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Carlos Aguirre: “We will acquire more stations in Los Angeles, then we will consider other markets”

A Q&A with Carlos Aguirre, General Director of Grupo Radio Centro. Aguirre talks about GRC’s expansion strategy in the US, its content strategy and much more…. (Lea aquí la versión en castellano de este artículo)

Content

Grupo Radio Centro (GRC) was created in 1946 by Francisco Aguirre Jimenez, who built 11 stations in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Currently, GRC is the owner and/or operates 14 stations in Mexico, with 11 of them based in Mexico City. Furthermore, GRC is the only Latin American radio broadcasting company that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In April GRC introduced its first station in the U.S.

Portada held the following Q&A with him.

Portada: What are your expansion plans in the U.S. Hispanic Market?

Carlos Aguirre, General Director of Grupo Radio Centro: “First we will acquire several stations in the Los Angeles  market. Once we have acquired those stations we will consider to expand in other U.S. markets”


How do you produce/acquire content geared to the  U.S. Hispanic market?

“All of our content is developed and broadcast from our studios in Burbank, CA. All DJ’s, in addition to our Music Director and COO live in the U.S.”


Is the news content for the U.S. Hispanic market different to the one you use for Mexico? What newswire agencies do you use?

“We have one Managing Editor for News in the U.S. – Juan Carlos González – he broadcasts news about Los Angeles and other local news. We do include a short news cast from Mexico, but most of our news are local news.”


Is the music you broadcast in the U.S. different to the one you broadcast in Mexico?  

“The music content we broadcast in the U.S. is different to the one we use in Mexico. We do not have a Mexican station with the same format as Exitos 93.9 in Los Angeles”.


What breakdown is there between local and national advertisers in your Mexican stations? What is the ratio in the station you just launched in Southern California?

“In Mexico the breakdown is 90% local and 10% national. In the U.S, in the medium and long term, we expect to have approximately a third of our total sales in national advertising. Los Angeles is the most important advertising market in the U.S. and many advertisers only invest in the Los Angeles market.”


Are there many Mexican advertisers who can be cross sold into the radio programs targeting Southern Californians?

“There are only a few Mexican advertisers to which we can also sell advertising in our Los Angeles station”.


What marketing campaigns are you doing to introduce Radio Centro in the U.S.?

“We are doing an important outdoor campaign in Los Angeles, which includes newsletters, large and medium sized billboards, bus billboards as well as street furniture in bus stations. To reach advertisers and their agencies, we are implementing a program in the main two Hispanic publications. It is important to say that our advertising agency Casanova Pendrill says that our outdoor campaign is the largest they ever launched”


Do you have a digital strategy?

“Our digital strategy is limited to our website. We hope that it will generate earnings”.


To read the Spanish version of this interview click here.

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