Bustos Media story.
Back at the end of the 2009, I created a list of the probality of failure of the various radio owners. Bustos Media was an 8 on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being certain failure). The story describes that the lender has formed a new company and taken over control of the assets.
The owners that targeted recent Spanish speaking immigrants were high on my list. The reason is that recent immigrants – particularly those from Mexico – send a large portion of the income “back home” to Mexico, and don’t spend it on stuff that local sponsors are selling. Advertisers are not interested in paying to reach them unless the FCC forces them to Spread the Money Around. The FCC forcing advertisers to spend money on Spanish Langauge radio is another of the systemic reasons for radio’s troubles. You can’t force advertisers to do that.
Note this does not extend to Spanish language stations targeting long term residents – stations in Puerto Rico, Cubans in Miami, various country origins in New York City, etc… The ones that have failed are in Texas and along the migration trail northward, and in areas of California.
