Joseph Wallach (born September 10, 1923) is an American businessman,

television broadcasting A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

executive and author. In 1985 Wallach, along with

Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws". Biography S ...

and Henry Silverman of Reliance Capital Group L. P., founded

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

, which is today the second-largest Spanish-language

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

in the United States.

Early career

Wallach attended Boston University for post graduate studies in business after receiving a BBA from the City College of New York. He served as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry in World War II Europe. Wallach’s career in broadcasting began in 1960 as business manager and then general manager of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

based television station KOGO-TV, owned by Time-Life Broadcast Corporation from 1962-1970. In 1965, Wallach moved to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

to oversee another Time-Life venture,

TV Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. Under Wallach’s guidance, by 1980, TV Globo grew to dominate the Brazilian market and became the 4th largest network in the world, with 31 affiliates and programming provided to 80 countries. Wallach became a Brazilian citizen in 1971.

Telemundo

In 1985, Wallach obtained an option to purchase television channel 52 in

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with a plan to make the station a Spanish language channel. He secured Reliance as major stock shareholder and purchased channel 52 through Estrella Communications. As general manager, he engaged Paul Niedermeyer as assistant manager and Frank Cruz as director of public affairs. KVEA was launched in November, 1985, and in six months captured 40% of the Los Angeles Spanish television market. In 1986, Reliance purchased television channels in various other markets to create a Spanish language network. Wallach and his team, named it “Telemundo.” Wallach managed the Telemundo network until his departure in March, 1987.

Post-Telemundo

After leaving Telemundo in 1987, Wallach was a consultant for the Italian network, Tele Monte Carlo owned by TV Globo. In 1991, Wallach founded GloboSat, the satellite broadcasting service based in Rio de Janeiro. As president of GloboSat he launched and operated the first pay television, 4-channel DBS broadcast system covering Brazil.

Marriage

In 1990 Wallach married Doreen Toll in Bel Air, California.

Published works

Wallach is the author of the autobiographical book, ''My Chapter in TV Globo'' (''Meu Capítulo na TV Globo''), Portuguese-language, published by Top Books, Rio de Janeiro, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallach, Joe American television executives Brazilian television executives Living people 1923 births Boston University alumni United States Army personnel of World War II American emigrants to Brazil Portuguese-language writers United States Army officers