CAMARILLO, CALIF. — It is hardly a secret that a large segment of the Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanic population is conservative and greatly tied to Christian values. As such, serving this group of consumers with in-language news and information could be of some value to the right media company.
Salem Media Group believes it is the entity to bring such an endeavor to its successful fulfillment.
BE SURE TO ‘LIKE’ RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!
While Salem is best-known for its conservative-leaning Talk radio stations; and its stations targeting Christians with spoken word programming and its contemporary music brand, “The Fish”; it also has a publishing arm and a digital division.
It is the digital segment of Salem that will be ramping up efforts to target Spanish-speaking U.S. Latinos, with David Cruz joining the company as VP of what is being branded as Salem Sí.
A January 2021 launch date is confirmed. Salem Sí will be an online streaming platform, it is a digital “Answer,” if you will, to bringing news and insight en español to a consumer group that only continues to grow. Salem’s English-language talk stations are largely billed as “The Answer.”
For those questioning access to digital media among U.S. Hispanics, one only need look at research conducted over the last decade that show this segment overindexing for digital media consumption against the total U.S. population.
“We are very excited that David and Salem have entered into this collaboration that promises to reach and serve the youngest and fastest growing audience demographic in the United States,” said David Santrella, Salem’s President of Broadcast Media. “The challenges presented by COVID-19 have only accelerated the shift in listening patterns by Latinos who are seeking timely, relevant and accurate information live and on-demand. David’s extensive background as one of the country’s established and well-known Latino broadcast network journalists, makes him the ideal person to lead this new digital initiative with Salem Media Group.”
Cruz began his career decades ago, when Univision was known as Spanish International Network (SIN).
He then held various news assignments with CBS’s KTVT-11 in Dallas from 1991-1996, and was an anchor and reporter for KNBC-4 in Los Angeles from then until exiting at the end of 2011.
In early 2012, Cruz joined iHeartRadio’s Los Angeles station group as its Director of Corporate and Community Partnerships in emerging markets. He exited the company in May 2015 to become a partner in BFM/BrightFlash Media, a Los Angeles-based multilingual digital media content development and production company for broadcast, online and mobile platforms.
“Salem Si is an opportunity for Salem Media Group to serve a Latino audience that is highly mobile, wants to access digital content on all devices and, more than likely, lives in multi-generational, bilingual households,” says Cruz. “America’s 60-million Latinos don’t care what language knowledge comes in as long as they can access and understand it. Plus, they want content that is useful so they can make their lives better on their own. Salem Si is about empowering Latinos to keep moving forward, and continue striving for themselves and their children, to achieve that American dream, the same thing everyone else wants.”
— Reporting by Ethan Hunt in Eureka, Calif., with editing by Adam R Jacobson in Boca Raton, Fla.
