1310 Seeks Spanish Language Broadcasts of Tigers, Lions

[umfan]

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...anish-language-station-will-seek-tigers-lions

I guess Hockey isn't something they think the local Chicano community would be interested in.....

I think the cost of rights would overwhelm the station.

 

[davideduardo]

You might want to use "Hispanic" instead of "Chicano".

The Detroit Hispanic market is over about 50% of Mexican heritage or origin, but there is a significant percentage from Central America, South America and the Caribbean, particularly Puerto Ricans.

"Chicano" is a term that applies only to persons of Mexican heritage and tends to be applied, when used at all, to those born in the US who "don´t know Mexico". A similar term is "Pocho" which also applies to second generation Hispanics with Mexican parents.

Of the Hispanics I know who are of Mexican heritage, very few like to be called "Chicanos" as the term is dated to the 60's and does not represent them. I just asked a couple of people and the answer was, in various wordings, "I hate the term" and "I am offended when it is used towards me". One person said the term to him ha connotations related to militant groups of the late 20th Century.

 

[CTListener]

You might want to use "Hispanic" instead of "Chicano".

The Detroit Hispanic market is over about 50% of Mexican heritage or origin, but there is a significant percentage from Central America, South America and the Caribbean, particularly Puerto Ricans.

"Chicano" is a term that applies only to persons of Mexican heritage and tends to be applied, when used at all, to those born in the US who "don´t know Mexico". A similar term is "Pocho" which also applies to second generation Hispanics with Mexican parents.

Of the Hispanics I know who are of Mexican heritage, very few like to be called "Chicanos" as the term is dated to the 60's and does not represent them. I just asked a couple of people and the answer was, in various wordings, "I hate the term" and "I am offended when it is used towards me". One person said the term to him ha connotations related to militant groups of the late 20th Century.

So has it gone more the way of "Afro-American" or of "colored"? If the latter, I guess radio is lucky that one-hit wonder band El Chicano's hit "Tell Her She's Lovely" had no shelf life beyond its original chart run!

 

[davideduardo]

So has it gone more the way of "Afro-American" or of "colored"? If the latter, I guess radio is lucky that one-hit wonder band El Chicano's hit "Tell Her She's Lovely" had no shelf life beyond its original chart run!

The term was never broadly accepted by persons of Mexican heritage. It seemed confined to second generation social activists more than anything else. Example is the militant MEChA organization: http://www.nationalmecha.org/about.html

Similarly, not everyone likes the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" either... although "Hispanic" seems to have achieved broad acceptance; interesting since it is a term made up by the OMB and Census Bureau in the 70's. However, some do not like it. One of my daughters has a T-shirt that says "I am not Latina. I am not Hispanic. I am Puerto Rican". I have seen the equivalent shirts in SoCal that say, instead, "I am Mexican".

While Wikipedia has an extensive article on the term "Chicano" it is so highly politicized and so jam-packed with factual errors I recommend not relying on it as a source.

 

[umfan]

David, while I value your opinion, I guess I would've appreciated at least some comment on the real topic of the article, that of a small station, targeting a specific, and not exceptionally large, demographic, in providing Spanish language broadcasts of the local MLB team.

I could've used several terms and someone could've complained about any of them. My intention was not to offend you or anyone, but to provide a topic related to broadcasting for discussion.

 

[davideduardo]

David, while I value your opinion, I guess I would've appreciated at least some comment on the real topic of the article, that of a small station, targeting a specific, and not exceptionally large, demographic, in providing Spanish language broadcasts of the local MLB team.

I could've used several terms and someone could've complained about any of them. My intention was not to offend you or anyone, but to provide a topic related to broadcasting for discussion.

It's hard to focus on the subject when the term used to describe the (potential) audience is inappropriate for half the population and considered negative / politicized / radical by many, many others.

But as to comments, the addition of the play by play sports is intended to generate revenue.

American rules football is not played in Latin America (the NFL exhibition games in Mexico target upper income Mexicans who did college in the US, not the general population). Generally speaking, anyone with an interest in American football will be rather well assimilated and likely second generation or beyond and will listen in English. But using the prestige of an NFL team to establish station credibility is a good idea.

Baseball is a mixed bag of listeners. Older folks from the Caribbean may have adopted the local baseball team. But among Puerto Ricans, there is not much interest any more in baseball. The local team games on the Island generate minimal attendance, and most Mexican immigrants to the northern states tend to come from Central Mexico where baseball is not played. Again, good sales image, not much audience appeal.

Rights for Spanish broadcasts are less than for the English side. And in many cases, the teams buy the time from stations and put together their own broadcast, letting the station sell to clients that are not part of the team corporate sponsors. So the potential for profit is quite considerable.

 

[umfan]

I suppose the station could get by with simply translating the current broadcast. There would be a bit of a delay, but that might make it financially feasible.