Marcelino Miyares Sotolongo (born 1937)
is a
Cuban-American
Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cubans, Cuban desc ...
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
executive and the current President of the
Christian Democratic Party of Cuba, the largest political party in Cuba other than the
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba ( es, Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26t ...
.
Miyares became the President of the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba in 1990 and wrote the party's manifesto "Models for a Peaceful Transition in Cuba".
Biography
Miyares gained a PhD in
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at the Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
. He then became a Professor of Political Science at
Benedictine University
Benedictine University is a private Roman Catholic university in Lisle, Illinois. It was founded in 1887 as St. Procopius College by the Benedictine monks of St. Procopius Abbey in the Pilsen community on the West Side of Chicago. The institu ...
in
Lisle, Illinois
Lisle ( ) is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 22,390 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the population was recorded to be 23,270. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Illinois Technology and Resea ...
.
In 1970, He became founder and President of Market and Advertising Research, Inc. and became a creative director of many advertising campaigns aimed at the Hispanic market in the United States.
Television
In 1978, Miyares became the general partner in Hispanic American Television–Chicago, which was one of several applicants for a new TV station on channel 60 in Chicago. Hispanic American Television merged with a competing applicant for the channel, Aurora-Chicago Telecasters, to form HATCO-60, which in turn negotiated a settlement with Metrowest Corporation, headed by
Fred Eychaner
Fred Eychaner (born c. 1945) is an American businessman and philanthropist.
Eychaner is the chairman of Newsweb Corporation. He was included in ''Chicago'' magazine's 2014 list of the 100 most powerful Chicagoans. In 2005, the ''Chicago Tribune' ...
, to share the channel with its proposed station. In April 1982, the two stations signed on—Eychaner's
WPWR-TV
WPWR-TV (channel 50) is a television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, United States, broadcasting the MyNetworkTV programming service to the Chicago area. It is one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market to be licensed in ...
and HATCO-60's
WBBS-TV. WBBS-TV broadcast Spanish-language programming from 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., while WPWR broadcast its English-language independent fare from 2:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Miyares and Eychaner were involved in negotiating a contract for both halves of channel 60 that brought it
SportsVision
Sportsvision (SV) was a subscription sports television service founded by Chicago White Sox owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn and media mogul Fred Eychaner. The service broadcast live sporting events, and for much of its time of operati ...
, a subscription service featuring several Chicago professional sports teams.
WBBS programming featured an array of novelas, variety shows and locally produced programs. The locally produced programs focused on community events, as well as weekly specialty programs such as, "Esta Semana en Baseball" hosted by John Morales and the video music show, ''Imagen'', hosted by Chicago radio veteran, Rey Mena. In 1984, WBBS-TV gained notoriety by introducing the teen heart-throb group, ''Menudo'', to Chicago, which included a young
Ricky Martin
Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...
.
WBBS-TV's market panorama changed drastically when
WSNS
WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ-TV ...
affiliated with the
Spanish International Network
Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...
, triggering a realignment of Spanish-language television in Chicago that saw channel 60 lose much of its programming. WBBS ended weekday programming at the end of 1985, with the exception of weekends, when it ran Spanish movies into 1986. In early 1986, Eychaner bought the WBBS license for $11 million, allowing WPWR to go full-time.
Marcelino Miyares was also Founder and President of Times Square Studios) which produced such shows as the ''
Montel Williams
Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host, actor and motivational speaker. He is known for hosting the long-running daytime tabloid talk show ''The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 1991 ...
''.
Since 1995 he has presided as President of MM Communications, a consultancy of mass media projects in the Americas, with offices in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
and
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
.
See also
*
Opposition to Fidel Castro
The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political dissent.
Backgr ...
*
Political parties in Cuba
This article lists political parties in Cuba. Cuba is a single-party authoritarian regime, led by the Communist Party of Cuba, where political opposition is not permitted. No party is allowed to campaign or endorse candidates for election, includ ...
*
WPWR-TV
WPWR-TV (channel 50) is a television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, United States, broadcasting the MyNetworkTV programming service to the Chicago area. It is one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market to be licensed in ...
References
External links
Biography
Opposition to Fidel Castro
Leaders of political parties in Cuba
Northwestern University alumni
Benedictine University faculty
Living people
1937 births
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