Wapa owners buy WKAQ 580 AM and KQ 105 FM

The company that owns Wapa TV, Hemisphere Media GroupIt adds among its properties stations WKAQ 580 AM and KQ 105 FMA deal took place last week, according to a source from this newspaper.

It was reported that the FCC approved the purchase by Hemisphere Media Group of Televisa Univisión. It has previously emerged that as part of the sale, Hemisphere Media Group will also transition its streaming platform, Pantaya.

It was noted that the purchase confirmation had already begun to raise concerns on the part of station staff regarding job security once the different work areas had been merged.

With this move, Wapa’s president, Jorge Hildalgo, likely intended the talents of Wapa TV who also had a stake in the radio stations to join the staff of WKAQ 580 AM. This intention has been communicated to sources such as Normando Valentín and Julio Rivera Saniel, who host radio shows on NotiUno 630 and Radio Isla 1320, respectively. However, all of them have contracts with the stations where they work.

The deal, as described, would force Wapa TV to bear the rent of the building where the stations are located in Guaynabo, which would make TeleOnce a lessee of one of its competitors. For the building, which is located at the entrance to downtown Guaynabo, the traffic and accounting departments of Wapa TV will be relocated, seeking to expand parking space at the channel’s headquarters.

This purchase is taking place in the midst of negotiations for the new collective agreement for unionized employees of Wapa TV, the source said, a process that has become complicated, causing multiple delays. The last extension of the current agreement expires on November 30.

Last February, the TV channel’s employees, members of the Union of Journalists, Graphic Arts and Related Branches (UPAGRA), agreed to a voting strike.