El Cucuy Calls Out Univision Management On-Air.

Last week, Renan Coello ‘El Cucuy’ afternoon on-air personality at Univision Radio’s 101.9 FM in Los Angeles took to the airwaves during his show to tell his audience about how he felt that the management of Univision Radio and Univision Communications was not respecting him and other on-air talent at the stations.

He was pulled off the air and according to Radio Notas, a very intense session with Univision Radio management began. The session were loud and serious. Renan Coello did not return on-air and pre-recorded programs are being used in his absence.

The tone and references he made on-air of the top Univision Radio and Univision Communications management have industry insiders wondering what will come next, since Jerry Perenchio’s policy of not speaking out is heavily enforced at Univision Communications.

Renan Coello has a contract which Univision Communications assumed when they purchased Hispanic Broadcasting Corporations. The severity of the on-air remarks and Renan Coello’s current insistence that he is not being treated in a fashion he feels appropriate will determine the outcome.

The public relations office of Renan Coello put out the following statement:

As is publicly known, last Friday, February 20th, Renán Almendarez Coello, “El Cucuy de la Tarde”, walked out of the KSCA studio in the middle of his radio show. The circumstances are as follows:

On February 20th, prior to “El Cucuy’s” show, the Tropa Loca Crew had a conversation about salary and working conditions with the management of the company, a conversation that has been dragging on for years. At 3:10pm, when the radio show had already started, The Tropa Loca crew walked into the studio, and when they did, one of the members of La Tropa Loca was in tears, and all of the others were visibly depressed. The emotional condition of his crew was not appropriate for Renán to deliver a comedic show. Renán was not able to make his listeners laugh while those in front of him were crying. For these reasons, Renán asked his crew if they wanted to leave the studio. In solidarity with them, Renán decided to leave the studio as well. Before doing so, Renán got very upset, listening to the suffering of his crew and how they had been treated, and he said on-air some words from his heart and had a reaction as people do when they see unfairness and mistreatment. After this incident, Univision Radio decided to put all personnel directly related to Renán’s show on suspension without pay, affecting the many families of people that were barely surviving with their current wages. In a private interview, Renán said the following:

“As of today my program has been suspended by Univision Radio until further notice. At this time, Univision Radio is airing “The Best Of” my show. I have always been for the cause of the poor and the weak people, and in this particular situation, all that I did was to react to the tears and suffering of my crew, “La Tropa Loca”. My crew has been asking for salary improvements for years and never got the consideration that they deserve. If Univision is going to suspend me for defending my people, I will take that very proudly. My reaction was from my peoples suffering and tears, and it came from the heart. But if this reaction hurt or harmed anyone, it wasn’t my intention, it was from my heart and was what I felt was right to say at the moment. My show is a reality show and this is the reality that we live in corporate America, and this is how real people react in real life situations to unfairness and injustice. If I hurt or harmed anyone, I apologize for it. But I will not back off from defending my people and getting fair treatment for them.”

Renán expects that this crisis will be worked out and he will continue to defend and respect the rights of his people, for better working conditions for all of them.