Manolo de Jesus Reyes Xiques JD (July 29, 1924 – January 3, 2008) was a Cuban-American

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

television news broadcaster in Miami, Florida. Reyes became a

television news News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...

pioneer in the 1960s when he began one of

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

's first Spanish-language

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news broadcasting, news program on televisio ...

s. His first 15-minute news show, ''News En Español'', debuted on

WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...

on August 28, 1960 at 6:45 am, at a time when Spanish-language broadcasts were rare in the

Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the lar ...

. His original broadcasts were aimed at making news accessible to the growing Spanish-speaking, Miami-based Cuban exile community.

Early life

Reyes was born in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, where he worked as a child actor, radio performer and singer. He obtained a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

from the

University of Havana The University of Havana (UH; ) is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originall ...

before moving to the United States.

Spanish-language news

Manolo Reyes, who resided in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s, realized that there were no television news shows aimed at the growing Cuban exile community, especially after the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

takeover of Cuba by

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

in the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. Despite his limited English, Reyes pitched his idea to the founder of

Mitchell Wolfson Mitchell Wolfson Sr. (1900 – January 28, 1983) was an American businessman, theatre owner, politician, and founder of Wometco Enterprises. Biography Wolfson was born in 1900 in Key West, Florida. He went to school in Key West and at Erasmu ...

, and Miami television pioneer

Ralph Renick Ralph Apperson Renick (August 9, 1928 – July 11, 1991) was a pioneer American television journalist for Miami's WTVJ, channel 4 (now channel 6), Florida's first television station. He was WTVJ's first and longest running news anchor and the dri ...

. Renick and Wolfson agreed to let Reyes tape a test show. The station had to have the test show critiqued by a

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

professor because no one at WTVJ (Channel 4) spoke Spanish at the time. Wolfson agreed to broadcast Reyes' Spanish-language news segments. Reyes' first 15-minute news show, ''News En Español'', debuted on August 28, 1960. ''News En Español'' aired on weekdays at 6:45 am, just before the ''Skipper Chuck Show'', and at 1 am, just before the WTVJ's sign-off for the night. Spanish-speaking viewers, especially the Cuban exile community, were delighted by Reyes's news show, despite the difficult viewing times. Conversely, non-Spanish speakers were equally outraged by the broadcast of an all-Spanish show. Reyes' newscast was so popular that it was gradually expanded. His initial assignments for the station usually involved coverage of Miami's arriving Cuban refugees. Reyes remained at WTVJ for 19 years and was promoted to the station's Latin America

news editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...

. Reyes also became a regular contributor on the WTVJ's well-known English-language show ''The Ralph Renick Report''. He also began contributing nationally on

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

's ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...

''. He left television after 19 years. He obtained a second law degree from the University of Miami before becoming an executive director at Mercy Hospital in Miami. He remained at that position for nearly 20 years until his retirement in 2005. Reyes was honored for his pioneering work in television by the Miami Chapter of the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of televisio ...

in 1991.

Community work

Reyes founded a number of Miami community organizations including the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Jose Martí Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods * Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean *Jose ben Halafta * ...

, the Cuban Sertoma Club, and the Spanish Post of

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States Armed Forces, United States war veterans who fought in wars, Military campaign, campaig ...

. He also served on the board of directors several other organizations, including the

Hialeah Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in Miami-Dade County in the Miami met ...

Miami Springs Miami Springs is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of 2020, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 13,859. History The city was founded by G ...

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

, Easter Seals, the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

and

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is located within the Archdiocese of Miami. Th ...

Awards

Reyes was the recipient of several awards for his work in the media and nonprofit arenas, as well as the greater

Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous count ...

community including... *An

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

. *The Key to the City of

*The Key to the City of

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

*The Archbishop Hurley Award *Pentagon Award for Human Goals

Death

Manolo Reyes died of complications from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

at 7:57 PM (23:57 GMT) on January 3, 2008 at the age of 83. His funeral was held at Saints Peter & Paul

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Miami. Reyes was survived by his wife Graciela, three children, Manolo Jr., Charlie and Grace, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Reyes was buried in Woodlawn Park Cemetery in Miami, Florida, on January 4, 2008.

References

External links

Mercy Hospital Press Release:Manolo Reyes Retires After Years of Service to Mercy Hospital and Decades of Advocacy on Behalf of the Poor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Manolo 1924 births 2008 deaths American television journalists Spanish-language television in the United States Spanish-language mass media in Florida Television pioneers University of Miami alumni Cuban emigrants to the United States Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Florida American male journalists University of Havana alumni