Danny Villanueva, co-founder of Univision, dies at 77
*[tweet_dis]Danny Villanueva, 77, NFL placekicker and co-founder of Univision, died last Thursday in Los Angeles.[/tweet_dis] VL
By David Colker, Los Angeles Times
Danny Villanueva, a former pro football player who became key to the growth of Spanish-language broadcasting in the United States, was known as a gregarious, friendly executive.
Unless his principles were crossed.
In 1968, he was news director of KMEX-TV in Los Angeles when more than 10,000 students walked out of schools in East L.A. to protest the state of conditions there.
[pullquote]During Villanueva’s tenure, KMEX went from a niche operation to a cultural force in Los Angeles.[/pullquote]Realizing it was a historic moment for the Latino community, Villanueva rushed to a technician and told him to switch from regular programming to a news feed. The technician refused.
“Do it and I’ll take responsibility,” Villanueva recalled telling the technician in a 1997 interview with The Times. “If you don’t do it, let’s go outside, because you’re going to have to beat me up to stop me from doing it.”
The technician took a look at the hulking, former pro player, and the switch was flipped.
Villanueva, 77, who was born in a hut in New Mexico and went on to co-found the powerful Univision network and become one of the wealthiest Latino executives in the country, died Thursday at Ventura County Medical Center.
The cause was complications from a stroke suffered earlier in the week, said one of his sons, also named Danny.
Click HERE to read the full story.
[Screenshot courtesy of YouTube]
