Fred Cantu Has a New Co-Anchor
Veteran Austin broadcaster Fred Cantu is now the confirmed co-anchor for the new local Spanish language newscast.Conteo Noticias, on KEYE TV’s Telemundo 42.2 at 5 and 10 p.m. weekdays beginning October 1, 2009. His co-anchor will be new to Austin. She is Karla Leal coming here from the Telemundo station in Bakersfield, California. Joining them will be reporter Erika Gonzalezjoins Conteo Noticias from the Rio Grande Valley where she was an anchor on XRIO-TV, Fox 2 News and reported for Univision 48.
“We are very excited that our new partnership with Telemundo allows us to serve Central Texas’ growing Hispanic viewer base,” said Amy Villarreal, KEYE TV president and general manager. “We are equally honored to have such reputable on-air talent as Fred, Karla and Erika onboard as the core of the Conteo Noticias Telemundo 42.2 news team. We are confident that their commitment and strong ties to the Hispanic community will be invaluable assets to KEYE and we look forward to having Conteo Noticias serve as the community’s source for local news, weather, sports and traffic.”
Fred Cantu, known as “Uncle Fred” and the resident “Gadget Guy,” has been an anchor in Austin for almost 20 years, beginning his career at TV KTBC-TV in 1990. Cantu was in radio news in Austin before that. He has anchored at KEYE since 2002 and has a large local following from radio to television among the Hispanic community. Until recently, he was co-anchor of KEYE TV’s morning news. When KEYE committed to making the morning team of “JB and Sandy” of Mix 94.7 radio the morning broadcast, it was widely speculated that Cantu would become the Telemundo anchor.
Karla Leal was lead anchor and reporter for KKEY-TV, Telemundo 11. She received Emmy nominations for the “El Arte de la Charreria” reporting series in 2008 and the “El Sueno Mexicano” series in 2007 and began her career with CAN-TV-TV in Chicago, IL in 2004. Ms. Leal earned her BA from Columbia College in Chicago with an emphasis in broadcast journalism in June, 2005. Leal also did TV weather earlier in her career.
Erika Gonzalez joins Conteo Noticias from the Rio Grande Valley where she was an anchor on XRIO-TV, Fox 2 News and reported on Univision 48. She began her career at XRIO-TV in McAllen, TX in 2007.
Telemundo, a U.S. Spanish-language television network, is a leading producer of high quality content for Hispanics in the United States and is recognized for its originally produced primetime novelas, news, and weekend primetime movie showcases. Beginning October 1, KEYE-TV 42.2 viewers will also be able to tune in to Telemundo Sports which includes in-depth soccer coverage including Futbol Liga Mexicana on Futbol Estelar and Futbol Telemundo, as well as the most Mexican League Soccer broadcasts including, the home matches of Atlas, Tigres, Monterrey, U.N.A.M., Atlante and defending champion Toluca.
© Jim McNabb, 2009