El Eco Finds a Niche Among Valley Latinos

Joseph L. Arbona has had his share of difficulties since launching El Eco del Valle, a twice-weekly tabloid newspaper, from a small San Fernando office two years ago.

A major metropolitan daily has tried more than once to hire away his most valued employee--his sales manager. And he competes in the San Fernando Valley with La Opinion, a much larger and more established Spanish-language paper that also happens to be El Eco’s new owner.

Still, Arbona, a 55-year-old native of Venezuela, is satisfied with his accomplishments. El Eco has a circulation of 31,000--more than double last year’s 12,000--and annual sales approaching $1.5 million, Arbona said, making it one of Southern California’s fastest-growing publications.

Though it might seem odd for La Opinion to support a competing publication, Arbona said, El Eco meets La Opinion’s need for a smaller paper directed specifically at the Valley’s Latino community.

‘What They Need’

“When you have an ethnic newspaper, it’s difficult,” Arbona said. “I think the secret is not only to write what people are interested in reading, but also what they need to read.”

Since most of El Eco’s readers are recently arrived immigrants, much of the paper is dedicated to news about developments in U.S. immigration laws. But El Eco also offers a balance of foreign, national and Valley news.

On a typical day this month, El Eco’s front page displayed a variety of stories, including a decision by state officials to levy $85,000 in fines against six Pacoima bars for paying employees less than minimum wage, the latest on a train derailment in northern Mexico, and a brief account of gang members’ “taking over” a roller-skating rink in Reseda.

A one-page business section and a much more extensive sports section, church news, horoscopes, recipes and much more are on the inside of El Eco’s issues, which typically run 36 pages on weekdays and 72 pages on weekends.

Finding a Niche

Arbona, who doubles as editor and business manager, said his goal is to carve out a niche for his paper in the Valley’s Latino barrios, a market he said has been neglected by English-language dailies and other Spanish-language publications, which tend to be centered on downtown and East Los Angeles.

The newspaper has appealed to a fair share of advertisers. Advertising manager Graciela Mosieznicki said the percentage of columns dedicated to advertisements, considered a key barometer of a publication’s success, is usually more than a healthy 50% and has reached 68% in some issues.

Some of El Eco’s advertisers said Valley businesses wishing to target the local Latino market have few other options.

Dan Hedrick Chevrolet in San Fernando takes out a weekly used-car ad in El Eco, said Donald Hedrick, vice president. Hedrick said that he has previously advertised in La Opinion but that “we haven’t had good response, because the range it has is too big.

“Mostly East L.A. people read it. El Eco is better, because it’s centered here in the Valley.”

Hedrick termed the response “fair” to his El Eco ads. The dealership, which also sells new cars, advertises only used cars in the paper because of the limited buying power of most Latino immigrant customers.

“One of the problems is that they don’t have much money, and they don’t have any credit,” Hedrick said. Only one of 10 Spanish-speaking customers who come to the lot can afford to buy a car, he said.

Arbona conceded that the bulk of his advertising revenue is generated by smaller businesses, such as restaurants, immigration attorneys and Latino grocery stores, which cater to a more working-class market. “We can’t advertise Cadillacs and Porsches,” he acknowledged. “And if we depended on national advertisers, we’d go bankrupt.”

One satisfied customer is the Tresierras Market chain, which operates four stores in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. The chain advertises only in El Eco and distributes the newspaper in its stores, said buyer Jim Motoike.

“They come in the store and they pick up the newspaper, and they read our ad while they’re shopping,” he said.

Arbona said it was difficult to foresee the paper’s current success when he began El Eco in July, 1987, with five trusting employees who were willing to wait nearly two months before receiving their first paychecks.

“When you start, the advertisers don’t advertise, and the readers don’t recognize you. No one wants to believe in you,” he said. “All it takes is time to get going, but time is the one thing you don’t have.”

Fortunately for Arbona, his fledgling paper survived long enough to attract the attention of La Opinion, a well-established and highly successful Spanish-language daily with a circulation of about 100,000. La Opinion bought El Eco in September, 1987, for an undisclosed amount and provided the paper with an advertising manager, Mosieznicki, who had worked at La Opinion’s Van Nuys office.

Independently Run

Although La Opinion distributes El Eco and prints the paper at its downtown Los Angeles plant, Arbona runs El Eco independently and competes with La Opinion for Valley readers.

With La Opinion’s support, El Eco has grown from the original staff of five employees to 30, Arbona said. The paper is distributed free at liquor stores, markets and other locations from Eagle Rock, just beyond the southeastern edge of the Valley, to the small community of Littlerock in the Antelope Valley.

Arbona calculates the Latino population of the area he covers at between 400,000 and 900,000, or more than enough potential readership for his paper to grow.

“There’s no ceiling,” he said. “I can keep growing and growing and never reach the limit.”