Hispanic Radio is More Prevalent than Radio for the Ethnic Majority

    Ethnic radio continues to thrive in the Washington, DC area because of immigration—especially from Spanish-speaking countries. In 2010, Washington, DC’s population was that of about 600,000. Of that number, 50.7% is African American, 38.5% Caucasian, 9.1% Hispanic, and 3.5% Asian. Interestingly enough there are more African Americans in the DC area than any other ethnicity, yet there are more ethnic radio stations for the Hispanic population. Consider the conflicting statistics and presence of Hispanic radio; why are there more Hispanic radio stations than those for African Americans? I interviewed UMD student, Mariel Rothman who found that there were so many Hispanic radio stations, yet it was difficult to determine why.

listen to ‘Mariel Rothman Ethnic Radio’ on Audioboo

    One must consider that African Americans can listen to any of the English-speaking radio stations assuming that they speak English. On the other hand, many Spanish speaking people are either not proficient in English or do not speak it altogether. So, Hispanic radio is necessary for the language barrier that exists between the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking ethnicities. Also, Hispanic radio provides a sense of community.

    Mariel Rothman’s blog post about ethnic radio discusses the growth of our Hispanic population and their attempt at communalizing themselves with their own radio stations. Rothman states, “[ethnic radio] promotes events that bring people of the same culture together and [help them to] share information that pertains to Spanish-speaking individuals.” It is important to note that not all Hispanic radio stations only air in Spanish, some just provide a sense of community. Rothman even grew to like some of the Hispanic radio stations, although she is an English-speaking Caucasian.

listen to ‘Mariel Rothman’ on Audioboo

    Ethnic radio is necessary. It can be the glue that brings one’s ethnic community closer, but it is not always confined to the ethnic group for which it was intended. Although there are more African Americans than Hispanics, there are clearly more radio stations catering to the Hispanic population. Hispanic radio is not proportionate to the Hispanic population. This anomaly cannot be explained, yet people are always welcome to listen to whatever radio station they please—whether within or outside their ethnic group.