HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif. | “Despiertese!” Wake up! It’s 4 a.m., and Spanish-language talk-show host Eddie Sotelo is jump-starting his listeners - janitors pushing brooms in dark office buildings, truckers on the road, fast-food cooks flipping sausages for the breakfast rush.
Most Americans have never heard of the small-framed Mr. Sotelo, known as “Piolin,” or “Tweety Bird.” But the loyalty of his listeners, many of them immigrants like himself, has helped propel his syndicated show, “Piolin por la Manana,” to the No. 1 morning radio slot, regardless of language, in markets from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Dallas, Las Vegas and Chicago, according to Arbitron.
This means that in an election year when the elusive Hispanic voter could be crucial, Mr. Sotelo has the presidential candidates’ ear.
Between corny pranks and laugh tracks, he’s using his soapbox to get Hispanics engaged in the political process and to keep candidates focused on what matters to his community. In live interviews, he has pressed Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama for plans regarding the mortgage crisis, the economy and immigration reform, which has gotten little air time from English-language media.
His influence with his audience comes from being one of them - an immigrant who makes no bones about having entered the country illegally 22 years ago in the trunk of a car, who shares their hopes of a better life and their Catholic faith.
So when he urges listeners to become citizens, as he did in May, and to cast a vote, as he will do for the first time in November, other new Americans pay attention.
“I listen to him every day, and it’s affected my opinion,” said Emerita Palma, 43, one of the more than 50,000 gathered in Huntington Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, to watch Mr. Sotelo host a celebration of Mexican Independence Day last month.
As Mexican flags waved and a screen above the stage beamed images of President Felipe Calderon leading the throng gathered in Mexico City’s main square in cheers of “Viva Mexico,” the Huntington Park crowd roared.
Partly at Mr. Sotelo’s urging, Miss Palma picked up a voter-registration form at the DMV, she said, and she’s ready to cast her vote in favor of the candidate most likely to address her main concern: comprehensive immigration reform.
“I have brothers who are without papers,” she said. “The candidate who promises immigration change, I’ll vote for him.”
Mr. Sotelo’s listeners like him, and Miss Palma - who starts work before dawn at a carpet warehouse - tune in for the comedy. But they stay for Mr. Sotelo’s straight talk and his tough-love advice. In a recent show, he chided a caller for whining about hard economic times instead of looking for a new job, and another for wasting money on drink instead of tucking it away in savings.
Although Hispanics are the nation’s fastest growing minority group, their weight has yet to materialize at the ballot box. They’re 15 percent of the population, but only 8 percent of the eligible electorate, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
That’s because as a population, they’re young - about one-third of the nation’s 46 million Hispanics are under 18 - and many are not citizens. In a push to change that, Mr. Sotelo chronicled his own path to citizenship on the air.
“It’s a blessing to be able to become a citizen, to vote, after everything I went through,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to make a difference.”
His influence has grown since he first stepped up as an advocate for immigration reform in 2006, persuading hundreds of thousands to join marches and delivering a million letters from his listeners to Congress.
He has refused to endorse a party, saying his show is a venue for candidates and listeners to learn about each other.
“It’s a big responsibility,” he said. “They have to make their own decision. … I just want to inform them.”
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