Founder, Caballero Radio & Television
Eduardo Caballero is a broadcast pioneer who has devoted more than 40 years of his professional life to blazing new trails that have led to the advancement and growth of Spanish-language media.
Soon after arriving in the U.S. in 1962 from his native Cuba, Caballero began his career in Spanish broadcasting working as a local radio salesperson for WBNX-AM in New York City. He was quickly promoted to the station’s general sales manager becoming the first Hispanic to hold that position at a U.S. radio station. By 1968, Caballero became vice president of the original executive team launching Spanish International Network (now Univision).
By 1973, when only seven TV stations in five cities were carrying Spanish programming, Caballero founded Caballero Spanish Media. With Ricardo Montalbán as a host, he created the first ever U.S. syndicated Spanish program, Lo Mejor del Cine en Espanol (The Best of Spanish Movies) sponsored by Bristol-Myers. The show aired weekly in 29 TV Stations (27 of which were General Market stations).
With only 44 radio stations carrying Spanish programming in the U.S., Caballero and his wife Raquel in 1975 started the nation’s first Spanish national radio sales organization, the Caballero Radio Network. The Network quickly grew to nearly 200 Spanish radio stations, reaching almost 90 percent of Hispanic households in the U.S.
During this time, Caballero created many “firsts” for Spanish media — acquiring the Spanish radio rights from CBS to syndicate the Major League Baseball World Series as well as the Spanish radio rights from NBC for the broadcast of the Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics games. Caballero, in partnership with MTV, also produced and syndicated MTV RADIO (in Spanish) and later, together with Turner Broadcasting, he created and syndicated the Spanish version of CNN RADIO NEWS.
By 1998, Caballero launched MásMúsica TeVe, a Spanish Television music video and entertainment network with 41 affiliates within the U.S., then one of the largest Hispanic-owned TV station groups in the country. In 2006, he sold his stations to Viacom, to be part of a new MTV venture — TR3S, Musica y Mas.
Throughout his career, Caballero has been honored and decorated by numerous organizations and publications. He was one of the first inductees to Hispanic Business Magazine’s “Se Habla Español Hall of Fame.” He has been nominated by Inc Magazine as “Entrepreneur of the Year” and he has received HISPANIC Magazine’s “Lifetime Achievement Award”. Caballero has also been honored by the Broadcasters’ Foundation with the “American Broadcast Pioneer Award” in 2000, the first Hispanic to receive such an award and in 2002, Caballero received the American Advertising Federation’s “Mosaic Award” for Extraordinary Achievement in Diversity and Multicultural Marketing.
In 2003, Caballero became the first Hispanic inducted into the “Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame,” and in 2006, he was the first Hispanic inducted into the Library of American Broadcasting’s “Giants in Broadcasting,” awarded for his visionary work and paving the way for the growth of Hispanic media. In 2008, Caballero became a member of the Board of Directors of the Library of American Broadcasting.
In 2009, the American Marketing Association (AMA/San Antonio) designated Caballero as “Godfather of Hispanic Marketing” for his achievements both in Spanish Television and in Radio, which helped create thousands of jobs for young Hispanic-Americans in the Marketing, Media, and Advertising industries.
Radio INK Magazine awarded Caballero the “2009 Medallas de Cortez Lifetime Achivement in Hispanic Radio” and dedicated its May issue to his accomplishments in the Spanish Radio Industry.
Caballero has worked with the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) to form the Hispanic Arm of the Media Partnership for a Drug-Free America and he was the force behind the formation of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), which has permanently honored him by naming their highest award — “The Caballero Lifetime Achievement Award”.
He has been a board member of many civic and professional organizations including, the Advertising Council, United States Information Agency’s VOICE OF AMERICA, the National Drop-Out Prevention Foundation, Marketing Advisory Board of the U.S. Postal Service, The Hispanic University of California, and The National Association of Spanish Radio.
Caballero is a native of Sagua de Tánamo, Cuba and he graduated from the University of Havana’s School of Diplomatic Relations and the University José Martí (Havana), with a Doctorate in Law. Caballero is married to Raquel Miller-Caballero, who also has a Doctorate in Law from the University of Havana. His two children are Luis Angel, a Virginia businessman, and Rosamaria, a New York resident and founder of Green Irene, the largest eco-consulting firm in the U.S.
