Luis Francisco Ojeda (born June 16, 1941) is a well-known
Puerto Rican television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, radio reporter and host, noted for his aggressive, uncompromising questioning. He spent 50 years on radio until his retirement in 2020.
Early years
Ojeda was born in
Jayuya
Jayuya (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the mountainous center region of the island, north of Ponce; east of Utuado; and west of Ciales. Jayuya is spread over 10 barrios and Jayuya Pueblo (the downtown and administra ...
. He moved to
Ponce when he was still a youngster. While studying in
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
, he got his first opportunity to talk live in a daily show, becoming a newscaster for Ponce's
WPAB
WPAB (550 AM broadcasting, AM, "550 Ponce") is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish News/Talk format. Licensed to Ponce, Puerto Rico, it serves the greater Puerto Rico area. The station is currently owned by WPAB, Inc. Its call letters, PAB, ...
radio station.
Career as a newscaster
Ojeda signed a contract with
WAPA in 1960, and moved to
San Juan. He worked at WAPA as newscaster (and occasional disc jockey) until 1968, moving on that year to work for rival
WKAQ-Radio Reloj. While there, he had to cover the historic riots at the
University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in 1971. In one of the incidents covered by Ojeda a shooting ensued, and Ojeda, in the middle of the shootout, rescued a police lieutenant who had been shot. Despite his efforts, the police officer died from his gunshot wounds in the back of the remote unit truck while Ojeda was broadcasting his and his driver's frantic rush to the nearest emergency room live.
Ojeda was later offered a job as the news director and anchorman of
Telemundo Puerto Rico's television news show. He decided, however, not to take the job, opting instead to join then governor
Rafael Hernández Colón
Rafael Hernández Colón (October 24, 1936 – May 2, 2019) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993 for a total of three terms. An experienced politician, Hernández held the ...
's staff, as a member of Puerto Rico's Communications Office. Ojeda needed to work as a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
, however, and, by 1973, he decided to step in front of the television cameras for the first time, working at
channel 11's news show. Not long after Ojeda joined channel 11, the channel's owner had died and the station went bankrupt, so Ojeda signed on with
WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by Hemisphere Media Group, which is 84% owned by InterMedia Partners. WAPA-TV's studios are located on Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in G ...
to work as a field reporter at
Noticentro 4
WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by Hemisphere Media Group, which is 84% owned by InterMedia Partners. WAPA-TV's studios are located on Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in Gu ...
.
Ojeda spent most of his time at Noticentro 4 traveling across Puerto Rico, working as an on-the-field reporter, but he also sporadically got chances to host the show, usually filling in for a sick anchorman or woman. He worked on various tragedies, government scandals and other types of news while at Noticentro 4, essentially pioneering investigative reporting in Puerto Rican television.
Ojeda, Sin Limite
In 1987, he was given his own television
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
, ''Ojeda, Sin Limite'' (''Ojeda, Without Limit'').
He became known for his strong questioning of participants of the show, and the show produced a number of classic moments of Puerto Rican television; such as the time that two of the three candidates for Puerto Rican commissioner in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, the
PNP's
Carlos Romero Barceló
Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...
(former governor of Puerto Rico) and the
PPD's
Miguel Hernandez Agosto
-->
Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to:
Places
*Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands
* São Miguel (disamb ...
got into a shouting match, calling each other "liar" multiple times and almost physically assaulting each other.
After his show was cancelled, Ojeda continued ''Ojeda, Sin Limite'' as a radio show, on WKAQ-Radio.
Currently
In 2000, he returned to television, with a show named Ojeda, once again at WAPA-TV, which, by then, had the new name of
Televicentro. Later on, he was offered a fifteen-minute space on Televicentro's midday variety show, ''Mediodía Puerto Rico'' (Midday Puerto Rico), where he would accept calls from the public in a segment called "La Descarga" (Discharge). In this segment, Don Eleuterio, comedian
Sunshine Logroño's alter ego who was a backer of Puerto Rican statehood movements (Logrono himself is a backer of Puerto Rican independence), calls and changes his name trying to pass as another person from the public. Ojeda of course recognizes his voice. Don Eleuterio then usually praises the American people and picks on Ojeda for being an "independista" (an advocate of P.R.'s independence). Ojeda now collaborates on a new radio station show as well.
As of May 15, 2009, Ojeda broadcast his last "descarga" and on the air tendered his resignation in response to the cancellation of the remaining local programs (Club Sunshine and
TV Ilegal) and the dismissal of Junior Alvarez over comments made of mistreatment in part of the vice-president of programming, Jimmy Arteaga, of Peruvian descent. In 2013, Ojeda returned to television again, in
Dando Candela by Telemundo.
Ojeda retired in March 2020.
See also
*
List of television presenters/Puerto Rico
*
List of Puerto Ricans
*
Juan Manuel García Passalacqua
Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua (February 22, 1937 – July 2, 2010) was a lawyer, writer and political analyst from Puerto Rico.
Early years
Garcia Passalacqua, who was born in the Hato Rey district of San Juan, Puerto Rico, showed interest in s ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ojeda, Luis Francisco
Puerto Rican radio personalities
American commentators
1941 births
Living people
Puerto Rican journalists
Puerto Rican political journalists
Puerto Rican people of Spanish descent
Puerto Rican television personalities
People from Jayuya, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican television journalists