1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,600 This is the RBR TVBR In Focus podcast. 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,800 Here's your host, radio and television business report editor in chief, Adam R. Jacobson. 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,920 Hello, everybody, and welcome to the In Focus podcast. 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,640 It is presented by.fm, streaming social podcast or broadcast. 5 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,240 Got a.fm domain name by heading over to get.fm today. 6 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:26,600 And joining us today on this podcast is Stephanie Valencia. 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:32,120 She's the president of newly formed Latino Media Network Valencia, co founded L.M.N. 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,040 with Jess Morales Roqueto. 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:39,600 And on June the third announced that it is launching in a big way to find out more about 10 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:41,560 what's happening with L.M.N. 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,360 Let's get right to the conversation with Stephanie, who joins us today from Santa Fe, New Mexico, 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,600 where L.M.N. will be headquartered. 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,320 It's great to chat with you and welcome. 14 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:53,840 Thanks so much for having me, Stephanie. 15 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:58,400 You've been described as a social entrepreneur, a public servant and an author. 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:02,680 Now you'll be leading a group of radio stations dedicated to super serving the US Hispanic 17 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:03,680 market. 18 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,600 We're wondering why you and Jess decided to go the radio industry route by investing 19 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:13,440 some 60 million dollars in radio properties that your group is acquiring from Televisa 20 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:14,640 Univision. 21 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:20,400 Is there something in the power of radio connecting with the Hispanic community today and in 2023 22 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,000 and beyond that excites and interests you? 23 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:24,000 Absolutely. 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,880 We call radio the constant companion of the Latino community. 25 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:34,160 Whether you are driving your kids to school and listening to the local traffic and whether 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,360 in the morning show or you're working at a construction site or in an office, chances 27 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,720 are you are listening to radio. 28 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,360 Latinos listen to radio more than the average population and more than radio. 29 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:50,600 They're also listening to other really important audio content, whether that is streaming or 30 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,280 podcasting. 31 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:59,520 Among Latinos is significantly higher and has seen a lot more growth among Latinos in 32 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:01,480 the last several years. 33 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,280 It is about radio, but it is also about audio. 34 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:09,680 You have many companies who are probably looking at the next shiny object of streaming and 35 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,960 other things, which is also really important to reach Latinos. 36 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:22,120 I will say YouTube, up to 67% of Latinos that we've seen are using YouTube to get news 37 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:26,120 and information about politics and elections. 38 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,840 There is a really important, these are all really important platforms that all can cross-pollinate 39 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,720 and work together in a multi-tiered distribution strategy. 40 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,440 All that is to say that radio is attractive to us because it's reaching its scale and 41 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:45,280 Latinos are still very much attracted to using and relying on it. 42 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:51,560 But what we are trying to build is much bigger than radio and has much broader reach than 43 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,840 I think the initial set of assets that we are acquiring from Televisión. 44 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:01,320 Among the investors, board members and advisors for Latino Media Network are such radio industry 45 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:07,800 veterans as Tom Castro, who many may remember as the CEO and co-founder of the former Board 46 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,920 of Media Partners, who is today a board member on Cumulus Media. 47 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:18,000 Will these individuals, such as Mr. Castro, take an active role in the day-to-day operations 48 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,800 and leadership of LMN, or is that something that you and Jess will be taking on, or perhaps 49 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,920 other individuals that are yet to come into the picture? 50 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:27,920 All of the above. 51 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:33,560 Tom has been an incredible mentor and advisor on this project and more broadly helping us 52 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,880 navigate and think about the power of radio in reaching the Latino community. 53 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,800 He has been an important part of the team that did the diligence on this deal, along 54 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:48,640 with other veterans from Univision that we were able to work with. 55 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:55,800 We have assembled a really phenomenal team of board members and advisors and investors 56 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,320 that really run the gamut of people like Tom who have deep experience in the industry to 57 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:06,920 others who have other content creation and news and journalistic credentials like Maria 58 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:12,080 Lennas-Salinas and Julica Lantigua-Williams, and people who have experience in other parts 59 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:17,240 of the media industry like Monica Lozano, the former publisher of La Opinion, or Kristi 60 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,520 Habager, the founder and former CEO of Latino Magazine. 61 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,600 All that is to say Latino Media Network is just getting off the ground and we want to 62 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:31,440 build a really strong team that can understand the power of radio, but also a multi-platform 63 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,160 audio approach. 64 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,240 We are just launching today. 65 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:41,080 We are going to be building and hiring a leadership team over the coming months. 66 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:48,360 Obviously, in some of these cities and markets across the country, we'll want to be rebuilding 67 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,240 and expanding some of the local teams. 68 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,800 We'll be looking for local voices to participate and helping to build new content that is more 69 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,040 locally focused. 70 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:03,960 From soup to nuts leadership to the local markets, we are really just kicking the separate 71 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:13,640 on and I would encourage people to visit latinomedianetwork.com to express interest or get in touch with us 72 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,720 because we do want to attract the best and brightest that share our values. 73 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:23,240 Using this as a platform to provide critical and important information to the Latino community, 74 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,120 helping them make sense of the world and their place in it. 75 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:34,320 Again, creating culturally competent and culturally relevant content that helps people to navigate 76 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,600 this sea of information that we find ourselves in every single day. 77 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:42,760 I'm glad that you mentioned those names because among the board members, investors and advisors 78 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:48,240 is Eva Longoria and one Al Cardenas, a lot of people in politics are familiar with that 79 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:52,460 name because he's the former longtime share of the Republican Party of Florida and a former 80 00:05:52,460 --> 00:05:54,940 chair of the American Conservative Union. 81 00:05:54,940 --> 00:06:00,160 This of course begs the question, as far as the content that LMN will be placing on the 82 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:05,560 majority of these radio stations, which are spoken word AMs under the Televisa Univision 83 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:11,160 banner, will we be looking at something under La Politica, for example? 84 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,740 Is this meant to be a spoken word operation? 85 00:06:14,740 --> 00:06:19,360 Are you going to be doing music in some of these markets because you are gaining all 86 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:24,960 of the Univision radio stations in Fresno, Las Vegas, the Rio Grande Valley, or is that 87 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,160 just too early to answer right now? 88 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,760 I think it's fair to say that we're looking to experiment in a lot of different ways with 89 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:33,760 these stations. 90 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:39,560 There are some where obviously music for stations that we don't plan to change because people 91 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:46,600 want to listen to great Latin music, whether that's Tejano or Reggaeton or Cumbia. 92 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:51,080 On the other hand, with the AMs, we also see a ton of possibility with that kind of talk 93 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:56,360 airtime to be able to provide such a platform for the community on really critical issues, 94 00:06:56,360 --> 00:07:02,360 whether it be what we saw during the pandemic and the need, thirst for information, good 95 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:11,840 information, real information about the pandemic and about COVID, to things like information 96 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,200 about being a small business owner and being an entrepreneur. 97 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:20,400 There are Latinos are driving growth of the economy in part because we are creating small 98 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,880 businesses at a higher rate than any other community. 99 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:29,520 And ultimately, information about how to be a savvy small business owner, thinking about 100 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:35,200 resources that the SBA or other that we might have access to is really important information 101 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:36,560 to disseminate. 102 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:42,680 And then thirdly, think about parenting and education and parents who are trying to navigate 103 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,800 the world of being a good parent and ensuring their kids have access to good education. 104 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:52,720 And so these are really important platforms not to be political, but to really, again, 105 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:59,120 just provide really good quality information to Latino consumers who are trying to make 106 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:00,600 sense of all of it. 107 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:05,920 The transaction terms call for a one year transition agreement between Televisión 108 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:11,000 y Univision and LMN, which is expected to include in the fourth quarter of 2023. 109 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:17,120 Does that mean it will be a little bit more than a year until you guys take over? 110 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,180 Or is there an LMA that is going to allow you to take control of the stations in terms 111 00:08:21,180 --> 00:08:23,720 of programming and operations ahead of that closing date? 112 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:28,840 So first things first, we will be submitting for FCC approval in the next couple of weeks. 113 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:35,200 Obviously, that will take its own timeline and its own due course, which we expect to 114 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,680 take a few months. 115 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:43,400 And then we will enter into an LMA with 18 different radio stations. 116 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,480 And as we build this company and build the leadership of this company and the programming 117 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:52,720 strategy, we'll slowly roll off those 18 stations over time. 118 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:58,960 And so by the end, no later than the end of 2023, Latino Media Network will be in full 119 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,920 control of those 18 stations. 120 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:07,760 In terms of the content, right now, they're mostly, if not all, in Spanish. 121 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,640 Will you be considering any English language content that is super serving the Hispanic 122 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,360 community and these markets? 123 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,840 Well, I think that's certainly another area we want to explore and experiment and want 124 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,600 to be research and data driven about it. 125 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,320 The more the community grows, the more bilingual and bicultural we become. 126 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,360 But that being said, Spanish language radio plays a really important role in our community. 127 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:34,120 And so we want to continue to preserve that real estate for Spanish language dominant 128 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:35,120 consumers. 129 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:40,600 At the same time, we also want to think about and experiment with content that could speak 130 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:46,600 to another set of an audience, which is the bilingual, bicultural consumer. 131 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:51,960 And I think there are a lot of people who kind of move back and forth between those 132 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:53,600 two worlds. 133 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,320 And so we want to create a space also for them too. 134 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:00,580 So there's a lot of experimentation and again, a lot of research we want to do to better 135 00:10:00,580 --> 00:10:04,560 understand these markets and dig into them more. 136 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:09,320 But that language and programming language will certainly be one area that we will test 137 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:10,320 and explore. 138 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,320 Stephanie, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your day to speak with 139 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,120 the Radio Television Business Report for this InFocus podcast. 140 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:17,120 It really was a pleasure. 141 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:18,120 Thank you so much. 142 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:19,120 Nice to meet you. 143 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:20,120 Nice to meet you as well. 144 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:24,120 And remember, you can follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart 145 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,960 Radio, or wherever you prefer to consume your podcasts. 146 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:33,400 And with that, this is Adam R. Jacobson for the InFocus podcast, a presentation of.fm, 147 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:35,680 streaming social podcast or broadcast. 148 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:39,000 Get a.fm, donate me by heading over to get.fm today. 149 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,000 We'll see you next time. 150 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:53,640 Bye bye.