|
 About
the Publisher
 |
One of the biggest problems the publisher has encountered
when selling advertising for the previous four directories
throughout the United States is credibility.
“So many people have been scammed, conned, cheated and
burned by fly-by-night salespeople that they are leery, skeptical,
untrusting and suspicious of anyone that approaches them for
an ad,” Ramón Hernández said.
“Especially if you’re from out-of-town and worse
yet, from out-of-state when they have been ripped off by people
in their own hometown.” |
This is the reason for this web page, CREDIBILITY! So the
following information is provided to acquaint the world with
a man who describes himself to women as chaparrito (short),
narison (big-nosed), prieto (dark-skinned), ponsonsito (slightly
fat), dientes chuecos (crooked toothed), cacariso (pock-marked
crater face) and feo (ugly). He doesn’t even have a
pocketful of personality (moola), but he does have character.
If the name Ramón Hernández sounds familiar,
or if the publisher’s image on these photos looks like
someone you may have seen, it’s probably because you
may have seen him in an international movie, a national, regional
or local television program.
Perhaps you have read one of his articles in Billboard, Hispanic
Magazine, and different internet web sites (i.e. www.abilenehispanic/ctweekly.html),
read his liner notes in various albums and compact discs;
or biographies in celebrity media press kits.
As a renowned photographer, photographs by the publisher
have appeared in People In Español, other national
publications and countless of album and CD covers, publicity
pictures and posters. Then there’s his reputation as
a publicist, not to mention the fact that Hernández
is the founder and president of the Hispanic Entertainment
Archives. For more information on this, check out www.americanmusichistory.org
or www.texasmusic.history.com, and then go to “affiliates.”
There you will find his bio and synopsis on the archives.
FILM CREDITS,
TELEVISION CREDITS
Noon Sunday Hawaii Five-O Primer Impacto
The Killing Machine Fuera De Serie Cine Commentarios
The Controller La Prensa TV program Marite Barcelata
In the process, Hernández was recruited as the regional
promotions man for RMM Records and thus entered into a new
field, record promotions. His mission was to introduce salsa
and merengue music in Texas.
Did he succeed? Are you familiar with recordings by Puerto
Ricans and Cubans such as Marc Anthony, Celia Cruz and Tito
Puente and is tropical music now receiving airplay in Texas?
If your answer is yes, then you can credit Hernández
and Henry Brun, who preceded the publisher in this position.
After the company closed down, Hernández continued
paying his bills as a record promoter for the Catalina and
Hacienda labels.
Sometimes referred to as the Dick Clark of Tejano music,
don’t be fooled by his boyish looks, a slight sprinkling
of gray hair, bald spot and the telltale signs of wrinkles
and liver spots attest to his age. However, he does have the
energy, stamina and creativity of a 24-year old. As prove,
the following is an insight to his background.
 |
Hernández joined the U.S. Navy
in 1960. Part of his duties involved hosting a Latin
radio show on Armed Forces Radio in Morocco and all
over Europe. He met his first wife in East Africa, his
son Tony was born in Asmara, Ethiopia in 1965 and his
daughter Susie was conceived in Athens, Greece. It was
during this period that Hernández had the opportunity
to photograph Emperor Haile Selassie, Queen Elizabeth
and Prince Phillip, plus travel with Senator Robert
F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel.
In 1968, he landed a part-time as a photographer on
the Andy Williams and Lawrence Welk shows in Hollywood.
This marked his debut as a celebrity photographer. |
|
This was the year he also got to photograph then Alabama
Governor George Wallace and Hubert Humphrey. |
Two years later, he made his debut as an actor
while working as a still photographer for “Noon Sunday”
when they ran out of extras.
“Danny Trejo once told me God blessed him with a ‘thug
face’ and I can say I was bless with the fact that I
can pass for Japanese, Filipino, Guamian and Hawaiian,”
Hernández said. “This is what made it possible
for me to play two different parts in ‘Noon Sunday,’
in which I was killed by both Mark Lenard and John Russell.”
It was also in Guam where Hernández landed his first
job as a publicist for Johnny Sablan, the island’s version
of Don Ho.
This was followed by a two-year stint in Washington, D.C.
where he freelanced for Senator Ted Kennedy, covered the Watergate
Hearings and became great friends with U.S. Representative
Henry B. Gonzalez. He met Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman
and was considered for a role in “All the President’s
Men.” However, he was transferred and never got to add
that to his resume.
Assigned to duty in Puerto Rico, within a year his work had
appeared in Teve Guia, Vea, Estrellas and Estrellitas magazines
and he was voted “Photographer of the Year.” While
he was a staple at Channels two, seven and WAPA_TV Channel
4, celebrities such as Charytin Goyco, Iris Chacon and others
in la isla del coqui, never called the publisher by his name,
but by ‘El Mexicano de Ponce.’
“That’s what made me stand out among the other
photographers in Borinquen, using a nickname as a gimmick,”
Hernández continued. “The only one who called
me by my name were my two best friend Wilkins and Alfred De
Herger, then manager for La Pandilla.”
As his reputation grew, so did clients, then in their infancy
stages: Julio Iglesias and José Luis Rodríguez,
then an ex-telenovela actor turned preacher, plus Willie Chirino
and his wife Lizzette.
The problem with being a U.S. military man was getting transferred
every two years and the Navy send him back to the Mediterranean
where he became a columnist for Panorama and a contributing
writer for R&R In the Med magazines. Within a year, he
had befriended Adriano Celentano, Little Tony, Peppino Di
Capri and Gianni Morandi eventually becoming Bobby Solo’s
publicist. Perks included interviewing Pooh, Roberto Benigni,
Miguel Bose, Renato Zero, Heather Parsi and other famous Italian
vocalists.
| In spite of
his full-time responsibilities as a Chief Petty Officer,
Hernández, with Tony and Susie (his son and daughter)
in tow, spent every minute of his free time on the celebrity
circuit. And they didn’t mind since he also covered
American rock concerts and they got the opportunity
to see many of their favorite bands and singers. |
|
|
Yearning to
return home and put all his experience to use, on May
31, 1983, the publicist turned down a promotion to Senior
Chief in lieu of retirement. This day marked the end of
a 23-year career and the end of a marriage. |
By September, his son Tony was in Brown University in Providence,
Rhode Island, his daughter Susie was in her last year as a
senior in Atlantic Beach, Florida and Hernández was
working for Satelco, a long-distance carrier.
Shortly after Patsy Torres became his first client in 1984,
he gave up his full-time job to enter the Tejano music market
as the industry’s first publicist introducing Tejano
artists to the importance of biographies, hype sheets and
press kits in getting publicity and exposure in the print
medium.
Next, he founded the Hispanic Concert Hotline. In 1987, he
wrote a 10-page special on Tejano music for Billboard magazine
and in 1990, he published the first Texas Entertainment Directory.
Two years later, he narrowed his research to the Hispanic
market and published the National Hispanic Entertainment Directory.
Giving credit where it’s due, Hernández said,
“this was actually my (then) wife Martha’s idea
since she would get upset that everyone was approaching me
for information in the way of radio station printouts. Emily
Befeld then pushed me a little further by being my biggest
cheerleader and most aggressive salesperson. Imelda Gomez,
Reyes Lucio and her daughter Angelica Lucio were also very
instrumentation in realizing the third and fourth editions
of this publication.
It would take another few pages to list Hernández’s
accomplishments during the last two decades. However, he is
not one to stop, his dreams and goals include:
1. Publishing the fifth edition of the Hispanic Entertainment
Directory
2. To finish writing Little Joe’s life story
3. To use some of the profits from the 2004-2005 directory
to publish Little Joe’s book and have it in bookstores
for Christmas.
4. To finish writing The Latinization of American Music
5. To bring the Hispanic Entertainment Archives to fruition
6. To do several college lecture tours
In closing let it be said that you have probably met, seen
or heard the publisher, but he won’t look like a publisher
because his trademark is a black tee shirt. Wearing a suit
or a tuxedo doesn’t stop him from wearing his trademark
tee, except that he will at least upgrade it from cotton to
silk.
Hernández is so unassuming and humble that his motto
is: It is nice to be important, but it is more important to
be nice. Therefore, he is not going to brag and bend your
ear about himself. Instead, he will make you the center of
attention and make you feel like a star as he listens to your
story.
Now that you know all about the publisher, please don’t
be skeptical, leery and suspicious of him when he walks into
your door and into your radio station, record shop, club or
office, for he is legit.
|
PURCHASE
2005 DIRECTORY 
