On Friday, after jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis finished his 9 a.m. show, the station introduced a Spanish format that Clear Channel management characterized as Spanish hot adult contemporary.
For promotional purposes, the station now will be referred to as "Mega 95.5," but no new call letters have been announced. The new playlist will range from Juanes and Mana to Enrique Iglesias and Paulina Rubio.
After axing scores of staff in recent months at WNUA and the five other radio properties it operates in the Chicago market, Clear Channel also now plans to add nearly 30 new bilingual staffers and on-air talent to operate Mega 95.5. READ FULL STORYRead more…
Banco Azteca, controlled by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas, says the financial crisis offers the bank a chance to enter the U.S. market and lure Hispanic customers.
The bank is considering bringing its core products -- money transfers, loans of less than $300 and life insurance for $4 a week -- to California, Salinas said in an interview yesterday in San Diego. Hispanics make up a third of the state’s population of about 37 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“With the credit crunch there is tremendous opportunity,” Salinas said. “Our bank is very stable. We can afford to poke our nose around.”
Azteca is Mexico’s 10th-largest bank in terms of lending, with 23.2 billion pesos ($1.76 billion) in its credit portfolio at the end of March, according to government statistics. The company, a unit of Salinas’s Grupo Elektra SA, operates in seven other countries, including Brazil, Peru and Honduras. READ FULL STORYRead more…
American Civil Liberties Union Legislative Counsel Deborah J. Vagins, along with Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and leaders in the women’s and business community, briefed Senate staffers today on S. 182, the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill to give working women the legal tools they need to challenge pay discrimination.
“Statistics show there is still a persistent and pernicious pay gap,” said Vagins. “The fight for equal pay for equal work will not resolve itself. We need the Paycheck Fairness Act to help create a climate where wage discrimination is no longer tolerated. This bill eliminates loopholes and strengthens weak remedies that have made the Equal Pay Act of 1963 less effective in combating the unlawful wage gap.” READ FULL STORYRead more…
Efforts on the part of some conservatives to pin the Wall Street meltdown and the $850 billion rescue tab on the backs of minority homeowners are shameless and spurious, several activists and minority lawmakers said Friday.
“That is total bunk,” said Kathleen Day, spokeswoman for the Center for Responsible Lending, a public interest group. “I think this is an effort by extremists who are embarrassed that their economic model of little regulation and oversight failed miserably, so they’re trying to deflect blame to the victims.” READ FULL STORYRead more…
