With the new year upon us, the radio program at UTRGV has changed its name from UTRGV Radio to Vaquero Radio to establish itself as an independent news outlet, according to a university official.
“Well, we had asked the radio program to change its name to, kind of, strengthen their role as a news outlet,” said Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for University Marketing & Communications and university spokesman. “We felt, like, from the beginning, The Rider was a perfect example of a good name for a university news outlet, because, you know, the university was nowhere mentioned in The Rider.”
Robert Velez, Vaquero Radio adviser and a political science lecturer, said the radio program tried to push back on the decision of changing the program’s name.
“We’ve been UTRGV Radio for five years and, you know, it takes a long time to build a brand and we don’t have the kind of institutional support that [UTRGV Athletics] has,” Velez said. “When they make a change, they can, you know, they have lots of money to promote their new brand and we just don’t have that in radio, or in Student Media more generally.”
Natalie Zarate, Vaquero Radio station manager, said the new change has given the program a new image.
“It’s kind of like a breath of fresh air,” Zarate said. “It does allow us to grow from what [I] learned in the first three semesters. … And with new staff, new people, it’s an opportunity for growth.”
Velez said the radio program is hoping to develop its own app to make it easier for the university community to “tune in.”
“We don’t have an enormous listenership right now, but, you know, we’re hoping that other programs would be willing to grow with us,” Velez said.
For more information on Vaquero Radio, visit utrgvradio.com.
