Chronicle buys La Voz Spanish newspaper

Chronicle buys La Voz Spanish newspaper

La Voz, one of Houston's most-read Spanish publications, is now the centerpiece of the Houston Chronicle's Spanish language products.

"We think the Chronicle's future is in both English and Spanish-language products for Houston," Chronicle Publisher Jack Sweeney said Thursday as he announced the Chronicle's purchase of La Voz. "Our vision is to serve the Spanish-language market with a series of special-interest publications."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the two privately held companies.

The Chronicle's history with La Voz goes back more than a decade. It has printed, distributed, contributed some editorial content to and sold advertisements for the weekly.

La Voz, which means the Voice in Spanish, was founded by Cuban refugees Armando and Olga Ordóñez in 1979.

Armando Ordóñez, a chemical engineer, owned a soup company in Havana before the couple abandoned their home in 1962 to escape the dictatorship of Fidel Castro.

They moved to Texas, where Olga Ordóñez worked as a school teacher and Armando Ordóñez worked first as a chemical engineer and later as a general manager of Houston's La Tremenda radio station.

But Armando Ordóñez always wanted to provide a newspaper for the Hispanic community, Olga Ordóñez recalled. So the couple started the publication in a small house they used as an office. Their children, Carlos and Laura, helped produce the paper, while the couple wrote articles and ran the paper.

Then in 1984, Armando Ordóñez died, leaving Olga Ordóñez alone at the helm.

"It was very hard," Olga Ordóñez said. "I had determination."

Ultimately, she expanded the newspaper to a circulation of 100,000, with 35,000 of those copies distributed Wednesdays to Chronicle subscribers.

Olga Ordóñez will continue in her role as publisher of La Voz and report directly to Sweeney. And the newspaper's 14-member staff will remain with the paper. Its office will relocate to the Chronicle's plant at the Southwest Freeway and Loop 610.

The move follows the Chronicle's April launch of La Vibra, a weekly entertainment magazine in Spanish that targets bilingual and Spanish-speaking readers and is distributed in primarily Hispanic neighborhoods.

Thursday's sale follows a trend in the industry.

Last year, papers targeting the Hispanic community totaled 666, up from 355 in 1990, according to Carlsbad, Calif.-based Latino Print Network.

In August, San Antonio-based publisher Meximerica Media launched the Spanish-language daily newspaper Rumbo de Houston. Rumbo newspapers are now available in the Austin, San Antonio and Rio Grande Valley markets.

jenalia.moreno@chron.com