El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 95

Section (R imsnmss Sunday. December 9, 1984 Pagel-G be Sinus Advertisin El Pasoans in the Big Apple produce Hispanic slice of life, Ml started working for Conill after I NT'S share of the 5s El Paso area market If CFf 2 as of July 1984 A.C.Nielsen Arbitron 0 Oil 5 KCIK 4 5 nil KCOS 2 2 KDBC 21 20 fl. KINT 2 2 KTSM 21 21 vlT kvia 28 29 KCOP 2 Not listed fcyt gp4 XEMP 5 Not listed rsx MlMwfi pSsJ Note: A.C Nielsen says Hispanics com yf'fa'. pnse 52 percent of the 205,000 television households in the El Paso market (which Southern New Mex Timci photo by Joel Salcido A Big Mac still tastes the same, but two El Paso natives have helped McDonald's restaurants give a Hispanic flavor to their advertising. Yvette Franco and Roy Zuloaga both graduates of Jefferson High School in El Paso are account executives with Conill Advertising Agency in New York City, the largest Hispanic advertising agency in the country.

McDonald's is the only fast-food company doing national advertising in Spanish, Zuloaga said. So far, he said, Hispanics have proved receptive to it. Jose Silva, the president of KINT-TV, El Paso's Spanish-language station, is high on Conill's work. "Conill does some of the best Spanish-language commercials I have ever seen," he said. Spanish-language McDonald's commercials have the same themes as its English-language commercials.

But they are designed to appeal to Hispanics. "The whole idea is to give a slice of life from the Hispanic point of view," Zuloaga said. Franco said the agency avoids Hispanic stereotypes. "No sombreros and mustaches," she said. The commercials portray Hispanics from all walks of life, she said.

"There's no reason to stereotype Hispanics there's plenty of flavor and different things you can capitalize on," Franco said. Zuloaga and Franco were both born in El Paso, and both graduated from Jefferson High School in 1976. But they took different routes to reach Conill Advertising Agency. Franco obtained a degree in social anthropology from Brigham Young University in Utah. She never thought she would end up in the advertising world.

"I probably imagined myself working with tribes in Mexico more than doing this," she said. But Franco's husband, Julio, a gourmet chef from Chile, wanted to live in New York City. She graduation 1980. Zuloaga has worked at Conill for two years. But he has lived in New York City since he graduated from high school.

He obtained a degree in urban affairs and anthropology from Columbia University in New York. "I love New York," he said. Franco lives in a Cuban-American neighborhood in New Jersey, but also is enthralled with New York City. She enjoys all the different ethnic backrounds represented in New York. Conill designs its advertising so it appeals to all Hispanics, not just Mexican-Americans.

The narrators have a "universal" accent that can be understood by all Spanish speakers, Zuloaga said. The commercials portray the Cuban and Puerto Rican cultures as well as the Mexican-American culture, Franco said. Conill is a full-service agency, which means its also produces the commercials. "We don't take English commercials and translate them into Spanish," Zuloaga said. "We create our own commercials." Zuloaga and Franco both work exclusively on the McDonald's account.

Zuloaga declined to give a precise value for the account, but he said it was more than $1 million. The Hispanic market amounts to about $65 billion worth of buying power on a national basis, Zuloaga said. "It's a sizeable market," he said, "and one that hasn't been tapped." Spanish-language advertising is not designed just for non-English speakers. Franco said it also appeals to many Hispanics who understand English perfectly well. "There are a lot of Hispanics like me who jpeak English well but feel a certain tie and sentimental feeling toward the language," she said.

Neal Templin KINT production director David Flores produces one of the Spanish-language station's in-house commercials. Spanish-language television station aims for El Paso's largest market For now. KINT is still running in the red. Silva doesn't expect By Neal Templin Times staff writer At 2:21 p.m. May 5, a commercial for Amigo Television Rentals was broadcast to El Paso viewers.

The 30-second spot was the first commercial aired by KINT-TV 26, El Paso's only Spanish-language television station. Seven months later, the fledging station says its advertising sales have grown each month of its existance. Steve Masters, KINT's local sales manager, predicts the station will meet its first-year goal of $1.8 million in advertising sales. "The progress we've made in seven months. I don't think any other independent station could have done it," Masters said.

Masters says KINT will sell $3 million to $4 million of advertising a year within 5 years. Eventually, he IB the station to make money for another year to 18 months. Initially, KINT was overstaffed for its revenues, said Elena Solis, business administrator for the station. She said the station has laid off 10 people to cut costs. The layoffs do not reflect deep-seated financial problems, Solis said.

"We're doing great," Solis said. "We just have to hang in there." However, Pedro Villagranas, a reporter who was laid off in October by KINT, doubts the station will survive unless it affiliates with SIN, the national Hispanic broadcasting network. "I don't think they'll be able to make it for long the way they're going as an independent," he said. KINT is still a long way from attracting as many viewers as KVIA and the two other affiliate stations in El Paso. The July figures from both Arbitron and the A.C.

Nielsen Co. showed KINT with a 2 percent share of the market. The top dog, KVIA. was given 28 percent of the July market by Nielsen and 29 percent by Arbitron. KDBC and KTSM, the NBC and CBS affiliate, each got about 21 percent of the market.

Masters said the July figures are a little misleading because KINT had been on the air only two months. He predicts KINT will show a strong gain when the next figures are released later this W6k. About 20 percent of KINT's advertising revenues have come from national advertisers such McDonald's Restaurants or the beer companies, Masters said. However, the bulk of KINT's revenues come from local advertisers, which Masters said have been receptive to the Spanish-language station. David Sanders, an owner of Sanders it Morton Advertising in El Paso, has recommended KINT to several clients, He said the station is effective at reaching certain customers.

KINT is primarily interested in Hispanic viewers in El Paso, which is 62 percent Hispanic, according to the 1980 U.S. Census. However, Masters said, the station has many viewers and some advertising accounts in Juarez. "We're going after a narrow section of the market, the Spanish-speaking population, which in El Paso happens to be the greatest part of the market," Masters said. says, its sales will near those of the affiliate television stations in El Paso.

Masters says a total of $18 million of television advertising is sold each year in the El Paso market, which extends into neighboring areas. KINT's programming and almost all of its advertisements are in Spanish. Masters said the television station is reaching an audience that has been missed by the English-language television stations in El Paso. Steve Giust, the general sales manager for KVIA-TV, the ABC affiliate in El Paso, said KINT is still too new to figure its effect on the El Paso market. So far, he doesn't believe KVIA's advertising has been hurt by KINT.

"They (KINT) are going to have to be patient," Giust said. going to take them a while to grow." Starting a television station is expensive. Jose Silva, an El Paso attorney who is president of KINT, said it cost $5 million to -start up KINT. Most of the capital came from a $4 million loan from MBank, Silva said. He and eight other investors put up the rest of the money.

Conill Advertising photo Conill advertising executives Yvette Franco and Roy Zuloaga with one of the McDonald's posters they developed. Las Cruces station finds community support By Doug DesGeorges Times staff writer LAS CRUCES After four years of waiting, pleading and fighting the Federal Communca-tions Commission bureaucracy, Doug Matthews got his wish. That wish, known as KASK-TV, went on the air Nov. 18. It also went on the air with a fairly substantial amount of local advertising, something that didn't surprise Matthews one bit.

"There's a lot of community spirit here," Matthews said. "This was the largest community in the West without its own television station. It was more than ready." Matthews had an advantage in raising local television advertising. He owns KASK-FM, and start- Anderson prefers to buy those spots during KASK's evening newscast. Every weekday, the station runs a 5-minute Las Cruces newsbrief at 7 p.m.

and a half-hour newscast at 10 p.m. Anderson finds that the most important feature of the station. Although all El Paso stations are received in Las Cruces, Anderson said he feels El Paso newscasts tend to concentrate on what is happening in El Paso, and give Las Cruces little attention. He said he understands that attitude, but feels Las Crucens are more interested in their own news. Ray Sainz agrees.

Sainz owns the Los Mexicanos restaurant in the Mesilla Valley Mall, and is a KASK radio advertiser who buys ads on the television station. He also prefers advertising on the DCWSCdSt Although Anderson believes his television ads Please see Las Cruces, 2G I I One of those customers is Gary Anderson, owner of Value Plus, a Las Cruces department store. Anderson told Matthews about a year ago that he would consider television advertising. He is now filled with the community spirit Matthews has found. "It's imperative that we support it," Anderson said of the new station.

He supports the station now to the tune of four to six commercials a day. Times photo by Rudy Guuerrei, P(i hrinpine his radio customers into his television 'David Stephens mans the controls in the fold as soon as he learned he was getting a televi-production room at KASK TV. sion license. Carol Eastman Tax proposal affects basics of investment ticular, the concept of differences between short-term and long-term capital gain should be eliminated, and with it the idea that certain capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate than income. On top of this, the plan indexes capital gains for inflation, a cumbersome and complicated proposal.

While the Treasury Department proposals provide for needed tax simplification, enormous efforts by special-interest groups will be made to eliminate or modify these changes. In addition, this plan is revenue-neutral and does nothing to reduce our deficits. Most likely it will provide a broad framework for a new tax law. Hopefully, Congress and the White House also will have the fortitude to face the more pressing problem of reducing our national debt. Carol Eastman, a Dallas native, is a financial consultant with Prudential-Bacbe Securities in El Paso.

gress for these companies. The major beneficiaries of the tax overhaul would be middle- to lower-income families. This new plan goes a long way toward making our tax system fairer. For example, a family of four wouldn't begin paying taxes until its income reached $11,800, while currently that family pays taxes on income of more than $8,937. The current sixteen tax brackets would be squeezed into three: 15 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent.

While this change is beneficial, the definition for income has broadened. Many deductions would be dropped, including state and local taxes, certain interest expenses and charitable contributions up to 2 percent of adjusted gross income. What shape the final bill will take is open to speculation. Investors shouldn't run out and make any major changes, but they should be knowledgeable on potential new laws. In par The plan was met by stunned silence from the White House and howls of protest from many corporate leaders.

The overhaul not only jolted high-income investors but also the officers of capital-intensive industries and high-tech entrepreneurs. While most Americans agree on the need for tax simplification, the burden proposed for many American businesses is likely to face substantial opposition from special-interest groups. Even though most corporations would benefit from a proposed drop in their tax bracket from 46 percent to 33 percent, the Treasury hit hard on recipients of large investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation. Some areas hit hardest include real estate, banking, timber, oil and mining. Since a recent congressional study revealed that corporations paid only 6.2 percent of U.S.

taxes in 1983, there is likely to be little sympathy in Con Between now and Jan. 1, taxpayers have many alternatives to legally avoid paying taxes to the government for 1984. This series examines several of the possibilities. Last week a historic event took place in our nation's capital. The Treasury Department actually proposed a tax simplification plan while disregarding potential political pressures In designing their program.

It called for a lowering of personal and corporate tax brackets as well as the elimination or reduction of many credits and deductions. The tax burden would be reduced for many individuals while increased for many.