Latino TV in Texas city is hot

San Antonio Among Top Markets for Hispanic Content
By Katy Bachman, Mediaweek, April 6, 2009

Home to the Alamo, the second-largest city in Texas is also one of the top Hispanic markets. More than 50 percent of the population is Hispanic, per Scarborough, making San Antonio the ninth-largest Hispanic radio and TV market in the U.S. Of those Hispanics, 91 percent claim Mexico as their country of origin (per MRI).

One of the most popular radio formats in the market is Tejano, a format originating in and unique to Texas. Univision, which owns seven radio stations in the market and a TV duopoly (Univision O&O KWEX and TeleFutura KNIC), programs Tejano on KXTN-FM, the fifth-ranked station in the market that has often held the top ratings spot. Ironically, of Univision’s seven stations, three are not Spanish language, including No. 1-ranked Rhythmic KBBT-FM “The Beat.”

Univision’s KWEX is competitive with its Anglo TV counterparts, ranking a strong No. 2 among the 18-49 demo for its early news at 5 p.m. and late news at 10 p.m. In the top local news spot is KSAT-TV, Post-Newsweek’s ABC affiliate. KSAT leads most news dayparts among the 25-54 and 18-49 demos in early news at 5 and 6 p.m. and late news at 10 p.m. KENS, Belo’s CBS affiliate, is No. 2 in the 25-54 demo race and wins mornings. Hoping to get a piece of mornings, KABB-TV, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Fox affiliate, recently added a local morning newscast. WOAI, Newport Television’s NBC affiliate, is generally the No. 3 news station. Formerly owned by Clear Channel, WOAI still partners its Web portal with Clear Channel Radio’s News/Talk WOAI-AM, the No. 2-rated radio outlet in the market.

The market also serves as headquarters for Clear Channel Radio, which owns seven radio stations in the market and has the dominant outdoor presence. Clear Channel Outdoor’s inventory includes the largest lineup of bulletins, posters, mall advertising and taxi media, as well as advertising at high-profile venues Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, the Alamodome, Riverwalk Rivercenter and San Antonio International Airport. KEM and Alamo Outdoor also have inventory in the market.

In print, Hearst-owned San Antonio Express-News announced in February it would lay off 135 people, about 15 percent of its staff. The newsroom shrank by 75 positions, or about 30 percent of the staff. In March, the paper began outsourcing the majority of its ad production work to Affinity Express, an Elgin, Ill.-based company. Hearst, which owns several other major papers, is exploring charging a fee for some of its online content. Rumors abound that Hearst could merge the Express-News with the Houston Chronicle, 200 miles away.