Assignment 12 - Raoul A. Cortez and KCOR, Tom Castro and Arbriton Ratings, One Border-Two Markets concept

Note: Hispanic radio is as diverse as the people and cultures who have come to the United States to continue their heritage. The following questions attempt to give the students a sense of growth and history.


Part 1: Review your text and other sources and explain the impact Raoul Cortez had on radio in Texas and the nation (pages 80-81).

Part 2: Review the report in the text about "One Border-Two Markets" and comment on this phenomena which is also part of the South Texas radioscape. Uniradio has perfected this along the California/Mexico border. Review their impact and show how their formula is a sure remedy for success along the U.S. Mexico border. The report is on pages 85-86. You may also want to visit http://www.uniradio.com/UniradioEnglish/htm/AboutUs/URAboutUs.html on the Internet.

Part 3: Tom Castro had a definite idea of what Spanish-language radio is toady. Review his concepts (page 84) and explain if you agree. Take Castro's statements and compare them to Arbirtron's report titled "Hispanic Radio Today: How American Listens to Radio.2008 Edition" which can be found on the Internet at http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/hispanicradiotoday08.pdf. Which formats seem to be doing well? Which formats are suffering? Has Hispanic radio grown in recent years?

Part 4: From that data, which popular U.S. music format draws nearly 2 million Hispanic listeners daily?

Part 5: Tejano is a very popular format in our part of the world (San Antonio, Houston and on down the Rio Grande Valley). How does it fare nationwide? What other data did you see in this report from Arbitron that you would like to share with your fellow students?