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The Two Big Challenges Facing Hispanic Radio
Delivering the opening remarks at the inaugural Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference, Spanish Broadcasting System CEO Raul Alarcon said that finding great talent and dealing with evolving audience measurement methodology are the two key issues confronting Hispanic radio today.
On talent, Alarcon listed five criteria for developing the next generation of radio stars; finding them, polishing them, promoting them, paying them, and policing them. "The talent is out there - there's no doubt about it - but they're not going to come pre-packaged," he said.
The second challenge confronting the industry is the evolution of radio audience measurement from the diary to electronic measurement, as the threat of losing the high time spent listening numbers that have been a key for Hispanic radio looms with adoption of Arbitron's Portable People Meter.
"I love Arbitron, but from what I hear it really did away with the one thing we had in this industry for twenty years, and that's TSL," he said. "TSL always came through, and while I'm not too sure, I'm hearing that it takes a dip."
Despite those challenges, and others that face the broader radio industry, Alarcon said that as long as people have passion, he believes the radio industry can thrive. "In order to do something well you have to love it," he said. "We have to love this industry back to health and growth."
To that end, Alarcon noted that he's had to amend the lessons he learned in the past to succeed in today's rapidly expanding Hispanic radio marketplace.
Alarcon said that when he first started out in radio, his father taught him that the formula for success was containted in just three words - "play the hits." Today, however, Alarcon says that formula can be reduced to just one word - "engagement."
"We have got to find a way to engage with our audience," he said. "In this world of the Internet and iPods and satellite radio and CDs and whatever the Hell else is out there, we have got to find a way to engage our audience."
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