OMAR ROMAY

AMERICA-TEVE AND MUNDO FOX

BETTER TOGETHER

Omar Romay, husband, father of five, president and owner of TV stations WFUN Channel 48 and America Tevé, WJAN Channel 41 in Miami, spoke with LATINO SHOW MAGAZINE in an effort to give us insight on what’s behind the programming that Latinos in the United States watch on a daily basis.

Argentinean by birth, Latino by heart, Mr. Romay is a visionary and an expert in communications who has worked in the medium since 1972. He arrived to the U.S. in 1988 ready to stay for good and with the responsibility of making the Hispanic programming grow in the Miami area.

“In 1998, Hispanic television wasn’t at its deserving level of acquisitive power. There was little production and this was complemented by a lack of quality. In the last 14 yeas, it has been improving year after year. This growth has forced the big stations to be more competitive, which in turn, has pressured the medium into offering more quality and a more relevant product. The people that work in this industry care about improving and offering more options. That’s the case with MundoFox,” explains Mr. Romay. MundoFox is an over-the-air Spanish language American television network available to more than 75% of U.S. households, created by Colombian broadcaster RCN Television and Fox Latin American Channels. MundoFox launched in August 2012 and is now finalizing negotiations for a joint venture with America Tevé, the TV station that Mr. Omar Romay presides over.

This union, aside from the success it is forecasted to have, poses Mr. Romay with the challenge of choosing the programming that the community wants. Because, according to this entrepreneur, it is the people that who choose what they want to watch, not the other way around.

As a Colombian and as a mother, I asked Mr. Romay about a topic that concerns me greatly; the violence in our TV shows. To which he answered: “I understand countries like Mexico and especially Colombians feeling alluded to revive or re-enact in a show, a problematic that affected them so closely. Nonetheless, I feel that Colombians have successfully stood out both domestically and internationally and are above the stereotypes. I think that exposing the history confirms just that; history. There have always been sinister characters in the world and people develop a great level of curiosity in regards to their lives. Seeing them from a different perspective allows for the “purging” of the topic in a natural manner; when the ending of the story is not a happy one for the bad guy, then, there is a moral to the story: Regardless of the success obtained from an ill-gotten business, the success is temporary and things end up badly for every villain. One can clearly see that it is no the path to follow. We hope that this lesson serves as catharsis for the human being.”

In our conversation about “Reality Shows,” he told me that this type of shows were a format that had become a way enter into the lives or regular people who allow themselves to be known without a strict script to follow. These shows have been a change from traditional television, a new standard that people accepted and one which has taken away from hours of fiction or information, but that the people ask for and it is them who force businessmen or producers to continue to show them.

Omar Romay does what he likes and people reward him with the continuity and recognition, that’s what construes success.

To bring television closer to the necessities of the community via more local channels is what I would do if I could. And for that, individuals who grow closer to the people are needed. This is why his advice to new producers or those aspiring to be, is: “Follow your dreams. Making the effort and paying the price to accomplish what one wants is only attained through trial and perseverance.”

By Mireya Posada
Executive Managing Director / Mireya Posada
Editor in Chief / Cesar Florez

LATINO SHOW MAGAZINE

www.thelatinoshowny.com