latino lingo

No, it's not a new version of the Hummer ... it's a new multicast technology for radio.

The rollout has 25 of the company’s stations in five markets launching new sidechannels over the next five days. Within two weeks, another 82 stations in 20 other markets.

Clear Channel will steam the new channels online and conduct on-air giveaways of HD radios. While most of the 107 new HD2 channels complement existing on-air programming, many introduce entirely new music or spoken-word genres. The list is heavy on Hispanic and rock offerings.

Read the full story on Media Week.

Toyota has decided to debut its new 2007 Camry during the Super Bowl. Not surprising since it's viewed by millions. What is surprising is that the debut ad will be bilingual for the new bybrid vehicle.

This is the first time Toyota has produced a bilingual ad, and Toyota believes it's one of the first times a bilingual ad will played during the Super Bowl.

While not exactly a novel idea (In my "Chevy no-va? I beg to differ" post I wrote about Chevy airing an ad completely in Spanish on Fox during the World Series), this continues to signal advertiser's appreciation for the growing Hispanic market. And, for their understanding that a sophisticated approach is needed to reach us -- one that usually requires a mix of Spanish and English languages and mediums.

Read the AP story.

Periodicals aimed at Hispanic readers in the U.S. and Canada grew to 329 titles in 2006 from 124 titles in 1996, according to the latest edition of The Standard Periodical Directory, which released this week and reported by Crain's.

This growth is the most of any other category over the past 10 years. According to the article, this growth reflects the rapid expansion of the Hispanic population in the U.S. duh! Although, the article says, national Hispanic publications are only beginning to show the kind of segmentation seen in general-market publishing.

Samir Husni, chairman of the journalism department at the University of Mississippi, is quoted in the article saying this growth also reflects advertisers’ demands for more precise marketing. “The shotgun approach is long gone,” he says.

Well, he finally made up his mind ... Alex Rodriguez of the NY Yankees will play for the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic as a gesture to "honor his American citizenship," according to an AP article that's on MSNBC.com.

So does this mean he's "dishonoring" his Dominican roots? You might think I'm being harsh here but heed A-Rod's own words when he first said he was pulling out of the Classic:

"After thoughtful deliberations with my family, I am announcing my decision to withdraw from the World Baseball Classic," A-Rod told The New York Post. "When faced with the decision to choose between my country, the United States of America, and my Dominican heritage, I decided I will not dishonor either."

Further, does he also imply he won't take the game too seriously when he dons the red, white and blue? Again, A-Rod in his own words:

“I think the Latino teams are going to have a major advantage. I think that American team might take it more like an exhibition and these guys are kind of playing for their religion down there, the pride of their country.”

Continental Airlines has recently announced a partnership with Idiom Technologies to speed the launch of its Spanish language online reservations system, according to an article in IBL News.

The article quotes Ken Penny, director of Internet planning and general manager at continental.com, who says:

"Continental Airlines serves more destinations in Latin America than any other U.S. airline. Offering website services, like flight purchase and frequent flyer information, in Spanish facilitates the travel process for more of our customers in the United States and abroad. Recent surveys (such as the Roper Hispanic Cyberstudy released in early July 2005) indicate that U.S. Hispanics was the fastest growing online ethnic segment. Also, this ambition was consistent with Continental's Latinization program, now in its eighth year, which enhances customer service for Latin American and U.S. Spanish-speaking passengers not just through language but in respecting cultural differences."

View the Spanish language website

Hispanic Business magazine reports that Hispanic employment represented one third of the total 2.6 millions jobs created in 2005. Specifically, employment of Hispanics has increased by 847,000 jobs, bringing the Hispanic unemployment rate down to 6.0 from 6.5 percent in December 2004.

The overall U.S. unemployment rate also dropped by 0.1 percentage point, falling to 4.9 percent in December from 5.0 percent in November, according to the Department of Labor.