Craig Allen named winner of the 2022 LABF/BEA Broadcast Historian Award

April 11, 2022 -- The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation, in conjunction with the Broadcast Education Association, have selected the winner of their 2022 Broadcast Historian Award: Craig Allen, of Arizona State University, for his book, Univision, Telemundo and the Rise of Spanish-Language Television in the United States.

The book is the first comprehensive history of U.S. Spanish-language television. Drawing from 10 years of archival research and original interviews, it reveals the inside story behind the Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo, how they fought against enormous odds and finally rose as giants of mass communication in the mostly English-speaking United States.

The book argues that other scholars have focused almost exclusively on English-language television in the U.S., and overlooked the contributions of Spanish-language television.

Much of the book traces the rise of Mexican broadcast pioneer Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, who founded Univision as the U.S.’s fourth television network.

The history also covers the many Americans who directed Univision and Telemundo over the years and who deserve a place among the U.S. mass media’s foremost pioneers. 

LABF and BEA partnered in 2015 to establish the annual award, which includes a prize of $5,000. It is awarded to books and documentaries related to broadcasting history in alternating years.

BEA administers the award. Details for applying for the 2023 prize will be available on its website, www.BEAweb.org.

Allen is an associate professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and chair of the ASU University Hearing Board. He is a former associate dean of the Barrett Honors College, past president of ASU’s University Senate, and past member of the ASU General Studies Council.

Allen has written extensively on television history, political media, presidential communication and international mass media. His other books include News Is People: The Rise of Local TV News (2001) and Eisenhower and the Mass Media (1994).

A review in Electronic Media recognized News Is People as the “best book ever written on the history of television news.” His articles have appeared in the Journal of American History, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.