Milwaukee has a vibrant Latino community, located mostly on the city’s south side and in adjacent suburbs. For 25 years El Conquistador has served this community as the only Latino-owned local news provider, circulating as a free weekly bilingual newspaper available in neighborhood grocery stores, barbershops, bodegas and online.
Publisher Victor Huyke estimates that the paper is read by 30,000 people a week. It has been successful, Huyke says, because its staff of two full-time reporters and “a motley crew of part-timers and freelancers” have remained laser-like focused on the needs of the Latino community in Milwaukee. “We’re not just a newspaper; we’re a member of the community,” he says.
A typical issue includes stories about local schools, health-related topics and neighborhood crime, as well as features on local business owners and upcoming entertainment events. There is a section for teens and a page celebrating Latino culture, history and traditions. El Conquistador also has a robust classified ad section, which features housing and items for sale, as well as employment opportunities.
In addition to the print edition, El Conquistador publishes stories on its website and on social media. However, because 60% of its revenue comes from advertising in the print edition, the paper posts stories online only after the print edition comes out.
The other 40% of revenue comes from events the paper sponsors throughout the year that connect El Conquistador with its readers, as well as with businesses in the city.
The roster of community events includes an annual wedding and Quinceañera expo, a career fair, a health fair, a housing forum and an annual Cinco de Mayo Festival. A Puerto Rican festival recently was rebranded as a Caribbean festival to better reflect the diversity of the Latino community in Milwaukee. The paper also holds two annual dinners to recognize outstanding Latinos in the city, presenting one honoree with a lifetime service award and the other with a key to the community.
El Conquistador hosts a local call-in radio program on Saturday and Sunday mornings that discusses local entertainment and news. To encourage readership of the newspaper, El Conquistador recently hid a “secret word” in the paper and gave a prize to the first radio listener to call in with the correct answer.
Despite all of this, Huyke says he is worried about the newspaper’s long-term financial sustainability. Recently, he says he had to tap into personal savings to keep the paper afloat. The pandemic caused many small businesses in Milwaukee to close permanently, including locally owned and operated Latino restaurants and barbershops, as well as attorneys’ offices. With those closures critical advertising income for El Conquistador also disappeared.
COVID relief funds of $6 million sustained many ethnic and minority publishers in 2020 and 2021. However, because El Conquistador never registered as a minority-owned business, it did not receive any relief money. “We never wanted any affirmative action,” Huyke says. “We wanted to succeed because we provide a quality product.”
A recent survey by the National Trust for Local News found that 53% of leaders of community outlets serving ethnic, racial or linguistic communities think their organizations will go out of business in less than five years, if current circumstances continue. Huyke is cautiously optimistic that El Conquistador will defy the odds.