Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” Enters Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100 for First Time in 50 Years

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Jose Feliciano is making chart history with his holiday classic…

The 75-year-old Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer’s “Feliz Navidad” moves up from No. 16 to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, dated December 19, hitting the top 10 for the first time, 50 years after its original 1970 release. It previously reached No. 12 last holiday season.

The holiday classic sports gains of 6% to 23 million in radio airplay audience, 15% to 18.5 million U.S. streams and 34% to 3,000 sold, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Feliciano adds his second Hot 100 top 10, after his debut entry, his cover of The Doors‘ “Light My Fire,” hit No. 3 in August 1968. (The Doors‘ original ruled for three weeks in the summer of 1967.) He has charted 11 total Hot 100 entries, as well as 16 titles, including eight top 10s, on the Hot Latin Songs chart.

The legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist is celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Feliz Navidad” this year. He performed on NBC‘s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and CBS Sunday Morning last week and, among other festivities, has a livestream scheduled for December 20.

Last month, Amazon Music Lat!n revealed a special 50th anniversary reimagining of Feliciano’s iconic holiday classic, featuring 30 artists including CNCO, Jon Secada, Frankie J, Jencarlos Canela, Pablo Montero, Julio Iglesias, Jr., Jason Mraz, Gloria Gaynor, Patricia Manterola and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Maria Elena Salinas Joins CBS News as a Contributor

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Maria Elena Salinas is headed to The Eye Network…

The 64-year-old Mexican American journalist, a longtime former Univision anchor, is joining CBS News as a contributor.

Susan Zirinsky,CBS News President and senior executive producer, said Salinas will deliver reports for multiple broadcasts and platforms and will be a frequent presence in 2020 election coverage.

Salinas, called the “Voice of Hispanic America” by The New York Times, is best known for co-anchoring Univision’s flagship evening news program for more than 30 years.

She has interviewed world leaders and covered a wide range of national and international events, netting multiple Emmys, a Peabody Awardand many others over the years.

Since leaving Univision in 2017, she has hosted The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas on Investigation Discoveryand covered the 2018 presidential election in Mexico for Telemundo.

“It is an honor to welcome Maria Elena Salinas to the CBS News team,” said Zirinsky. “We look forward to sharing her important voice and journalistic credentials with our audience in a critical time for this country.”

In 2016, Salinas reported for CBS Sunday Morningon the role Hispanics would play in that year’s election.

From 2001 to 2011, Salinas wrote a weekly syndicated column in both English and Spanish. She’s also the author of the 2006 autobiography, I Am My Father’s Daughter, Living a Life Without Secrets.

Salinas began her journalism career in 1981 as a reporter, anchor and public affairs host for KMEX-TV, Univision’s LA affiliate.

Cooking Channel Renews Rocca’s “My Grandmother’s Ravioli” for Third Season

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Get ready to spend Mo (Rocca) time in the kitchen…

The Cooking Channel has ordered another season of the 44-year-old half-Colombian comedian and journalist’s series My Grandmother’s Ravioli.

The Rocca-created and -hosted show will return for 13 more episodes in late 2014, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The series, inspired by the Sunday family dinners Rocca grew up enjoying at his grandmother’s house, follows him as he visits grandparents across North America who introduce him to their most treasured family recipes.

“Mo Rocca is a deft storyteller, and though he shouldn’t necessarily be left to his own devices in the kitchen, under the watchful eye of America’s grandparents, it makes for a delicious recipe for television,” said Cooking Channel’s general manager and senior vice president Michael Smith.

Rocca, a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, says viewers can expect more diverse dishes, locations and couples in the coming season. After featuring several “sweet, warm grandparents” on the series, Rocca is ready to spice up the cast. “We want cranky, crusty grandparents who will really ride me,” he quipped to THR.

So which grandparents who he most like to spend time with in the kitchen? The stoic farmer couple in the painting “American Gothic.”

“The best grandparents are the ones who probably have never seen the show and are definitely not interested in being on a reality show,” Rocca tells THR. “Usually volunteered by their kids and their grandkids, they’re people who just kind of do their own thing, spend time with their families and cook.”

Casting for season three has just begun, and grandparents can be nominated here.

With three episodes remaining in season two, the show will feature its first gay couple on January 8. The series currently airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

Rocca is also a panelist on NPR‘s Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me! and host of Cooking Channel’s Food(ography).

Milian Nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award…

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Marilyn Milian is getting her fifth shot at a Daytime Emmy…

The 52-year-old Cuban-American former-Florida-state-circuit-court-judge-turned-television-personality has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.

Milian, the first female judge and first Latina to preside over the long-running court show The People’s Court, is nominated in the Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program category. It’s her fifth nomination in the category.

Milian has been presiding over the program since 2001, making her one of the longest serving judges to preside over The People’s Court. The show was nominated previously from 2008-2011.

Milian is up against the syndicated programs Judge Judy and Last Shot with Judge Gunn.

Meanwhile, Natalie Morales has been nominated in the Outstanding Morning Program category, along with her Today co-anchors Ann Curry, Willie Geist, Savannah Guthrie, Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.

The NBC morning news program is up against CBS Sunday Morning, which features Mo Rocca as a correspondent, and ABC’s Good Morning America.

The 40th Daytime Emmy Awards will be held on June 16 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and be broadcast on HLN.

Click here to see the complete list of nominations.

Rocca to Star in Cooking Channel Special

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

He’ll be turning 43 later this month… And, Mo Rocca is finally ready to learn how to cook.

And the half-Colombian comedian, writer and political satirist will be sharing his experiences with the Cooking Channel’s viewers.

Rocca, a former Daily Show correspondent and current CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, will star in an hour-long special called My Grandmother’s Ravioli, in which he’ll get cooking lessons from America’s grandmothers and grandfathers.

“At 42, I’m finally figuring out how to cook,” Rocca tells The Hollywood Reporter. “My grandmother was a great cook and her ravioli was what I remember from my childhood. I wish I could go back in time and show up to her apartment a few hours before we ate, so that’s the show.”

The special will allow Rocca to “insinuate myself into people’s families,” he says, including a Filipino grandfather and an Italian grandmother who teach him how to make special dishes.

The special, which is being eyed as a potential series, is set to air Feb 19 on Cooking Channel.

Rocca’s CBS News Role Expanding…

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Tom Castaneda

Mo Rocco is taking on a larger role at CBS News…

The 42-year-old half-Colombian comedian, writer and political satirist has been named a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and the network’s other news programs, CBS News has announced.

Rocca—known for his satirical news reports and commentary— has served as a contributor for the news and entertainment program since 2006. But he’ll now be reporting for other CBS News broadcasts as well as continue reporting for CBS Sunday Morning.

“His title is correspondent, but we see Mo, as we see all our Sunday Morning contributors, as a ‘columnist,’ bringing his own unique – and it is unique – perspective to everything he does,” says CBS Sunday Morning executive producer Rand Morrison.

The former The Daily Show with Jon Stewart regular’s work includes commentaries on politics and pop culture, cover stories, features and profiles.

“I loved doing television field pieces and I’ve done a lot of them,” has previously stated Rocca about his reporting. “If you combine The Daily Show with The Tonight Show with my gig on Sunday Morning, I see them all as part of one continuum in a way. Three- to six-minute stories with my point of view… and participating in one degree or another in the story … I love doing that.”

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