Telemundo Stations Recover $1 Million With 'Responde' Programs

Telemundo Responde, the consumer investigative units toiling at seven Telemundo Station Group stations, has recovered over $1 million for viewers, according to Telemundo. The units launched in the spring of 2014, and four more—at WSNS Chicago, KTAZ Phoenix, KHRR Tucson and WKAQ Puerto Rico—will debut in 2015. San Antonio’s KVDA launched its own Responde unit late last year.

Telemundo Responde has tallied over 13,000 tips that led to over 700 stories, says Telemundo.

“We launched Telemundo Responde because our local stations feel an obligation to stand up for consumers who have been wronged,” said Manuel Martinez, president, Telemundo Station Group. “The fact that our Telemundo Responde units have collectively recovered more than $1 million for consumers in less than a year is incredible, but we have more work to do. Expanding Telemundo Responde to other markets will help our local stations stand up for even more consumers and give the Hispanic communities they serve a stronger voice.”

Among the many people the program has helped, there was a Los Angeles woman who was owed nearly $1,000 after participating in a medical research project, a New York victim of identity theft whose bank would not credit him for an unauthorized charge, and a Dallas family living in the dark when their electric company refused to turn on their power for over three weeks.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.