Univision Upfronts

Last Thursday evening I enjoyed the Univision Upfronts at Fisher Plaza, with our hosts the KUNS sales team: Rich Roberge, Violeta Alano, Teresa Jones and Harold Avelar. It was a lovely event and great people there, but I think it may have been overshadowed by last year's grand Launch Party.

Turns out, I was in Spain at the time, right after the network affiliate launched here in Seattle, and just before its weeknight newscast went local. Apparently I missed THE party--big crowd, dancing, a real party. This time it was much more subdued, say those who attended both. We heard from a band I think was called New Age Flamenco, a guitar-strumming duo that were really terrific (especially enjoyed Hotel California). What was a little surprising was the music between sets was....(drumroll)...Gypsy Kings! Yes, the band from France. A decades-old recording. ¿Cómo? We have sooo much wonderful talent (and/or Grammy winners and/or club favorites) on the Latin music scene; I wondered why none of those were selected.

But all in all the event was wonderful; I met some new folks, a nice mix, whom I will be contacting (some have already followed up with me -- ¡gracias!). Saw many familiar faces, too; people who have been around and continue to be an integral part of this community. Newscaster Jaime Mendez wasn't there (bad back), but it was great seeing the sales team out of their regular environment and they are some cool people. Everyone was introduced to the Fisher executives, and to the coming seasonal programming on 51 over-the-air (for me, stuck with Millenium-turned-Broadstripe Cable, KUNS airs on Channel 16). In the national portion of the video we saw, they tried to tell us that novelas weren't just soap operas, they were adventure! Love! Exotic places!

Guess I'll have to tune in to more than Jaime's newscast.