By Nashali Maldonado, Staff Writer
Al Dia really cares about their readers.
This newspaper wants to provide its readers with what they need to know, said the editor, Arturo Varela, during a recent interview at the office of Al Dia in a nice building in Center City, Philadelphia.
The Spanish language weekly newspaper has 20-49 staffers. It is the largest Spanish language newspaper in the city. It has over 80,000 readers.
“When I first moved here from Puerto Rico I didn’t know any English so I had turned to Al Dia newspaper to know what was going on in the world,” said Peggy Cruz, a regular reader who lives in North Philadelphia.
Cruz turned to Al Dia to get news from her homeland and to keep abreast of events in her neighborhood.
“If I had ask any of the people I worked with they would have told me that they didn’t care if I didn’t know what was happening,” Cruz said.
The founder of Al Dia, Hernan Guaracao, is a native of Colombia, South America. He worked as a reporter before starting the newspaper in 1992.
“This started as a newsletter of only eight pages,” said David Cruz, a photographer at Al Dia. “Hernan worked at another newspaper and they told him he was too qualified to just be a reporter. So, he started his own newspaper.”
The paper shows that it cares about the community by pushing such issues as immigration, education and jobs.
Varela said that he and the staff keep adding things to the newspaper, such as the online edition.
Al Dia is one of four Latino publications that provide an interesting blend of features, news, sports and entertainment pieces to the Latino community in Philadelphia.
The first Spanish language newspaper in America was founded in 1824 in Philadelphia by Felix Varela Y Morales, who was a Cuban-born priest.
Information about Morales hangs on the wall at Al Dia in a picture frame.
