BY KVAL TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD 2016

EUGENE, Ore. - A new Spanish language FM radio station is the first of its kind to broadcast over Lane County's air waves. 97.7 La Que Buena kicked off Thursday morning. It's McKenzie River Broadcasting's fourth radio station.

It took about six months to research and launch La Que Buena. When McKenzie River Broadcasting saw a chance to buy another radio station, they wanted something that targeted the growing Latino population in Eugene and Springfield. They say this is a huge opportunity to connect to an untapped market.

"Latinos are the fastest growing population within the United States and Lane County," said Steve King, program director.

According to McKenzie River Broadcasting, there are about 30,000 Latinos in the area.

"Lane County has a spending power of about $600 million among the Latino community," said Anna Mercado, bilingual account executive.

The station won't just serve to play music. They want to help inform the Latino community about important services.

"The format is going to be exclusively in Spanish and it's going to touch on education. It's going to touch on health," Mercado said.

Lane County Public Health agreed to sponsor programming because in the past, media outreach to Latinos was limited.

"Before this, when we issued a press release, for instance, we didn't have a Spanish speaking media to send that to. So now, we are going to be translating our press releases as well," said Jason Davis from Lane County Public Health.

Davis said it builds an infrastructure that supports people from different ethnic backgrounds.

"We want Lane County to be more of a diverse place. We want Lane County to be a place where everyone feels welcomed," Davis said.

It's only the beginning, but La Que Buena is setting the stage.

"We can honestly say that there will be a about a 20 percent Latino population within Lane County, within probably the next ten years," said King.

La Que Buena will have a local, live DJ and syndicate major radio talents from out of state