The Man Who Made Generation Ñ

Soon they became partners, and Nuñez-Menocal sold advertising to national companies that were hungry to tap into a burgeoning market. Witty, engaging, and self-effacing, Teck immediately became the voice of a bilingual generation. He nabbed attention from the New York Times, Newsweek, and even newspapers in London and Japan.

But at the magazine's peak, in November 1997, Teck's 57-year-old mother climbed into her bathtub and shot herself in the heart with a .38-caliber revolver. Teck was blindsided, but kept working. A month later, he signed a deal for The Official Spanglish Dictionary and by 1998 was hosting a pair of TV shows and a daily radio show, as well as writing a column in El Nuevo Herald. Then his father developed cancer, fell into a comalike state, and died in November 1998. "All my dreams came true — and my worst nightmare," says Teck, who was close to both parents.

In 1999, Teck began filming his first movie, El Florida, which he co-wrote and directed. Then Newsweek named him one of the top 20 young latinos to watch in 2000. The clipping, which he posted online at www.billteck.com, puts him in the company of singer Marc Anthony, writer Junot Díaz, and boxer Oscar De La Hoya.

But he began suffering anxiety attacks and spiraled into depression. Though he finished the movie, he couldn't muster the will to work on the magazine, which folded in April 2000. Two months later, El Florida opened at the Tower Theater in Little Havana. Teck says it grossed about $8,000 each week during a short run. It later showed at a few film festivals and colleges, but he didn't aggressively pursue wider distribution. "I so blew that," he confesses. "It was just a shutdown."

He married Lynn in 2001, and the couple moved into a friend's home. He couldn't sleep and began jogging at 3 a.m. to quell the anxiety. He spent days in bed. They lived off past profits, and Lynn did public relations work. "For Cuban-Americans, we don't deal with mental illness well," she explains. "We just think, Pull yourself together. I was afraid that he'd end up just like his mom."

Teck continued hosting a PBS series, New Florida, and dabbled in other projects. Two years later, he and Lynn found their own place, and Teck discovered a remedy: cognitive behavioral therapy. An analyst told him to write a letter to a person with whom he was angry. "I wrote a letter to myself — How corny, right? — 'You dumb bastard. How could you not see the signs [of your mother's depression].'"

By 2003, Lynn was pregnant. "You have to get better, and it's time for you to get a J-O-B," she told him. Soon he started Bill Teck Media and produced videos, documentaries, and advertising for businesses. The venture continues to pay the bills. Their only child, Vince, arrived in 2004.

In the years that followed, Teck stayed healthy and began developing shows. A friend, René Granado, suggested reviving generation ñ as a podcast. That evolved into the website, and Rafael Iglesias, who worked in marketing, signed on as director of development. Granado is charged with molding content. Teck is CEO. "It's three dudes," Teck says. "It's very homemade."

The trio has invested about $50,000 in HD cameras, servers, and computers. They launched in late January and so far have collected nearly 400,000 hits worldwide. Beginning in May, they plan to bring out new shows such as 45 rpm, a music production, and Barrios, a documentary series. They recently contracted with Hola Networks, an online advertising company, and Teck hopes to be profitable by the end of the first year.

Product placement could help. "If the Novela guys are at a bar, they can consume whatever beverage a company will sponsor as long as it works within the story," he explains. Eventually the trio hopes to branch out to New York and Los Angeles.

Will it work? More people are watching video on their computers. Most networks offer content on the web. NBC Universal and News Corp. combined last year to bring in $100 million in private investment for www.hulu.com, where people can watch shows and clips for free. "The bottom line is that people don't make money online, but TV makes tons of money, and the TV and the computer have met," Teck explains confidently. "It's just a TV network. But one that can get around the gatekeepers to find an actual audience. And people will watch commercials in order to watch TV."

For Teck, it's a second chance. "Before it was life-and-death," he explains. "Now it's just a cool thing to do."