy.com visitors. Consejos de Hoy — The Hispanic Ann Landers comes to life with advice to questions posted online by ViveloHoy.com visitors. Chismes de Hoy — The place to post the latest gossip. About ViveloHoy.com ViveloHoy.com (formerly HoyInternet.com) is the online product of Tribune Company’s Spanish-language daily — Hoy. The national Bilingual website offers users a mainstream website that complements the lifestyle of today’s Hispanic with new interactive features, a variety of channels and fresh content fed by Tribune Co.’s Hoy publications. “

Hoy, the leading daily Spanish-language newspaper in Chicago, will present a new feature in its monthly Padres de Hoy magazine insert; the feature that focuses on health and safety issues targeted toward the local Hispanic community. Written in collaboration with staffers at the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, the articles will cover a variety of topics ranging from back to school safety tips to what to do in an emergency situation.

“When it comes to emergency preparedness and home safety, we can’t think of a more credible source than the American Red Cross,” said John Trainor, Hoy’s general manager. “Our new monthly feature fulfills both Hoy’s and the Red Cross’s missions to serve and inform the local Hispanic community.”

The debut feature, which was published in the September 5th edition of Guia Para Padres de Hoy, highlights basics first-aid tips for minor cuts and bruises — and how to minimize childrens’ injuries on and off the sports field.

Last year, Hoy launched Padres de Hoy (Hoy’s Parenting Guide and only local Spanish-language parenting publication), a full-color pull-out supplement that focuses on positive parenting techniques and provides information and advice on the challenges of parenting, education and health-related issues that affect Hoy readers and parents.

About Hoy
Hoy is the leading Spanish-language newspaper with daily editions in Chicago and Los Angeles. Hoy Chicago belongs to the Chicago Tribune Media Group. Along with Hoy’s weekend publication, Hoy Fin de Semana, Hoy publications have a gross weekly distribution of 1.6 million copies nationwide. Hoy’s editorial mission is to provide Hispanics with engaging, entertaining news and information to help them build successful lives, serve as their advocate and provide a link to their culture. For more information about Hoy, please visit www.hoyinternet.com “

Today The Dallas Morning News launched the already-announced expanded distribution of its Spanish-language newspaper Al Dia. An additional 80,000 copies of Al Dia will be distributed to homes across the greater Dallas area every Wednesday and Saturday, effectively tripling Al Dia’s previous circulation of 40,000.
The expansion of Al Dia’s distribution is in response to North Texas’ ever-growing Spanish-speaking population and the increased demand for Spanish-language news and information.
Al Dia’s increased distribution also provides an avenue for advertisers who want to target the Latino community and Spanish-speaking consumers — a segment of the population that continues to grow in importance for many local retailers.
“This is a very aggressive move by Al Dia to better serve its consumers and advertisers. Tripling our circulation while others are shrinking theirs demonstrates our commitment to serve the growing Latino community in North Texas,” said Alejandro Sanchez Sobrino, publisher of Al Dia.
Cindy Carr, senior vice president for niche publications, said, “Al Dia’s advertising partners want more from the newspaper — more reach, more value, more of the potential customers that they value most. Tripling our circulation responds to those needs.”
The Dallas Morning News has partnered with American Circulation Innovations to manage Al Dia’s expansion. ACI specializes in targeted distribution and employs state-of-the-art product technology to ensure accurate and effective delivery. They have been in business since 1965 and distribute publications in dozens of markets. ACI will also handle distribution responsibilities for The News’ new product Briefing, planned for launch in late-August.
According to ACI’s Ken Higdon - Vice President of Business Development, “We are pleased and honored that Al Dia named us the distribution provider for this important initiative. They recognized our experience and the leading edge technologies we have to carry out their expanded circulation project, tools like GPS, devices for geofencing, sophisticated demographic analysis and proven hands-on experience with tight supervision and verifiers. These were all critical in us being selected for distributing Al Dia.”
Key advertisers have applauded this move. Quoting a leading print media buying service, Mr. Trevor Hansen, president and CEO of Ethnic Print Media Group, said, “EPMG is looking forward to the expansion of Al Dia’s distribution in the Dallas market. The circulation increase and free home delivery will be a great asset to both our pre-print and traditional ROP clients. Al Dia’s overall quality, strong content and increased market penetration provides an attractive and strong reach in the Dallas market.”
Al Dia’s expanded distribution will serve the community by providing outstanding, award winning journalism to a much larger segment of the population and extended reach and value to advertisers,” added Sanchez.
About Al Dia
Al Dia, the only local Spanish-language daily newspaper in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is published Monday to Saturday and is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in journalism, along with its Web site, aldiatx.com. Al Dia is published by The Dallas Morning News, the flagship subsidiary of A. H. Belo Corp., (NYSE: AHC), a news and information company that owns and operates four daily newspapers and 12 associated Web sites. A. H. Belo publishes special issues that target young adults and the Hispanic market, along with Quick and Al Dia in Dallas-Fort Worth, and La Prensa in Riverside.

Contact Information:
Isaac Lasky
Tel. 469-977-3609
Ilasky@aldiatx.com
“

ImpreMedia, the No. 1 Hispanic news and information company in the United States in online and print, is using IP technology from Avaya Inc. to improve contact center and customer service operations at its offices in Los Angeles, where it publishes La Opinión; in New York City, where it publishes El Diario La Prensa; and in Chicago, where it publishes La Raza. Avaya is a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services.

The company wanted an affordable, Internet Protocol (IP) communication system with call center capabilities whose operations they could easily monitor and manage. ImpreMedia chose Avaya IP Office, Avaya’s flagship voice and data communications system for small and medium businesses. According to Bob Mason, chief technology officer, ImpreMedia, IP Office gives his company a better handle on its call center productivity in offices located in three different markets across the country. With IP Office, ImpreMedia is also able to quickly, easily and economically provide its employees in additional, smaller and remote offices with the communications tools they need to do their jobs.

In Los Angeles, employees at La Opinion use a mix of Avaya digital and IP phones. Forty call center agents at the main call center office downtown, or in a small office in the suburbs, handle customers’ orders and solicit new business for classified advertisements.

“Our ad agents work together as if they’re in one place, and our managers can remotely monitor call traffic on agents’ PCs and allocate work to agents who aren’t so busy. We now have a better perspective on our operations, and our customer calls are answered faster and more efficiently,” Mason said. “Plus, our managers, who actually administer three call centers — classified ads, accounting and IT — can monitor all of the centers real-time and proactively reallocate resources to address calling patterns.” The Los Angeles contact center uses Avaya call recording software to keep a record of its calls. Third-party software from Computer Instruments, a member of Avaya’s DeveloperConnection program, automatically calls prospective customers for ads and then connects the calls to available agents, who then manage the calls.

ImpreMedia also wanted key employees in Los Angeles — such as those responsible for customer service or sales — to be productive while mobile. Now, employees with Avaya IP phones can have their incoming calls ring simultaneously on any other phone, including their mobile phones. Employees can now answer calls on the mobile phone, and once they return to their office can continue the conversation on their IP Office phone, accessing all of the system’s features, such as hold, conference, transfer, speed dial and other features. “These employees can also send their voice messages to their PCs or PDAs, where they read and respond to the message, even if they’re out of the office or on the road, which minimizes lost calls and improves our customer service,” Mason said.

ImpreMedia recently also chose IP Office for its El Diario office in the borough of Brooklyn, N.Y. “We were relocating to a new office, and it just made sense to choose IP, since it’s saving us money and helping us better serve our clients, and even greater sense to standardize on IP Office,” Mason said. “Soon, we plan to network our Los Angeles, Chicago and New York offices, and have four-digit dialing across these locations, so employees can contact each other faster. We also expect to save money on long-distance calls, especially on the huge volume of calls between our two largest newspapers in California and New York.”

ImpreMedia also plans to use IP Office’s contact center for its Brooklyn office, where one person currently takes calls from customers and routes the call to the appropriate person. “We know we’ll see a huge up tick in productivity and customer satisfaction,” Mason said. He also plans to save more money by routing calls from Los Angeles to its East coast tabloid, Hoy Nuevo York, through its El Diario office in Brooklyn. “Then, instead of a long distance call, the IP Office in Los Angeles will call our IP Office in Brooklyn, which will call our Hoy office — and we’ll pay for a local call, instead of a long distance call,” he said. “Clearly, IP Office is an important element in our plan to reduce our costs and increase our productivity and customer service.”

El Diario’s team of executives at the publication’s new, corporate headquarters in Manhattan has Avaya IP VPN phones that link them to the IP Office at El Diario in Brooklyn. “Some executives have offices in both Brooklyn and Manhattan,” Mason said. “With the Avaya IP phones, these managers can log into their phone at either location and get the same secure, reliable access anywhere.” A handful of employees who also need to work remotely have the Avaya IP VPN phone at home. The phones connect to IP Office lines and trunks and provide employees all the capabilities they have at their main office. A VPN gateway is not needed at the remote location (only at the main office), which saves the cost and headache of adding more hardware.

ImpreMedia used its Chicago office as the company’s test site for IP. In the La Raza office, which migrated to IP Office two years ago, five agents in the classified department use the built-in contact center application of IP Office to answer and make calls to clients. With IP Office, the agents can capture customer information in a group mailbox, and callers can leave messages via phone or a Web-browser interface. Callers can also ask to speak to a live agent or request a callback. These requests pop up on agents’ PC screen immediately, which improves customer service.

ImpreMedia’s IT staff, which is based in Los Angeles, will soon administer all three IP Office systems across the country, easily performing changes such as re-allocating extensions or changing greetings that customers hear when they call the newspapers.

ImpreMedia’s IP Office was configured by Converged Communication Systems, a certified member of Avaya’s BusinessPartner program and an Avaya “SMB Expert” reseller. Converged Communication Systems’ technical experts recently achieved Avaya Certified Expert (ACE) certification, which is the highest certification for Avaya resellers. Avaya certification validates the knowledge and skills associated with Avaya products and their underlying technologies, which enable professionals to effectively sell, design and implement powerful converged communication solutions.”*