Quick Take
KION's Spanish-language affiliate Telemundo 23, also based in Salinas, abruptly shuttered its newsroom on Tuesday, leaving the Central Coast without a Spanish newscast.
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Becoming a Spanish-language reporter was Sandy Santos’ main goal throughout her college years. It was her way to give back to the Latino community on the Central Coast — a place she’s called home for the past 25 years.
Once she became a reporter in 2022 at Telemundo 23, Santos wanted to make sure she was especially covering often-ignored stories in Indigenous communities and issues that Latino residents of south Monterey County face.
As the only full-time reporter for Telemundo 23 — the Spanish-language affiliate of KION-TV — Santos dedicated her time to connecting with the community. “Many people say that I’ve actually achieved my goal, and they’re grateful that we’ve been able to actually go in and do something for them,” she said.
Santos had worked her way through the ranks at the station, starting out in its promotions department, creating commercials and promotional content for the news team before eventually applying for a reporter position. It wasn’t until about a year and half ago that she became an anchor for Telemundo 23, Santos told Lookout.
Working at Telemundo was the ultimate goal for Santos because she wanted to stay close to her family in Monterey County, and it was the only station she knew that reported original stories in Spanish. Despite being bilingual, Santos felt more in tune with her native language and culture.
So when Santos found out on Tuesday along with the rest of the company’s news staff that the station’s owner, Missouri-based News-Press & Gazette, had decided to shut down news operations at both KION and Telemundo 23, she was in utter shock. Beyond her own job, she realized that the decision to cease operations meant the loss of the only Spanish-language station producing original news content along the Central Coast. Telemundo 23 had produced an evening newscast at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, which it re-aired at 11 p.m.
Telemundo is a Spanish-language broadcasting network owned by NBCUniversal. News-Press & Gazette is an affiliate with the national network.
The only other Spanish-language channel available for residents in the region is Univision, but the network does not produce original local content for local broadcast, carrying national news.
Currently, she says, she knows of no plans for what will replace her work or the program. Perhaps, she says, KION could air national Telemundo newscasts in the 6 p.m. slot, similar to how it is now substituting newscasts from San Francisco-based KPIX for its canceled local news programming.
Santos told Lookout that she was still recovering from being sick for a few days, and had asked one of the part-time reporters to fill in for her on Tuesday. Her colleague was busy putting together what would’ve been the 6 p.m. evening broadcast when Santos received a call from him at 11 a.m. notifying her there would not be a broadcast.
“We don’t really know why. Why such a sudden decision?” Santos said. “Everyone came to work just like any other day.”
She added that reporters from KION were already in the field reporting Tuesday morning when employees at both stations had been informed of the closure, and returned to the office immediately because the newscasts weren’t airing.
Unlike its English-language counterpart, Telemundo 23 was run solely by Santos, who wore many hats — producer, reporter and anchor for the evening newscast. The station sometimes shares reporters with KION, which shares the same space. Those reporters sometimes shared content and story leads with her if they spoke with Spanish speakers to help fill the broadcast.
Santos’ newscasts reached residents mainly in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, but the programming reached viewers in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties as well, she said. There was also a push to share content on social media, which also grew by 50% over the past year and a half, she says. The station’s Instagram account has nearly 13,900 followers, with nearly 6,400 on Facebook.
With the loss of Telemundo 23’s newscasts, Santos said there is going to be an information gap for viewers. People want to connect with someone who speaks the language in a way that they can understand, she said.
“Everywhere I go, people tell me: ‘We watch you every day. We like the way you present the news,’” she said.
People within the Spanish-speaking community were also more inclined to speak with Santos because of the Telemundo brand — one of two Spanish-language broadcasting networks in the United States. A lot of Santos’ sources trusted her with telling their stories and the issues that they were facing, simply because she spoke Spanish and could understand their experiences without it being misinterpreted, she said.
As for what’s next, Santos isn’t really sure. She told Lookout that she received job offers Wednesday from other stations outside of Monterey County, but added that she’s hesitant to move away from her family.
She’s more concerned about her colleagues at KION, some of whom are just starting their careers in broadcast journalism, and those who have spent years at the station who don’t have options.
“I’ll be OK,” she said. “I’ll miss having to leave Telemundo because I was very rooted to it. A lot of people knew me because of Telemundo, and it helped me grow.”
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