Houston.BloggersPub

San Antonio baby Ava Cunningham stars on a video showing the 2-year-old’s dance to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” dance. READ MORE

> mikemcguff.com

KISS 96.7 KHFI morning man Bobby Bones was robbed on his way to do his air shift. KVUE 24 has more:

Police say Bobby Bones, the morning DJ for KISS-FM, was walking through the parking lot of Clear Channel radio in South Austin just after 4 a.m. when someone called out to him, then chased him. Bones tripped and fell, injuring his knee and shoulder. The thief grabbed Bone’s laptop and took off. READ MORE

Minerva Pérez is a familiar face to television viewers in places like Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio and Austin among others. She is an award winning journalist who was the first Latina News Anchor at KTRK TV/ABC 13 in Houston where she spent 15 and half years.

Now she is host of Latina Voices: Smart Talk on Houston PBS and Owner/President of Minerva Pérez Media, LLC, a Public Relations/Communications firm. Pérez was nice enough to conduct an interview with me for mikemcguff.com about the show and her appearance on a U2 song!

Mike McGuff: Tell us about Latina Voices? Why do you think this show needed to be on the air?

Minerva Pérez: Latina Voices: Smart Talk is a talk show with a Latina perspective and the first of its kind in the country - Latinas talking about important issues in English. I created it with the help of Texas Super Lawyer Sofia Adrogue and PBS Senior Producer and Host of PBS’ Living Smart, Patricia Gras. We lend voice to a segment of our community that is not being addressed. There was no other Latina voice anywhere reacting to what’s happening around us. Did you see a lot of Latinas being asked what they thought about Vote 08? Obama? McCain? CNN and most networks did a poor job of including the Latino voice during the elections. Also, where are the Latina voices on National TV Talk shows? Until very recently, there was only Elizabeth Vargas, who I happened to know during my Phoenix reporting days. We were both on the street covering the impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham back in the mid 80’s. When Latinos are fast becoming the majority minority, and the predominant ethnic group in most major cities these days, the Latina voice is missing in the national discourse. That is why I created Latina Voices: Smart Talk.

MM: What kind of topics do you cover?

MP: About our topics: we cover the gamut. All topics are important to the Latino/a but nobody is asking them what they think of important issues. So we covered the historic Presidential Inauguration, Health Care, the Latino Vote, Obama, Women’s Wellness, Global Warming, Immigration, Texas Lady Pioneers, Financial Strategies, Celebrities, everything that most Americans enjoy or worry about. Latinos are no different when it comes to these topics. We ask the smart questions nobody else is asking.

Again, I think this show needed to be on the air for the following reasons: the lack of a Latina voice on TV; It is serving an underserved target market. And HoustonPBS thought so too. They picked us up in January with plans to roll out nationally.

MM: Tell me about some of your favorite guests.

MP: Favorite guests? Former Houston Astros, Jeff Bagwell, who is one of the most ‘down-home’ guys in the world. Good heart too. His philanthropy is amazing. He was one our first guests. Also, Washington, D.C. based author Tom Finn, author of “Are You Clueless?” for his vision about tolerance.

MM: What’s next for the show?

MP: One of our next guests includes the Vice President of Guatemala, Dr. Rafael Espada.

MM: Off topic, but when we worked together at KTRK, I figured out your anchoring work at KTLA in Los Angeles was sampled in the U2 song Desire (Hollywood Remix). So how is Bono and have you seen him lately?

MP: About the U2-Bono connection and since you asked… I worked in Los Angeles before moving to Houston. Apparently, when U2 was laying down tracks in a Hollywood Recording studio for one of their 80’s albums, and unbeknownst to me, they lifted my voice from one of my newscasts and included it on their “Desire-Hollywood remix.” Not being a U2 fan, I didn’t know about it. Someone in the KTLA control room told me they heard my voice on a Bono album. I actually don’t remember who told me. Regardless, it’s my voice on the Desire track and that’s my other claim to fame…even though it’s just a few seconds reading about another L-A crime story…”shot him in the shoulder.”

While in LA I met a lot of stars: Jane Seymour, Carol Burnett, Edward James Olmos, Andy Garcia, Jimmy Smits, Bob Hope (opened the door for me at Stuart Andersen Steak House), but I never met Bono. Can’t tell you what he’s doing these days. I just wish he’d pass along some of the Desire royalties.

Watch Latina Voices: Smart Talk online: www.latinavoices.com

I told you how Channel 11 KHOU’s investigative team was nominated for a national Emmy (not the same as the Lone Star Emmys). Guess what, they won:

On Monday, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented KHOU-TV with an award for Outstanding Regional News Story – Investigative Reporting at the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York City.

Channel 11 was one of only two local stations in the nation to receive an award at the event and the only local station to be awarded in the investigative category. READ MORE

I didn’t get a press release from Channel 11. I actually learned about this from blogHOUSTON. Kevin Whited says Channel 11 didn’t send him a release either - someone else did. I wonder why KHOU does not send out press releases to blogs?

Kanye: “KHOU doesn’t care about new media.”

Hold it Kanye, that is not true. Now I see why President Obama called you a “jackass.”  The station has blogs and Twitter accounts. I just hope it thinks of us next time there is some good news. And KHOU is not the only media to ignore blogs.   The other TV stations and media should send us news items too!

I have a great interview with a former Houston TV news anchor on Monday. Who could it be? We’ll talk to him/her about their latest happenings and their work with one of the world’s largest rock groups. Now that is a tease.

In these tough economic times, it’s always good to find some good deals. I built this bargain blog and occasionally link to it, but I also found another one.

Houstononthecheap.com is another blog that gives you the Bayou City bargains. Looks like lots of good stuff. Houston on the Cheap is written by native Texan and freelance journalist Vicki Powers.

Remember when my friend lost her prescription sunglasses to her friend’s ferret? Good news. The glasses were found. The ferret hid them under the couch, its favorite hiding spot.

Luxurata has been on hiatus from the Houston music scene but are about to make a big comeback with the new 1000 Days album. The band turned to me for help in creating a new Web site and social media presence.

I built the following web site for them at luxurata.com.

I also created a site for the band’s Septic Records label - septicmusic.com.

Being that social networking is hot, I created various Web 2.0 accounts for the label’s entire roster (Poor Dumb Bastards, DollyRockers, Luxurata). Check out how I tweaked Luxurata’s MySpace page.

Having a Twitter, Facebook and MySpace account is one thing, but it all kind of gets crazy trying to keep everything updated. I created a solution for that.

Now Luxurata just has to post on the Septic Records blog to update it all. I designed the WordPress theme myself. See how it seems kind of septic in nature? I programmed everything so a post about Luxurata on that blog automatically feeds Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and the band’s Web site. Just like that. Pretty painless.

Now make sure to catch the Luxurata record release party Friday October 2nd at Rudyard’s British Pub! There will be plenty of updates on luxurata.com!

If I can do this for Luxurata and KTRK 13, what could I do for your business?

Uncle Barky tells us about the new public radio station coming to North Texas that will focus on music and local programming:

KXT radio (91.7 FM), the new music arm of North Texas Public Broadcasting Inc. (KERA), will launch on Nov. 9th, providing nine to 11 hours of weekday local programming.

[snip]

The station will debut with the 7 a.m. locally produced KXT Morning Show and also will feature mid-afternoon and evening components. Local hosts and special program features will be announced later. READ MORE

You will be able to start listening November 9th when the station signs on the air.

First of all, I would like to thank Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams for getting Twitter off the ground. Next I want to thank all of my Twitter followers and blog readers who helped me be the Houston Press Best Twitterer Readers’ Choice. READ MORE

I also want to thank Dwight Silverman who inspired my tweets. I also want to thank…

Kanye West: “I’m sorry, but Laurence Simon (@isfullofcrap) had one of the best tweets of all time!”

[cue music]

Folks have sent me job openings for social media managers…maybe I should start applying! Send me any openings you see. Thanks.

Plus, a shout out to Technology Bytes crew for the kind comments on 90.1 KPFT Wednesday night and to @blackiguananews who let me know the big news!

SEE THE HOUSTON PRESS BEST OF WINNERS