HOUSTON — With a blend of legacy and urgency permeating the conversation, the 2025 Hispanic Radio Conference opened in Houston on Wednesday with a wide array of Hispanic media executives including Spanish Broadcasting System founder, Chairman and President/CEO Raúl Alarcón Jr. on hand.
All delivered poignant and powerful insights into the business, culture, and evolution of Hispanic radio in the United States.
RAUL’s SBS REVIEW
The first day of the two-day affair began with words of inspiration from Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO Dr. Laura Murillo. This preceded a compelling, all-hands-on-deck discussion on recent immigration actions taken by the Trump Administration, with information remaining exclusive to HRC 2025 attendees.
Then, in a keynote Fireside Chat with Radio Ink and Radio + Television Business Report President/Publisher Deborah Parenti, SBS’s Alarcón traced his company’s roots back to his father’s journey as a Cuban broadcaster, forced to start over in America following the Communist revolution of 1959 led by the late Fidel Castro. He described SBS’s origin not as a stroke of luck, but a product of persistence, policy, and family resolve.
Alarcón recounted nights in the basement of their New York home where his father, Raúl Alarcón Sr., would listen to records and dissect what made a song a hit. Of SBS, Alarcón said a turning point came with the federal government’s Minority Tax Certificate program, a now-defunct initiative that allowed minority-owned companies to defer capital gains taxes when reinvesting in new broadcast properties. “That really got us into business,” Alarcón said. “It allowed us to make purchases in New York, L.A., and Miami.” Policymakers are again being urged to revisit the idea; little action has been taken to revive the program under the current Congress.
From those early days, SBS has grown into one of the largest Hispanic media companies in the nation through traditional radio and expansion into streaming, digital video, and large-scale live events. According to Alarcón, none of this was part of a master blueprint. “We just followed the audience,” he said. “Streaming has changed everything.”
He cited the company’s recent move into Houston with KROI-FM, where regional icon Raul Brindis is quickly attracting a new audience in morning drive, as a prime example of seizing opportunity based on talent, signal availability, and local need. Alarcón credits SBS’s Juan Carlos Hidalgo for executing the launch.
While acknowledging the challenges posed by evolving platforms, Alarcón maintained that the company’s guiding principle remains rooted in listening to its communities and refusing to back down. “Never quit,” he said, echoing his Radio Ink Magazine cover from January. “Sometimes you are an inch away from success. And if you stop, you lose.”
The conversation with Alarcón concluded with a story emblematic of Hispanic media’s breakthrough. In 1992, SBS purchased KLAX-FM 97.9 in Los Angeles and rebranded it “La X.” Despite doubts from both within and outside the industry about the viability of a Spanish-language format in the country’s top radio market, the station rose to No. 1. “It took a $50,000 check just to get the call letters,” Alarcón recalled. “But it was worth it. It became a symbol.”
A SALES CALL TO ACTION
In addition to the keynote conversation, The Power of Hispanic Radio: A Key Revenue Driver was a call to action for Hispanic media reps with lessons for all radio sellers. Solmart Media CEO Tomás Martinez moderated the panel, which featured SBS Chief Revenue Officer Gene Bryan, Norsan Media President Edgar Saucedo, and MediaCo Holdings SVP/Audio Sales Danny Lowry.
From the outset, Bryan challenged attendees to reconsider how radio has been devalued in recent years – not by audiences, but by buyers and agencies. “We allowed our rep firms to commoditize our product,” he said. “We lost control of our own value.” Bryan argued that too much emphasis has been placed on metrics like CPM and cost-per-point, which fail to reflect the promotional, event-driven, and cultural influence stations provide. “You can’t read concerts and community trust in a ratings book,” he said.
Lowry built on that theme, sharing a stark example from a MediaCo (formerly Estrella Media) station in Dallas. For over a decade, paid programming blocks had been priced at $250 for 30 minutes. When MediaCo/Estrella introduced a competitive bidding model, the price skyrocketed to $1,575. “That’s what it was worth to them,” he said. “We were the ones saying it was only worth 250. The belief was self-imposed.”
Lowry emphasized the need for Hispanic broadcasters to sell with conviction, not apology. “We are not second to general market radio. We get better results,” he said. “You want to change the narrative? Start with swagger.”
Saucedo, whose company operates stations across Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas, pointed to the importance of cultural fluency in campaign design. The point, he stressed, was that Latino audiences require strategies built from understanding, not assumptions. He also highlighted the value of sales team education. “We’re not just selling airtime,” Saucedo said. “We’re selling cars, dental appointments, legal services. Our reps have to understand the clients’ goals and deliver on them.”
Throughout the panel, all three speakers called on broadcasters to take back control of the sales conversation – whether by working around agency gatekeepers, making direct calls to district managers, or refusing to discount their platforms just to close deals. “We’ve got to disrupt the buying environment,” Bryan said. “Don’t wait for the RFP.”
There were also clear warnings about the risks of complacency. Bryan revealed that SBS walked away from $2 million in national business after refusing to run content the company viewed as exploitative or harmful to the audience. “We owe it to our listeners,” he said. “We’re not going to air something just because someone’s throwing money at us.”
As the panel wrapped, the executives called for a renewed spirit of collaboration across companies—and a return to bold, boots-on-the-ground selling. “We used to go to New York together—competitors, side by side—to sell the idea of the Hispanic market,” said Bryan. “Now, we don’t even go visit our buyers.”
Taken together, the first day of the Hispanic Radio Conference offered a powerful reminder: Hispanic radio isn’t just a platform – it’s a movement rooted in community, identity, and economic impact. The challenge ahead, as both Alarcón and the panel made clear, is not to wait for validation from outside, but to lead the charge from within.
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