SYRACUSE – The man behind the “CNY Latino” newspaper is looking to expand the offerings of Spanish-language radio programming in the area. But Hugo Acosta says he’s having a tough time finding stations to carry the new programs he’d like to produce.
Currently, Acosta hosts “Hablando con Central New York,” an hour-long Spanish-language talk show at 8pm on WVOA (103.9FM) and translators 95.3 and 98.1 FM. That’s followed by “Deportes Con Rodriguez,” a full hour devoted exclusively to sports topics discussed in Spanish. Acosta says both shows are live every week, but sometimes feature "about 20%" of prerecorded interviews or other content.
Acosta says his relationship with WVOA is a good one, but his company basically buys the time to get the two shows on the air, and at this point in time, he says WVOA doesn’t have any other “affordable air times” where his proposed new shows could air. Acosta tells CNYRadio.com he has approached several other stations and some were willing to run the new shows, but “their costs (with exception of WVOA) are too high for us to generate some decent or fair profits.”
In an effort to get around that, Acosta says “I am planning to prepare a commission-based advertisement plan, where we could either share profits from advertisement, or develop some sort of percentage fee, for the hour aired,” but he’s still trying to hammer out the specifics on how such a plan would work.
Acosta says he’s also willing to work with stations in surrounding markets. The CNY Latino newspaper is distributed “between Rochester and Albany, [also between] Watertown and Binghamton”, Acosta says, and he’d like for his radio shows to mirror that reach.
“As a minority Hispanic-base media company, it is very hard for us to promote and enhance media-based venues, in a profitable way,” Acosta told CNYRadio.com. If you’re interested in carrying CNY Latino programming on your station, you can reach him at hacosta@cnylatino.com.
Logic dictates that if Galaxy is serious about developing a hispanic following with ESPN Deportes on 1070-AM WSCP, Deportes Con Rodriguez would be a good fit there. Just a thought -