Spanish+Language+Media

Spanish Language Media in The United States

Pop culture, conveyed through the media tells us about our roots, traditions, history, economics and political life. Ever since the "Latin Boom" in the 1990's, Latinos have been an especially prominent part of American culture. Marc Anthony, Shakira and Ricki Martin all had successful cross overs during this time and latino actors like Jennifer Lopez and Salma Hayek experienced success.

The Spanish speaking population in the United States is growing and becoming more influential daily. According to the United States 2000 Census, 12.5% of Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino. This is a notable increase from the mere 6% of Americans identifying as Hispanic/Latino in 1940, proof that this demographic is ever growing. Much of this is due to the immigration patterns during this time. (See the "Interaction Between Economics and Immigration in Inited States" page.) Most of the first and second generation Hispanic immigrants report that they prefer to primarily consume Spanish language media and many people in the third generation and on use Spanish language media to get or remain in touch with their cultural roots. Even people that are not Hispanic are drawn to Spanish speaking media to improve their Spanish.


 * The Press**

Spanish speaking publications in the United States were published as early as the 1800's. The first known publications in Spanish were //El Misisipi// in 1808 and //El Mensagero Luisianes// in 1809. Today, Spanish language publications are growing more rapidly than English language publications. This is exemplified in the 1970 - 2002 period during which the amount of Spanish publications grew from 240 to 650, according to the Latino Print Network.

Since Hispanic and Latino people are a minority group in America, any of the Spanish press' political stories act as a contributor to activism. The producers, editors, writers and other contributors are mainly Hispanic/Latino so these newspapers have strengthened the advancement of this group. Spanish language newspapers also have raised awareness and helped to organize Latino movements. For example, Spanish newspapers helped organize protests to change the representation of Hispanics as greasers in Hollywood films, according to //Hispanics and United States Film: An Overview and Handbook.// The Latino press also played a central role in the Chicano movement of the 1960's and 1970's.

The Hispanic/Latino press also includes Spanish language magazines which include but are certainly not limited to //Estrenos// (based on Hollywood celebrities), //ESPN Deportes// (sports), //Iguana// (children) and //Siempre Mujer// (Hispanic women’s culture). Spanish language magazines are very successful and even more profitable than English language magazines. For example, //Siempre Mujer//'s profit increased thirty-nine percent from 2007-2008, while //Women's Wear Daily//'s profit decreased by ten percent over the same time period.


 * Radio**

Spanish was heard full time on American radio as early as the 1920's in small time markets. Brokers purchased airtime from English language stations at times of low listenership and the Spanish radio shows were broadcast at those times. In the 1940's, as many as 264 hours of Spanish radio shows were broadcast per week. Most of the content played was Spanish music, accounting for eighty-eight percent of spanish radio shows. Four percent of these shows were news (eighty percent of which was international news, especially from countries of origen for Spanish speaking immigrants), three percent was spanish talk, three percent was drama and the other two percent was miscellaneous content. Advertisers caught on to the fact that not only was there a Hispanic/Latino demographic, but multiple demographics within that depending on country of origen. Many advertisers took advantage of this new opportunity by appealing to specific areas of origen.

The first station to be owned by a latino person was KCOR in San Antonio, Texas in 1946, which was quite a milestone.

In the 1950’s and 1960s, American Spanish language radio began to institutionalize along network, advertising and promotional lines because standardized programming reduced costs and increased efficiency. In the 1970's and 1980's, bigger non-latino investors with more money began to invest in the latino market with the previously mentioned realization that this was an untapped market that was growing. The increase in powerful investors was also an effect of firms that represented networks and stations to investors to help them have a say. The four most dominant representatives were Caballero Spanish Media, Katz Hispanic Radio, Spanish Broadcasting System and Lotus Hispanic Representatives. Investments were also a result of the exceptional growth and performance of primarily Spanish language stations in Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York and Chicago.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 eased restrictions on station ownership and allowed more cross-ownership of different media outlets by a single entity. This act lead to Univision buying Hispanic Broadcasting Corporations and Clear Channel Communications. In 2008, Univision had converted many stations into Spanish and owned seventy stations nationwide. The top Spanish music formats were Mexican regional, Spanish contemporary, Spanish adult, Spanish tropical, spanish news/talk, latino urban and Spanish variety. For more the Spanish music and dance, see the "Dance in Mexico" page.


 * Television**

Spanish television in the United States had similar roots to Spanish radio. In the 1950's, Spanish language TV began programming at non-peak hours on primarily English stations in cities with significant Hispanic populations, especially in the southwest. In the early 1960s, a group of investors from America and Mexico organized to form the Spanish International Communications Corporation (which held licenses for tv stations) as well as Spanish International Network (which provided programming and advertising sales to SICC stations. The SICC began acquiring ultra high frequency stations in San Antonio, Los Angeles and other cities with large Hispanic populations. This resulted in KVEA’s major shareholder, Telemundo, being inspired to buy Spanish language stations all over the country. In 1992 Telemundo owned ten stations that appeared on 22 affiliated U.S stations, 3 Mexican stations along the border and on 14 cable stations.

However, in 1986, a federal judge found that control of the SICC stations by foreign nationals had exceeded the legal limit so SICC was sold to Hallmark Cards Corp. & it’s partner First Chicago for $301.5 million. Hallmark renamed the SICC Univision and Univision’s 10 stations reached hundreds of communities through affiliated stations, satellite translator stations and cable stations.

In the 1990’s, there was a great expansion of Spanish language programming beyond the United States besides news programs (telenovelas, Spanish versions of courtroom shows, etc).

__Globalization & Technological Convergence__

In 1992, Hallmark sold Univision to the partnership of A Jerrold Perenchio, Venevision (a Venezuelan tv network) and Televisa for $550 million and Univision experienced substantial growth. In 2006, the partnership sold Univision to Broadcast Media Partners for $12.3 billion (the $11.75 million difference from its previous selling price shows Univision's profitability growth. Telemundo sold to Sony Corporations for $550 million, which worked to improve Telemundo's programming, marketing and distribution. Telemundo became part of the NBC-Universal conglomerate in 2001 for $1.98 billion and became a key prop involved in cross promos with other networks, synergies with internet based props and advertisement sales deals.

In 1989, Spanish TV was such a large player that Neilsen began tracking Spanish language ratings starting in Los Angeles and expanding to other cities. The ratings tracking service was subsidized by Telemundo and Univision so they could secure more accurate accounts of viewership. In 2008, they found that the number of Hispanic households watching TV had increased 4.3%, which was three times the rate of the general population.

Other powerful "players" in Spanish television include Azteca Television and Galavision, which launched in 1979 as the first national level Spanish language cable service. The service played telenovelas (See Telenovelas page), comedies, talk shows, news, sports and special programs transmitted live from areas of Latin America. Following Galavison, a number of United States based television “players” launched Spanish language services in the 1980s and 1990s (for example, ESPN Latin America, HBO Ole, TNT Latin America, Canal de Noticias NBC, Cine Canal, Discovery Channel Latin America, Fox Latin America, etc).