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Here, Hispanics can sell homes, find love

Thousands of Spanish speakers tune into a radio program that's part flea market, part classified ad.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published July 25, 2005

	[Times photo: Melissa Lyttle]
	"It's been a community service," Jorge Capdevila says of the program started about 10 years ago. "They sell furniture, they sell TVs, things from their house."

TAMPA - It's shortly after noon, and the little light in front of Jorge Capdevila's face tells him the calls are already pouring in.

" "Muy buenas tardes ," good afternoon, the male caller begins, slightly timid. "Senor Capdevila, I'm looking for a pickup truck, preferably Japanese, between the years 1997 and 2001. Please call me ..."

A few minutes later, a woman's voice intones: "I'm selling two stoves, one electric, one gas."

Then there's the man unloading his cockatiels: "Good prices. Very pretty. Cared for by hand," he says in Spanish.

All this is going out on the air, reaching tens of thousands of Spanish-speaking listeners in Tampa Bay tuned into WQBN-AM 1300's daily radio program that is part classified ad, part flea market - live on the radio.

It's called Compra Compra, Vende Vende, Busca Busca , (in English, that's "Buy Buy, Sell Sell, Look Look"), and it runs Monday through Friday, from noon to 2 p.m.

"It's been a community service," says Capdevila, 52, who started the program about 10 years ago. "They sell furniture, they sell TVs, things from their house they want to get rid of and make a little bit of money."

Callers give out their phone number and tell those interested in buying their house, computer, car, wheelchair, rental home, chicken wire or used wedding dresses, to give them a ring and make a deal.

Others phone in to say they're looking for work and offer their services.

Capdevila doesn't charge most of the callers - only those selling big ticket items, like houses or cars. And they pay $25 a week.

"Which is nothing," he says, headphones perched around his round face.

Capdevila has even inspired romance.

"I can advertise if someone is looking for a girlfriend or a boyfriend, because, hey, it says, "busca, busca ,"' - look, look - he says.

Some couples have met through the personal ad calls. He thinks at least one got hitched.

"Four or five years ago they got married," he says.

The idea is nothing new. Programs like it in Spanish and English exist around the country.

In fact, the Home Shopping Network started on a radio program in Clearwater in the 1970s.

"They've been called "tradio,"' says Jeffrey Yorke, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. The program for Spanish-speaking communities makes perfect sense, he says, because Spanish radio seems to have "an increased sense of community."

But he was surprised to hear about the frequency of Capdevila's show.

"Two hours a day, I mean, two hours a week would be a lot. Two hours a day in prime time in the middle of the day, clearly something is happening there," he said.

What's happening, says WQBN general manager Marc Vila, is that Tampa Bay's Hispanic community is booming. And there are no daily classified ads to serve it.

"In Tampa, we don't have daily newspapers (in Spanish), so you can't see the classifieds five days a week," Vila said. He estimates the number of listeners around 100,000.

The radio station, "100-percent Hispanic owned," helps raise money for people when they can't afford a relative's burial or hospital bills, Capdevila said.

WQBN is one of five Spanish radio stations in the market, and at 51 years, it is the oldest. It started in Ybor City in 1954, broadcasting three hours a day in Spanish.

In the 1960s, the station went to 24-hour programming in Spanish. It's now owned by Radio Tropical Inc.

Capdevila broadcasts his afternoon show while traffic zooms outside the window behind him on Armenia Avenue at the station's current location, just south of Hillsborough Avenue.

Old LPs line the shelves on one studio wall. Another studio room is set up for the morning news broadcast. And a third is the theater where "guajiro," or traditional Cuban country music players, perform on the weekend radio shows.

Capdevila serves as the station's director of music, which runs the gamut from salsa, cumbia, merengue and bachata.

Most of the callers on the Compra Compra program are Colombian and Cuban, some Puerto Rican, says Capdevila, who was born in Cuba and raised in Miami.

"Even the Mexicans are starting to call," he says.

He can tell the difference in nationalities by the accents, he says; and how new they are to the area by how they butcher the pronunciation of his last name.

He charms one female caller offering rooms for rent by asking if she's from Argentina.

" "Si, senor ," she says.

"I love the accent," he tells her.

The show zooms at a fast pace. He grabs the phone as callers wait sometimes 20 minutes to get on the air between an endless parade of commercials. " "Compra Compra ," he tells them. "Don't go anywhere, okay?"

His equipment sits on a counter surrounded by CDs, a turntable, a console for minidiscs and his phone. There's no delay between the caller and air time, which can sometimes cause a problem when a jokester phones pretending to be someone they're not, he says.

"Always, the program has a little bit of flavor to it," he says.

Commercials with upbeat salsa or cumbia tempos blaring in the background tell listeners where they can find a Latin pharmacy, exterminator, Colombian Independence Day festival, real estate agents, lawyers and underwear.

The ads cost $15 to $18 a spot, with bigger companies paying the $18 charge. More than 100 ads run during the two-hour program.

Several times a week, listeners can hear Jose Paredes of St. Petersburg plug his video services for weddings or quinceneras , 15th birthday parties for Hispanic girls. Recently he's been calling to promote an Aug. 7 bridal show at the West Tampa Convention Center.

"On other occasions, I've sold items, like refrigerators, and when we were changing our equipment in our studio to do digital photography and video, we wanted to move our equipment," he said. "We got a response right away."

He also is a DJ on a Super Q show one Monday a month. He talks about his business then, too.

Given his success with Compra Compra , Paredes has scaled back on ads for his video business in the Yellow Pages, he says.

"I would say my business has increased 35 to 45 percent in the last couple of years," he says. Based on his calls, most of that stems from his daily advertisement on Compra Compra .

"I ask the people. They say, "I heard your ad on Compra Compra ,"' he says. He praised the show for what it offers the Hispanic community - as well as business owners like himself.

In fact, business is going so well, that when asked why he doesn't bother advertising in any of the dozen Spanish weekly newspapers in town, he replies, "I haven't got the time."

--Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 25, 2005, 01:12:19]