NUMERO UNO VALLEY'S EL CUCUY TOPS THE CHARTS IN ANY LANGUAGE.Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer Sometimes nice guys do finish first. Renan Almendarez-Coello gets people to tune into the morning show he hosts as the self-proclaimed bogeyman of Spanish radio by making them laugh their troubles away. Now El Cucuy, as he's known, is Los Angeles' top-rated personality on Spanish-speaking radio - no wait, scratch that - on L.A. radio, period. His show attracts twice as many listeners as the former king of morning drive-time, Howard Stern. And the Northridge resident leaves the rest of radio's high and mighty arrogant; overbearing. See also: High - Kevin and Bean  This article or section resembles a .Please help [ improve this article] by removing excessive trivia, irrelevant praise and criticism, lists and collections of links that are of . , Rick Dees, and Mark and Brian - so far behind that they don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what hit them. ``People love him,'' says Alex Nogales Nogales (nōgä`lās), city (1990 pop. 19,489), Santa Cruz co., S Ariz. on the Mexican border with its adjacent city, Nogales (1990 pop. 105,873), Sonora, NW Mexico. There are copper, silver, and lead mines. , chairman of the L.A.-based watchdog group the National Hispanic Media Coalition. ``This guy has a connection with the people. He comes from the people.'' And he relies on the people to help guide him through six hours of unscripted un·script·ed adj. Not adhering to or in accordance with a script written beforehand: "his unscripted encounters with the press" Eleanor Clift. radio programming, beginning at 5 each weekday morning. El Cucuy tells jokes and enacts silly skits on the air with the help of his six-member tropaloca (crazy crew). But the serious fun comes when he takes on callers in what are often lengthy confrontations about anything except politics and religion - he avoids those topics. And he doesn't quit until the issue has been resolved, which can sometimes take up to several days. When a woman called recently, distraught over her husband's infidelity, El Cucuy attempted to get him on the phone, but the man could not be reached. So he tried him back the next day to see if there was any chance at reconciliation. ``It's like a telenovela A telenovela is a limited-run television serial melodrama of the type made famous in Latin America. The word is a portmanteau of tele, short for television, and novela ("novel/soap opera"). Telenovelas are essentially soap operas in miniseries format. , where you want to tune in the next day to see what happens,'' Almendarez says. ``That's the tactic I use.'' Which makes his show fairly unique on the airwaves. Since 1997, El Cucuy has been on the air at KSCA-FM (101.9). Its inaugural year was spent in 30th place in the ratings game, but that soon changed. About a year later, the show was in first place and it hasn't let up - all thanks to the popular morning host with the devilish dev·il·ish adj. 1. Of, resembling, or characteristic of a devil, as: a. Malicious; evil. b. Mischievous, teasing, or annoying. 2. Excessive; extreme: devilish heat. nickname. El Cucuy translates to the bogeyman. But he is no monster. ``The El Cucuy of the morning is not as mean as the El Cucuy of the night,'' Almendarez says. In fact, he's just a funny guy with the hottest radio show on the dial. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the latest Arbitron report for the L.A. and Orange County areas, El Cucuy commanded 10 percent of the listening audience 12 and older between the hours 5-11 a.m. weekdays during the course of its summer survey, from June 29 to Sept. 20. That amounted to 211,600 listeners who tuned in for at least five minutes in a 15-minute period of time. His total U.S. audience is estimated at 1.3 million people and counting. The show is syndicated on most stations owned by the Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. to a total of 10 cities across the nation, including San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , Houston and Chicago. Plans to extend the show to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Miami are in the works. It is uncertain whether the humor of El Cucuy can translate to audiences in New York and Miami as it does to L.A.'s mostly Mexican and Central American Central America A region of southern North America extending from the southern border of Mexico to the northern border of Colombia. It separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean and is linked to South America by the Isthmus of Panama. listeners. He keeps them in stitches. Between the laughter, he inspires a positive message - one of helping his fellow man. ``If somebody doesn't have food or has bills that they can't pay or they need a doctor,'' says KSCA KSCA Karnataka State Cricket Association (India) KSCA Kansas Scholastic Chess Association KSCA Kansas School Counselor Association KSCA Knight of the Society for Creative Anachronism (Medieval Recreationists) program director Maria Nava, ``he makes sure to help them out.'' El Cucuy manages to do so with the help of his listeners. People either donate money or know somebody else who is equipped to help out. He recently raised $750,000 for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded in 1962, is a leading pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1996, Peter Doherty, Ph.D., of St. in Phoenix, and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. he will hold a fund-raiser for Parents Against Cancer during a live broadcast from Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, USA. It is known for offering some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the autumn and in winter. Racing at Santa Anita began in 1934. . Admission is $5. ``He doesn't see barriers,'' says Veronica Nava, assistant to the program director. ``Anything that he can do, he will do - like when Hurricane Mitch hit, he went out (to the affected areas) to personally give people food because he didn't know if they were going to receive it any other way.'' His day-to-day impact hasn't gone unnoticed. El Cucuy was named one of the 57 most influential people in this month's issue of Brill's Content, a magazine that covers media. He also has a Web site, www.cucuy.com. ``He understands that he has a responsibility to the community that allows him to do this,'' Nogales says. ``So he's to be admired for those qualities. He's paying back as much as he is receiving.'' El Cucuy couldn't agree more. Born dirt poor in Honduras 46 years ago, he remembers having to go to school with no shoes or a note pad. ``On a paper like this,'' he says holding up a single sheet of paper and coiling it in a tube, ``I would take notes. ``I didn't have a bicycle, roller skates or a kite,'' Almendarez says. ``I had nothing. So now that I'm in front of a microphone, I can make sure people have what I didn't because I owe it to them. They are the ones who put me in first place.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) It's EL CUCUY! Top-rated morning host brings craziness - and compassion - to L.A.'s Spanish-language radio (2) Good guy El Cucuy (Renan Almendarez-Coello) is the top-rated morning radio personality in Los Angeles |
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