A television balancing act: one group juggles English language and Spanish-language affiliates in the same market.

A little more than a year ago, the Gulf-California Broadcast Company introduced a new station, KUNA-TV, in Palm Springs, California, alongside its existing station, ABC affiliate KESQ-TV.

When we realized that Palm Springs - like the rest of the country - was experiencing tremendous growth in the Latino market demographic, we began to plan for a Spanish-language network affiliate. For many years, the Univision network had dominated the Spanish-language television market, both nationally and locally. This was an opportunity to provide the community with a much-needed second television network and advertisers with a new Hispanic advertising medium.

We first approached Telemundo in 1993, but they had just completed a deal with a local cable company for carriage. In the Palm Springs market, the resulting local Telemundo cable channel didn't even have a Latino employee selling advertising. The cable system was also taking in an East Coast feed, which was three hours out of sync and was strongly affecting the channel's primetime viewership. And the cable company didn't support Telemundo with any local promotions.

After Telemundo's deal with the local cable channel expired in 1997, we approached them once again. Our timing was perfect this time, and Telemundo began to seriously consider our proposal. My job was to convince Ann Gaulke, vp of Affiliate Relations at Telemundo, that KESQ would be a better broadcast partner than the cable company had been. The cable system was very important for signal distribution, especially in the Palm Springs market, where cable penetration exceeds 90 percent; our strength, on the other hand, lay in programming, promotion and sales.

KESQ proposed several measures that we believed would improve the Telemundo product for its viewers in the Coachella Valley. We promised an immediate West Coast delay, so that primetime fare would show up in primetime. We offered to put together a quality local newscast. We planned to immediately start implementing local promotions and televising local events in the Latino community. Another part of the plan was the construction of a local low-power television station - as a broadcaster rather than a cable channel, the new affiliate would qualify for Nielsen ratings, with increased revenues and increased viewership.

After six months of negotiations, we began broadcasting KUNA-TV on October 28, 1997. The switch from cable to low-power television was completed, and we were able to start making good on our promises to Telemundo.

The initial problem we faced was that of maintaining a good relationship with the cable company. In the end, it turned out to be a win-win-win situation for KESQ, Telemundo and the local cable company. The cable system gave us the distribution point, Telemundo provided the network and we brought the local broadcast experience needed to develop KUNA as a local television station.

Although the past year has been full of challenges and obstacles, it has also been fulfilling and exciting. I have found that there is no typical day at the office. The key is communication: it is important that all department managers and employees understand the big picture and what their roles are within that picture. There are daily meetings with the Promotion and News departments and weekly meetings for all department heads. Planning is essential, but we also need to be able to respond to any daily opportunities that come our way. Since management is kept at ground level, it is possible to make quick decisions. There isn't a lot of red tape to go through - a fact that gives us a big advantage in the market.

Surprisingly, the day-to-day demands of the two stations are very similar. You cover the most important issues in your daily newscasts. You take advantage of every promotional opportunity. You make sure everyone is focused. The bottom line is that viewers want good television, whether it is in English or in Spanish.

While most of our departments must work together, I soon realized that each station needed an independent sales department. If the two stations shared a sales department, the weaker station would stay weaker. KESQ has name recognition, strong community presence and strong Nielsen numbers to back it up. On the other hand, KUNA is the new kid on the block, which makes it tougher to sell. However, KUNA now has Nielsen numbers, and they improve with every book.

The people who faced the biggest learning curve were those who had been at KESQ before the diversification. The staff used to consist of 46 people working in a 21,000 square foot facility; now 135 employees occupy a 33,000 square foot facility. On top of those changes, there was the addition of a new language and a new culture.

Conflicts arose as we began to conduct business in two different languages. For example, our English-speaking personnel often felt left out of Spanish-language conversations. Naturally, our Spanish-speaking employees didn't realize that this was creating an uncomfortable situation. The solution turned out to be fairly simple. Since all of our Spanish-speaking staffers are bilingual, they agreed that they would keep everyone in the loop by speaking English as much as possible. As long as you keep the communication flowing, it is always possible to resolve a conflict.

Our Telemundo affiliate is the hidden jewel of our company, and we believe that it will continue to grow and prosper over the next couple of years. As a network, Telemundo went through some growing pains during 1998. However, with Sony's involvement, we feel that the programming will continue to step up. Locally, KUNA has made more than a dent in Univision's strong hold on the market. And KUNA's advertising revenues increase every day. The Telemundo network programming, combined with our local news and community event coverage, are serving as a real alternative for viewers and advertisers.

It has been difficult at times to juggle the demands that come with serving two different communities. Fortunately, we've had more than enough high points to offset the low ones. The best part is that we've only begun to scratch the surface: the Latino market will continue to grow, here in Palm Springs and throughout the U.S. We'll continue to set high goals for our television stations, and I'm confident that we'll achieve them.

Bill Evans is general manager and executive vp of the Gulf-California Broadcast Company (which owns a total of five stations).