Asian Pacific, All the Time

Architect of Seattle’s Spanish radio hopes to build 24-hour ‘Asian Station’

By Erik Derr
AsianWeek Pacific Northwest Correspondent

The man credited with giving Seattle its first 24-hour Spanish radio station wants to do the same for the Asian Pacific American community.

Ed Ramirez, lead developer of Radio Sol, or Sun Radio, announced plans last month for a Seattle-based AM station devoted to APA news and issues. The station’s format would include programs in a variety of Asian and Pacific Islander languages.

“The Asian community needs a radio station,” said Ramirez, an executive for Salem Communications, which owns about 90 radio stations across the country. “I just feel it’s a great necessity.”

The latest census data suggests over 65 Asian and Pacific Islander languages are spoken in the Puget Sound region. But the Korean-language station Radio Hankook, which is broadcasted over two AM frequencies, is currently the only radio program exclusively serving Asian listeners.

Ramirez says his company plans to carve out the new “Asian Station” from one of its current holdings, KLFE-AM, which has an all-Christian format. The station — heard as far north as Vancouver, Canada — would be transformed, piece-by-piece, as broadcasters buy blocks of airtime for about $150 an hour. Initially, the station would continue playing Christian programs during un-sold portions of the broadcast day. But once Asian Pacific programmers buy at least 12 hours of daily airtime, the station would devote its entire schedule to Asian Pacific programming, filling unsold time slots with syndicated shows.

Jaime Mendez (left), morning show co-host for Radio Sol, Seattle’s first 24-hour Spanish radio station, reviews programming with producer Enrique Ortega. Mendez’s show may be used as a model for a proposed 24-hour Asian Pacific radio station.

Jaime Mendez, Radio Sol’s morning co-host, says much of the station’s success is due to Ramirez’s openness to new ideas and willingness to provide broadcasters the technical and staff support they need. Mendez noted that Ramirez has made inroads in the Spanish-speaking market, even though he’s not known for being active in the Latino community. Ramirez himself admits his ethnic community involvement has been minimal outside of work.

That leaves key members of the APA community feeling wary. They suspect Ramirez doesn’t understand that successfully marketing to the APAs as a whole is difficult for anyone and generally considered impossible for those without personal contacts. When they make marketing decisions, APAs often judge a business by its investment in their community.

State Rep. Kip Tokuda, who serves Seattle’s Chinatown International District and ethnically-diverse South End, suggests it would be a “quantum leap” if Ramirez assumed he could be successful without building stronger community relationships.

“If I know the community like I think I know the community, they’d be leery,” said Tokuda, a Japanese American recently appointed director of Seattle’s Division of Family and Youth Services. “Who has he talked to? I really believe that to do it right, he has to get grassroots support.”

Tokuda warns Ramirez not to “impose” the radio station on APAs, but instead get a clearer understanding of the community’s needs through added research.

In fact, Ramirez’s marketing approach for a 24-hour Asian Pacific station was tried before by one of his former employers, KXPA-AM, which at one time boasted about 10 hours of daily Asian Pacific programming.

KXPA’s General Manager Craig MacDonald says his station was an affiliate of AsiaOne, an international network that supplies a variety of continuous Asian Pacific radio programming. But, he explained KXPA, which still sells its time to individual broadcasters, dropped the “all-Asian” idea and eventually shifted attention away from the APA market because it was “difficult” to find community support.

Mendez, who worked as a producer for KXPA during that time, contends MacDonald drove APAs away because he was insensitive to ethnic community needs. He also argues there was strong APA interest in KXPA’s Asian Pacific programs, but the station unceremoniously dumped APA broadcasters to court Spanish-speaking listeners.

Minh Vuong, a producer and on-air host for TNT, a Vietnamese-language radio network based out of California, says he previously bought airtime at a similar station but was forced to close TNT’s local broadcast because he couldn’t raise enough operating funds. He laments many of his fellow Vietnamese Americans don’t support shows like his because they can’t see how radio helps them.

Vuong wants to see Ramirez further educate APA consumers about how media works.

But, perhaps all programs like Ramirez’s Asian Radio are doomed to fail, says AsianWeek columnist Emil Guillermo, a nationally recognized media critic, political commentator and former announcer for National Public Radio.

“I’m afraid prospects are dim,” said Guillermo. He notes radio is “a numbers game,” with morning and afternoon drives the times listeners tune in most. Otherwise, the less people generally tune in other times of the day, and “for smaller subgroups like Asian Americans, that number is even smaller.”

That, Guillermo continues, is why “radio programmed like TV doesn’t work that well. That’s why most stations are all one thing 24 hours a day.”

Ramirez shouldn’t expect to make a significant impact, unless he puts more effort into marketing — and reaching out — to the APA community, Guillermo says.

Ramirez, one of the first marketers to bring the Chinese beer Tsing-Tao to America, says he has been working to acquaint himself with the APA consumers. He wants to be a good partner for the community, he asserts.

Ramirez says he’ll always listen to critics and take the advice of others. And he genuinely wants to improve his status in the community.

But, after all is said, Ramirez’s focus reverts back to the station’s marketing model — what he feels is an extraordinary chance to give APAs a lasting broadcast presence. “We’re working very hard to push this radio station,” Ramirez said. He can’t stop thinking, “This is a great opportunity!”