Responding to A Growing Market
Cal State-Northridge minor trains students to cover Spanish-speaking communities.
By Dina Horwedel
For the first time in Denver radio history, a Spanish-language station finished atop the Arbitron ratings. Earlier this year, KXPK-FM, known as
“La Tricolor,” ranked the station first among 18- to 49-year-olds and 25- to 54-year-olds, considered to be radio’s two most-coveted listener groups. And two years ago, industry giant Clear Channel Communications began converting 25 of its 1,200 radio stations to a Spanish-language format, acknowledging the influence of a growing Hispanic audience.
One Hispanic-serving institution is keeping pace with this trend. California State University-Northridge launched the nation’s first interdisciplinary minor in Spanish-language journalism last fall to prepare its journalism students to work in both Spanish-language and mainstream media, with the goal of improving coverage of Spanish-speaking communities.
The program has approximately 30 students pursuing the minor. Overall, 700 CSUN students are enrolled in the journalism program.
