June 25, 2009

By By Ayala Ben-Yehuda, L.A.

-- Cell phone users in Mexico spent less on mobile services in the first quarter of this year due to the economic crisis as well as a reduction in rates. Citing statistics from Mexico's federal telecommunications commission, Movilsur reports that average revenue per user declined 3.4% at America Movil's Telcel, and 10.4% at Telefonica. Subscriptions grew 11.4% year-over-year (which is the smallest growth in 14 years).

-- Norsan Multimedia is flipping its regional Mexican "La Tremenda" 1310 AM in Charlotte, N.C. to Spanish news/talk. Starting June 29, the station will broadcast Mexico's Radio Formula network, which features news, sports, entertainment gossip and a "folk tale terror midnight show," according to Norsan. The company also has an FM regional Mexican station in the market, La Raza 106.1.

-- Owners of a regional Mexican radio station in Columbus, Ohio, have signed over management of their station to a Spanish-language publishing company. The Business Courier of Cincinnati reports that Bernard Radio, owner of La Super X 103.1, has signed a management agreement with local Spanish magazine and newspaper publisher TSJ News. "There's a tremendous appetite among general-market advertisers to reach the Hispanic community, but we didn't have the infrastructure to do that,? Bernard Radio president Chris McMurray tells the paper.

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