This article is about the Colombian broadcasting company. For the American telecommunications company, see RCN Corporation

RCN Televisión

Type	Broadcast Television Network
Country	Colombia
Availability	National
Founded	1967 (as a TV production company)
Slogan	Nuestra Tele (Our TV)
Key people	Carlos Ardila Lülle, Main shareholder
Launch date	July 10, 1998
Affiliates	TV Colombia, Nuestra Tele Noticias 24 Horas, Univision
Official website	Canal RCN

RCN Televisión (Radio Cadena Nacional, "National Radio Network"), is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company (programadora) in 1967. Since 1998 it became a network by acquiring one of the two licenses granted by the Colombian government (the other Colombian private TV network is Caracol TV).

RCN reaches 97% of the Colombian population through 13 stations. Its main shareholder is Carlos Ardila Lülle. It produced Betty la fea, one of the most successful Colombian telenovelas.

History[link]

RCN Television was created as a part of RCN Radio. In 1967 RCN Radio took part in the bidding for spaces in the official television network, getting one hour a day which was distributed into two series: one made in Colombia named El Hogar (The Home) and the American television series Bewitched. In 1973 RCN radio and its subsidiary RCN Television were purchased by Carlos Ardila Lülle, who three years later relaunched RCN as a television production company (or programadora) with several spaces into the official channels schedule. RCN was the first company that broadcast a television program live and in color, the 1980 Miss Colombia beauty contest; since that year RCN has held the rights to broadcast this event.

The 1980s[link]

RCN produced television series with high remembrance within the viewers like Cusumbo and El Taita in 1984, which was the first Colombian telenovela filmed in exterior locations. In August 1988, RCN becomes part of OTI Colombia, gaining the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. Other members included Caracol, RTI, Producciones PUNCH, Producciones JES and Datos y Mensajes.^[1]

The 1990s[link]

Along with Caracol TV and RTI, RCN becomes one of the major television production companies in Colombia, producing not only telenovelas, game shows, but also sports events and news. Nevertheless the telenovelas gave to RCN an outstanding recognition, first in Latin America and in places so distant as Vietnam and Hungary. Among this productions were La Potra Zaina, Las Juanas and the international hit Café, con aroma de mujer, which not only have been broadcasted in several countries across the globe but it has been remade several times, being Destilando Amor the newest version. Within the lot of stuff produced in the 1990s there was productions like La Otra Raya del Tigre, La Vorágine, La Casa de las dos Palmas, Azucar, Momposina and Hombres, all of them raising parts of the Colombian culture and showing it to the world.

Private Television Network[link]

In 1995 the Colombian government opened a bidding for two private television networks, each one operating with one channel. RCN took part of this bidding, getting one of the two licenses, the other one was for Caracol TV. In 1997 started the construction of the infrastructure to launch the television channel. On 10 July 1998, RCN aired for the first time as private channel. In this first stage, RCN launched two telenovelas -La Madre and Carolina Barrantes- and improved the news bulletins, nevertheless the first year RCN -and also Caracol- just got a little part of the television viewers in Colombia, because the broadcasting infrastructure was not complete and because the production companies which remained in the official channels launched a solid strategy to keep the viewers.

Just in the second semester of 1999 and the first one of 2000, RCN and Caracol got to beat the public channels taking more of the 90 percent of the viewers. RCN first hits were Francisco El Matemático ("Francisco, the math teacher"), a teenagers-oriented series, aired on Saturday nights, but thanks to its success was moved to prime time Mondays to Fridays, and El Fiscal (The Prosecutor) an action oriented series.

Since the success of Francisco El Matemático and El Fiscal, RCN launched successful telenovelas which let it take the first place in the Colombian most watched networks: Me Llaman Lolita ("My Name is Lolita"), and Yo soy Betty, la Fea, that became the most successful telenovela ever in Colombia, topping Café con aroma de mujer. Betty la fea has since had its format and storyline licensed by RCN to multiple broadcasters worldwide in several languages.

Following the international trend, RCN launched in 2003 its first reality show: Protagonistas de Novela, which became the most watched show that year in Colombia, its second season despite not getting the amount of viewers that the first season got, kept the first place in the most watched shows in Colombia. Following Protagonistas de Novelas, RCN launched La Isla de los Famosos (a Colombian version of Survivor), which became the most watched show in RCN in 2004, and the second season named Una Aventura Pirata (A pirate adventure) got again the place of most watched show in Colombia. The RCN's telenovelas those years were kind of middle quality, not until with the launching of Los Reyes (a Colombian version of Argentinian series Los Roldán) and Fernando Gaitan's Hasta que la plata nos separe (Until the money divides us) that a telenovela from RCN got high ratings to become the most watched show in Colombia. But despite those years the telenovelas did not put the network in the first place, the Colombian version of X Factor did it, becoming the show number one in Colombia in 2006, with two seasons, and a third and a fourth named Factor XS, where the competitors are kids instead of adults. RCN gained some criticism against the fact the network was getting ratings from the use of kids in a reality show, but the parents of the kids dismissed this affirmation.

RCN got a hit with 2007 telenovelas Pura Sangre and La Hija del Mariachi, success followed by the 2008 telenovelas, El Último Matrimonio Feliz and Los Protegidos.

In July 2008, RCN became the first TV network in Colombia to offer online domestic English-language news updates under the brand, "RCN News" and RCN News in English. The full news updates would air on RCN's international network, "TV Colombia" in the mornings. Near the end of 2010, "RCN News in English" was phased out and began to offer only English-language international news updates for RCN's sister network, "Nuestra Tele Noticias 24" under the brand "news.NTN24.com". Plans for the format change began to surface in July 2010 after the main producer Brian Andrews involuntarily left the country in May after doing a report in El Cerrito, Valle del Cauca. National press coverage followed the incident. By this time he had become nationally well-known not only for producing national English-language news updates but for having done voice-overs for on-air advertisements for RCN's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as a lemur known as "Monocuco". He was known for saying "Monocuco, su avena y su pitillo, compadre" in broken Spanish. Teasers for the latest news update air during the midday "Noticias RCN" newscast during segment transitions. The teaser introduction is always in Spanish, while the teaser itself is in English. Even with the brand name and format changes, teasers continue to air during the "Noticias RCN" midday newscasts in an attempt to continue to compete in the Colombian TV market. Teasers do however include "Noticias RCN" graphics but use a "news.NTN24.com" end card. Although "Nuestra Tele Noticias 24" is an international news channel, "news.NTN24.com" focuses more on headlines from the "Americas" with the motto of "Latin America’s News In English" Morning, afternoon and evening news updates are posted daily. News updates are recorded in Bogotá and Miami with occasional updates from Berlin and New York City. It is produced by veteran Miami TV personality Brian Andrews. Along with posting news updates on their website, "news.NTN24.com" relies heavily on their Facebook and Twitter pages to notify viewers on new updates. In February 2011, the brand name changed to "NTN24News.com" and the website layout changed to accommodate a larger video display showcasing the latest news update.

Programming[link]

RCN presently operates on a 22-hour regular network programming per day, and its signal is the same all over the country, with no changes in the schedule, which starts in the early morning (4:00 am) with reruns of previously aired telenovelas, the morning is covered with breakfast television (Muy Buenos Días), with a break for news, and then religious programming (Cura Para el Alma), the news returns at 12:30 pm and the rest of the afternoon is taken by national and foreign telenovelas until 7:00 pm with the news bulletin, and at 8:00 pm the prime time starts with national telenovelas until 10:30 pm, the night is taken by news and editorial TV shows (i.e. La Noche).

Prime Time[link]

The channel's schedule is divided as follows News; Telenovelas; entertainment shows ; series-Comedias; Movies; Sports.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site (Spanish)
• Noticias RCN (Spanish)
• NTN24 News
• TV Colombia (Spanish)
• RCN Radio - Cadena Básica (Spanish)

Fernando Londoño Hoyos (born 27 December 1944) is a Colombian politician, lawyer, and economist. A longtime member of the Colombian Conservative Party, Londoño served as the 1st Minister of the Interior and Justice of Colombia from 2002 to 2004 during the Administration of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

Londoño has worked as a journalist since leaving government.^[1] He is a columnist and opinion writer for several Colombian newspapers. He also hosts a radio talk show, La Hora de la Verdad.^[1]

Londoño was wounded in a targeted bombing in Bogotá on 15 May 2012.^[1] Two people on a motorbike attached an explosive device to his car shortly before the explosion.^[1] Londoño survived the terrorist attack, but the blast killed his driver and a police escort.^[1] The attack, which took place in Bogota's financial district, injured twenty bystanders.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Fernando was born on 27 December 1944 in Manizales to Fernando Londoño y Londoño and Melba Hoyos Botero. He attended the San Bartolomé, La Merced school in Bogotá where he finished his primary and secondary studies, and latter attended the Pontifical Xavierian University where he graduated in 1967 with a Bachelor of Laws.^[2][3] On 7 December 1968 Londoño married colleague and fellow alumni, Patricia Villa Posse,^[4] but later divorced remarrying in 1978, this time to María Margarita Camargo Espinosa.^[5] From his first marriage he had two daughters, Cristina (b 1969) and Rosario (b 1971); from his second and current marriage he has one daughter, Tatiana (b 1979), and one son, Fernando (b 1981).^[6]

Career[link]

Minister of the Interior and Justice[link]

On 12 July 2002, then President-elect Álvaro Uribe Vélez ratified Londoño as his choice for Minister of the Interior.^[7] Upon taking office on 7 August 2002, Uribe sworn in his new Cabinet and Londoño as the 8th Minister of the Interior entrusting him with the Ministry of Justice and Law as well.^[8] He remained in that post until the ministries were reorganized and consolidated together to form the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, and Londoño reappointed as its 1st Minister.

Selected works[link]

• Fernando, Londoño Hoyos (1967) (in Spanish). El Poder del Juez [The Power of the Judge] (Thesis/Dissertation). Bogotá: Editorial Kelly. LCCN 68051044. OCLC 20496179. http://books.google.com/books?id=tukAGwAACAAJ. 
• Fernando, Londoño Hoyos; Glen de Tobón, Maricielo (1979) (in Spanish). Naturaleza y Estructura Jurídica de la Banca en América Latina: Legislación Vigente: Ponencia Presentada por la Secretaría General a la XII Reunión del Consejo de Gobernadores [Legal Nature and Structure of Banking in Latin America: Current Legislation: Report Submitted by the Secretariat General to the XII Meeting of the Council of Governors]. Cuadernos de la Biblioteca FELABAN. Bogotá: Editorial Kelly. LCCN 79126978. OCLC 5507578. http://books.google.com/books?id=ITI_AAAAYAAJ. 
• Fernando, Londoño Hoyos (1981) (in Spanish). Naturaleza y Destino de una Asociación Bancaria [Nature and Fate of a Banking Association]. Cuadernos de la Biblioteca FELABAN. Bogotá: Editorial Kelly. OCLC 33380893. http://books.google.com/books?id=cuMIHAAACAAJ. 
• Fernando, Londoño Hoyos (1996) (in Spanish). La Parábola del Elefante [The Parable of the Elephant]. Bogotá: Planeta. ISBN 9789589345627. LCCN 97125749. OCLC 35967529. http://books.google.com/books?id=RSAPAAAAYAAJ. 
• Fernando, Londoño Hoyos (2004) (in Spanish). Con Licencia Para Hablar [With A Licence To Speak]. Colección Actualidad. Bogotá: Random House Mondadori. ISBN 9789586392341. LCCN 2005422885. OCLC 60843067. http://books.google.com/books?id=tgQPAAAAYAAJ. 
• Fernando, Londoño Hoyos (2007) (in Spanish). Así Anduvimos el Camino [So We Walked The Road]. Colección Actualidad. Bogotá: Random House Mondadori. ISBN 9789586394062. LCCN 2007439862. OCLC 156909888. http://books.google.com/books?id=xWxsAAAAMAAJ. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• La Hora de la Verdad

Joe Arroyo
Joe Arroyo's Statue on Barranquilla
Background information
Birth name	Alvaro José Arroyo González
Also known as	El Joe
Born	(1955-11-01)1 November 1955 Cartagena de Indias, Bolívar, Colombia
Died	26 July 2011(2011-07-26) (aged 55) Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia
Genres	Joeson, Salsa, tropical, Cumbia, Porro, Chandé
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician,
Instruments	Vocals, Wood block
Years active	1969–2011
Labels	Discos Fuentes, Sony Music
Associated acts	Shakira, Juanes, Celia Cruz

Álvaro José Arroyo González (also known as Joe Arroyo or El Joe; 1 November 1955 – 26 July 2011) was a Colombian salsa and tropical music singer, composer and songwriter. Considered one of the greatest performers of Caribbean music in his country.

Life and career[link]

1955-1971: Early life[link]

Joe Arroyo was born in Cartagena. Born and raised in the neighborhood Nariño in Cartagena, Arroyo began his career at an early age, at the age of eight when he sang in brothels in Tesco, a red-light zone in his hometown. In the beginning he sang with groups like "Los Caporales del Magdalena", "Manuel Villanueva y su Orquesta", "La Protesta" and "Super Combo Los Diamantes", in 1971 he recorded with "La Promiscua".

1971-2000: Early career[link]

In 1971 Arroyo had his biggest opportunity of becoming a nationally known artist. He was discovered by Julio Ernesto Estrada, the bass player and director of the band Fruko y sus Tesos and signed up with Colombian record label Discos Fuentes.^[1] He performed with the band for ten years until 1981 when he began his solo career leading his band, named "La Verdad" (The truth).

Joe Arroyo became very successful by mixing salsa, cumbia, porro, soca, kompa, zouk and other music from the African Diaspora in a unique style. Some of his most famous songs are Rebelión","La noche" "Tania", "El Ausente" and "En Barranquilla me Quedo.

2000-2011: Health issues, drug abuse and The Joe "The Legend"[link]

Joe Arroyo was forced to stay away from his performances many times due to his health problems. On more than one occasion, he was thought to be dead because of his abrupt absences from media attention. Joe Arroyo had to go through surgery because of problems with his eyes.

He was once seriously ill for about 3 months due to a problem with his thyroid even though many had attributed it to drug abuse, which the singer denied in Rolling Stone magazine, Argentina in January 2004.

Between June and December 2011 the RCN channel broadcasted a soap opera based on the singer's life called The Joe "The Legend".

Death[link]

Arroyo died in Barranquilla on July 26, 2011, after spending nearly a month in hospital due to multiorgan failure. During his stay in the hospital his health deteriorated. The day before his death, doctors announced the singer was suffering from several organ failures including renal and heart failure and he was given his final sacrament by the local bishop. The singer died at 7:45 local time.^[2]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Colombia portal

• Info and Images
• Video of Joe Arroyo
• Obituary in El Tiempo (in Spanish)