IN THE NEWS
BUTRON MEDIA CORP
Reaching and Engaging OUR Hispanic Community
IN THE NEWS
Women of The Bluff – Top 10 Breakers of Barriers and Glass Ceilings
“March kicks off another International Women’s History Month, and Memphis doesn’t slack in powerful women calling the shots everyday in their respective fields. There’s a number of women in Memphis – from the nonprofit sector to Fortune 500 companies – who are demolishing glass ceilings and breaking barriers for the upcoming generation of leaders. Here’s ten women in the C-Suite at their jobs who we’d like to honor and salute this Women’s History Month: ” by. Kirstin Cheers Publication read more
“What started as a presumed vacation turned into a full-time job for Ivette Butron Ramos. Ivette had done journalism in Mexico City, but quickly transitioned into radio in Memphis. She was young, eager and willing to learn and dive into the media. She would later meet her husband and work between Orlando, Nashville, and Little Rock. After meeting with a former boss from Memphis, both Ivette and her husband decided to return to Memphis and jump back into Radio Ambiente with the hopes of buying it one day. And they did in 2018, purchasing the signal for WGUE La Jefa 99.3 FM adn 1180 AM. She is the first in Memphis and the second Hispanic in Tennessee operate and own entirely a radio station. Ivette manages the station alongside her husband under their business Burton Media Corp.” Publication read more
“Women are valuable, capable, and determined. We can work and be successful in any industry. We need to speak louder, not remain silent, and especially empower young women.”
– Super Women 2020 honoree Ivette Butron Ramos of Butron Media
Super Women 2020: Ivette Butron Ramos of Butron Media
Speaking the Same Language
Memphis 901 FC reaches out to Latino/Hispanic community
“The Latino community, they love soccer and are loyal consumers. This is huge for the Spanish community.”
Ivette Butron, Butron Media Corp.
Memphis 901 FC reaches out to Latino/Hispanic community
IN THE NEWS
Announcers call a Memphis 901 FC game for La Jefa 99.3, the only radio station carrying the team’s games – home and away. Memphis’ USL team has made a concerted effort to build bridges with the local Latino community
More than a year ago Michael Phillips, executive director for Su Casa Family Ministries, received a call from Craig Unger. It wasn’t to talk about Memphis Redbirds baseball.
Unger asked Phillips to lunch. And ultimately, for counsel.
“He said there’s this thing that might happen,” Phillips said.
That “thing” turned out to be the announcement that Redbirds majority owner Peter B. Freund and team president Unger were bringing professional soccer to AutoZone Park in the form of a United Soccer League team eventually christened Memphis 901 FC.
Unger’s conversation with Phillips followed earlier due diligence. Freund and Unger contacted other markets that had Triple-A baseball and then added pro soccer. The advice was the same from everyone.
“Make sure you reach out to the Latino/Hispanic market early, often, and in a genuine way,” said Unger. “Some teams – I won’t mention their names – even said they failed at that and had to do some fence-mending instead of bridge-building.”
Memphis 901 FC forward Oliver White (13) jumps for a header during a match against Atlanta United 2 on April 10, 2019. White worked on his Spanish as his soccer game grew and is now among the 901 FC players who visit schools and youth soccer organizations. (Houston Cofield/Daily Memphian file)
To start the bridge-building, the team hired Ben Jabbour as coordinator of Hispanic/Latino Outreach.
“The most effective way to engage is to be in the neighborhoods,” said Jabbour, noting that Berclair, Highland Heights, Hickory Hill and Nutbush are areas of focus. “You have to have boots on the ground.”
Unger says their research also told them that in the metro Memphis market, a good 10% of the population could come from the Hispanic/Latino community. In 2018, when the team was formed, the press release went out in English and Spanish. And from the start, public address announcements at games have been made in Spanish and English.
Now in the midst of Memphis 901 FC’s first season, which began in March, games are televised and announced by English-speaking broadcasters on WLMT CW30, but the only radio station carrying the team’s games – home and away – is FM station La Jefa 99.3, owned by Butron Media Corp.
Station owners and wife-and-husband Ivette and Sergio Butron reached out to Memphis 901 FC about carrying the games, which La Jefa staffs with three announcers, two on-field reporters, two people providing social media coverage, and a producer.
“I called them and say, ‘You have a soccer team, and I have the two biggest radio stations in Spanish,’” Ivette Butron said, noting that Butron Media also owns a station on 1180 AM. “The Latino community, they love soccer and are loyal consumers. This is huge for the Spanish community.”
There is no way to know for certain what percentage of the near-capacity crowds that have come to AutoZone Park for games is represented by the Latino/Hispanic population. But based on anecdotal information, Unger pegs it at 10 to 20%, depending on the night.
While the Bluff City Mafia quickly achieved high-profile name recognition as the team’s largest – and loudest – booster club, Unger says of fans who speak Spanish as their first language, “They’re showing up pretty organically … international immigrants from multiple descents.
“They’re just great soccer fans.”
A universal language
Memphis 901 FC has dispatched players to schools and youth soccer organizations. One of those players is forward Oliver White, whose first language is English, and who grew up in Boston and went to Harvard.
White worked on his Spanish as his soccer game grew. He does some substitute teaching in the offseason and is comfortable in a room full of kids – whether speaking English or Spanish.
“This is a country where Spanish is very prevalent, but it’s not the first language,” he said. “So, when you go speak with kids who speak Spanish and they see someone who is in a position like a soccer player, who values them and speaks their language, it’s a whole new way of being seen. I see it in their smiles.”
That said, the game itself is the universal language.
Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, the United States … it doesn’t matter. The soccer ball acts as a rolling translator.
Even within the cozy confines of a school library.
“To actually get up and move, and interact with the ball, then the kids opened up,” White said. “It’s such a simple game, you just need a ball. We were literally moving in between tables and chairs – giving them a header, letting them dribble a little bit.”
Hugo Flores, 30, who is originally from Mexico, started a new youth soccer program a few months ago called Necaxa Memphis. The first part of the name comes from a professional soccer team in Mexico. Flores’ program already has an affiliation with that team, and he says they are in the process of becoming an officially registered soccer club in Tennessee.
So far, he has about 80 kids ages 3-13 participating. Players and parents have taken advantage of group discounts to attend Memphis 901 FC games.
“About 80% of the kids have some kind of shirt or hat. Junior Sandoval came to a practice and took pictures with the kids,” Flores said of the player who quickly became a favorite. “But they sold him (to the Las Vegas Lights).”
Alas, it is a business.
And as a business, Memphis 901 FC, just like the Memphis Grizzlies or even the University of Memphis football and men’s basketball teams, needs paying customers to thrive and grow the fan base generationally.
“Their support is vital to the success of the club,” said Memphis 901 FC coach Tim Mulqueen. “We’re thankful they’ve taken us on as their team.”
An unfolding story
To be 100% accurate, Memphis 901 FC is their team here. Most soccer fans from the Latino/Hispanic community have a team from back home.
But even if that is their first team, so to say, it is also why they are drawn to the pitch inside what for almost two decades had just been a place to play baseball, a place where Unger guesses less than 1% of the fans have been from the Hispanic/Latino community.
“We’re trying to create an authentic relationship, a lasting relationship.”
Ben Jabbour, Memphis 901 FC coordinator of Hispanic/Latino Outreach
In 2018, Minor League Baseball launched its Copa de la Diversion Initiative. Several nights this season, the Redbirds will transform into Memphis Musica and wear special uniforms. While the Redbirds’ roster typically has a half-dozen or more players of Hispanic/Latino descent, it has not translated into new fans.
Perhaps the success of Memphis 901 FC could eventually change that.
“There is a natural potential crossover,” Unger said.
In the meantime, Memphis 901 FC provides for Spanish-speaking youth what the Grizzlies and Tigers provide for young Memphians who find a basketball placed in their little hands as soon as they are able to walk: an ultimate goal, should they grow to love the game like their parents do.
“Having a professional team in Memphis gives better motivation for them to actually believe,” said Flores, who played soccer at Mississippi College in Clinton. “They play basketball, play volleyball, but at the end of the day it’s soccer. Where we come from, 95 % of the kids play soccer.”
The belief in what’s possible – whether that is one day playing in college as Flores did, or playing professionally – no doubt could escalate on June 22. For that’s when Memphis 901 FC will take on renowned Mexican soccer team C.F. Pachuca, which finished third in the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup and has six Liga MX titles to its name.
Memphis 901 FC announced the game would be coming to Memphis at the recent Festival Cinco de Mayo at Agricenter International.
“This game is for them and because of them,” said Jabbour, the club’s Hispanic/Latino outreach coordinator. “They’re using their disposable income to come to games because it’s a little taste of home.
“We’re trying to create an authentic relationship, a lasting relationship.”
No fence-mending required.
But rather: Que la construcción de puentes culturales continúe …
That the construction of cultural bridges continues.
New, locally owned radio station launched to target growing population