Thursday, April 20, 2000

Victor Lara remains at KUNO

A little dust-up about Victor Lara Ortegon's "Commentarios" show over at KUNO-AM/1400 has been settled peacefully. On Tuesday, Lara, who's been with the Spanish-language station for more than 40 years, got riled up about some changes being made there and expressed his feelings in stronger-than-usual words on the air.
   Soon after, rumors were circulating that Lara's show had been canceled and that he'd been bounced from the station.
   Not true.
   What really happened was that KUNO's new program director, Rogelio Ramirez, had asked Lara and other staffers to put in an extra shift on Saturdays, a request that didn't sit well with the veteran radio newsman, according to station management.
   "It was just an emotional reaction to change," said Kent Cooper, general manager of the six stations, including KUNO, owned by AMFM, Inc. "But we've all compromised and it's all straightened out."
   Lara won't have to come in on Saturdays after all; part-timers will cover those shifts instead.
   "Everything is OK. It was kind of a struggle inside KUNO," Lara said. "(Wednesday) morning we reached an agreement with Kent Cooper and with the program director. We're working just fine."
   He was back on the air with "Commentarios" as usual Wednesday. The 15-minute show airs live at 12:45 p.m. weekdays.
   The move to add more live programming on Saturdays actually is a positive change. KUNO has been airing pre-recorded shows on weekends, leaving listeners without a live person to call at the station.
   Ramirez and Cooper want to freshen up the mix of talk and music on KUNO during times of the day most important to Arbitron ratings. And Cooper said he wants to make sure there's always a Spanish-speaking staffer manning the phones at KUNO.
   "KUNO is a special project with me," said Cooper. "I want it to be a full-service Hispanic station. It should be a primary information source for non-English-speaking listeners."
  
  

 
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