By: Mark Fitzgerald Tomorrow, on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News will launch a different kind of product targeting Latino readers in the largest U.S. city with a majority Hispanic population.
At a time when metro dailies and big chains are plunging into Spanish-language publishing with paid dailies or free weeklies, the Express-News and its parent Hearst Corp. are bringing out a paid weekly that will be mostly in English.
About 60% of the articles in the new weekly tabloid Conexi?n, will be in English, with the rest in Spanish, said its general manager, Sergio Salinas.
"This is essentially what focus groups told us that they wanted," Salinas said in a telephone interview. "It's a real reflection of San Antonio, which is a bicultural, bilingual market. There are a lot of second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation Latinos who prefer to get their news in English."
Conexi?n's editorial content will reflect that Tex-Mex culture, Salinas said: "It will have a lot of Hispanic flavor. This is written by Hispanics for Hispanics ... [but] it's a cultural fit that goes both ways: San Antonio has a lot of Anglos who have adopted Hispanic lifestyles, not only through language but food and music and culture."
Because of Cinco de Mayo, Conexi?n is launching on a Wednesday, but its publication day will be Thursdays. The standalone paper will sell for a quarter with home delivery available for $10.
The Express-News is introducing Conexi?n just ahead of the debut of a Spanish-language daily called Rumbo, created by the new Meximerica publishing group. Meximerica plans to launch versions of Rumbo sometime next month in San Antonio, Austin and the Lower Rio Grande Valley border area around Brownsville and Harlingen.
"They're two totally different types of publication," Salinas said. "They are a daily, while we're a weekly. Their intent is to cover the new immigrant market, while ours is more aligned to people [aged] 25 to 54 with income levels of $35,000 and up -- though we will have something for a wide range of readers."
But Salinas added: "We're both going after Hispanic media dollars, so in that sense we're competing."
Conexi?n is being launched with a heavy marketing campaign that includes television spots in Spanish and English, radio, print, outdoor and bus wraps.
R?ul A. Flores is the weekly's editor. Featured columnists include Carlos Guerra, Ed Tijerina, Kristina Ruiz-Healy and Claudia Zapata.
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