St. Louis’ first-ever Spanish-language radio station on an FM signal has launched.
KWRH-FM, a nonprofit community radio station broadcasting from Webster Groves, is transitioning to Los 40 STL, a U.S. affiliate of the internationally acclaimed Spanish Top 40-themed music radio group.
92.9 FM was originally launched in 2017 and has carried a variety of commentary, sports, religious and talk shows over the years. But when the station began broadcasting Spanish-language coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals and later St. Louis CITY S.C., General Manager Mark Langston saw an untapped opportunity.
“There really is a market here, and people really don't have anywhere else to go,” he said. “We were looking for a niche, and it just so happens that there was no one doing Spanish music.”
Langston said the low-powered FM station plans to go all-in on its Spanish programming with the help of Ricardo Recci Gonzalez, who recently left iHeartMedia to spearhead sales and marketing for Los 40 STL. In addition to the nationally syndicated music and a bi-weekly CITY SC-themed soccer show, Langston hopes to add hour-long Spanish community talk shows.
He said there’s been interest in collaborating from community organizations like the St. Louis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the International Institute. In addition, KWRH recently became the 2026 FIFA World Cup’s official St. Louis station. By then, the general manager said a new website and app should be launched too.
“We're a small station. We don't have the big overhead, and so it was an opportunity for us to say: ‘Hey, let's, let's try this. Let's try to help a part of the market that is not being served,’” said Langston, the general manager. “It's been like trying to jump on a train that's running down the track, but we're catching up to it.”
Building a profile
The change is no small undertaking and doesn’t come without its challenges. KWRH is a low-powered FM station, limiting its reach to around 260,000 listeners within St. Louis County’s central corridor.
Langston, who served as Maplewood’s mayor from 2001 to 2009, acknowledged the station’s limited reach. He said partnerships with other stations and distribution platforms, like low-powered FM station KXOK 102.9 FM and the Audacy app, could help buoy their listenership and reach St. Louis-area municipalities with large Hispanic communities.
Another possibility, Langston added, could be shopping for other community radio frequencies.
Langston said he and St. Louis Community Radio, the nonprofit organization that holds KWRH's license, have explored the possibility of acquiring signals from stations like bankrupt station KDHX or a local AM station. However, he emphasized discussions have been purely exploratory.
“We're trying to keep all of our options open,” Langston said. “We have had quite a few requests of: ‘Hey, can you get that signal up and bigger and louder?’”
KWRH has a studio in the International Institute, and Langston hopes to add a second studio — likely inside The Post Building in downtown St. Louis, the former home of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“We started with just doing a couple of sports broadcasts and today, here we are with a full-time FM radio station that is Hispanic, and it's starting to get noticed,” Langston said. “It’s been fun for me, it's been educational for me and I'm just happy to be … trying to help a segment of our community that honestly needs a voice on the airwaves.”
St. Louis’ growing Spanish media hub
An AM radio station. A monthly magazine. A news website.
The vision to bolster and solidify St. Louis’ historically hodgepodge Spanish media market is one some believe can be a game-changer for attracting new residents.
While St. Louis’ overall population is shrinking, U.S. Census Bureau data revealed the region saw its largest recorded Hispanic population increase. The growth is part of a larger national trend. The agency estimates that since 2010, the Latino population in the U.S. has grown by almost 30% — from 50.5 million in 2010 to 65.2 million in 2020.
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Angel Recci, the market manager for the Spanish-language television station Telemundo St. Louis, said the region lacked what he called a “media trilogy”: television, radio and live entertainment. He believes its lack stymied the region’s ability to recruit and retain Hispanic families.
Recci also said a robust media presence — and concerts — are important for tourism for the Spanish-speaking community.
APR Entertainment, a live Latin Music Entertainment company Recci runs with his brother Ricardo, have brought in several national and international touring artists including two-time Latin Grammy-nominated De la Ghetto, who played at The Factory in Chesterfield in 2023.
“Those three pillars are working together,” he said. “They need to stick together because together we're going to be able to offer a much more powerful proposition about St. Louis and about what we can offer to [tourists and prospective residents].”
Recci soft-launched the St. Louis Telemundo affiliate about two years ago under the Georgia-based Sagamore Hill Broadcasting. Since then, the station started Acceso Total, a recurring television segment focused on community highlights, events and businesses.
“What we needed specifically here in this market is to bring the community together because everyone in the Hispanic community were (sic) doing things … in silos,” he said. “We want to build those bridges."
Telemundo St. Louis’ success has expedited the launch of a Spanish-language news program and weather forecasting by the end of 2025 — three years ahead of schedule, Recci said. The station is also building its broadcast headquarters in the city’s Grand Center neighborhood.
"This is just the beginning. There are a lot of great things ahead of us," he said. With the addition of Telemundo St. Louis and Los 40 STL, “the Hispanic community in the greater St Louis area can feel supported, can feel like now they have a presence — they have a voice.”
