Some of you may remember a television show that began airing during the mid 70’s called “Tijuana: Window to the South”, hosted by Jan (Juanita) Wood. The show was produced and directed by Manuel Cruces, broadcast on Saturday mornings for more than three decades on Canal 6 (Channel 6) in Tijuana – the first television station in the city and among the very first in all of Mexico.
The central theme of the weekly series was to reveal a different side of Tijuana to a cross-border audience with the goal of offsetting the negative fame earned decades prior during the era of prohibition by portraying a positive image of this border city, showcasing the family oriented attractions and events available for tourists to come and enjoy.

The show’s popularity would grow over the years and developed a loyal, multi-cultural audience that reached throughout Tijuana, Rosarito, Tecate and a large portion of the greater San Diego metropolitan area.
Over the years, “Juanita” would become somewhat of a celebrity herself in business and political circles in Tijuana, appreciated for her efforts in helping to promote tourism for the city but few of them actually knew that her real name was not “Juanita Wood” but Janet Wood, born in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky and having moved to the San Diego area in 1960.

Juanita would eventually head a company called “Conquistador Firm” and would work with government agencies on both sides of the border promoting binational regional tourism as well as a spokesperson for collaborations working to improve binational relations between upper and lower (Baja) California.Because of her close friendships that she developed over the years with many residents and business owners in Tijuana, the show would become a sort of personal crusade for Juanita, who worked hard to share the Tijuana that she had come to know and love, highlighting the very best that the city had to offer including its attractions, restaurants, hotels and shopping as well as all the cultural and tourist oriented events.Her efforts would be recognized by business and government leaders on both sides of the border as well as the general community and the show continued to air for 32 years until 2007, when health reasons would prevent Juanita from continuing.

While Juanita had been the face of the show that her audience had come to identify with, it was only possible due to the hard work and dedication of her producer and director – Manuel Cruces Cuéllar – who himself had a long career, deeply rooted in Tijuana televison history that began almost from the very first on-air broadcasts at Canal 6.In the context of promoting tourism to a cross border, multicultural audience in the region, a void exists today – 25 years since the show left the air – and we are very happy to learn that this iconic show is now making a comeback with an updated format that will expand its focus to the entire state of Baja California.

Baja Window to the South

We learned from the regional news source SanDiegoRed that this new version of the show now coming back on the air is produced by Fabiola Camarena, renowned for her work at TV Azteca and ZONA MX and this weekly, half hour show will be hosted by Olga Sánchez de la Vega and co-hosted by Scott Koenig, known to many of us as “a Gringo in Mexico” and will highlight an assortment of the attractions of Baja California including many of the culinary treasures, medical tourism, entertainment, cultural, sport and recreational gems, hospitality, local businesses and much, much more.
Additionally, several attractive regions of the state will be visited in the weeks ahead including not only Tijuana but Ensenada, Valle de Guadalupe, Rosarito, Mexicali and Tecate – just to name a few – with the very first episode set to air later today!

We hope you’ll join us in following this exciting new version of the show!

With information derived from the original article at SanDiegoRed