Media Outlets Adapt To Growing Hispanic Audience

Allen, G. (2012, April 3). Media Outlets Adapt To Growing Hispanic Audience. NPR. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2012/04/03/149845056/media-outlets-adapt-to-growing-hispanic-audience

As the media is recognizing the growing Latino community (it has increased by 40 percent in the past decade), outlets are starting to cater towards both bilingual and monolingual Latinos. As it turns out from the census, "most of the growth in the Latino population came not from immigration, but from births — kids born and now being raised in the U.S." Therefore, television programs such as Univision (which used to only cater towards Spanish speakers) and Telemundo are now providing English subtitles to their programs.  Univision is even in conversation with Disney to create an English-language news channel aimed for Latinos. The two major networks are getting some competition, though. Fox is planning to launch a Spanish-language broadcast network called MundoFox. Fox CEO Hernan Lopez put the future network as a network "with an American attitude. It is Spanish, but with a level of quality that viewers are used to in American television." The competition for this "bicultural market" has also spread in radio, mobile platforms, social media, and on the Internet as well.

I am so glad this community is not being ignored and pushed aside, but embraced. It is a coincidence I found this article after the last published blog post, where I wished for more types of media to embrace the Latino culture, and it turns out media finally realized an untapped market exists that could use some competition. I am also convinced the increase in the Latino community in the past decade might be due to the creation of Weston. It is true there are not only Spanish speakers and English speakers anymore, but a mixture of both due to people of a Spanish-speaking culture simultaneously being exposed to American culture. I'm very proud of television, radio, and other types of media that decided to include the Spanish-speaking community. Let us hope I don't bite my tongue in the future and regret giving this movement my stamp of approval.

Two Stations Bridge Cultural Gaps With Bilingual Reporting

Price, J. (2014, August 29). Two Stations Bridge Cultural Gaps With Bilingual Reporting. NPR. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thisisnpr/2014/08/29/323051786/two-stations-bridge-cultural-gaps-with-bilingual-reporting

Two public radio stations in Washington, Northwest Public Radio (NWPR) and Spanish-language radio station KDNA, have teamed up to tighten the gap of linguistic and cultural differences within communities by introducing "a new kind of journalism that involves two radio stations and two bilingual reporters that will effortlessly transition between languages and communities to bring attention to local news in the communities they serve." With the population of non-English speakers growing, these stations recognize the importance of reaching those audiences in the hopes to "build community and celebrate identity among public radio audiences." Since NWPR broadcasts to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of British Columbia, and KDNA is the only Spanish-language radio station that is full-time and focuses on reaching out to minority communities in Yakima Valley, the joined forces of both stations could reach to an incredibly large, but monolingual, audience whether that be for English or Spanish speakers. The stations are also creating a mobile application so bilingual reporting is digitally accessible as well. This partnership was created to bring a strong voice to local radio stations to include and involve communities in Washington.

I have never heard of this kind of radio broadcasting before, and I think the two stations were very smart in making this kind of decision. The two forces can reel in a greater audience and not exclude any community wanting the local news. They are not pushing away the non-English speaking community, but embracing it. I hope more stations take this embracement of communities into their own local news broadcasting to reach other communities as well. The creation of the mobile app is smart of them too. They are using their assets to the fullest to involve communities in Washington. 

NPR Broadcasts to a New Audience

Urbanski, A. (2013, April 4). NPR Broadcasts to a New Audience. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved December 4, 2014, from http://www.dmnews.com/npr-broadcasts-to-a-new-audience/article/287558/

In December 2013, Emily Carrasco became NPR's first CMO. The majority of NPR's listeners "are more reflective of the affluent suburbs than the barrios and other ethnic enclaves", and with Carrasco coming from a renowned Hispanic ad agency called Republica, she believes she can reel in a new audience to NPR. Having been on "the client-side", she says it will enable her "...to step back and ponder what each side may be thinking about." The main impetus for reaching a cross-cultural audience is social media. Access to radio broadcasts are limited in poor neighborhoods and Third World countries, so they rely heavily on mobile access. As Carrasco puts it, “Social media allows brands to talk to any consumer. There is now a high degree of elasticity in how they connect to consumers.” Along with her mission of reaching a new audience, Carrasco also has a goal in mind to bring NPR to a more stable financial environment, since depending on government funding isn't always reliable. 

I think it was a smart choice to bring in a Hispanic woman into the corporate side of NPR, as she would bring a different viewpoint to the table than another white male businessman. I do believe she will bring in many other viewers from different ethnicities, not only because she is Hispanic, but because she seems to have a vision for the entire company. She also brings an awareness of other potential viewers and gives the possibility of having viewers in different Third World countries. She is using other forms of media, like social media and mobile access to social media, to reach out to an untapped market of consumers and that will make the company grow in viewership numbers.