Soros-funded group ‘trying to silence conservative voices’: Conservative radio host
Conservative radio host Lourdes Ubieta shares why she left her former south Florida station, Radio Mambi.
Audacy's new Radio Libre 790 went live on Monday, offering a new Spanish-language, conservative talk radio station to the South Florida market to compete with the famed Radio Mambi ahead of a looming takeover by a George Soros-linked liberal group.
Audacy regional president Claudia Menegus, who is Hispanic herself, is among the many members of the community concerned that Miami-based conservatives wouldn’t have a reliable Spanish-language outlet once liberals are put in charge of Radio Mambi – so she decided to do something about it and launched a direct competitor in Radio Libre 790.
Menegus believes the Cuban exile community long found their voice in Radio Mambi, which historically offered a conservative, anti-communism view. However, if a $60 million deal is approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the conservative station will be controlled by Jess Morales Rocketto, a former Hillary for America and AFL-CIO employee, and Stephanie Valencia, a former Obama White House staffer, with a group partially funded by Soros paying for it.
Former Radio Mambi hosts Dania Alexandrino, Nelson Rubio and Lourdes Ubieta will all be on the new Radio Libre 790 after walking away from their previous gigs out of refusal to work for the Soros-linked group. They
"There is such a history there, and years of folks that have come to Miami, to America, period, right? Specifically, down in South Florida, the Cuban exile community is a major part of Miami. And I believe that they've always looked for a beacon to share their thoughts or values," Menegus told Fox News Digital.
Audacy's 790 The Ticket, a sports talk station that struggled to remain relevant after losing key talent in recent years, was scrapped and is now Radio Libre 790. The new station will air content from Americano Media, an upstart Spanish-language platform that has hired beloved conservative hosts who refused to work for the Soros-linked group.
"As the world evolves and there's differences in opinion, I think that they really hang onto the values, the conservative values," Menegus said. "It makes a huge difference when they know that they have someone, a partner that they can rely on for that information."
She hopes Audacy's new Radio Libre 790 can become that new trusted voice for the South Florida Hispanic community, filling a hole in the process.
"It's very important for Audacy to have a Spanish-language station in South Florida. This is the first time that we're able to offer that, which is hugely important for us as a company for Audacy and for myself personally, as I'm in Miami," Menegus said.
"I think that the stirrup this summer with the Soros sale, I think that led to a lot of things," she continued. "It led to their talent exiting Mambi, for obvious reasons, and it left a little hole in that community. It was a small outrage down in South Florida when that happened because it felt to them that they were losing the radio station."
Audacy's new Radio Libre 790 went live on Monday, offering a new Spanish-language, conservative talk radio station to the South Florida market. (Audacy)
Former Radio Mambi hosts Nelson Rubio, Dania Alexandrino, and Lourdes Ubieta will all be on the new Radio Libre 790 after walking away from their previous gigs out of refusal to work for the Soros-linked group. They have since joined Americano Media, and have been given a national platform available on iOS and Android apps, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV and other streaming devices in addition to the brand new Radio Libre 790.
"This opened up the opportunity to make sure that we continue to have a voice for that community, and a forum for them to have to speak to those very listeners that they've connected with," Menegus said. "I think it just comes down to their dignity."
Menegus said Rubio, Alexandrino and Ubieta believe the Soros-linked group would attempt to silence their conservative views, something they don’t have to worry about at Americano Media and Radio Libre 790.
"That takes guts to walk out, now knowing what was going to happen next, but the three of them did," she said. "Americano picked them up and here we are… we’re super excited to have them in the lineup."
Americano Media founder and chief executive Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo said Radio Libre 790 will offer the former Radio Mambi hosts the ability to speak directly to the Hispanic community without "being censored, without being shut down, without being canceled," which he feels is the eventual goal of the Soros-linked group.
"Nobody’s going to control us," he said, adding that he doesn’t believe in the liberal group set to control Radio Mambi.
"I think the No. 1 mission for people like that, for Soros, is to shut down conservative Hispanics. They don’t care if it fails," Garcia-Hidalgo said. "Their No. 1 mission was to kill Mambi, and they effectively have."
He said it took "tremendous courage" for the three hosts to walk away from Radio Mambi for the upstart Americano Media, which will provide all content to Radio Libre 790. For Garcia-Hidalgo, one of the most satisfying elements about competing directly with the Soros-linked group is the thought of irritating the left by stopping their apparent plan to strip South Florida Hispanics of a conservative outlet.
"Every time we do something, the left goes crazy," he said. "That’s a good day for us."
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Radio Libre 790 will offer plenty of conservative political thought, but will also cover other content from areas of interest such as culture and technology.
"This is going to evolve, we are going to be very, very involved with the community through this brand," Menegus said. "We are super excited to bring this thing to life."
While Radio Mambi is certainly the most high-profile station set to be controlled by high-powered liberals, it’s not the only one. The Latino Media Network, which is partially financed by Lakestar Finance, an investment group affiliated with Soros Fund Management, is set to be made up of 17 Hispanic radio stations across the nation. Many Hispanics rely on terrestrial radio for news and analysis, as other American-based mediums don’t offer much Spanish-language content geared toward conservatives.
Garcia-Hidalgo and Menegus hope to continue serving as a thorn in the side of the Soros-linked group and hope to offer additional conservative-friendly alternatives in as many of the markets as possible.
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"The plan is not just Miami. Miami is just the initial market, but absolutely, we plan on expanding into multiple local markets around the country," Garcia-Hidalgo said.
"Obviously, you know, Houston, Dallas, Austin, L.A., Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. – markets where there are pockets of concentration of Hispanics. We're going to be there," he continued. "We're going to make sure our message can be heard by all Hispanics, regardless of what platform they use. It is not going to be behind a paywall. It will be available for everybody because that's how we win, and we got to make sure we save our country. That's the number one mission that we have right now."
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