Spanish and Multi-Lingual
Medium Wave Radio Stations
in Texas
INTRODUCTION
According to the recently completed U.S. census, the fastest growing ethnic group within the American community is the group known as "Hispanic." The "Latinization" of America has been marked by signs as various as the rise of cross-cultural stars like Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez and the fact that more salsa is now used on American tables than is catsup. It is little wonder, then, that the fastest growing segment of the broadcast radio industry is that segment which broadcasts in whole or in part in Spanish. This growth and nascent maturity is evident in virtually every large urban radio market in the U.S. but is concentrated in the traditional "Mexican American" homelands of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. It is interesting to note, however, that small-market Spanish language stations now exist in the majority of states.
The Spanish and multi-lingual broadcasting stations of Texas are especially prominent. In the AM radio market in Texas, there are approximately 300 stations currently on the air. Of that number, just over 100 stations broadcast in whole or in part in Spanish. This is a considerably higher percentage of AM stations than the Hispanic portion of the population of the state, as indicated by the recent census.
There are a wide variety of station types within the Spanish and Multi-Lingual broadcasting community of Texas. The largest segment of the stations largely broadcast music of various types: Nortena, Ranchera, Mariachi, Tropical, Banda, Romantica and the largest musical grouping which characterizes their offerings as "Latin/Tejano." The second largest segment of stations characterize themselves as "News/Talk" or "Noticias" stations. There are also significant numbers of Spanish language religious stations and a very few stations which provide at least some sports coverage.
Station ownership is as varied as is the program content. A majority of stations are locally owned. However, this appears to be changing rapidly. Three or four large and growing station groups now control a significant segment of the Texas market. These are:
Radio Unica (4 AM stations)
501 W. 28th St.
Hileah, FL 33010-1325
(305) 463-5000
http://www.radiounica.comLRC: La Radio Christiana (6 AM stations)
P.O. Box 252
McAllen, TX 78505-0252
Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (7 AM stations)
3102 Oak Lawn Ave Ste 215
Dallas, TX 75219-4279
(214) 525-7750
Z Spanish Network (10 AM stations)***
ZGS Broadcasting of Tampa
2000 North 14th St Ste 400
Arlington, VA 22201-2573
(703) 528-5656
FAX: (703) 528-6566
***Stations sold to Entravision Communications in March 2001
Entravision Communications Co. LLC (6 AM stations)
2425 Olympic Blvd Ste 6000W
Santa Monica, CA 90404
(310) 820-2455
It is a mark of the modern broadcasting industry in America and the legal and financial environments within which it operates that fully 1/3 of the Spanish language stations in Texas are owned by these large and growing ownership groups. When you also consider the fact that two of these groups also have "affiliate stations" which are owned by others and yet carry a substantial amount of the group programming, the picture becomes even more homogenous.
The following frequency order list is a relatively comprehensive listing of Spanish and Multilingual MW stations broadcasting in Texas as of late March, 2001. The list was developed from three different internet sources. The most helpful was a listing of radio stations which broadcast music in the state of Texas. This website is located in the Governor's website at http://www.governor.state.tx.us/music/radio.htm
Two other commercial websites were quite useful. Both contain relatively comprehensive data on broadcast stations in many states. They are
http://www.metronet.com/~chipk/radio/TX.html
http://www.rronline.com/
At this time there appears to be no industry-wide or state-wide "Association of Hispanic Broadcasters" or similar. At least there is no such presence currently on the web. While this would also be an incomplete and ever-changing list, such would have been a very helpful reference in creating this list.
Annual revisions of this list are planned. Any additions, deletions or corrections are welcome at:
John H. Bryant
808 W. 37TH Street
Stillwater, OK 74074
bjohn@provalue.net