Popular Radio Mambí host resigns. Here’s what she said about why
Lourdes Ubieta, who had been a popular host of Radio Mambí for over two years, joining the station when iconic host Martha Flores died, resigned after her program, “Noticias y Más,” aired last Friday.
In an interview with the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald on Thursday, the Miami-based Venezuelan journalist discusses the reasons for her departure from the Miami Spanish-language radio station that was recently sold to a new media group, Latino Media Network.
READ MORE: The fight over Miami’s Spanish-language airwaves.
Q. Why are you leaving?
Ubieta: “I am leaving because I do not want to be part of the new company ruling the station.”
She said she was given a confidentiality agreement that she needed to sign to stay as a host during the transition to new ownership. Other hosts have also received the agreement, but she is the first to announce her departure, she said.
Her lawyer told her that if she signed it, it meant that “I would be compromised with the sale transaction and don’t want to be part of this deal.”
She said she did not want to be part of it because she disagreed with the sale. “The purchase of Mambí is not to fight against disinformation but to silence conservative voices. It’s a political move.”
Part of the agreement contemplated was that she would remain as a Radio Mambí host during the transition and FCC approval process of the $80 million purchase.
“I am not opposed to Univision selling the stations, but rather to who is purchasing them.” Ubieta added that if she were to receive the money from the confidentiality agreement, she “would become part of the business, part of the transition, and I don’t want to.”
According to Ubieta, Latino Media Network is partially financed by an investment group affiliated with George Soros. “I don’t want to work in a company where people who are running it have these ties,” she said in reference to the funding.
Q. Why are you leaving now and not when this was announced?
Ubieta: “I did not have the elements to make a decision then, until I looked at this proposal.”
She said she did not have enough information at first and it took several weeks until she received the confidentiality agreement and legal advice from her lawyer.
Q. What will you do next?
Ubieta: “I have been working since March at Americano Media, the first national conservative Spanish-language network in the U.S.”
She will become a full-time employee of Americano Media as a host and an editorial producer. At Americano Media, she has a daily radio show that airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on SirusXM, channel 153. As it expands, the network will start streaming on TV this summer.
Q. What will happen to Radio Mambí?
Ubieta: “Radio Mambí, when this sale is finalized, will become the opposite of the original objective of its creation as a beacon of freedom.
“It is very sad that the end of Radio Mambí, after 30 years on air, will be in the hands of a group financed by Soros, who represents the most liberal agenda.”
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