From Guatemala to Mexico: PMC Radio Show Launches in June

Population Media Center (PMC), a nonprofit leader in entertainment for social good, has announced a partnership with Radio Huayacocotla to broadcast Toma Mi Mano (“Take My Hand”) across seven Mexican states starting in June 2021.

Radio Huayacocotla is an indigenous community radio station, which, according to a 2019 audience study, reaches 600,000 regular listeners across seven rural Mexican states (Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, Puebla, Estado de México, Querétaro, and Tamaulipas).

PMC first produced Toma Mi Mano, a show full of love, emotion, and fútbol, for audiences in Guatemala in 2018. After the original broadcast, members of Radio Huayacocotla requested to air the show in Mexico. The opportunity to rebroadcast the 156-episode radio show with new accompanying content broadens the already existing reach of Toma Mi Mano.

“Our methodology works across people, borders, and media markets,” says PMC’s Vice President of International Programs Kriss Barker. “In the Latin American media market, it’s actually quite normal to rebroadcast content across different countries. This is an exciting opportunity and challenge for us because it allows us to get more impact out of content already created, but we also had to find local partners and adjust the overall campaign for the new broadcast region.”

PMC has contracted with local service providers to drive demand for resources as modeled in Toma Mi Mano. New epilogues, which are brief PSA-like audio clips following each episode, will be tailored to promote local services – including messaging promoting the OrientaSex Hotline from MEXFAM (the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Mexico). Other local partners include the Mexican Ministry of Women’s Health and the Mirada Joven digital platform.

“We’ve aligned ourselves with trustworthy community partners and an influential local station,” says PMC Mexico Country Director Cecilia Orvañanos. “Together, we’ll educate and drive people to important and accessible services and resources.”

PMC’s entertainment productions are created using PMC’s Theory of Change – a reproducible formula for creating hit entertainment that works across people, places, and media environments. Since 1998, PMC has used its Theory of Change to impact multiple social, health, and environmental challenges worldwide.