Isn't there an issue when one is talking about Spanish Language news and talk. The emphasis of certain countries such as how much one should focus on Mexico, Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela.
The two largest migrant or immigrant groups in the US are from Puerto Rico and Mexico. That is followed by the "Triange" (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador). There are large single city or smaller region groups such as Cubans in Miami, Dominicans in the zone around New York City. NYC also has large Ecuadorian concentrations and Washington, DC, has a large Salvadorian population.
In some cases, like Puerto Ricans in NYC, they are not in the third generation and the radio-attractive under-55 group is not Spanish speaking for the most part.
When I did Spanish talk in LA, we were beating KFI in 18-49. But the focus was not on Mexico except in Sports. It was on LA and the issues of the immigrant and of second generation Hispanics in the city. We did not deeply cover news from Latin America any more than an English language station covers news from England, Ireland, Italy or Germany.
Plus how much time should be allocated to each country. How certain media markets will talk about Spanish speaking countries is that California will focus more on El Salvador and Mexico for their demographics reasons. Or Florida for Cuban, Venezuela, Colombia, for demo reasons on how one will focus their content in newscasts.
What stations are finding is that trying to be a Cuban station in Miami or Puerto Rican station in Orlando is not successful. You have to be a Miami station or an Orlando station, not a recreation of CMQ or WKAQ.
I understand this is like talking about "Asian-American" in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento media markets it is how much content should be focused on which countries such as Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines in newscasts or in various broadcasting discussions.
The difference is that each of the Asian nations you mention has at least one distinct language, and sometimes several or even many (such as India). Neutral Spanish works for nearly all Hispanic populations, although less so in some music formats where, for example, "regional Mexican" has to be accompanied by an announcing style in very Mexican accented Spanish using lots of Mexican slang and vocabulary.
All that comes down to the old saying of "Latin America... 20 nations separate by a single language". The meaning is that culture, language usage, food, customs and much more are very different from nation to nation. For example, the Dominican Republic is 85 miles away, but in PR you can spot a Dominican "miles away" due to different gestures, accent, vocabulary and even styles of music.
That does not make programming for a multi-national audience easy.
tvnewscheck.com
