“Dammit! What about us?!?!?!” conservatives are complaining as a pair of Latinas have taken over 18 mainly Spanish-language radio stations in Texas and the Southwest, claiming the very fact that the two women’s acquisitions signal a major conspiracy involving Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros, of course.
NBC News reports the Latino Media Network started operations at three highly-coveted Spanish-language radio stations in the Rio Grande Valley, a key area that had traditionally been a Democratic outpost in deep Red Texas but which had swung right in the last election cycles. Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto say their acquisitions have more to do with supporting Latino culture and music rather than politics despite the pair’s connection to key Democrats. Conservatives don’t believe them, given that Valencia worked for Obama, Morales Rocketto worked for Hillary Clinton, and their deal to purchase the radio stations was funded by a firm with connections to George Soros.
Conservatives have dominated over-the-air radio broadcasting since the Fairness Doctrine was abolished during the Reagan administration. Programs hosted by conservative broadcasters like the still-dead Rush Limbaugh dominated airwaves, particularly on long-range AM stations in the midwest. Media conglomerates like iHeartRadio (formerly ClearChannel) and Sinclair Broadcasting use their outlets to feature shows hosted by conservative figures, giving outsized reach to the extreme views of bombastic hosts like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Tammy Bruce; in the case of Sinclair, which primarily owns local television stations, it forced local affiliates to broadcast opinion pieces from Trump confidante Boris Epshteyn (who’s representing Trump in at least one legal issue) or to have local anchors recite pre-scripted op-eds pushing conservative agenda items.
More than 90% of the Latino population in the United States listens to over-the-air radio broadcasts monthly, so extending reach within the community limits the impact of conservative muckrakers. While more Latinos are leaning conservative–Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of Evangelical Christians as they migrate away from the scandal-plagued Catholic Church–they still constitute a strong faction of the Democratic Party. Republicans have used this schism–as well as culture war fictions like claimed Democratic attacks on traditional marriage–to raise Latino voter outreach in their favor. The ability to broadcast reality versus the propaganda spewed by conservatives will likely stem the conservative gains.
“She had the idea she wanted me to help her understand where the news deserts were in the Latino community, because she wanted to see if she could address those, to increase the civic awareness of the Latino community and ultimately the civic participation,” Tom Castro, a Texas-based advisor to Valencia who once owned more than 50 radio stations, said. “I had always wanted to use radio for this purpose, but you know, building a company with lenders and investors, they never allowed us in my companies to do as much of this — so I thought I had an obligation to help.”