Latin Music Executives to Issue Rallying Cry at Convention

The message more than 500 representatives of the Latin radio and music industries hope to get across at the “Radio & Musica” convention starting today in Universal City is that the U.S. radio and record industries need to take the nation’s growing Latin market more seriously.

“The mainstream, Anglo executives in this country are very naive about the force of the Latin audience in both radio and recording industries,” said Mike Missile, editor of Radio & Musica, a weekly trade publication that is sponsoring the convention at the Universal Hilton hotel.

“Before we can effectively state our case to the mainstream industry, however, we have to organize ourselves so that we aren’t all working in different directions. We need to know each other better and work together--and then we have to show the potential.”

In addition to workshops and panel discussions, the second annual convention will include more than two dozen musical performances, including Linda Ronstadt with Mexico’s Mariachi Los Camperos group. Numerous new acts will also perform, including Magneto, Mexico’s answer to New Kids on the Block.

During the three-day event, convention members will meet with representatives of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to discuss the nomination process for the annual Grammy Awards. “We are concerned about the nominations in Latin categories,” Missile said. “We feel that there’s not a significant Latin member in the Academy that knows about what’s happening. They have no idea about Latin music.”