During the Radio Ink Hispanic Conference in Miami, Tuesday, Entravision SVP Angie Balderas (pictured here with broadcast attorney Frank Montero) told the sold-out crowd that back in 2014, in a political race for California’s 7th Congressional District, $20 million was spent on advertising by the two candidates. Not $1 was spent on Hispanic radio or television.
That was quite a shocking statement, knowing how the population has been evolving over the last several decades. And you have to ask the question: Why? The Hispanic population in Sacramento is 14 percent, and that race was won by Democrat Ami Bera by a few hundred votes.
Imagine how that race could have been tilted if Hispanic radio had been part of the mix. Well, Balderas did something about that. After she had a chance pitch Hispanic radio to Bera in his re-election bid in 2016, he spent nearly $100,000 on radio, and won by 5,000 votes.
During the panel, which was called “The State of Hispanic Radio,” Mindy Figueroa, the Chief Marketing Connector at Latin2Latin Marketing and Communications, said that while she is bullish on radio, the industry needs to elevate its brand. She said radio needs more PR campaigns and white papers to educate people. The average age of the employees
at her agency is 23, and Figueroa said there’s a lot of education that radio needs to be doing to get these younger folks onboard about the power of radio.
The conference continues today, and includes a keynote presentation from Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan.
