Hemisphere Media Group announced today that it completed its acquisition of WKAQ AM and KQ105 FM from TelevisaUnivision.
Following the closing of the transaction, the company is launching WAPA Media and has named Jorge Hidalgo president of the newly created entity.
Hemisphere bills WAPA Media as an all-encompassing media conglomerate that, in addition to WKAQ AM and KQ105 FM, includes WAPA TV, WAPA Deportes, WAPA América, and WAPA Digital.
Hidalgo, who started as an HMG consultant in 2017, helping in planning and overseeing the development of network’s technical operations center in Bogota, joined the company as SVP of Operations a year later. He was named President and General Manager at WAPA-TV in 2021.
He previously spent 16 years in various management roles at Telemundo Deportes, where he helped secure the network’s Spanish-language TV broadcast rights to all FIFA World Cup events beginning in 2015, including for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. He exited Telemundo in 2015.
Before Telemundo, Hidalgo worked at Univision for two decades, initially as a sports cameraman at WLTV in Miami. He climbed the ranks to become Sports Director, contributing to securing FIFA World Cup rights and overseeing the production of the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.