by Bethany Kohoutek

La Ley is housed in a small, nondescript, brick building on Hickman Road, sandwiched between a row of storage garages and a tire repair shop. There’s no outdoor signage announcing its presence, and the front door looks like an entrance to someone’s house. Cruising past, you’d never know it was the headquarters for a radio station whose listenership is increasing at a faster rate than any other demographic in Iowa.

Inside, there’s a flurry of activity. Two women are speaking in rapid-fire Spanish on phones in the front office. From the studio in the back, contemporary Mexican pop music emanates softly from a set of speakers. DJ Paco, whose off-air name is Francisco Flores, sets down his Starbucks cup, slips on his headphones and leans into the microphone to introduce the next song and let listeners know about an upcoming visit to Des Moines from the consulate of Honduras.

La Ley, located at 105.5 on the FM dial, is celebrating its four-year anniversary in Central Iowa. It was the first radio station in Iowa to broadcast Spanish-language music and news 24 hours a day. Today, La Ley is one of two stations broadcasting Spanish-language content in Des Moines, a city that had zero Latino stations just five years ago.

In celebration of the anniversary, La Ley — which means “The Law” en español — updated its logo, which is why there are no signs out front, yet. They’re being redesigned to implement the station’s new look.

“It has been growing,” says Mireya Palma, a DJ at La Ley. “We can see that in our audience rating, and also in the amount of people we see at our events. We can see that because there are a lot of people moving here, and the first thing they do is look for a Spanish radio station.”

La Ley pumps out 6,000 watts of power, which means reception gets patchy when listeners venture too far out of Des Moines, Ankeny or Ames. But with the phenomenal growth of the station — and, of course, the corresponding jump in advertising revenue — La Ley plans to add 10,000 more watts to its signal after the first of the year, Palma says.

“It will be a very powerful signal,” she says. “Our goal is to be able to serve all those little communities that are very underserved right now.”

The growth in the market share of Latino radio, along with Latino media in general, reflects the burgeoning population of its audience. Nearly 109,000 Latinos call Iowa home — an increase of 32 percent in the last five years. And almost 80,000 of those residents speak Spanish at home.

Nationally, the number of Spanish-language radio stations is nearing 700, an all-time high, according to Arbitron, Inc, a company that measures radio trends. And the format is growing at a faster clip than any other in the United States
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Whether it’s those born and raised in Iowa or newly arrived immigrants, radio has become a central part of local Latinos’ lives, Palma says.

“We, as a station, have learned ever since we opened in 2002, that we are not just a radio station,” Palma says. “We’re a team that works really hard for the community, and we’re involved in the community. Every day, hopefully, we’ll be stronger than the day before.”

More than music

It wasn’t long ago when José Ramos would huddle close to his shortwave radio, carefully twisting the knobs and shifting the antennae. At certain times of day, he could cut through the static and pick up stations from Mexico, and even one from Ecuador. It was the only Spanish-language radio he was able to access. That was before Des Moines had any Latino stations.

Ramos runs a successful Spanish-language newspaper, El Latino, from his office in downtown Des Moines. The publication is distributed weekly throughout Des Moines, and it features local news, as well as wire reports from throughout Mexico and Central America.

Residents of Des Moines can subscribe to two Spanish-language cable TV stations (neither carries local content), as well as several newspapers. While print and television hold important places in local Latinos’ lives, radio is a unique medium, Ramos says.

“Radio has changed the face of the Latino community in Des Moines,” he says. “People feel more community. Some have a sense of loneliness [when they first move here], but radio is on the air all the time. Now, people can read, listen and watch.”

Terry Peters, general manager for Citadel Broadcasting Corp., agrees. Citadel owns Des Moines’ other Spanish-language station, La Indomable. (“Indomable” translates to “indomitable,” or “unbreakable.”) Citadel, a Las Vegas-based company with offices in Urbandale, launched the station at 1700 AM last September, and Peters says the response during its inaugural year has been overwhelmingly positive. The station’s signal is substantial, reaching almost the entire state. La Indomable broadcasts local content in the morning and at midday, courtesy of Edgar Parra — A.K.A. DJ Lenin — and runs syndicated programming, both music and talk shows, during the rest of the day.

“If you are going to reach the Spanish-speaking audience anywhere in this country, radio is the place to do it,” Peters says. “Everyone has access to a radio, and they can hear their music and news and information that they want to hear. Radio is the fastest, most efficient and easiest way to reach Latinos in Des Moines and Central Iowa.”

Hearing the familiar sounds of home is comforting and inviting, no matter how long listeners have lived in the United States, adds Parra, who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Nebraska before moving to Des Moines in July. In terms of music, both La Indomable and La Ley play primarily a format known as “Regional Mexican,” an umbrella genre that covers a host of styles from northern Mexico.

The majority of Des Moines’ Latino population is Mexican, Palma says, which is why the format dominates the airwaves. The most popular of the Regional Mexican styles is ranchera, a traditional-sounding genre similar to that produced by mariachi bands, often fast in tempo and laden with horns.

Other common styles include norteño, much like Tejano and Tex-Mex in the U.S., and banda, which has a percussion-heavy, big-band feel. Both stations also spin contemporary Spanish-language pop tunes and ballads.

No matter the time of day, the phone lines at both La Ley and La Indomable are constantly ringing with listeners requesting particular songs or favorite artists. Just as often, however, callers are seeking something that’s not music-related. Spanish-language radio functions as a welcome center, an information outlet, a job bank and an advice panel for questions about everything from schools to healthcare to immigration, La Ley’s Palma says.

“We have people who don’t speak English who are looking for job agencies, and they ask us for a phone number for an organization that might help them,” she says. “Sometimes we even make a call to connect them with whoever they are looking for or whoever they need.”

Alfredo Alonso is a senior vice president for Clear Channel’s Hispanic radio division. The company hired him two-and-a-half years ago to help it bolster its portfolio of Spanish-language stations, and he’s watched these stations grow and prosper all over the country. Clear Channel owns one Spanish-language station in Iowa, Sioux City’s KWSL-AM.

Alonso says community support is a key function of nearly every station he’s helped to build.

“Radio really becomes a focal point of the community, because there is so much that people rely on, not just for traffic or for news from their homeland, but for social services, a place where people find out how to get credit, where to open a bank account,” he says. “A lot of programs on Spanish radio, especially on the weekends, are catered to educate the general public.”

Dollars on the dial

When La Ley began broadcasting in 2002, it was Hispanic advertisers, primarily, who were drawn to the station. They were in tune with the community, and they seemed to realize, early on, the enormous growth potential (and buying power) of Iowa’s diverse Latino population.

In Des Moines, car dealerships, banks, hospitals and real estate firms were among the first to appreciate the importance of hiring bilingual employees and reaching out to Latinos.

“The cutting-edge marketers in each business category realized this a few years ago, and have staffed up to take advantage of this huge sleeper market,” Citadel’s Peters says. “And they are making money doing it.”

But some industries have been more sluggish. First and foremost, companies simply don’t know how to promote their goods and services to a population whose language and culture is different from that of their traditional customer base, Parra says.

In addition to working as an on-air personality for La Indomable, Parra was hired to sell advertising for the station. Nearly every English-speaking business he approaches is interested in advertising in Spanish, he says; they just need some help.

“[Anglos] didn’t have a way to get close to the Hispanic population, and they are not used to the Hispanic media,” Parra says. “Now they know they have a way to get to the Hispanic population.”

Another reason that some Anglo companies are behind the curve when it comes to Spanish-language marketing is the misconceptions they hold about the Latino community.

“I think there is a reluctance on the part of some advertisers to recognize the value of the Latino population in regards to buying power, and in regards to how many people live in a certain market,” Alonso says.

Potential advertisers might not realize that the median income of Latino households in Iowa was $32,971 in 2000;it’s likely is higher today. And it’s only slightly less than the statewide average for all Iowans , according to the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs.

Today, La Ley’s blend of advertisers has shifted significantly. About 40 percent of businesses that advertise on the station are Anglo-owned. The others are Hispanic-owned stores, restaurants and firms.

“It has been, for us, a lot of education to our customers to let them know that you have a very powerful, money-spending community that might use your services or buy your product,” Palma says. “[Latinos] work hard and they save money. If you go to the Internet and find information about income and how they spend money, it is impressive how much they spend per year.”

At La Indomable, the ratio is about 50/50 between Hispanic and Anglo advertisers. La Indomable is doing well enough financially that it was recently able to hire its first full-time advertising executive, a young woman born in Puerto Rico and raised in Iowa.

“Iowa has never been thought of as a significant ‘Hispanic or Latino market,’” Peters says. “When you think of Hispanic markets, you think of Dallas, Houston, L.A., Phoenix… You don’t really think of Iowa. But when you factor in the growth of the Latino population over the last four years, you better wake up and smell the salsa.”

Both stations now run ads from local Anglo businesses, as well as large corporations, like cell phone providers. Alonso says that’s evidence that the landscape is changing for Spanish-language media — and points to the overall economic impact of the Latino population.

“If you go back 10 or 20 years, there was a lot less interest. Now there is much more interest from national, regional and local advertisers. People are starting to realize the population does reside there, and they do have credit.”

‘Here to stay’

Mark Grey runs the Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration, which functions as a sort of welcome center for immigrants and other new Iowans. The program is housed in Cedar Falls, at the University of Northern Iowa, and its staffers conduct employer trainings, help immigrants who are starting small businesses and provide connections to immigration attorneys, among many other services.

Grey also maintains a list of Spanish-language radio stations in Iowa, which he distributes to the immigrants with whom he works. He says Latino media outlets are springing up so quickly in Iowa that he can barely keep the list on his Web site current.

“There are a lot of advantages, and I’m really glad to see the proliferation of Spanish-language radio stations, because it is an entirely new vehicle,” he says.

Not everyone is a fan of Spanish-language radio. U.S. Rep. Steve King demonized Iowa’s Latino stations this spring when he wrote what was widely condemned as a racist letter to his constituents in Iowa’s Fifth District. In it, he blamed Spanish-language newspapers and radio stations for publicizing the nationwide pro-immigration “Day Without Immigrants”— or, what King deemed an “anti-Gringo-fest.”

Although King, a Republican who is a staunch opponent to current levels of Mexican immigration, was re-elected on Nov. 7, the rapidly increasing audience share cornered by Iowa’s Latino stations is likely to continue, despite his objections.

Grey says the services radio offers to Spanish-speaking newcomers — who are responsible for an sizeable chunk of Iowa’s economic development — are essential for a demographic that might not be able to access needed information in English.

“I think things are changing for the better,” he says. “It’s my job to convince people this is a good thing, and that we have to be attentive to the things that communities and workplaces can do to accommodate them. They have become so important to the economy.

“My general impression is that this is here to stay,” Grey says, “and it’s going to continue to expand.” CV

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