Angel Ramos

Angel Ramos was the founder of the second largest Spanish language television network in America. Growing up as a poor child in Puerto Rico he would go onto become successful in both newspapers and radio. He was also one of the early pioneers in the world of television. He founded the first network in Puerto Rico which would eventually grow to become seen across the United States as well as throughout Latin America.

Angel Ramos was born in Puerto Rico in 1902 in the small town of Manati. The family was poor and the situation wasn't helped when his father died when Ramos was three years old. When he was fifteen Ramos decided that there was no future for him in Manati so he moved to the capital in San Juan. While he was in San Juan he got a job at a recently founded newspaper where he worked as a type setter. He also managed to finish high school. He continued to work at the newspaper after he graduated working his way up to become administrator.

After working and the newspaper for twenty seven years Angel Ramos had saved enough money to buy out the holding company that owned the newspaper. With this success behind him he would then go on to start a radio station. This soon proved to be popular and another station would follow. With these two stations Ramos network now controlled eighty percent of the Puerto Rico radio market. He decided to try expanding into the new area of television and was soon granted the first broadcasting license in Puerto Rico.

The television network proved to be very popular and they were pioneers in the industry, they were one of the first stations to air soap operas. These were produced locally by the station making them the first television shows to be produced in Puerto Rico. Ramos then decided that he wanted to expand his network into other countries; unfortunately this didn't go all that well. The first attempt was to set up a network in Guyana; unfortunately there are very few people in Guyana who speak Spanish. This resulted in the network failing and Ramos went back to Puerto Rico to run his network there.

Angel Ramos would die as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage at the young age of fifty eight. His wife would eventually take over running the television network. During the eighties she would sell the network which would then become available nationwide in the United States and most of Latin America. This made it the second most watched Spanish language channel in the US. Ramos' wife would found a philanthropic organization in her husband's name which is now the largest philanthropic organization in Puerto Rico. They provide support to a wide variety of good causes throughout the Island.