Andrew Paxman

"Some journalists who wrote about him claimed it was due to the streak of gray hair he combed back, which enhanced his stately bearing. Businessmen attributed the nickname to his tendency to pounce on some coveted asset or to rush into a new venture; his decisions seemed based more on animal instinct than on any analysis. “If you propose an idea to him, right then he tells you whether he’ll buy it or whether he thinks you’re stupid,” said Ambassador Agustín Barrios Gómez, who worked for many years at Televisa. “He never says ‘Call me Monday.’ It’s ‘Let’s do it’ or ‘Fuck off.’” Rather than spend time reading up on a subject, Azcárraga preferred to seek out experts, bombard them with questions, and then make a quick, Solomonic decision."

"If the rumor spread that he used to travel by subway (which he did only once, when he was in a hurry to go from Televicentro to a lunch in the Zona Rosa and the parking lot gates had been blocked by protesters), it would help his reputation as a magnate who stayed in touch with his audience."

"“In an era of the world, [written] words did not exist — he told the author Laura Castellot de Ballin —. People communicated with images, and human beings, by their nature, do not think in words, they think in images; the image is more natural […] it is much faster and more complete than the word, and in a very short time it is going to be much more important, because the word has many limitations; you have to translate it into other languages. To describe something you see, or someone who loves, or someone who laughs or enjoys, the word is very limited and the image is very complete.”"

"Azcárraga held two beliefs that he defended with conviction: one, in his own greatness, demonstrated both in his boldness and in his arrogance; and two, faith in the power and importance of images, especially when transmitted by television."

"This was not as manipulative as it might seem. When he was young, seeking to craft his public persona, he certainly calculated the effect of these confidences. But once he was firmly established as El Tigre, that behavior was by then, without a doubt, part of his nature. Moreover, there was also Azcárraga’s sentimentality; when he said: “No one but you,” he surely felt that way."

"More than 80 million regular viewers are exposed daily to models and expectations that are very rarely met in reality. This sociocultural influence has had obvious superficial manifestations. Since the 1950s, when blonde actresses arrived on television and advertisers preferred people with fair skin and brown or blonde hair to present their products, sales of blond hair dye increased."

"Later, in an unusual interview, he would recall: “When television launched, he asked me to get into the sales department and I started because it didn’t take much of my time. I tried to sell television [time], and if I couldn’t, I sold an encyclopedia. That’s how I started. But the father-son relationship at work is always difficult; the problem that your father sees you with different eyes, important ones, yes, but sometimes hard to understand, they take away a bit of your freedom or try to steer you where you don’t want to go; I was always very rebellious in my life.”"

"Between 1958 and 1961, soap operas replaced most of the slots that had been occupied by teleteatros, becoming Mexico’s most important dramatic format. However, their initial success has sometimes been overstated. They were not yet more popular than variety shows or than the much more sophisticated U.S. series that were being imported in large quantities. With a few exceptions, these would remain the genres with the greatest attraction for another 10 years. In 1961, the year in which television ratings were measured for the first time, TSM issued a statement denouncing the poor quality of the direction, acting, and editing of Mexican series and their technical shortcomings; a challenge to the industry by Azcárraga Vidaurreta to work harder and bring it up to U.S. standards."