LATINO LOOP for the week of November 14th, 2008

	An Ecuadorean immigrant, Marcelo Lucero, was attacked and stabbed to death, the victim of a hate crime, by a group of white and black high school students in Long Island, New York.
	Eduardo Diaz, executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, was appointed to head up the Smithsonian Latino Center.
	Universal Pictures has purchased the rights to make a film version of “In the Heights”. The original Broadway producers will executive produce the film and Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the book for the show, will also write the screen adaptation. Lin-Manuel Miranda is expected to reprise his role for the film version.
	Michelle Obama wore a Narciso Rodriguez dress last week at the election celebration in Chicago.
	Entravision radio laid off more than 20 employees last week, including Super Estrella personality Taly Taly.
	Model Valeria Mazza and her husband Alejandro Gravier are currently under investigation by Argentina’s tax authority regarding $2 million in unpaid taxes.
	Maya Entertainment will produce “American Tragic”, the working title of a new drama written by Ryan Piers Williams and starring America Ferrera.
	Julieta Venegas denied rumors that she is pregnant stating that motherhood is not in her immediate plans.
	Radio revenues fell during the 3rd quarter of 2008 with SBS revenues falling 12% over the same period last year and Entravision revenues falling 5%.
	Juanes and John Legend will perform together at the Latin GRAMMY Awards, taking place in Houston on Thursday. Gloria Estefan will perform with Jose Feliciano and Carlos Santana.
	Juliet V. Garcia, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College President, was appointed to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team.
	Regional Mexican station KMLA based in Oxnard, CA was awarded $553,000 in a suit against Lazer Broadcasting. The suit claimed that Lazer tried to undermine KMLA’s business by interfering with KMLA’s customers, advertisers and musical performers.
	The BMI Foundation and Pepsi Blue Carpet Bash announced the winners of the 2008 Music Enrichment Fund Scholarship. Daniel Diaz won the grand prize $10,000 scholarship for his song “Todo Lo Que Necesito”. Daniela Blau and Pablo Latapi both received $5,000 scholarships.
	Colombian documentary “Busco Personas: The Faces of Colombia’s War”, won the viewers award for Best Short Film at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles. The film, directed by Lagan Sebert and Sandra Sampayo, features music by Juanes, Aterciopelados and ChocQuibTown.
	Terra is launching EZTargetMedia, an online ad network.
	According to a study of online advertising rates by Portada, Hispanic online media can charge anywhere from 3 to 10 times more per impression than general market sites. The rate difference is attributed in part to the scarcity of Hispanic-targeted sites.
	KCRW music director Nic Harcourt announced that he will be stepping down from his post on November 30th. Harcourt will host a 3-hour weekend show on Sundays.
	The 2nd Annual Puerto Rico International Music Business Conference will take place March 6th, 2009 in San Juan.
	Jeff Stern has joined Latination, LLC as Director of Distribution. Stern was formerly at KENS-TV in San Antonio. Stern will oversee American Latino TV’s syndication distribution arm and also assist with LATV’s multicast distribution strategy.
	Irma Laura Lopez, a label promoter who worked for Disa, Warner Latina and Balboa Records, died in a car crash last week. Lopez, who was 45 years old, and her 74 year-old mother were both killed. Our thoughts go to Lopez family and friends.

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Latino Loop

LATINO LOOP for the week of November 14th, 2008