Minding Your Business; 296; Radio in Las Cruces

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP K-R-WG TV presents Minding Your Business A look at the people, places, events and issues that impact the business and economy of Southwest New Mexico with your host Charles Comer Hello and welcome to Mining Your Business, the show where we explore business, economic development, community resources and events and issues that impact our region. This week on Mining Your Business, with so many types of media competing for your attention these days,

radio can be a tough business to survive in. The company Radio of Los Cruces has proven it's possible though, here to tell us more about their side of the business of broadcasting is this operations manager Ernesto Garcia and joining him is Radio Personality and Program Manager Sarah Olguin of Viva Vista 98.7 FM. One of the four stations run by Radio of Los Cruces and good friends, welcome to the sad final. Good to see you again, Charles. And to explain to our viewers, Sarah used to work for me for a short while for about a year, I think, as anchor for Noticias Venti, the student in his cast, and Ernesto and I were classmates and I anchored and you were our sportscaster for News22 back in 98.90. 98.99, not too long ago, seems like just yesterday. And I'm shocked when I look at the calendar and see that that was a decade. Yes, it, but it doesn't seem too long does it? So it's painful, but hey, I have a daughter who's just about to turn 21, like to give a quick shout out and happy birthday, Catherine.

I have a 23, can I do the same thing? So for turning three, so I have to say at 21, I've got a little easier to follow. The father of a three year old son. But let's get things going by finding out just a little bit about you. We'll start with you, Sarah. Ladies first, where'd you go up? Where'd you go to school? And would you study at NMSU? Okay, well, I grew up in Anthony. I am also a graduate from New Mexico State University. I majored in photojournalism. I got a second bachelor's in Spanish linguistics. And I have a third, some minor in geography. I ended up getting in radio when I was in college. There was a job opening and it actually required three things. If you needed to be a journalism major, you needed to be bilingual English and Spanish and have radio experience. And I decided, well, two out of three. And I went and I got the job. And ever since I've been involved in some form of radio throughout since 2000.

And I know Ernesto and the folks at Radio of Las Cruces usually look to this journalism program and people either near graduating or have recently graduated as a potential labor pool and one of the first groups you look at, right, Ernesto? Yes. One of the nice things about our area and why it's rich and especially this department itself, it has produced so many great talented people out of this area. Yourself, I mean Sarah, I can go down a list of names and be here for a good hour, naming people that have come from this department. But it is without a doubt one of the best pools of recruiting that we have in this market. And it's the best place for journalism majors to have their money go worth and to have a chance to run equipment, be a part of it to actually see it best tool compared to most areas in the country. And it's a really big plus that we have here in Cruces. No, Ernesto, share with us where you grew up. You studied journalism here at NMSU so you can probably hop over that. But how you got involved also in radio Las Cruces.

But I'd also like to share some of that in between or because you worked at Channel 4 and El Paso. And so... Well, I mean I started my broadcasting career back in 1995 in high school when I was able to sign on with the local Excel program that's put on through the public schools that gave us a chance to get hands-on experience at any of the jobs we're working for. Like the Sun News, television stations here, college stations. But I was able to sign on at Radio Las Cruces then. Continue to work there throughout my college semester. At the same time, learn some play-by-play, did some TV work, did TV work here. Took whatever job I could possibly get to get started. And it turned out to be a big plus. But when it came down to it, I was still involved with the radio station everywhere. They allowed me to take those steps necessary to learn more from other broadcast fields. And then I ended up working my way up to the top to where I could be as an operations manager, which is the next top position before you get to GM or station owner or running your own multimedia market like Ted Turner. There's ways to go there.

But I took advantage of everything I could. We're learning from all those experiences you just mentioned and stuck with it and applied it to Radio and able to be right now where I'm at right now here in Las Cruces. Either one of you missed TV at all? It depends on defined TV these days. I mean, you look at TV, is it on the internet, or is it on my television, or is it on my HDTV? Sarah, you do webcast, right? No, not even. No, okay, but you gave that a little short try and you said, guys, can we skip over that? The answer to your question, yes. I miss it at the same time. I love radio and we're getting to be more together than you think. We certainly are. While I do TV now, I love the two and a half years. I did a care WGFM as an owner and answer. Now, let's shift gears to the business of broadcasting. It tells about the history of radio of Las Cruces. Some stations kind of all came together. You tell the story better than I do. Well, K-Grid is a heritage station that has been in the market for over 50 years.

And it is grown. In fact, there are some professors that work here that used to be there at K-Grid when the first guy had started. We love hearing the enriched stories, how they put the tower, how we used to be located on El Paso and Idaho, how we moved out to the near the banks of the Rio Grande, how long it took to put things together. So it's got rich history with K-G-R-T. But of course, back then, it was just an AM signal with 570. Then, eventually, in the late 60s and early 70s, the FM signals came out and used to be K-Grid. K-G-R-D. And then, eventually, it would change to K-Grid. But those stations have been heritage for a long time, whether it be playing country or rock. It played primarily K-G-R-T's always been a staple with country music. And the best thing about our station to tell you how rich it is in heritage are official call letters are K-G-R-T FM, which is how most people identify us. But yet, on the air, we always say K-Grid 104. But yet, anytime we go out into remote area in town or people come up to us, they always say K-G-R-T. They associate it with it, even though we hardly ever say it, except for maybe once at the top of the air for station identification. So it has grown in history. And then, around 2001, we acquired another two groups of stations that were located on the corner of Salano and Espina,

where we currently are located. And it up, merging those two companies together, even though they're still separate entities right now, but they are combined in the same management. And we are able to now have four stations, one being Hot 103, K-H-G-T-F-M, on the 103.1 of the FM dial. Combined it with K-Grid 104, which was already being country music, on 103.9. And we've also just recently made a change to our AM station, KSNM AM570, which is now news talk in sports, which has more talk programming, even community shows as well, to be on the format. And then, we also had 98.7 FM, which was KKVS, which back then, when the first start in 2001, was an adult contemporary station that would play music from the 80s, 90s, and a little bit of now. Well, about in 2003, a change was made. We saw a need for a new type of format in the market. And we were able to change 98.7's format to a Spanish-speaking Spanish music playing, 24 hours a day station, under KKVS Vibavista 98.7 FM.

And that's where we're able to be fortunate to find Sarah Hulguin, to come with us and come aboard, to help us get that project started and move forward. So, we've had a heritage station. We've had a station that attracts a lot of young listeners. We have a station now that will deal with more community event sports and information. And now, a Spanish-speaking station, which this community needed for a long time, and was way overdue. So, that's where Sarah comes in. You've been talking about Vibavista. Sarah, tell us a little bit more about the station. What are people going to hear when they tune in? Okay, our format is Mexican Regional. We target 18 to 54 as our audience. And I'm really, really happy that we finally have a chance to broadcast to these people to this audience. Because before we came along, the people would either gather their information. And it was always from El Paso or Ciudad Juarez, which is just across the border. And there was no sense of community base.

There was no real reaching out to the people. In our last arbitral book that we received, 62% of the population is Hispanic. And the amazing number is that out of that 62%, 40% are predominantly Spanish speakers, or they prefer to speak Spanish. So, it's a big population there that was not being reached to. And so, we're very, very happy to be able to come and be community based off of music. We also are very big on helping people to better their lives in every single aspect. And to promote education, to promote better living. It's just that we want to reach out to those people and make our people better. Now, tell me a little bit about the music you're going to hear. Because there are so many genres of Spanish language music from Mariachi to Bandha to just straight up pop.

And stuff like that. What kind of stuff do you focus on? The format is Mexican Regional. We cover Norteña, Rancera, Mariachi, we have Cumbia. There's a new Fad. It's Duran Gensi. So, we have all that. And it's just a lot of new music. We have lots of new artists. They're just producing really wonderful music. And it's fun. And I encourage everybody to listen. It's really great. So, people are going to hear everything from Luis Miguel to Diers and Norte. Oh, yes, exactly. So, stuff like that. Now, what about a news element? Yes, thank you for that. Thank you for that. Yeah, I wanted to include that in Ernesto Jumpin, because you do some news, too. So, the question was with Sarah. So, you do news. How much? How often? Well, it varies per station.

On the Spanish station, we have news in the mornings at 12 and 1 and then 4 or 5, 6 and 7 o'clock at night. But then after that, we figure it's a little bit, you know, too much. So, people probably tune into TV anyway, so. And then the other stations, it just depends on format. On KSNMR AM station, we have a little bit more of the newscast. We have at the top of the hour, at the bottom of the hour, at the, you know, 30 minute. And throughout the day. K-Great is a little bit less newscast now. You might want, you probably remember all the times. Ernesto, you picked that up from that one. Well, from what she's talking about is, in the news sense, the station's all carry news. Even on Hot 103, a station that is primarily young station. And which most stations across America don't choose to air news on those type of formats. We do choose to air news because we feel it is a community service. And not only that, it's important or the community didn't know what's going on. We are local based for newscast. Obviously, like Sarah said mentioned, on some of the stations like KSNMR recently, we are more news-oriented than we've ever been before.

On KGRT, we have news that you will find in the afternoons and mornings and middays that you can almost depend on and know that they're going to be there. And same with Hot in the mornings and a newscast in the afternoon and newscast at night. The goal of the news is simple. What is going on in our town? What needs to be done? What do you need to be aware of? And we focus strongly on being able to go out and report, being able to get stories. Recently, we both, we've had two presidential candidates in our town, and we were able to cover both the events. The hardest thing is a lot of people associate news mostly with TV or newspapers in this market. They haven't seen radio much as that lately. And I think it's, I don't know if it's a biased or if it's just turned out that way, but recently we've been having to make the turnaround on that. And even like with the, your counterparts here at KRAWGFM, they're starting to see that radio has more of an impact. And we have a chance to have a really strong impact with local news, because we're able to get it on quicker. It can be put on the internet faster, and we can get things on the air that sometimes you would have to wait 4 to 10 o'clock on TV. And we're being a part of what's changing in media as in general.

People want the news now, or they want it later, they want to be able to grab it when they, at their convenience. And radio has to serve that need in a lot of ways, and that's how we mesh with the internet a lot to be able to do that. No, it's not always, you know, it's an added expense. Radio stations do not necessarily have to have a news element, but you feel it's that important. Well, it has to be. I mean, if we cannot tell people there's an accident happening, what good are we doing to the community? If it's 2 o'clock in the morning, and something is wrong, who's going to tell somebody? If there's an interstate that's closed, who needs to say it? I want the public to be able to feel that they can trust, that they can tune into our stations to find out the latest that's going on. And a lot, it goes both ways. The community will also call us and tell us what's going on. And we are working very well with the people in this community through our law enforcement officials, through our PIO directors that work in this town, to get that information out. But there's those big responsibility that comes with that. Radio can be quick, and we can get it on fast, but we need to make sure we check, double check, pay attention, be careful how we're going to report things

and how we say things, because it's a big responsibility. You only got your name to it, and if you make a mistake, it can be really bad. So we can't afford that. Especially in the markets such as ours, you know, for the only place people go to, that's not going to help. We've got to be right on with it. And it is an expense that, yes, you're right. We could easily cut up, not do. I mean, there's a lot of stations and big markets that don't do it. Even in L.A., there are some stations that don't bother with any news. All they care about is telling you about traffic. Well, traffic is an important thing, but there's also, we're not that big city. We don't need to be that big city. We have things that are going on here. There are stories that have to be told. At the same time, there's information that has to be passed along. A road closure and one thing can make a big difference in this town. Absolutely. Now, you're talking about some of the struggles of making your footprint with news. And just getting the word out there that you guys are a news source. Now, when you started, you were, you've been with Viva Vista from, from the beginning, so much competition coming in from El Paso. Revolutionary stations and El Paso,

format revolutions, those kind of things. And across the border, they're allowed to have stations that blast 100 or 200 miles across the border. So how tough was it to make that footprint with Viva Vista get the word out there? What were some of the things you had to do and then wrap that up with what's been the feedback from people who've become your listeners? I think it's a great question, Charles. And it was not an easy thing because first, you have to, you know, when people have an audience that they were listening to the 80s, 90s hits, and then suddenly turn one day on the radio and there has this Spanish music, what's going on? Now, it was hard to find those ears where people can finally find us on the dial. It took time. It takes a lot of, also, with, we brought in a lot of our community leaders. We brought in the bishop to say, you know, hi, I am the bishop. Please listen to your Spanish station.

We are, you know, community and blah, blah, blah. And, you know, then we had other people who were community leaders to come in and do little, you know, segments to say why they should listen to Vista. We, of course, it takes time for people to find you on the dial. But I think the more people, and it's also where people, oh, did you hear the station? Did you hear that? And so it's also, you know, sharing with the people and we would have these liners, you know, tell everybody, you know, we've all used to us here. And of course, we have to have this guy to the boys, you know, to just come out and blast everything. And I think one of the major successes of Vista is because the people here don't really care about what's going on in El Paso, about what's going on in Wattas. But they do care about what's going on in our community and the fact that we reach out to them, they are responding. And we now, this year, started with the local programming because we first started with satellite.

And, you know, the satellite system is great, but it's still missing that connection. And until we did this change in January of this year, I mean, the difference you can tell it so, so much because the phones ring, people come in and you go out through it out of town. They're listening. That's got to feel good. Yes. Now, the internet was predicted to kill radio. It was predicted to kill so many types of media, but you folks look like you put the internet to work for you. Tell us about your website, some of the features on there. Well, the TV was also predicted back in the 30s to kill radio as well. And this is a very interesting medium at how it survived over years. And I think the biggest problem with the mediums and times it could be itself. You know, we find ways of maybe overreacting or panicking. I mean, there was satellite radio, which people thought was going to eliminate us as well.

And it hasn't been the case. In fact, satellite radios had to make some mergers to try to save itself to stay in business, because they didn't expect an iPod to come out. You know, they weren't expecting DVDs and cars to be such a big thing. But the internet is a tool in a lot of mediums. I mean, televisions having a very struggling time with the internet these days. Newspapers are having a very tough time. You know, but they have all started to harness and find ways of using it to their advantage. Obviously, newspapers are survival can now be an internet. Television is found a way of competing against YouTube by throwing their own formats, throwing their own newscasts and giving the viewers more of when you want it, when you want to see it. And radios are going to be no exception to that rule. Podcasts are being able to be broadcast and put up to give people an opportunity to hear some of the programming we have or be informed, to know about contests, to get more details. You know, it is a big necessity tool for us and it's important that we stay with it to continue to grow in both even in Spanish or in any of our English format stations.

It has to be used from our end in order to keep moving on in the future. But will it destroy radio? No, will it help radio? Yes. Now, you had talked a little bit about community responsibility. That's why your company has decided with all its stations to include at least some news and in the case of KSN and news talk and sports talk all day. But tell me about the other aspect. Once you gave me a great definition of how radio of Las Cruces looks at community responsibility, what is giving back and being a voice for the non-pros and things like that. You take on it and Sarah, feel free to jump in. Okay. You mentioned El Paso Radio. If an organization is putting together a charity or fund drive to get our neighbors to the south to be more involved with it is very challenging. It can be very difficult and it can get very expensive as well when it's supposed to have a point of helping out in the community.

We're not that hard to reach. We're not that non-accessible. We have to be accessible in the community. And whether or not we're being involved in a tough enough to wear a paint campaign, whether or not we're being involved in to raise money not only for breast cancer awareness, but also for such as early child development, birth defects or whether we're involved in juvenile diabetes walks. That is what our mission has to be. We cannot just put it aside and try not to get to it or never. We have to. And that's our key to our survival too. But we feel that the community should feel that they can come to the local radio station, be able to talk with us and put something together on that helps within the community events because in essence, local is important to us and what goes on in the community should be important to people that are here. Is there anything to add to that? Well, Charles only that I agree with everything he said and that I really believe that we have to be community based because that's the people who are listening to us. That's the people who are supporting us

and very important that we give out back to the community because that's what keeps us going. That's who actually turns on the radio when they get in the car and at home and at work and things like that. Folks, we're out of time. Sarah, thanks so much for coming. Thank you. Ernesto. Thank you. And I sincerely appreciate it. Hope to see you folks today. Let me get one more for a plug in there. Viva Vista 98.7 FM La Grande. K grade 104, 103.9 in the FM dial. Hot 103, 103.1 in the FM dial. And KSNM 570, AM 570. Find us there. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Well, it's time again for a weekly piece here that showcases some of the hardworking entrepreneurs and business people in our area. We call it the NYB local business feature on the road in Silver City. I don't think I can see this one at first. I wouldn't think so. That stuff's been the advocate as you go through. Oh, yeah. See that's where he's from. I spent good many years in commercial art.

And finally, you know, it's hard to just open a gallery unless you have something cushioned to fall back on. So finally, I would say when I lived in Florida before I moved here, I was able to actually start painting full time. But I'd never had a gallery until I moved here to Silver City. And at first, I was part of the Blue Dome Gallery here in Silver City. And then I branched out on my own. And I rented for a little while on the Yankee Street until this building became available, which was three years ago. I renovated it and had my own gallery here. But I've been here on the Yankee Texas Street Art District for almost 11 years. My passion is all over the place. My subject matter is all over the place. And really, that's probably why it is passionate my work because it's not the same thing over and over again.

It could be political, something that's moved me. It could be a disaster like the Twin Towers that might move me to do a painting. Or it could just be a little street scene of Silver City, which I call my Norman Rockwell paintings. I had a studio in New England down the street from Norman Rockwell for a while in Stockford, Massachusetts. But then I have a passion for large portraits of well-known icons, people who really moved me. My very first one was Einstein. And I still adore him. He's my hero. I have an interest in physics and science. And so I have many paintings that have to do with the cosmos or things through a microscope or a telescope. I have the furniture of Robert Winston, who lives here in Silver City. And he is what you would call a master craftsman. He's well-known for his rocking chairs, but also does all kinds of furniture, which right now I have a table here available at the gallery.

And then I have fused glass by another Silver City artist, John Reeves. And then I have bronzes by Jim Palmer, who's another... Everybody in here has been Silver City. They're all very special people who have had, in most cases, interesting careers before they became this proficient in their art. I hope everybody comes to Silver City and can see what we have here. Because I'm very proud of it, and I think all the rest of the galleries are too. That just about does it for this week. If you have a question or comment about the show, you can call the mind in your business hotline at 646-730 or email me at Charles Comer at Yahoo.com. For information on upcoming shows and an archive of past shows, you can log on to www.krwgtv.org.

Again, I'd like to thank my guests, Ernesto Garcia and Sarah Hogan, from Radio Blast Cruises for coming on the show. And thank you so much for watching. I'm Charles Comer. Here's hoping you have a great one. Thank you very much. I'm Charles Comer. Here's hoping you have a great one.

I'm Charles Comer. I'm Charles Comer. I'm Charles Comer. Here's hoping you have a great one. Coming up. Coming up. Coming up. Coming up. Minding your business is provided by support from CIO Levettino of specific realtors, proud to be associated with equality programs and community service projects of PBS and KRWGTV. By community drill builders, a committed partner with KRWG broadcasting providing educational, informative, and entertaining programs to our region. And by the New Mexico Humanities Council,

working with local groups to bring programs about culture and the human experience to all communities in New Mexico. Thank you very much. Thank you. You You

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