Spanish-language Radio Research Articles

Adiós, El Cucuy

In 2008, famed radio host El Cucuy de la Mañana (The Morning Bogeyman) bid farewell to listeners of Spanish-language radio. For over two decades, El Cucuy’s trademark wit, cunning humor, and relentless use of laugh tracks boomed over the morning airwaves. Los Angelenos tuned in historic numbers to chuckle Monday through Friday to El Cucuy’s radio show where matters of immigration, both personally and politically, were laced with humorous fanfare. As opposed to anger, laughter as a response to injustices can suppress, trivialize, and “laugh off” the matter at hand. Despite El Cucuy’s departure, the lucrative pairing of immigration as fodder and laughter as its chief sentiment continues to reign on Spanish-language morning radio.

Spanish-Language Radio Advertisements and Latino Voter Turnout in the 2006 Congressional Elections

Because Hispanic voters are seldom targeted for campaign communication and because they listen to radio at higher rates than non-Hispanics, Spanish-language radio represents an attractive venue for testing whether nonpartisan mass media messages can mobilize voters. We conducted a large-scale, national field experiment testing the impact of nonpartisan Spanish-language radio advertisements on Latino voter turnout in the 2006 congressional elections. The experiment, encompassing 206 congressional districts, indicates that nonpartisan radio ads represent an effective and cost-efficient means of raising Latino turnout in federal elections.

Promoting HIV Risk Awareness and Testing in Latinos Living on the U.S.–Mexico Border: TheTú No Me ConocesSocial Marketing Campaign

Increased incidence of HIV/AIDS in Latinos warrants effective social marketing messages to promote testing. The Tú No Me Conoces (You Don't Know Me) social marketing campaign promoted awareness of HIV risk and testing in Latinos living on the California-Mexico border. The 8-week campaign included Spanish-language radio, print media, a Web site, and a toll-free HIV-testing referral hotline. We documented an increase in HIV testing at partner clinics; 28% of testers who heard or saw an HIV advertisement specifically identified our campaign. Improved understanding of effective social marketing messages for HIV testing in the growing Latino border population is warranted.

The State of Spanish-Language Radio

This study focused on the ownership, programming, and competition patterns of Spanish-language radio stations in the top 50 Hispanic metropolitan areas. Data were collected from industry resources and measured a variety of variables, including ownership type, concentration, and format diversity in these Hispanic radio markets. Overall, the results indicated moderate levels of ownership concentration in these markets, a degree of format differentiation within the local Spanish-language radio industry, and some degree of competition among Spanish-language radio stations.

Buying Time to Start Spanish-Language Radio in San Antonio: Manuel Davila and the Beginning of Tejano Programming

This article reveals how Spanish-language radio started in San Antonio, Texas—as blocks of time bought by Hispanics interested in providing music to San Antonio's Spanish-speaking residents. In particular, this study recognizes the contributions of San Antonio radio pioneer Manuel Davila and his role in starting Spanish-language radio and the Tejano format, drawing from a combination of on-site observation at Davila's station, personal interviews, and the collection of historical data. The article also lays a foundation for critically analyzing the political economy and hegemonic process of maintenance of economic and cultural power possible in the early days of radio broadcasting to compare it to the current corporately dominated marketplace.

Oral Traditions in Greater Mexico

Oral Traditions in Greater Mexico Marcia Farr (bio) What Américo Paredes (1993) once called Greater Mexico now exists all over the United States. That is, the Mexican diaspora (perhaps Cuauhtémoc’s true revenge) is evident from Alaska to Georgia, and everywhere in between. This presence of Mexicans is particularly notable in Chicago, the global Midwestern city, which now counts a million persons of Mexican descent in its metropolitan area (U.S. Census 2000). Mexicans, like all peoples, bring their oral traditions with them in such transnational migrations. Mexican oral traditions rely on a wide range of genres, from the more canonical corridos (narrative folk songs with poetic structuring; see Herrera-Sobek 1990, Limón 1992), proverbs (Dominguez Barajas 2002), riddles, and jokes to varying types of informal narratives. The richness of these oral traditions illustrates the creativity and high value placed on rhetorical competence (Briggs 1988) within Mexican cultures and the importance of the poetic in Mexican verbal art and life. Although demographers, sociologists, and anthropologists have studied transnational Mexican communities, little work has focused on oral traditions within these populations (Farr 1994, 1998, 2000, in press; Guerra 1998). Oral traditions, of course, can be performed in public, more formal settings, or in private, more intimate ones. The commercialization of corridos on CDs enables their almost constant public performance on Spanish language radio stations. At the other extreme are the intimate contexts of family and home, in which oral traditions live on the tongues of and in the space between persons, contexts that are often out of the range of interested researchers. My deep involvement with a social network of Mexican families, both in Chicago and in their rancho (rural hamlet) in northwest Michoacán, over the last decade and a half has given me access to such intimate contexts, and especially to all-female conversations within them. The developing awareness over recent decades of the reflexivity of ethnography allows us to recognize the effect of gender and other identities on the research process. In this respect, my gender has been significant in opening access to the rich [End Page 159] world of female talk in these families, transcending other aspects of identity in importance. I have thus been able to describe three culturally embedded ways of speaking within this group: 1 franqueza (frank, candid talk), respeto (respectful talk that inscribes traditional age and gender hierarchies), and relajo (joking talk that, like fiesta or carnival, turns the social order “upside down” and thus provides a space for social critique). Particularly during the verbal frame of echando relajo (joking around), women (and men) address the inevitable tensions of the existing social order, frequently treating gender with a humorous critique. In the storytelling that abounds during relajo, people construct their politics with poetry, utilizing parallelism, repetition, quoted dialogue, and other oral poetic devices that persuade through aesthetic pleasure. Given the large and growing number of Mexicans in the U.S., and especially of Mexican children in schools, such portraits of verbal art can persuade teachers and others of the creativity and verbal dexterity in Mexican oral traditions, aspects of communicative competence that can be constructively built on to develop verbal skills in the academic register. Marcia Farr Ohio State University Marcia Farr Marcia Farr is Professor of Education and English at Ohio State University. Her recent work includes explorations of oral language and literacy within Mexican families in Chicago and Mexico, and an edited book, Ethnolinguistic Chicago: Language and Literacy in the City’s Neighborhoods (2003). References Briggs 1988. Briggs 1988 Charles Briggs. Competence in Performance: The Creativity of Tradition in Mexicano Verbal Art. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Google Scholar Domínguez Barajas 2002. Domínguez Barajas 2002 E. Domínguez Barajas. “Reconciling Cognitive Universals and Cultural Particulars: A Mexican Social Network’s Use of Proverbs.” Unpub. diss., University of Illinois at Chicago. Google Scholar Farr 1994. Farr 1994 Marcia Farr. “Echando relajo: Verbal Art and Gender among Mexicanas in Chicago.” In Cultural Performances: Proceedings of the Third Women and Language Conference, April 8–10, 1994. Ed. by Mary Bucholtz et al. Berkeley, CA: University of California. pp. 168–86. [End Page 160] Google Scholar Farr 1998. Farr...

Spanish-Language Community Radio as a Resource for Health Promotion Campaigns Targeted to Farmworkers and Recent Immigrants

This report describes findings from recent audience research on the impact of health promotion campaigns conducted by Radio Bilingue, a Spanish-language community public radio network. The discussion includes estimates of audience size and analysis of the station’s ability to reach the population targeted in the health promotion campaigns: low-literate farmworkers, recent immigrants, and the parents of pre-school age children. The authors conclude that station identity and communication style play a crucial role in catalyzing listeners’ discussion of health topics with family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. This, in turn, has important implications for developing health promotion strategies and designing media campaigns directed to Latino immigrant populations.

The Transformation of Spanish-language Radio in the U.S.

This paper critically examines the transformation of the Spanish-language radio industry that is currently underway in the United States. It is an effort to broadly understand the changes taking place in the American Spanish- language radio industry. The paper argues that the discovery of the burgeoning (and increasingly valuable) Latino audience along with the major trends of growth and consolidation are reorganizing the Spanish-language radio sector in ways that are significant and historic. Such changes are increasingly becoming problematic, however, in the areas of local programming and content diversity. The paper concludes with the contention that the transformation of Spanish-language radio will be felt not only in the US, but also across the Americas. Consequently, more research is needed in this area.

Radio programming: Station format and alternative models of the audience in the U.S.‐Mexico border region

The article analyzes the use of radio “classified‐ad” shows for the sale of goods and services. The article finds that in commercial radio, some Spanish language radio stations (SLRS) program communicative opportunities for listeners in the form of “classified‐ad” type shows on a regular basis. The article presents two significant finding: first, that program format decisions are organized by the “model of the audience” that station personnel hold. The SLRSs studied hold a “participatory model” of the audience. The article distinguishes different models of the audience and indicates how the models summarize radio station personnel perspectives and behaviors surrounding program choice. The second finding is that proximity to the U.S./Mexico border produces variation in “classified‐ad” type shows. The local variation (in El Paso, Texas, Tucson, Arizona and Albuquerque, New Mexico) in the organization of these programs is described and explained according to the mutual needs and purposes of the local community and the radio station. The article concludes with a research agenda that flows from this initial investigation.

Developing and Evaluating a Radio-Linked Telephone Helpline for Hispanics

The goal of this research was to develop and evaluate a Spanish language telephone helpline staffed by bi-lingual nurses, to assist Hispanic people make knowledgeable, skill-based health and medical care decisions. The helpline was directly linked to educational vignettes broadcast on Spanish language radio. The radio program and helpline provided four main services to listeners and callers: 1) advice on routine medical concerns; 2) guidance and behavioral suggestions on chronic disease prevention; 3) information about cancer screening and treatment; and 4) references to local Spanish-speaking health care services. We broadcast one year's worth of five-minute educational radio programs three times each weekday on Spanish language radio in the greater Washington-Baltimore and San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan areas. Nurses staffed the helpline telephones on week nights, and data were collected from each call ( n = 1,569). Main findings are that Hispanic people: 1) do listen to health messages on the radio, and 2) will call a health professional for information.

Pretesting Spanish-language educational radio messages to promote timely and complete infant immunization in California.

California's Hispanic infants have lower immunization levels than non-Latino white infants, 53.7% versus 65.2%, respectively. Spanish-language radio is an effective mass media venue for imparting information to Latino populations. It has been demonstrated that lack of parental knowledge of infant immunization timing is associated with delayed immunization coverage. In an effort to improve Latino parent knowledge of immunization timing, two Spanish-language radio commercials were developed to be used in conjunction with community-based educational efforts. In order to gage the potential educational impact of the two commercials, they were pretested with a group of low-income Spanish-speaking Latino parents who represented members of the target population for whom the commercials were created. Both commercials were rated favorably by parents, and elicited immunization-specific responses. Although correct recall of the simplified, basic immunization schedule was low, the level of immunization response consistency and overall approval of both commercials appear to support their use as part of Latino infant immunization educational outreach in California.

Radio is effective in teaching nutrition to Latino families

A series of five nutrition education lessons was broadcast over Spanish-language radio in a major metropolitan and a semirural area of southern California. Pre- and postbroadcast interviews with a random sample of enrollees were used to examine differences in nutrition-related knowledge, practices, and frequency of eating selected foods. In both broadcast locations, knowledge and practice gains were significant, but reported food-frequency patterns did not reflect change. Listeners liked the lessons and home-study guides, and identified specific ways they had applied the information. Spanish-language radio appears to be an effective medium to deliver nutrition education to Latinos.

Puerto Rican Familism: Considerations for Family Therapy

The Puerto Rican cultural value of familism has been described as a traditional modality that emphasizes the obligation and duties of family members to one another (Rogler & Cooney, 1984). As a core value of Puerto Rican families on the United States mainland, familism has endured the changes in cultural values brought about by repeated migrations between the United States mainland and Puerto Rico, the influences of social and economic trends in the United States, and the pressures to acculturate to American society. Familiarity with this cultural value helps the family therapist accurately define the family's problems and needs, and promotes an interventive approach congruent with the Puerto Rican family's expectations. O ver the past several decades, the employment of Puerto Ricans on the mainland United States has depended largely on the strength of the Northeast manufacturing and service sectors (United States Commission for Employment Policy, 1982). The mercurial economic conditions of these sectors resulted in low wages and unstable employment for mainland Puerto Ricans. The oscillations in employment brought about what has been termed circular (Ford Foundation, 1984) between Puerto Rico and, generally, the major cities of the Northeast. Return migration to Puerto Rico occurs when employment opportunities decrease on the mainland. Conversely, when the island economy experiences diminished activity or mainland employment prospects look more promising, a relocation follows (United States Commission for Employment Policy, 1982). Historically, this migration pattern has been facilitated because Puerto Ricans hold United States citizenship from birth, and air fares to the mainland are low. Circular migration among Puerto Ricans has engendered changes in the family's lifestyle from traditional, island values toward contemporary American cultural values. Intergenerational changes in ethnic identity, for example, taken place. Rogler, Cooney, and Ortiz (1980) noted that first-generation Puerto Rican immigrant parents hold older island values and norms more strongly than do their children. Adult children who been exposed to extended periods of residency on the mainland are less likely to speak Spanish, to reDort SDanish fluency, and to listen to Spanish-language radio and television. In a similar study, Col leran (1984) found that while Spanish is losing its relevance in their daily lives, parents and children value its importance for achievement in American society. Rogler et al. (1980) also found that the adult children clearly prefer to identify themselves as Puerto Ricans rather than Americans. Indeed, movement toward biculturalism is stronger than toward assimilation to a monocultural American identification. The identification with Puerto Rico has a special importance for the children's identities. The children, Colleran (1984) writes, have chosen to remain bicultural in their outlook, retaining their connection with Puerto Rico despite increasing cultural distance from its heritage (p. 6).

Minority Mobilization in an International City: Rivalry and Conflict in Miami

On March 20, 1986 many South Florida Hispanics were disappointed yet politically emboldened by the result of a close U.S. House vote on President Reagan's Nicaraguan Contra aid bill. Although the proposal was defeated in a 222–210 vote, the outcome was viewed locally as a Latin victory because Miami's moderately liberal Democratic delegation broke ranks with House leadership by voting three to one in support of the President's proposal. It is apparent that pressure felt from Miami's Cuban and Nicaraguan exile communities, as well as from the Florida Commission on Hispanic Affairs and the Cuban-American National Foundation, was decisive in compelling locally elected Democratic House members to support the President over their party.Two days after the vote, 200 protestors gathered in downtown Miami in a demonstration against Contra aid. Alpha 66, a militant anti-Castro organization, called a counter-demonstration attended by about 2,000 angry Hispanics who threw eggs, rocks, and insults at the smaller group of protestors. Miami riot police escorted the anti-Contra demonstrators away from the scene in buses in order to prevent their injury. The fractious counter-demonstration was broadcast live by a Spanish language radio station and was attended by several local and state officials, including the three Cuban-Americans who constitute a majority on the five-member Miami City Commission. These events underscore an increasingly visible phenomenon in Miami's volatile politics.

Minority Mobilization in an International City: Rivalry and Conflict in Miami

On March 20, 1986 many South Florida Hispanics were disappointed yet politically emboldened by the result of a close U.S. House vote on President Reagan's Nicaraguan Contra aid bill. Although the proposal was defeated in a 222–210 vote, the outcome was viewed locally as a Latin victory because Miami's moderately liberal Democratic delegation broke ranks with House leadership by voting three to one in support of the President's proposal. It is apparent that pressure felt from Miami's Cuban and Nicaraguan exile communities, as well as from the Florida Commission on Hispanic Affairs and the Cuban-American National Foundation, was decisive in compelling locally elected Democratic House members to support the President over their party.Two days after the vote, 200 protestors gathered in downtown Miami in a demonstration against Contra aid. Alpha 66, a militant anti-Castro organization, called a counter-demonstration attended by about 2,000 angry Hispanics who threw eggs, rocks, and insults at the smaller group of protestors. Miami riot police escorted the anti-Contra demonstrators away from the scene in buses in order to prevent their injury. The fractious counter-demonstration was broadcast live by a Spanish language radio station and was attended by several local and state officials, including the three Cuban-Americans who constitute a majority on the five-member Miami City Commission. These events underscore an increasingly visible phenomenon in Miami's volatile politics.

Diversity in the ethnic media audience: A study of Spanish language broadcast preference in the U.S.

The present study hypothesized that the media use and preference of ethnic minorities may not be due solely to language ability or level of acculturation, but rather may be role specific. Individuals assume several different roles in the course of the average day and media use may reflect the expectations associated with these roles. It was further hypothesized that radio, which can be used in a wide variety of situational settings, would yield different typologies of people who preferred ethnic language stations. However, television, which is generally viewed just at home, was conceived of as more likely to yield a homogeneous user group. Data from 993 Mexican-Americans living in the Southwestern U.S. conformed to these expectations. Two distinct profiles of Mexican-Americans who preferred Spanish language radio were created. However, only one profile of Hispanics who preferred Spanish language television emerged. The findings have important implications for theory regarding the role media plays in the lives of immigrants and ethnic minorities as well as for practitioners designing communication messages for ethnic audiences.

Minority Mobilization in an International City: Rivalry and Conflict in Miami

On March 20, 1986 many South Florida Hispanics were disappointed yet politically emboldened by the result of a close U.S. House vote on President Reagan's Nicaraguan Contra aid bill. Although the proposal was defeated in a 222–210 vote, the outcome was viewed locally as a Latin victory because Miami's moderately liberal Democratic delegation broke ranks with House leadership by voting three to one in support of the President's proposal. It is apparent that pressure felt from Miami's Cuban and Nicaraguan exile communities, as well as from the Florida Commission on Hispanic Affairs and the Cuban-American National Foundation, was decisive in compelling locally elected Democratic House members to support the President over their party.Two days after the vote, 200 protestors gathered in downtown Miami in a demonstration against Contra aid. Alpha 66, a militant anti-Castro organization, called a counter-demonstration attended by about 2,000 angry Hispanics who threw eggs, rocks, and insults at the smaller group of protestors. Miami riot police escorted the anti-Contra demonstrators away from the scene in buses in order to prevent their injury. The fractious counter-demonstration was broadcast live by a Spanish language radio station and was attended by several local and state officials, including the three Cuban-Americans who constitute a majority on the five-member Miami City Commission. These events underscore an increasingly visible phenomenon in Miami's volatile politics.

Ethnic Segmentation and Spanish-Language Television

Abstract In this article, the authors expand upon their previously published findings (9) on the use of Spanish-language broadcasting. Discriminant analysis was used to produce a profile of Mexican-Americans who prefer Spanish-language television over English-language television. A comparison of this profile with that previously derived for Spanish-language radio listeners indicates that while there is some overlap between these audiences, they are far from identical. The implications of these results should be considered by those anticipating implementing an ethnic segmentation strategy utilizing Spanish-language radio or television.

The Onus of Minority Ownership: FCC Policy and Spanish-Language Radio

The Onus of Minority Ownership: FCC Policy and Spanish-Language Radio

Spanish-Language Radio in Northern Colorado

A THE LANGUAGE is often among the last vestiges of the ancestral cultural heritage to be lost before a minority group becomes finally assimilated, the study of the language of such a group can shed considerable light on its present state of acculturation. The group under study here is the Spanishspeaking one in and around Denver. The principal source of the investigation is the Spanish-language radio station KFSC, the only one of its kind in the state. It broadcasts to an area approximately I50 miles in diameter and thus embraces the cities of Brighton, Fort Lupton, Longmont, Loveland, Greeley, and Fort Collins. This region is not traditionally Spanish-speaking and there are no Spanish place names, but a large number of speakers of Spanish are located here. Spanish speakers began moving in around the beginning of the century, attracted by the expanding sugar beet economy of northern Colorado and by the growing industry of Denver and its environs. The old Spanish settlements are found south of the Arkansas River, where Colorado is contiguous to the state of New Mexico. As the Spanish-speaking group depends to a large extent on the Englishspeaking population for its livelihood and for most goods and services, it must be to a considerable degree bilingual. Thus, of three important factors in the survival of a language group, namely, location, degree of autonomy, and language loyalty, we find that the situation, in regard to the first two, is very unfavorable. The Spanish speaker is economically dependent on the world outside the group. He must also send his children to English-speaking schools. As to his language loyalty, this is strengthened by his Spanish-speaking churches, his preference for Spanish-speaking residential sections, and possibly by his 'Latin' appearance which often makes him distinguishable from the rest of the population. The presence and apparent prosperity of a Spanish-speaking radio station, and of Spanish-speaking motion-picture houses and television programs, would seem to indicate a strong language loyalty as well as the presence of a numerically important minority in northern Colorado.