These are trying times for English-language newspapers across the U.S. Declining circulation and lackluster advertising revenue have led management at many dailies to try new and different things. At The McClatchy Co.'s Kansas City Star, cartoon-like birds flying toward a budding tree and spring flowers superimposed on a full-color masthead appeared in one recent edition.

Such imagination and creativity have thus far done little to spark a financial turnaround at such publicly traded companies as McClatchy - owner of El Nuevo Herald in Miami, La Estrella in Fort Worth and Vida en el Valle in central California. But it is the Spanish-language titles owned by companies such as McClatchy that have resisted the prolonged and elongating slump their non-Latino brethren continue to battle.

In large Latino centers across the U.S., Hispanic titles continue to see revenue gains and circulation jumps. From emerging markets such as Orlando to long-established print markets including Los Angeles, the future looks bright for the Spanish-language newspaper.

Just don't call the publications part of the Hispanic "newspaper" industry. "We're not a print company anymore," says Mónica Lozano, publisher of Spanish-language daily La Opinión in Los Angeles and the senior vice president of newspapers for the publication's owner, impreMedia. "We are a multimedia company and are very engaged in this transformation, ensuring that we are ahead of the curve."

But growth only seems to be occurring where it already exists. New titles are few and far between. Yet Spanish-language newspapers aren't saying "So Long and -30-" and shutting down the presses.

The Fabric Of Hispanic Life.- Hispanic newspapers have emerged as the industry anomaly, bucking downward trends by continuing to see circulation growth, new advertising deals and ever-fervent competition. Even where Spanish-language titles have not fared well as dailies, long-term growth with weekly distribution has kept management and ownership more than satisfied.

"Newspapers have always been the thread of the Hispanic community," says Robert Leal, who recently joined Ethnic Print Media Group - a leading multicultural print placement firm - as regional sales manager for its Hispanic division. "We're talking about a group of people still accustomed to picking up a newspaper in the morning."

Leal reasons that many of the active readers of Spanish-language newspapers in the U.S. - first- and second-generation immigrants - commonly read daily newspapers in their home countries throughout Latin America. Thus, they continue to read newspapers in their new home.

Top reasons why Hispanic newspapers continue to thrive, says Leal, seem fairly simple. "They seek news and information on events in the Hispanic community," he says. "And there are utility factors, like classifieds, filled with real estate, automotive and employment listings. It is still an excellent source for Latinos to go to."

While that's certainly the case in big Hispanic markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Chicago, Leal sees growth in medium- and small-sized locales as well. "Minneapolis, Tulsa, Atlanta and the state of Arkansas have seen growth in newspapers, mainly because of migration," he notes.

With the economy in ragged shape thanks to a beleaguered real estate market and a subprime mortgage crisis that has many financiers already convinced the U.S. is in a recession, activity among a variety of advertiser categories remains healthy for the newspapers Leal works with.

"We're seeing a lot of telecommunications activity, and we're seeing a lot of banks," he says. "Large retailers such as Radio Shack and Rack Room, a shoe store, are active. Retail in general is strong with newspapers, and the reason for that is that print media has a very sophisticated system of zoning newspapers."

Saying that zoned publications can provide a better cost for the advertiser, Leal notes that a newspaper can focus on a particular neighborhood and target in ways other media cannot. And in the Hispanic community, such media buying habits can yield strong results for an advertiser.

Before joining Ethnic Print Media, Leal spent nearly four years as advertising sales director for Al Día, the Spanish-language daily published by A.H. Belo's Dallas Morning News. In his new role, Leal will represent newspapers in both markets the size of Dallas and larger, as well as smaller markets as a national ad rep. "I'll be going out to ad agencies, advertisers and clients that want to buy a multimarket campaign - buying 10, 12 or 20 markets deep."

One example Leal points to is a 70-market buy for Burger King handled by the quick-service restaurant's Hispanic agency of record, San Antonio-based Bromley Communications. "Will I be representing La Opinión? Of course," says Leal. "But then I will also be representing smaller to medium markets, so I'll put a campaign together that focuses on the markets they are asking for."

With Bromley evaluating the number of stores the client has in each market and the DMAs the client wishes to advertise in, Leal will come in and show the client the newspaper titles in each market - along with the penetration and reach of each title.

According to David Queamante, Bromley's planning director for the Burger King account, newspaper activity for the chain is limited to promoting a particular event. In the most recent instance, Hispanic dailies and weeklies are being used to promote a 10-market "Tu Ciudad, Tu Música" promotion that includes a contest crowning a best local band in each of the cities (HMW Archives 2/29/2008. News Briefs). Burger King is using half-page or full-page advertising, with placement mainly in newspapers' entertainment sections or weekend pullouts.

Overall use of Spanish-language newspapers by Bromley's clients is very slim. "We're not big on newspaper advertising by any means," Queamante says. "It's not even half a percent of our budget."

Circuit City, which was a Bromley account until December 2006, when it ceased its Hispanic marketing efforts (HMW Archives 12/18/2006. Circuit City Pulls The Plug On Hispanic Marketing), was a consistent newspaper advertiser, Queamante notes. Among the print activities from the electronics retailer were free-standing inserts and circulars distributed on weekends.

In the case of Burger King, Bromley has two budgets to work with - one devoted to national media and another for local, which newspapers fall under. That's common for Bromley's clients, which use radio and television as their primary mediums. Thus, with newspapers not the clients' No. 1 spending target, dailies and weeklies get left out of the client's media mix.

One area where Queamante says newspapers are being used are the smallest of the emerging Hispanic markets, where ad rates are low and can thus be the recipient of the few dollars left after the big broadcast buys are contracted. Huntsville, Alabama and Gainesville, Florida are among the more recent communities where Burger King went with print dollars.

Hispanic Print, By The Numbers.- At the end of 2007, there were 33 daily newspapers and 417 weekly newspapers targeting Spanish-language readers in the U.S., according to research from Latino Print Network. In 2005, 42 dailies and 350 weeklies targeted Spanish-preferred and Spanish-dominant Latino readers.

Kirk Whisler, president of Latino Print Network, notes that the primary reason for the decline in dailies is the conversion of several titles to weeklies. In March 2007, McClatchy's Diario La Estrella scrapped its Tuesday through Saturday daily distribution model and switched to a weekly (HMW Archives 3/19/2007. McClatchy Moves From Daily To Weekly In Dallas). The change came two months after editions of Rumbo in Houston and San Antonio shifted to a weekly model - adjustments that came after the March 2006 shutdown of Rumbo's Austin edition and conversion of Rumbo's Rio Grande Valley publication to a weekly (HMW Archives 12/24/2007. ImpreMedia Acquires Rumbo Titles From Meximerica Media).

Despite the drop in Spanish-language daily newspapers seen since 2005, ad revenues climbed 4.2 percent in 2007 compared to two years earlier - to $637 million. Weeklies saw a 26.4 percent jump in ad revenue between 2005 and 2007, to $437 million. Thus, advertisers continue to gravitate toward the big-market titles with the most reach, distribution and market penetration - many of which are dailies, rather than weeklies. "New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Puerto Rico continue to attract the most dollars," Whisler says.
Yet Whisler says the more profitable model for Hispanic newspapers, based on growth and decrease patterns seen from 2005 to 2007, are weeklies. Free-standing inserts, or "FSIs," and classifieds are the two main factors for giving the weekly newspaper such strength.

The FSI - along with classified advertising and local dollars - has helped some weeklies in sub-Top 25 Hispanic markets to post more than $1 million in annual revenue, Whistler says. Working with non-Latino agencies also plays an important factor for the Hispanic newspaper.

"When you talk to the vast majority of the AHAA member agencies, they are very much in a cycle that says Spanish-language television is king and everything else is secondary," Whisler believes. "When you work with the non-Latino agencies, they certainly have a different configuration that respects the values of print." One example Whisler cites is General Motors. "Their quasi-internal/external agency is placing everything and they certainly respect print."

Weeklies also work for an advertiser seeking to reach Latinos in the smallest of Hispanic communities. "Some weeklies have circulations between 2,000 and 10,000, but they are the only media vehicle for that Hispanic community," Whisler says. "In the development of an emerging market the first thing that starts in just about every case is a Hispanic newspaper. It really creates a special situation for them to utilize."

One trend that Whisler has seen is the emergence of bilingual publications, with English becoming the primary language of the newspaper's editorial content. "It's an evolution of that market's Hispanic community," he says."In the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Denver there are large numbers of second-, third- and fourth-generation Hispanics, and you have publications that cater to them. The language used is English because that is the best way to reach them."

In the Big Apple, the New York Daily News has used a model that incorporates both English-language and Spanish-language magazines serving Hispanics in the five boroughs. Viva New York, a monthly, is in English while the weekly Hora Hispana is in Spanish.
"Both products are Hispanic, but one is specifically geared to Spanish-dominant Hispanics," says Rudy Zaccagno, Hispanic publications director for the New York Daily News. "It gives another option to advertisers in New York City."

At the heart of Latino efforts, however, is Hora Hispana. The newspaper is distributed much like direct mail, Zaccagno says, with Dominicans in northern Manhattan, Central Americans in Queens and Mexicans in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn being superserved as part of the publication's 160,000 circulation. "The way that we package Hora Hispana gives advertisers the ability to use a program that includes print, events and circulars," Zaccagno says.

Using "block group" mapping, Hora Hispana is distributed in every group that shows more than 80 percent Hispanic residency. Similar techniques are used for Viva New York.

The Challenge Of National Dollars.- A free newspaper that shares the same name of its bigger, San Juan-based paid circulation daily sibling has emerged as the biggest player in the newly competitive Orlando market.

El Nuevo Día Orlando, launched in September 2003 by Grupo Ferré Rangel, currently enjoys a circulation of 28,000 copies Monday through Thursday and 40,000 copies each Friday.

El Nuevo Día is the market's lone daily - Tribune Co.'s El Sentinel and impreMedia's La Prensa are strong weeklies. Yet all three newspapers vie for the same advertisers, and winning over clients for El Nuevo Día has not been an easy task for Jaime Segura, the newspaper's general manager.

"The big challenge is national dollars - and bringing in the national advertisers," Segura says. "That is what we are focusing on this year."

Segura is currently relishing in one big account win. "Last week we got Lowe's," he says of the home improvement retailer. "We've been trying to get them on board for the last couple of years." Another new client is Sea World. "Even though it is in our backyard, we just signed them last week."

Segura hopes that the advertising relationships are the start of landing more big accounts at El Nuevo Día. "When we launched the newspaper almost five years ago, it took us nearly three years to convince the agencies that we were here for the long term," Segura notes. "This was not just going to be a fly-by-night paper, even though we came from Puerto Rico and we have a very strong brand name there."

But market size plays a role in the decision-making process of a big advertiser, especially those with national dollars to allocate. "We are in a market that is top 5 in terms of Hispanic growth but is around No. 17 in terms of its Hispanic population," says Segura. "How do you convince a national advertiser to put some money in the 17th-ranked market?"

Segura and his team are slowly trying to figure out how to answer that question. Switching from paid circulation to free distribution resulted in a 50 percent circulation boost and a "no return" environment, he says. Thus, advertisers have actually been more receptive as the benefits outweighed those from charging readers to obtain the newspaper multiple times each week.

Still, challenges remain for Segura. "With print, there's no way to bundle advertising. Puerto Rico gets a big ad budget, and then Orlando gets a separate budget."

At impreMedia, major initiatives are underway that are designed to greatly enhance their newspapers' ability to attract national dollars. Impre.com, an online hub that puts all of impreMedia's weeklies and dailies in a centralized resource, is part of the plan to tie its newspapers together with a platform that can better reach the big advertisers with the big budgets.

In late January, impreMedia and The McClatchy Co. teamed up to create a national print and online advertising platform squarely targeting the U.S. Hispanic market. The partnership allows advertisers to reach 18 of the leading Latino markets - including nine in the top 10 - with one buy (HMW Archives 1/21/2008. Newspaper Publishers Unite To Attract Advertisers).

"The goal is to get more money to Hispanic media," says Lozano, who bemoans an underinvestment in all Hispanic media. Lozano's next step is bringing more money to Hispanic print. "The correlation between readership and ad dollars is not there," she says.
With the McClatchy deal, Lozano is especially excited for now being tied to El Nuevo Herald in Miami. "That market is critical," she says.

César Pizarro, business manager for El Nuevo Herald, hopes the impreMedia alliance will not only help the newspaper increase its national business, but also lure political advertising ahead of the November presidential and local elections.

National dollars are not lagging at El Nuevo Herald, Pizarro says. "They are about 15 to 20 percent of the total revenue, which is much in line with the general-market newspapers. Between classified and retail, 80 percent of the dollars are local."

Among the national categories, automotive is lagging - as well as telecom. Pharmaceutical companies are also not living up to El Nuevo Herald's expectations when it comes to ad dollars. What's doing well for the newspaper are HMOs, hospitals and health care businesses. Retailers including Macy's, Rooms To Go, Navarro Discount Pharmacies and BrandsMart continue to serve as strong advertisers, while banks and mortgage companies also represent good revenue for the daily.

El Nuevo Herald is, however, seeing flat advertising trends on a year-to-year basis, Pizarro admits. "I think the biggest challenge that all of the newspapers have is in the classified area. Employment and automotive migration to online portals has hurt us."

The troubled South Florida real estate market has also taken its toll on not only El Nuevo Herald, but also its older brother, The Miami Herald. In early March, McClatchy reported an 11.7 percent drop in revenue in February 2008, compared to one year ago. In Florida, where McClatchy also operates the Bradenton Herald daily newspaper, year-to-year advertising revenue fell 20.3 percent, to $20.5 million. Pat Talamantes, McClatchy's chief financial officer, confirmed that real estate woes were the primary reason for the Florida dip.

"Growth has been very difficult ... so far this year," Pizarro says, with a hint of frustration in his voice. "Of course we are going after new clients and making presentations to try to change that. But the good thing is that we are maintaining what we have. With this network [with impreMedia] we hope to compete for those dollars that are going to broadcast," he adds. "How do we direct them to Spanish-language publications? By going out and showing that in the markets where we are, we have the reach and the penetration."

Upward Momentum Amid A Credit Crunch.- Hispanic newspapers are not only making new efforts to bring in advertisers for their printed product but are also turning to the internet and - perhaps more importantly for those who wish to reach Latinos - mobile partnerships to help increase brand awareness and revenue streams at the same time.

At Tribune Co.'s Hoy Chicago, the market's lone Spanish-language daily, a circulation increase shows a demand for the printed product that continues to grow. "We just did a huge expansion from 45,000 to 62,000 copies from Monday through Thursday and on Fridays we went from 60,000 to 100,000 copies," says Julián Posada, who rose to general manager of the newspaper in January 2006 after four years at the publication. "The appetite for Spanish-language print is very robust."

But he warns that the mechanics of what makes a Hispanic newspaper profitable must be considered when examining circulation against ad dollars. "Just printing more copies is not necessarily the right thing to do," says Posada, who admits he could have easily added more copies to Hoy Chicago's circulation jump but opted not to - as it would have cost Tribune more in the long run.

As it is, Posada's team has worked hard to get advertisers used to a daily newspaper serving Hispanics in the nation's third-largest metropolitan area. "There are four weeklies - Extra, Lawndale News, Reflejos and La Raza - and then there's 'me'," Posada says. "We've been able to clearly establish our brand. We've done a good job of getting a return on the Monday through Friday product."

Hoy has also done a good job of "getting equilibrium," says Posada. "We're getting the newspapers distributed in all the right places and getting deeper entrenched with the readers that we already have."

Regarding distribution, the Chicago Tribune Media Group, which oversees Hoy Chicago, has given Posada independence in ensuring his publication reaches the right audience. The weekend Hoy Fin de Semana, distributed on Saturdays, is in the process of receiving a circulation bump to 280,000 - copies that will be delivered on an address-specific basis.

This, in turn, gives Hoy the opportunity to give advertisers non-duplication for ads placed in Hoy's weekend edition. A similar situation already exists in Los Angeles, where 500,000 copies of Hoy Fin de Semana are distributed to households. "We could have had four pre-prints going to the same household," Posada says of the previous scenario.

In Chicago, Hoy is healthy, says Posada, when compared to the oftentimes bleak situation at the Tribune and the market's tabloid, the Chicago Sun-Times. Tribune Co. saw a net loss of $78.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, compared to net income of $239.1 million a year earlier. Lower revenue and higher interest expense across its properties were blamed for the decline.

"Overall, we are not immune to the credit crunch. But we are doing better than the industry - by far," says Posada. However, Hoy isn't exactly seeing 20 percent year-over-year-over-year growth - something once in the realm of possibilities. "Two of the nation's five major home builders are pulling out of Chicago, and that affects all of us. We are not necessarily where we'd like to be. Hoy is not losing money, but it's been a tough first quarter."

One way Hoy has been able to "weather the storm," says Posada, is through the introduction of dedicated pages of suburban news content in each day's newspaper. "There are more Hispanics in the suburbs than there are in the city, so we asked ourselves what we are doing to reach those people and give our product relevance to them."

The new focus is integral to what makes Hoy a success, Posada says. "Delivering a high-quality product that people want to read with relevant content is essential. Iraq is important. I get it. But 25 other publications might be covering that. Local is how we're going to get where we want to go, and it's worked."

But the definition of "local" doesn't have to be tied to news. A parenting guide, "Padres de Hoy," has launched by Hoy Chicago with a circulation of 160,000. It offers local content as a monthly supplement that focus on how to be a better parent. In the works is distribution of the publication in places such as doctors' offices. Among the advertisers in Padres de Hoy is regional supermarket chain Jewel and insurance company Aetna.

Making The Most Impressions.- In fast-growing Phoenix, La Voz has emerged as the leading publication for the region's Spanish-speaking Hispanics.

Elvira Espinoza, publisher of the Arizona Republic-owned publication, says her newspaper's Wednesday and Friday distribution gives advertisers a better way to reach potential customers than the local radio and television stations - never mind the fact that its twice-weekly circulation of 60,000 gives it double the impressions of its closest print competitor.

Also important to advertisers throughout the Valley of the Sun is La Voz's sister publication, TV y Más. Focusing on television listings and entertainment news, the 17-year-old publication enjoys a circulation of 75,000 - available primarily through street racks.
Unlike La Voz, TV y Más is zoned into three regions - the fast-growing West Valley, Central Phoenix and the East Valley. It's the "más" part of TV y Más that has driven local business, says Kerry O'Grady, business development manager for TV y Más and La Voz.

"We actually have more presence in La Voz and TV y Más than the top five broadcast stations - and that includes Univision," O'Grady says. "When you have an advertiser consider another medium, all we have to do is show that our publications deliver. And it's a lot less expensive to hit the same amount of people with our publications."

Technology plays a big role in where La Voz, in particular, is heading, says Espinoza. "We are working as we speak on a strategy to send news briefs through text messaging. The 18-29-year olds are the largest group in the Hispanic community, and those people are text messagers. They access all of their information through their cell phones, and that's why we're working on that initiative right now."

Like in other cities, the Spanish-language newspaper is in no danger of disappearing. "In the Hispanic community there is the culture of the newspaper," Espinoza explains. "That's why Spanish-language newspapers will have a longer life than English-language ones. You can access the daily news on television, but it's not the same."

As an example, Espinoza points to at-work bulletin boards with clippings of articles and pictures from recent editions of La Raza as proof the printed publication will be around for some time. That's good news for advertisers such as Food City and Fry's Mercado, which are some of La Voz's biggest clients at present.

The next step for La Voz is statewide distribution - and a return to Tucson. An edition in the city, "La Voz de Tucson," was closed in late February as part of an effort to focus on Maricopa County. Meanwhile, TV y Más is now found in Tucson and El Paso, with publication handled by "franchisees," Espinoza notes.

Approximately six hours west of Phoenix via I-10, La Opinión has maintained circulation and revenue success by targeting readers geographically and psychographically. That philosophy is also what is driving other impreMedia newspapers, says Lozano.

But La Opinión and impreMedia's el diario/La Prensa in New York have maintained a strong community presence and readership by continuing to build on its long-standing existence in its respective markets - La Opinión dates to the 1910s, while el diario/La Prensa was launched in the 1920s.

In Los Angeles, La Opinión has been able to increase its readership in an environment where several free publications - including Tribune-owned Hoy Los Angeles, MediaNews Group's Impacto USA and Freedom Communications' Excelsior - are now available. "What does that say?" asks Lozano. "It says that people are looking for a quality product that they can depend on ... and want. At the end of the day people are not buying the newsprint - they are buying the content."

Being Everywhere You Want To Be.- Driving La Opinión's content is what Lozano says is the largest newsroom of any newspaper targeting the Hispanic market. "It is our ability to be where our readers are that drives our newspaper," she says.
Now, La Opinión is responding to changes in the entire media landscape by being where Latinos want to be - using multichannel platforms to reach them.

"People want their news where they are, and we have to be much more cognizant that media consumption is in the hands of the consumer," Lozano says. That means leveraging the La Opinión brand by bringing it to online and mobile platforms. "We are a media company, and we have to be able to reach our audiences. Yes, it's about growing and strengthening our core, but that's not just publishing great newspapers."

La Opinión also enjoys a strategic partnership with Lotus-owned KWKW-AM, the flagship for ESPN Deportes Radio in Los Angeles. The newspaper's journalists now regularly appear on the radio station's local programs - another way for La Opinión to spread its brand, says Lozano.

With impre.com set to launch, La Opinión already has a head start as a Spanish-language news portal with its own audience. "The internet is going to grow exponentially for us," says Lozano. "We have 2 million unique users [at La Opinión's website] and they are not our core newspaper readers. That is exactly what we want - we are vying for new audiences and bringing them into the fold."

La Opinión recently raised its newsstand price from 25 cents a copy to 50 cents. The change came following a redesign of the daily led by executive director Pedro Rojas that not only gives La Opinión a fresh look but new content and expanded sections.

Another way impreMedia looked to combat the doubling of the newspaper's daily prize was to take a page from the New York Post and New York Daily News and launch La Opinión's first-ever cash prize promotion.

"'Lee y Gana,' which was launched in January, is generating a 4,000 person per day reader response," says Mike Cano, marketing director for La Opinión. "We are giving away $125,000 as part of our promotion, and there is a $1,000 daily winner."

Higher amounts of daily cash payouts have also been seen as part of the promotion. Why was the contest launched? "It is intended to sell newspapers, obviously," Cano says.

Lee y Gana is the biggest promotion in the history of La Opinión. Spanish-language radio, television and billboards are being used to promote the effort. "We even put some digital billboards out on the I-5 freeway," he says. About 17,000 rack cards also promote Lee y Gana.

Next up for the daily - giving readers a chance to spend a day with the Los Angeles Galaxy. "We want to give our readers prizes so big you can't put a price on them."

While La Opinión continues to grow with a paid distribution model, impreMedia's weekly Contigo gives advertisers another option. The publication is home-delivered to more than 260,000 Latino households across Los Angeles; La Opinión is available only via news racks and at retail locations.

"You have to look at the competitive environment - and also at what advertisers are interested in," says Lozano. "There is no 'one size fits all' model. You have to be able to change, to innovate and to modify."

As other impreMedia newspapers hum along, Lozano is particularly impressed with the recent addition of the Rumbo chain of weekly newspapers in Texas. "It has been a terrific acquisition, fitting perfectly into our media strategy," she says of her company's December 2007 deal with Meximerica Media (HMW Archives 12/24/2007. ImpreMedia Acquires Rumbo Titles From Meximerica Media).

With election coverage, Rumbo reporters throughout Texas have been able to file reports for all impreMedia newspapers - an added benefit when it came time to cover the recent Democratic presidential primary and caucus. At the same time, Lozano says Rumbo has been "right-sized" after seeing an overly ambitious growth strategy upon its 2004 launch. Rumbo originally consisted of daily Spanish-language newspapers in San Antonio, Houston, the Rio Grande Valley and Austin.

Rumbo is just one example of new publications targeting Hispanics that were less than successful at the onset. Says Lozano, "In late 1980s and early 1990s there was a flood of Spanish newspapers. But not having the right business model put many of the publications in a bind, leading to them closing."

A New Entry With A National Model.- Can a new publication see entry into the U.S. Hispanic market today? "It is going to be more and more difficult," Lozano believes. "There is still so much untapped opportunity. But there are challenges and barriers to entry. It is highly capital intensive to start daily newspapers."

The team at Fort Lauderdale-based Sea Latino says they are up to the challenge. Led by president Ricardo Cárdenas, head publisher José Quintero and national sales manager Orlando Castelblanco, Sea Latino has embarked on an ambitious attempt to become a respected weekly targeting Hispanics in six key markets.

Says Castelblanco, "The idea is to make a USA TODAY in Spanish, but have it targeted and appear on a weekly basis."

A broadsheet, Sea Latino includes four sections. Two are available in all markets - the front section, featuring a mix of U.S. and international news with a focus on entertainment. The other two sections focus on local and regional news and features, and classifieds - the bread-and-butter of Sea Latino's current advertising efforts.

The goal? To attract national advertisers with a singular brand covering multiple markets.

"You don't have one national newspaper in the U.S. serving Latinos," says Cárdenas. "Our goal is to make an imprint with one name in the six big markets. We wanted to create a vehicle that can adapt to the economy, and each vehicle attacks its respective market." According to Quintero, editions for San Francisco, Chicago and Houston are already in the works.

While in theory Sea Latino's lure seems simple - a client can buy a newspaper and hit several markets all at once - it faces the difficult challenge of reaching readers in markets such as Los Angeles and Miami that are already saturated with news choices. Guaranteeing distribution in high-trafficked Hispanic hot spots is also essential for any new publication - even one as ambitious as Sea Latino. In South Florida, which also includes the West Palm Beach DMA, Sea Latino distributes 39,725 copies. By comparison, Miami daily Diario Las Americas has a circulation of more than 50,000.

Some advertisers are already talking with Castelblanco on Sea Latino activity, including Infiniti, New York Life insurance, Comcast, and Dish Network. The Mexican Tourism Board is already involved with the publication.

For Latino Print Media's Whisler, the dollars are there for Sea Latino. "One of my biggest concerns is when I hear that the Hispanic marketing world is a $4 billion to $5 billion enterprise, because it underestimates everything," he says. "If Hispanic print is $1.6 billion and we represent 15 to 20 percent of that ad pie, all of a sudden you are looking at something that is dramatically bigger than what certain newspapers are looking at."

And getting those dollars will require management to constantly be looking at new and innovative ways to grow their newspapers.

Says Whisler, "Newspapers that are staying on top of the evolution in their market are doing well. Those resisting the internet are suffering and will continue to suffer until they change."