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Torres Is Chosen Publisher Of El Sentinel, Its Web Site, Sun-Sentinel To Launch A New Spanish Weekly


Torres Is Chosen Publisher Of El Sentinel, Its Web Site

August 14, 2002
Copyright © 2002 Orlando Sentinel. All rights reserved.

Aníbal Torres, an advertising manager with the Orlando Sentinel for six years, has been promoted to publisher of El Sentinel and elSentinel.com.

El Sentinel, a bilingual weekly, has a circulation of 60,000 in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and west Volusia counties.

Torres, 51, said his appointment is a reflection of the growth of Central Florida's Hispanic market.

"It's a confirmation of the strength of the community and the acceptance by our advertisers and readers," he said.

The newspaper and companion Web site have been in operation for one year.

Kathleen M. Waltz, president of Orlando Sentinel Communications, said El Sentinel's first year exceeded the company's financial projections.

"It needed its own senior executive to lead it," Waltz said.

Torres will report to Waltz, who is publisher of the Orlando Sentinel and had served as publisher of El Sentinel.

The Latino Print Network, a Carlsbad, Calif., marketing company, reports there are 560 Spanish-language or bilingual newspapers in the United States -- a 58 percent increase from 10 years ago.

Advertising revenue in the same period climbed more than sixfold to $702 million and circulation more than tripled to 15 million.

Before his appointment as publisher, Torres was division manager for regional advertising for Orlando Sentinel Communications and served as sales manager for El Sentinel and elSentinel.com.


Sun-Sentinel To Launch A New Spanish Weekly

By Joseph Mann

August 15, 2002
Copyright © 2002 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. All rights reserved.

The Sun-Sentinel Co., publisher of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, said Wednesday it will launch a new Spanish-language weekly newspaper for Broward County's burgeoning Hispanic population.

El Sentinel, to be published starting in October, will be distributed free of charge on Saturdays to targeted Hispanic households and will be available in el Sentinel newspaper racks in the county.

Broward residents who wish to receive el Sentinel can also request free delivery.

The weekly will cover local and national news of interest to the county's Hispanic population, as well as international news from South and Central America, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba and other Caribbean nations.

Broward's Hispanic population reached over 271,000 in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, an increase from 105,668 Hispanics counted in 1990. But Miami-based Strategy Research Corp., a market research firm, estimates that Broward currently has about 326,000 Hispanics residents, a figure that includes many thousands of Latin Americans who moved here since the official count two years ago.

"Broward County's Hispanic population has tripled since 1990," said Bob Gremillion, president of the Sun-Sentinel Co., in a statement. "We believe el Sentinel will help serve the news and information needs of this growing audience and help us to continue to reflect our increasingly diverse marketplace."

In an interview, Gremillion also said that in focus groups and discussions with local Hispanic leaders, as well as with advertisers, the message was clear: "We're always asked to consider creating a Spanish-language product for the changing market."

This push to reach more Hispanics, now totaling more than 13 percent of the U.S. population, is part of a national trend among the media and providers of all types of goods and services. Hispanics' nationwide purchasing power this year is estimated at over $428 billion, according to Rick Tobin, president of Strategy Research.

And Hispanics are the fastest-growing group in the U.S.

Deborah Ramírez, formerly an editorial writer and columnist for the Sun-Sentinel, has been named editor of el Sentinel.

Ramírez, who has worked for the newspaper since 1992, holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Puerto Rico.

The Sun-Sentinel, which has bureaus in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Havana, Cuba, will provide el Sentinel with news and opinion pieces.

The new weekly will also publish articles from sister newspapers, including Orlando's El Sentinel, Éxito in Chicago, La Opinión from Los Angeles and New York City's Hoy, as well as reports from wire services and special correspondents in Latin America. In the past, the Sun-Sentinel Co. published two other Spanish weeklies, Éxito and el semanal, both of which circulated in Miami-Dade County.

Other Spanish-language newspapers currently circulating in Broward include El Nuevo Herald, the sister publication of The Miami Herald; El Correo; El Noticiero; El Heraldo and other papers, like El Argentino, which reach specific national groups.

The Sun-Sentinel Co. is a unit of Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns and operates publishing, broadcasting and Internet businesses throughout the United States.

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