KMEX: L.A.’s Forgotten Star

When Steve Weinstein covered the November ratings sweeps for The Times (“Moyer, Lange Overcome TV News Slump,” Calendar, Dec. 1), he made a mistake that gets at the core of what is wrong with the so-called “mainstream media” in Los Angeles: He ignored our city’s Latino community.

Much has been written about the increase in the Latino population in the Los Angeles area. At 40% of the population, we are the largest single ethnic group. We work hard, we spend money, and we get along. But, to read The Times coverage of television ratings, we are invisible.

Weinstein’s article described the jockeying between KNBC-TV Channel 4 and KABC-TV Channel 7 to claim news rating leadership. As far as it goes, his article was factually correct. But Weinstein neglected to mention the unprecedented journalistic and ratings success enjoyed by the major Spanish-language television station in Los Angeles: KMEX-TV Channel 34, the only Los Angeles television station to gain viewers in November.

Many people I know prefer KMEX for both news and entertainment programming. We’re people who know that the true Los Angeles is more multicultural than what is shown on English-language television.

KMEX grew in November to record audience levels. It’s 6 p.m. “Noticias 34” scored a 4.8 rating, 9 share of audience, more than watch the “CBS Evening News” in this area at the same hour or the 10 p.m. broadcasts of KCAL-TV Channel 9 news, Fox-TV Channel 11 news, UPN-TV Channel 13 news or even the much talked-about KTLA-TV Channel 5’s “News at 10.” KMEX’s 11 p.m. news grew to a 3.6 rating, 8 share, an increase of nearly two-thirds from its ratings of a year ago. Viewership of KMEX’s Univision network programming in prime time grew 30%. And, in “Prime Access” (7-8 p.m.), KMEX’s 6.9 rating surpassed every station except KABC and KNBC. (Each rating point represents 49,175 homes.)

Instead of being able to read about KMEX’s extraordinary success in The Times, I had to go to the daily “trade” papers to get my information.

As a Latina who is bilingual, I watch news on both English- and Spanish-language television stations. I find that KMEX gives me news stories I don’t get anywhere else, stories that are more relevant to my life than the “news for the Westside” I find on English-language television (and, frankly, in The Times). I also appreciate the fact that KMEX has no reruns: Univision provides original programming 100% of the time.

I wish English-language television in Los Angeles was more like KMEX. It’s time that we who turn to Spanish-language stations like KMEX get credit for their viewership in “mainstream” newspapers like The Times.