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Hispanic Market News< Back To Hispanic News Homepage Getting to know you. Meet Alan Becker, Publisher of Que Pasa, NC
An interview with Alan Becker, publisher of Que Pasa, by Trevor Hansen, Vice President, Ethnic Print Media Group. Media Profile: Que Pasa Markets: Greensboro, Charlotte, Raleigh - North Carolina Q) Mr. Becker, I understand Que Pasa was launched in 2004 can you tell us a little about you and how you became involved in the World of Hispanic Newspapers? First of all, Que Pasa started back in 1995; the Charlotte edition was launched in 2004. I saw the first light in San Francisco, California, my family moved to Mexico, where I was raised; I have a major in communications and my background is advertising; I worked for several advertising agencies in Mexico City, when I relocated to Charlotte in 2000, I worked for another Spanish language newspaper where I polished my knowledge, and Que Pasa hired me to start the operation in Charlotte. Q) North Carolina offers some of the fastest growth of the Hispanic population nationwide, has this growth measure been apparent in the circulation and readership of your publication? And how do you measure this? The growth has been amazing, when we started Que Pasa Charlotte, we printed 20,000 copies, we had a leftover of 15 to 16%, nowadays after 21 months in operation we print 33,500 copies and our leftover is in a healthy single digit of 9%. Q) How would you characterize Que Pasa and the kind of readers the publication attracts? Que Pasa is a broadsheet, 6 section newspaper, and we have a great mix of information, we have also a mix of readers, from the new arrived immigrant to the established third generation Latino, they all enjoy reading us; we have 75% of local content, and news from all the Latin countries in order to please them all. We are very graphic, our stories are short enough to keep the attention span up and not loose them in the process. Q) Currently Que Pasa offers 3 zoned editions covering the Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh markets - are there plans to expand into additional markets? We are printing 90,000+ copies of Que Pasa every week, covering the biggest markets in the state, that is to say we reach 85% of Latinos in North Carolina, and we do want to expand to the beaches and the western part of the state in order to be present in the homes of every Latino. We also have 8 radio stations; we want to also expand our coverage area as much as we can. Q) In all of our feedback from agencies, auditing and distribution are a primary element in establishing print as part of the media mix. I know Que Pasa was part of the EPMG audit program through the CVC (Circulation Verification Council) - Since your last audit have you instituted any strategies to grow circulation? Or tested variances in distribution methods or strategies? We implemented a tighter control in our distribution, we installed GPS in our vans, as well as bar coding in our racks and boxes, we make sure that our newspaper gets delivered. With the bar code we have access to a great deal of information, like leftover reports, by point, or city or zip code, this is also a great sales tool, we can prove to our advertisers that Que Pasa is being picked up, and they get great results. We can also focus in keeping only the points where the leftover is low, thus eliminating the bad points. Q) At EPMG we believe the strength of local print is in the relationship between media (editorial) and their community - What type of programs such as local event marketing or community based efforts does Que Pasa orchestrate to help drive your role in the local community? We are devoted to our community, we are involved with them in every single event, and our staff is recognized and well respected for their community involvement and professionalism. We have created events such like the Latin Idol; we organize soccer tournaments, festivals, we acknowledge, that with out their support we wouldn't exist, and we make them feel part of us. Q) In the couple years of publishing Que Pasa do you have: 1)A great success story to share? Starting the operation from scratch with 7 staff members in my own living room, to having 23 professional Latinos in my staff and 33,500 newspapers in only 19 months is a great success, we have 6 Spanish language newspapers in this town, it's been a hard but rewarding adventure so far. 2) A tough lesson learned that may benefit other local publishers? We were having our racks and boxes vandalized by someone, we quietly waited for them to stop, after months and months we decided to call the police and finally the problem was solved, that brought our leftover down. The lesson is to be aggressive but act within the boundaries of the law. |
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