¡ Viva la radio !

Hispanics are more likely than the US market at large to say radio is "most essential" - 24 percent vs. 17 percent - according to recent research from Edison Media Research and Arbitron, which studied attitudes and trends in radio and other media among Hispanics, reports MarketingCharts.

Some other key findings from the study:

• Though the Digital Divide still exists, it is narrowing: 61 percent of Hispanics, compared with 74 percent of the population as a whole, had access to the Internet at home as of January 2007; in Jan. 2003, that proportion was 51 percent to 68 percent.

• Hispanics are more likely than the market overall to say newspapers are the least essential among major media: 40 percent vs. 30 percent

• The Internet has overtaken television as the "most cool and exciting" medium: 41 percent of Hispanics say so, vs. 34 percent of the population as a whole.

• Hispanics are slightly more likely than overall to say they have lately been using both radio and TV more: 21 percent vs. 18 percent, and 39 percent vs. 37 percent, respectively.

MarketingCharts offers up some more data from the study.