Portada: How many Latinos reside in the Jacksonville area, where Norsan’s Hola Noticias is published and where four of your radio stations broadcast?
Norberto Sanchez: Approximately 100,000.
Portada: How are northern Florida’s Hispanics different ethnically and culturally than S. Florida’s Laitno population?
Sanchez: Northern Florida has traditionally been more Puerto Rican. Recently however, we’ve seen a real surge in Central and South Americans in the area, particularly Colombians and Venezuelans.
The Mexican population has been growing quickly because of construction work. In the last year and a half, the Mexican and South American population grew from 5% to 35% of the Hispanic population there, so its been a dramatic shift. I’d say that at present, the area is about 1/3 Puerto Rican, 1/3 Central and South American and 1/3 Mexican.
Portada: Does Norsan cross promote radio and print properties?
Sanchez: Absolutely, there are tremendous synergies between our products, and our multiplatform presence offers great value to our advertisers. In fact this was one of the key reasons we bought MI Gente in Charlotte, to offer advertisers radio, print and online reach.
Portada: Have recent economic hardships affected ad revenue in Radio or Print?
Sanchez: Yes, especially at the local markets. Haven’t noticed a change in national accounts, which include McDonalds, BK, Taco Bell, Home Depot, Pizza Hut. Overall, we’ve seen increases in ad revenue of about 12% year over year.
Portada: Do you partner with any newswires for content?
Sanchez: We are a franchisee of “Fronteras de la Noticia,” which is produced in Mexico. It’s really great, the graphics and content they provide, and it has been very cost-effective for us.
Portada: Who produces your local content?
Sanchez: We have our own staff for local coverage, because both Hola Noticias and Mi Gente concentrate heavily on local news. When we bought a majority stake in Mi Gente (in N. Carolina), we merged resources from Hola Noticias into Mi Gente, because it was amore established brand in the area.
Portada: What is your multi-platform growth strategy?
Sanchez: Basically to consolidate revenue growth and be a dominant player in the markets in which we operate. For Radio, we’ll be moving from AM to FM format as soon as we can justify it.
Related Article: Hispanic Cross Media Deals: Norsan Group Buys Mi Gente Newspaper