During the 1950s the impending arrival of television created public expectation in Puerto Rico, even influencing other entertainment mediums in the form of a song.
[2] During decades, the ratings were dominated by local programming produced by Tommy Muñiz and Paquito Cordero, which adopted a family friendly approach.
However, the retirement of the former, combined with the introduction of cable television and the acquisition of the largest stations by foreign interest brought changes in content beginning in the 1980s, with late-night shows and double entendre gaining prominence.
[6] WAPA-TV tested images and commercials in February 25 and March 5, even airing an interview with Felisa Rincón de Gautier hosted by Carlos Rubén Ortiz and Enrique Soler, but did not follow it.
[8] El Imparcial, in response, gave its publicity to WAPA-TV and its owner José R. Quiñones, who adopted an educational and religious approach in its programming.
[14] Efforts were made to meet the standards of the advertisers with the money available-the TV stations' staff would multitask and script writers would be in charge of more than one show at a time.
[20] Local radio technicians traveled abroad to become acquainted with the new technology, while foreign personnel also arrived to participate in the nascent industry.
[21] On April 29, 1959, El colegio de la alegría was revived at WAPA-TV, with its original cast and the addition of Velda González and Yoyo Boing.
[15] Entering the 1960s, the prime-time slots were occupied by Myrta Silva's Una hora contigo and Rendezvous Nocturno hosted by Vilma Carbia and Tony Chiroldi.
[25] By this time WKAQ, WAPA, WIPR and WKBM were based in San Juan, WRIK and WSUR at Ponce, WORA and WIPM at Mayagüez and WOLE at Aguadilla.
[27] By June 1960, Paquito Cordero opted to leave Producciones Tommy Muñiz and begin producing its own shows, creating a competition between both.
[32] A conflict between APATE and Roberto Vigoreaux, Paquito Cordero and Mario Pabón over the use of foreign talent lead to WAPA-TV stopping its production of telenovelas for nearly a decade.
WORA-TV began airing on October 12, 1955, due to the efforts of Alfredo Ramírez de Arellano to create a station for the west coast of Puerto Rico.
[37] However, unable to communicate in Spanish, most of the work ended in the hands of Vice President Héctor Modestti, who insisted on eliminating American shows that were dubbed.
[38] With this came a change in programming, during which Tommy Muñiz's La criada malcriada was pitched to the channel while the producers and advertisers involved in a pilot filmed at WKAQ had conflicts with that station's protocols.
[40] WKAQ then aired segments with El club canta la juventud, Chucho Avellanet, Lucecita Benítez, Alfred D. Herger and Al Zeppy.
[43] However, a comedy act where an affair of governor Roberto Sánchez Villella was mentioned caused the ire of Louvau, whom Muñiz initially dismissed but ultimately removed the segment from the air and brought Desafiando a los genios.
[50] Despite the skepticism about the format expressed by the foreign owners of WAPA-TV, the success of Desafiando a los genios resulted in it being given additional airtime, appearing during all weekdays.
[51] Performing under a variety of characters, Castro, Agrelot and Cristóbal Berrios served as the talent, while Morales was the host in charge of discussing a particular topic set for the day.
[53] Jimmy Díaz returned to television in Desafiando a los Genios, which also debuted Sunshine Logroño, Juan Manuel Lebrón and Adrían García.
[59] Despite facing skepticism from the channel's administration, Muñiz debuted a sketch show titled Esto no tiene nombre on February 7, 1969, which satirized social and political issues and was a hit in the Friday nighttime slot.
[61] One of its characters, satirical politician Benigno Orante (interpreted by Samuel Medina), gained some write-in votes during the 1972 Puerto Rican general election.
[65] On January 5, 1970, Ja-ja, ji-ji, jo-jo con Agrelot was introduced to replace El special de Corona, which was eventually moved to the primetime slot on Sundays and went on to figure near the top of the ratings for almost a decade.
[36] On March 23, 1978, a failed stunt that culminated in the death of Karl Wallenda was filmed by cameraman Santos López Malavé and aired live on WAPA-TV.
[34] In 1973, telenovela actor José Reymundí began a strike against Producciones Tommy Muñiz and in particular against its administrator Hérnan Nigaglioni, claiming that he had been left out of a local production to favor foreigners.
[78] Producciones Tommy Muñiz was affected by it, with only productions like Esto no tiene nombre or Ja-ja, ji-ji, jo-jo con Agrelot surviving.
[83] However, when Marcano departed, Sánchez was placed in El Cuartel de la Risa at Súper Siete, from which Gabriel Suau contracted him to perform a risqué comedy known as No te Duermas.
[85] Talk shows also proliferated in Puerto Rico, as they did in other Latino programming, led by Carmen Jovet, Pedro Zervigón and Luis Francisco Ojeda.
[87] In 1991, a movement led by the Catholic Church lead to a series of manifestations by groups that promoted Christian morality and feminism which resulted in local channel promising self-regulation following boycott against risqué programming by a number of advertisers and the government.
[88] In the process, A la cama con Porcel was cancelled and restrictions were placed on Sunshine's Café and No te duermas, the first of which was eventually suspended.