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Rapid growth for Spanish-speaking television news

Rapid growth for Spanish-speaking television news

By DAVID BAUDER – 5 hours agoTEANECK, N.J. (AP) — On an evening its rivals werepreoccupied with Christie Brinkley's divorce and the capture of aBrooklyn murder suspect, New York's WXTV led its local news with astory about graffiti saying "Get out of the USA" painted near aPeruvian restaurant on Long Island.

The Spanish-speaking Univision affiliate figured it was a moremeaningful story for its audience, and those kind of choices arepaying off.

Within the past few months, WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast has eclipsed itsEnglish-speaking competitors on ABC, CBS and NBC stations inpopularity among viewers younger than 49. Sister station KMEX inLos Angeles had more viewers in June for its newscast than any ofits English competitors, regardless of age, according to NielsenMedia Research.

Spanish-speaking news outlets all across the country have grown tobecome major players in their markets and all trends indicate thatgrowth is only going to continue.

"It talks about how the United States is changing," said RayRodriguez, president and chief operating officer of UnivisionCommunications Inc., the stations' parent company. "It's a biggerstory than just television."

In the New York market, for example, there were 2.7 millionHispanics in 1990 and 4.3 million this year, according to the U.S.Census Bureau.

Ramon Pineda, general manager of WXTV, stands in front of anenlarged map of that market that hangs on his office wall, pointingto different neighborhoods and how they are changing. SpanishHarlem used to be largely Puerto Rican and now is dominated byMexican immigrants. The Bronx has mostly Puerto Ricans, Colombianshave settled in Queens and Brooklyn has Mexicans. The old Cubanneighborhoods of Union City, N.J., now have Mexicans and otherCentral Americans. Most of the population growth has come insuburbs like Westchester County and Long Island.

It's his business to know these details, both for the news hisstation covers and to show advertisers that there's more of amarket there than they might think.

In Los Angeles, the KMEX call letters are a hint that the audiencecomposition is simpler. Their viewers are about 85 percent Mexican,said Maelia Macin, the station's general manager.

One startling change has been the TV-watching habits of Hispanicviewers. In 1995, most Hispanic viewers in New York primarilywatched English-language television (62 percent) overSpanish-language stations (38 percent), according to Nielsen MediaResearch. Last year, viewers favored the Spanish stations 71 to 29percent. Similar trends are happening elsewhere.

That might be alarming to people who believe these new citizensaren't assimilating into their new country, but Univisionexecutives say the majority of their viewers' homes are bilingual.

"More and more bilingual Hispanics are tuning to us," Rodriguezsaid. "I think we're hitting the nerve. They can relate better. Asour product has improved over time and more and more people arecoming in, people tune in and say, `That feels more like me.'"

The choice is made more for content than language, Macin said.

The Long Island graffiti is one example of a story unlikely to makeEnglish-language stations. The Spanish-language stations pay closeattention to immigration issues, and are often tipped by viewersreporting raids targeting illegal immigrants. Lou Dobbs, CNN'scrusader against illegal immigration, went on WXTV for aninterview.

The station has stringers in Mexico, Colombia and the DominicanRepublic, and sent its own staffer to cover the Dominican election,Pineda said. Sports will talk about the Mets and Yankees, but alsoabout a big soccer game in Mexico.

With a very heavy concentration of Roman Catholics in the audience,WXTV gave extensive coverage to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to theNew York area, with a Spanish-speaking priest in the studio toexplain the pope's activities.

General news isn't excluded; it's just that the mix is different.English-language stations covered it heavily when the aircraftcarrier Intrepid got stuck in the mud, while WXTV mentioned itbriefly in the program's third segment.

About 100 story tips a day come into her newsroom, said NormaMorato, WXTV's news director.

Morato, who worked for CBS' local news before joining WXTV, noticedthat many public officials have added Spanish speakers in theirpress offices.

"They'll see us coming in and have a press conference in English,then say, `We'll take care of you when we're done,'" she said.

Most news stations try to create a sense of family among theirviewers, but the Spanish-speaking stations are more aggressive incultivating the relationship. They try to be a resource for viewerswho have difficulty navigating a culture new to them. WXTV has runphone banks to help register voters, sponsored free breast cancerscreenings, encouraged organ donations and helped explain how tocall the Better Business Bureau.

KMEX calls its effort "a su lado" — by your side — andonce aired a program to tell viewers facing home foreclosure whatthey could do.

"We do things outside the realm of news, but it gives an image tothe viewers that we care," Pineda said.