Ten Reasons Not To Attend The Hispanic Radio Conference

May 11, 2007
By Eric Rhoads

And What Does This Have To Do With 1970?

I'll admit it. I love to push, nudge, cajole, and motivate people to sign up for our conferences. It's invigorating to jot down a brief message, post it online, and watch the registrations pour in. For the past few weeks I've given all the reasons you should attend Radio Ink's Hispanic Radio Conference. For those of you not registered yet, here are 10 reasons you should not to attend:

#10. You plan to retire from the industry within the next few years, so you don't need to be informed about one of the most important trends to hit the radio history in decades.

#9. No matter how many Latino people move into your market, you're convinced they don't buy products and services and they won't support advertisers.

#8. You believe the growing Hispanic population trend is a passing fad, and eventually things will "get back to normal."

# 7. You could never run a Spanish-speaking radio station because you cannot understand what they are saying on the air.

# 6. Mexican food gives you indigestion.

# 5. You refuse to acknowledge that radio's future revenue growth will come from Hispanic radio because you simply don't understand how you can make money from it.

#4. You believe that although Latinos comprise a significant portion of the population in your town, your station will never - ever - reach Hispanics, and the presence of Spanish-speakers will never impact your ratings or how you program or promote in your market.

#3. In spite of their significant buying power, advertisers in your market don't ever want or need to reach Hispanic audiences. After all, Latinos don't buy food, clothes, furniture, cars, household items, electronics, or gifts.

#2. There is simply no more space left in your brain to learn anything new.

#1. You already make more money than you need.

If any of this resonates with you, with all due respect, please stay home.

Which Is It - 1970 Or 1979?
If this was 1970 and I was holding a conference titled Making Money with FM Radio Broadcasting, most people would ignore it. If you were around then, you remember what people were saying: "FM is for elevator music and will never, ever beat AM." By 1979, that wasn't the case, was it? With Hispanic radio, a similar tide shift is already underway. You may think it won't affect you, but AM broadcasters in 1970 weren't worried about FM, either. There's still time to capitalize on the huge opportunity to make money in Hispanic radio. Plus, it's important for all broadcasters to understand the impact Hispanic radio is having on the industry overall so they can make well-informed decisions about the future of their own companies and stations.

A True Midwest Story Of Guilt
Today I spoke to Steve, who owns some stations in a Midwestern market under rank 125. (Don't try to figure out who it is; I changed his name. You'll have to trust me that this story is true.) Steve asked if he could still get on a panel at the conference to tell his story.

His words are fresh in my mind: "I fought the idea of taking one of our stations Spanish. This is nowhere near an area one would think of as Hispanic. But even though we're not a very big market, Spanish residents here make up a significant part of the population. I was intimidated by the idea of running a station where I could not understand the programming, and I did not think my advertisers would support it. A year later we're making so much money on one Hispanic format that we're launching two more, and our market will soon have four Hispanic stations. I almost feel guilty, because we barely have to sell it - it sells itself. I had no idea how much advertising would flock to us."

Missed Opportunity:
Part of my job at Radio Ink is to expose you to ideas to make you more money. I am convinced that if you own or manage a cluster of stations in any market, you will miss a powerful opportunity for growth if you ignore the trends. Though Hispanic radio is nothing new, it's now catching on with national and local advertisers. Will you look back and wish you had not missed the opportunity?

Remember The Alamo?
We did not just pick San Antonio by chance. A significant battle took place just blocks away from our conference site. Hispanic radio has fought a symbolic battle, and the "soldiers" have paved the way for a powerful opportunity for radio. Most of the pioneers of the business will be at our conference, including the family of Raoul Cortez, the first owner of a Hispanic station in America, whom we will honor along with Mac Tichenor and the finalists for our Medallas de Cortez awards. Will you be there?

What's The Risk, Really?
You'll learn something new. You'll meet new people. By chance, if I'm right, you might even stimulate the next big thing for your company as a result of attending this conference. Plus, the River Walk in San Antonio is right outside the door and one of the truly special places in America. So, join us for the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference. May 22-23 at the Sheraton Hotel Gunter. It's going to be a great time!

PS: Historically, 80 percent of our registrations occur in the final three weeks before a conference. Of our 300 seats, over 200 are gone, with a little more than a week to go. If you register today, you can still be guaranteed a seat.

The Radio Ink Hispanic Conference
May 22-23
Sheraton Gunter Hotel
San Antonio, TX
Register: 561-655-8778 or online at www.radioink.com/hispanicconference

We encourage you to support these conference sponsors, who have invested their money to support Hispanic radio!

Sponsors:

Platinum Sponsor:           Univision
Gold Sponsor:                 Interep
Silver Sponsor:                American Media Services
Bronze Sponsor:             ESPN Deportes Radio
Corporate Sponsors:        BMP Radio
                                      Hispanic Trending
                                      Megatrax

Comments

[Ruben Estrada]

Those true Hispanic/Latinos attending the event must remember the past and not lose sight of the lack of ownership and the taking for granted of our market and community. Those who only program in our language but are not interested in Empowering our Community. They only interest is the revenue we generate them yet not allowing for control of editorial which can only empower our future Hispanic / Latinos.

My name is Ruben Estrada, former Vice President of Spanish Broadcasting System. During my tenure at SBS from 1993-2001 I was involved with most major activities at SBS from financing to achieving for the first time #1 Arbitron General Market rating and many more activities between but will spare you the time. Related to the Hispanic Radio event, are just two.

Two major initiatives of several which I was involved with I believe should be discussed at the conference and/or at least not forgotten.

One being the 1995 repeal of the IRS 1071 Tax Cert program from the FCC which was the only program with incentives for minorities (Hispanic) to purchase media facilities. Immediately after was the Telecom Act of 1996. Once the program was abolished and government actually reinstated media monopolies with the deregulation Telecom Act of 1996 in which many Hispanic owned broadcast companies were purchased by the Clear Channel's of the world and others. Let us remember that "Power concedes nothing without a demand"-Frederick Douglass. It never did and it never will.

Hispanic ownership of Radio stations is essential the only way we as a community can control the editorial and empower our community. No one else will do it for us.

The other initiative of which I was the architect The Madison Avenue Initiative our efforts and attention brought to the Madison Avenue Advertising world had a direct impact on the revenues of minority media. You recall Katz Communication famous memo “We want prospects for our client not suspects” limiting the purchase of Spanish or Black radio.

Again, let us not forget.