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Jan. 1, 2005 |
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Que Pasa Latino Communications, a North Carolina radio and print media company owned by Jose Isasi and his wife Flora Maria Appel, has expanded it's North Carolina coverage and plans to move into new markets next year. “Right now we only have a newspaper in Charlotte. We are currently looking for a radio station,” said Isasi. During the next six months, Que Pasa will focus on consolidating distribution and manpower, getting newspapers re-audited and making sure the company stays profitable as it grows. In the long term, Isasi says that Que Pasa hopes to cover the I-85 corridor from Atlanta to Washington DC. “We plan to move in the direction of Atlanta toward the end of next year,” says Isasi. Currently, Que Pasa newspapers circulate in the Charlotte Metro, Raleigh/Durham and Greensboro/Winston-Salem markets. Circulations from an audit done in the second half of 2003 were between 17-18,000. However, Isasi says that current circulations are between 21-22,000 in each market. Que Pasa has radio stations in the Raleigh and Greensboro markets. According to Isasi, Que Pasa has been very successful in cross-selling radio and print ads to local retailers, but national advertising has been difficult. “With local accounts, the advertising decisions are centrally made, but national accounts have separate ad agencies for print and radio, and different people handling different DMA's. So it's much more complicated.” Isasi says that Que Pasa has sold both print and radio to national advertisers, but they are a combination of individual sales through different ad agencies. Currently, ad sales are 70% local and 30% national/regional. Advertisers include Food Lion, Winn Dixie, Harris Teeter, Time Warner Cable, Bank of America, Western Union, and Advance Auto Parts. Isasi explains that the DMAs used to separate the general market, don't work as well in the Hispanic market. “The 3 DMAs in North Carolina are very similar. We should be looked at more as one emerging market, than 3 separate DMAs,” Isasi explains.
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