La Movida Radio Has Been Madison’s Spanish-Speaking Station for 21 Years: Broadcasting Diverse Community Voices

La Movida

Over 25 years ago, Luis and Lupita came to Madison with a dream and little else and after 21 years, La Movida Radio is going as strong as ever.

Part 1 of 2

By Jonathan Gramling

While on some levels, Luis and Lupita Montoto, who run La Movida Radio, are self-made people, pulling themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps, they readily admit that they didn’t do it on their own. It was through the support of groups like Centro Guadalupe — now the Catholic Multicultural Center — the support of the community that their hard work translated into personal and commercial success.

The Montotos moved from South Texas to Madison in the late 1990s with whatever they could pack in their vehicle and got to work.

“Back then, we did cleaning during the week every day,” Luis said. “We worked at Wisconsin Cheeseman during the day and our cleaning business at night.”

As new arrivals, they saw the need for a Spanish-language radio station and were determined to fill the void.

“There was such a huge need. We were new in the area and we saw the need,” Lupita said. “Luis was knocking on the door of many radio stations and radio groups and making phone calls wanting to have the opportunity, a very small window on the airwaves to start something in Spanish,” Lupita said. “And that was pretty much impossible. We wanted to have something in Madison, Saturday or Sunday night, whenever they wanted it. But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”

While their dreams were big, they started out small, taking the opportunity where they found it.

“La Movida started April 30, 2000,” Luis recalled. “But before that, obviously, we were prepping to go on the air. The station is licensed through Poynette, Wisconsin. It’s closer to Arlington, Wisconsin than it is Poynette. Arlington is just a village, so it is licensed through Poynette. It was what they call a low-power AM station, 1240 AM. It’s now a Catholic station through a Catholic group. It’s actually called a fringe station, on the outer limits of Madison. But you can still hear it in Madison, but it is a fringe station. That same radio group owned stations in Green Bay. They said, ‘Are you aware of the Latino community in Green Bay?’ I said, ‘No, I’m a Cowboys fan. I don’t like Green Bay.’ He said, ‘No, no, no. We’re talking about the Latino community and the school district. There’s a big Latino community.’ We checked it out and then we started broadcasting to Green Bay as well, Saturdays to Green Bay and Sundays to Madison.”

Eventually, the Monotots moved their operation to Madison.

“We had our La Movida services on S. Park Street in a store,” Luis said. “When we transitioned, we rented this small place on Park Street. We built a studio in there and we started broadcasting to the Poynette and Green Bay areas from our S. Park Street station.”

Around this time, Midwest Family Broadcasting was switching formats for one of their stations, WISM, 1480 AM. They also saw the need for Spanish-language radio and approached the Montotos. La Movida would become a 24/7 radio station with the Montotos at the helm. It was an opportunity that they couldn’t pass up.

“We broadcast out of that studio 24/7 when we first partnered with Family Midwest Broadcasting because there wasn’t a studio ready for us at their facilities,” Lupita said. “We started out from Park Street broadcasting 24/7 until we were moved to this building. That was in 2002. La Movida 24/7 was born on October 14, 2002.”

The Montotos have always looked at La Movida as a partnership with the community. During the day, it is filled with talk shows that provide a voice and access to the Spanish-speaking community and at night, its airways are filled with music programmed by Luis. And their reach isn’t just that small-watt station anymore.

“Now we are on 1480 AM, which is 5,000 watts,” Luis said. “It reaches about a 70 mile radius. We’re also on FM now, 94.5. That reaches the greater Dane County area. Before we were on FM, we also had our app. An app can go anywhere. And before the app was the website, www.lamovidaradio.com. Recently, we also broadcast on 94.5 FM. People can listen to us anywhere. That’s the good thing about the digital age. You can see where they are actually clicking on you and how long they are listening. We’ve got some pretty impressive numbers. Some of the shows are being listened to not just in North America.”

“We have gotten inquiries from Poland, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Miami,” Lupita added. “We are also listened to through social media. For example, the talk shows that we do every day with so many collaborations that we have with local organizations, we broadcast every single one on Facebook. So from 9-10 a.m. or 10-11 a.m., that’s the morning shift. We always go Facebook live from the studio. People can watch it anytime or share it.

Next issue: The Reach of La Movida