Thursday, November 06, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GROWING MARKET: Tuning In

Hispanic influence on city being felt through increase in Spanish radio stations

Click above for enlarged image. REVIEW-JOURNAL PHOTO ILLUSTRATION Corazoncito, the mascot for KQMR-FM, 99.3, greets students at Monaco Middle School recently. The station, which calls itself "Amor," plays pop music by international Spanish-speaking artists. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

Howard Stern, move over.

In the prime morning time slot known as drive-time radio, your proverbial butt is being beaten in the Las Vegas market by a Spanish-speaking deejay out of California.

The guy who bested you in the ratings goes by the radio name El Piolin, which is Spanish for "Tweety Bird."

Makes your manhood kind of shrink, doesn't it, Howard?

El Piolin's given name is Eddie Sotelo. He simulcasts in Spanish from Los Angeles on KISF-FM 103.5, also called La Nueva, which is Las Vegas' most listened-to station from 6 to 10 a.m., according to the Arbitron ratings released Oct. 20. Stern placed second on KXTE-FM 107.5, which broadcasts in English and plays alternative rock.

Another equally dynamic Los Angeles personality -- El Cucuy, which is Spanish for "the Bogyman" -- anchors KISF in afternoon drive time, so the station again reigns first from 3 to 7 p.m. in Las Vegas, according to the latest ratings. Second-place goes to KWNR-FM 95.5, another English radio station that features a country format.

El Cucuy is known for discussing callers' problems with their relationships, jobs and families. Off the air, he goes by the name Renan Almendarez Coello.

The two Latin jocks certainly have star power, supplemented on air by color from secondary personalities who are based in Las Vegas. But the duo still wouldn't amount to much in the ratings if it weren't for Las Vegas' sizable, rapid-growing Spanish-speaking population.

About one in four Southern Nevadans are of Hispanic descent, according to U.S. Census data. In 1990, just more than 11 percent of Clark County's population was Hispanic.

But the number of Hispanics may well reach one in three when census data is adjusted in 2004, predicts Scott Gentry, a pioneer in Las Vegas Spanish radio. He is the general manager of KDOX-AM 1280, the first station here to go to an all-Spanish format, back in the late 1980s.

"I've been in radio for 50 years," says Paul Ruttan, a business partner who helped Gentry launch the all-Spanish concept here. Las Vegas is "one of those situations radio people look for all their life -- a market with a hole in it."

Since that solitary Spanish signal, the valley has swelled to accommodate eight all-Spanish stations.

The newest is KBHQ-FM 104.7, which went on the air in August. Also a venture by Gentry and partners, KBHQ converts KDOX's AM signal to FM so Spanish listeners in Mesquite, Moapa and environs can hear it.

The range of all-Spanish formats is growing, too. Mexican regional music is the most popular in Las Vegas, with at least three stations in the category: KDOX, KISF and KQRT-FM 105.1. "The (Spanish-speaking) population has always been about 75 percent Mexican" in Southern Nevada, Ruttan says to explain the concentration.

But the market is now large enough that some Spanish stations aim for narrower niches. KRLV-AM 1340 offers only news, talk and sports.

KLSQ-AM 870 offers "oldies" music. It bills itself as Recuerdo, Spanish for "memories." Much of the music is by Latin artists, now deceased, who also were big draws in Hispanic movies several decades back. Singers Javier Solis, Pedro Infante and Leo Dan are typical requests.

When Recuerdo launched, executive Dana Demerjian recalls, some older female listeners called in, crying, because they hadn't heard the music in so long. "A lot of times, you can't even buy that music in stores," notes Zulema Benjamin, who handles promotions and research for Recuerdo, one of three Spanish stations here owned by Univision Radio Las Vegas. Demerjian is its vice president and general manager.

On the FM band, KQMR-FM, 99.3 calls itself "Amor" because it plays what Demerjian describes as rich, easy-listening pop music by international Spanish-speaking artists. Puerto Rico's Ricky Martin and Chayanne as well as Colombia's Shakira and Enrique Iglesias of Spain get a lot of play time.

KRRN-FM 92.7, better known as Super Estrella, is a Spanish rock-pop station that caters particularly to young listeners. "You know how it is. Kids don't want to listen to what their parents listen to," says Gary Horky, the station's general manager. He also is manager of KQRT-FM.

More and more large businesses are learning to cultivate Hispanic consumers. Local Spanish radio airs commercials for the same major banks and car dealerships that advertise on English radio.

Advertisers make marketing decisions based on numbers, which are persuasive. "The average Hispanic household in Las Vegas is comprised of 3.1 persons. That's nearly 50 percent larger than the typical non-Hispanic household, which has just 1.6 persons," according to promotional material supplied by Univision Radio.

But Spanish radio stations, like English stations, still fine-tune their broadcast and advertising mix to reach a specific audience.

Mexican regional's strongest appeal is to people who are new in the United States and relatively unassimilated, according to KISF's Demerjian and KQRT's Horky.

One clue is in the type of banking commercials. Mexican regional stations run frequent announcements on services to wire money outside the country. Consumers who want this service often are new immigrants, who wire some part of their paychecks back to relatives back home.

The link to home is clear in various radio promotions. KQRT -- which calls itself Radio Tricolor, after the Mexican flag -- sponsored a benefit rodeo in Pahrump in October to help Michoacan, a Mexican town that had suffered recent storm damage.

The core audience for Mexican regional -- "Mexican country" music, radio people often say -- usually lacks higher education. "They're just looking for a better life," Horky says.

KQMR-FM by contrast, draws a demographic that has a higher education and income level, according to Demerjian and Benjamin. Its international artists even draw in a certain percent of English-only listeners, Demerjian says the station's research shows.

The eight Spanish stations here are largely divided into the holdings of two major players. Univision Radio owns and operates KISF-FM, KQMR-FM and KLSQ-AM. Entravision Communications Corp. owns and operates KRRN-FM and KQRT-FM. Univision Radio's parent company also comprises television stations, but the Univision affiliate TV station in Las Vegas, which carries Univision programming, is owned by Entravision Communications.

These players will help shape the future of Spanish radio in Las Vegas. Currently there is no station that is devoted strictly to sports. Nor is there a station with an exclusively "tropical" format of salsa and merengue music.

Local stations do have promotional staff who go on air periodically during their West Coast simulcasts, to give information on Southern Nevada events, but Las Vegas has not yet spawned a major homegrown radio jockey.

None of the local Spanish radio stations currently has a Hispanic general manager, either, although Demerjian is quick to note that in the past some have -- and probably will again.

Benjamin, who grew up in southern Florida, with a strong Spanish-speaking community, forecasts continued growth for local Spanish radio here. She's not entirely joking when she says, "Only eight (stations)? Why not 20?"