'El Rey' reigns in Portland radio scene

The Spanish-language station is No. 1, capitalizing on changing populations and tastes

August 10, 2008
By KATE TAYLOR

For the first time in Oregon's history, a Spanish-language station tops the charts as Portland's favorite radio station, a sign of shifting demographics but also of the region's vibrant tastes.

KRYP-FM (93.1) -- known as "El Rey" or "The King" -- cranks banda, mariachi, ranchera, Nortena and other music of Mexico, along with high-energy doses of drive-time humor and talk. News of the 17-month-old station's breakthrough rippled happily through Latino communities last week and caught media-watchers by surprise.

Although Spanish-language radio has been growing in popularity throughout the country, top rankings for Spanish-language stations usually occur in cities with high Latino populations, such as Los Angeles and Miami.

Al Stavitsky, University of Oregon's senior associate dean for the school of journalism and communication, was amazed that El Rey captured Portland's top radio spot. Banda and Duranguense "is not music you can hear on a top 40 (countdown) or classic rock station," he said.

The station took the top place while drawing an average of just 6.4 percent of the Portland audience listening to radio at any one time, a statistic that reveals the fragmented nature of Portland's radio market. No other privately owned station -- country, rock, top 40, news/talk -- got more than a 5 percent share.

The small numbers may also reflect the Portland area's eclectic cultural appetite, where audiences show up by the thousands for alternatives ranging from indie films to children's theater productions in Washington Park.

Staff members at the station's Milwaukie offices were less surprised by their top showing.

Fans of the station and its music aren't just Latino, they said. They're also people who speak "Spanglish" -- a mix of Spanish and English -- as well as only English. Listeners don't need to understand each word, they said, to feel the music's emotional depth and vitality.

Program Manager Dianey Ferrer said the magic El Rey casts over Latino listeners is that the music recalls their native country while making them feel respected and at home in Portland. A live disc jockey can engage those sensibilities in ways iPods can't.

"We are so proud and excited," Ferrer said. "I think (the top listing) is about the quality of the music that we play and that people deserve, and that many of them grew up with."

Whisking a tray full of fruit smoothies toward customers at Mitzil Loncheria Mexican restaurant in Oregon City, owner Luz Martinez said she turns up "Las Viejas del Rey" (the King's Oldies) for the lunch crowd from noon to 2 p.m. The songs warm her heart while creating a homey environment for customers.

"I like having a station that plays just what I like," she said in hurried Spanish, hustling toward the kitchen to pick up more orders. "I can turn it up and trust that they are all going to be songs we like."

Setting his mower aside on commercial property near the restaurant, landscaper Jose Torres said he appreciates the way afternoon DJs such as "Pika" play long, long sets of music with few interruptions. "For the most part, El Rey is pure music," he said in Spanish. "With so many of the other stations, the DJs never shut up. It's just blah, blah, blah."

Radio listeners last week also filled blogs and chat rooms with talk about El Rey's ranking. "Coming in at #1 . . . is BIG news for Portland," one posting said.

"Si se puede!" ("Yes we can!") another blogger wrote, picking up on the language of a political rally. "Hopefully the rest of the Portland market will soon wake up and realize the Hispanic market is ready to see more stories impacting them and their communities."

At the Milwaukie offices of El Rey, also home to locally owned Salem Enterprise's other offices, companies that never before wished to advertise their products on El Rey were calling.

Leaning into the microphone of his Milwaukie studio Thursday afternoon, DJ Pika delivered one of the high-speed, amped-to-the-max streams of Spanish that earned him his nickname (a shortened version of Pikachu, the speedy yellow Pokemon character). "93.1 El Rey! The Authority of Mexican Music! Turn it up! Turn up the volume! You're in the middle of 40 minutes of nonstop music!"

Leaning back as Los Morros del Norte took up a swinging Nortena number, Pika, who is known off-air as Gustavo Duran, 31, of Hillsboro, talked about connecting with his audience.

"It's the listeners doing this," he said. "They listen while they have those weekend parties with carne asada. They listen while they're out on the construction sites, in their offices."

Recently released U.S. census figures show that Hispanics, a self-identified category that can include non-Latinos, are Oregon's fastest-growing population. In the Portland area, their numbers are growing at 6 to 7 percent a year, which is five to six times faster than the non-Latino white population.

"It probably means that people will start playing more of what Latinos like on other stations, too," Arturo Ardin said in Spanish, waiting outside Worksource Clackamas. "That's a nice thing, because we've been here for a long time. And even though some of us go back and forth (to Mexico), for a lot of us, this is our home."

Source: The Oregonian