Off the Charts

About a year ago, Ricardo Recci Gonzalez was walking through City Foundry STL with his brother, Angel Recci, when he came upon iHeartMedia’s St. Louis offices. At the time, Gonzalez was working in the insurance industry, using his skills in sales, insurance, and finance to uplift the St. Louis metro area’s Hispanic community. That goal had underpinned his entire professional life up until that point, but seeing the media company’s logo made him realize there might be an even better way to make an impact.

“I saw that there was something bigger here and that I could find an opportunity where I could deliver more to my community through media,” Gonzalez says. “In St. Louis, there is a large Hispanic population, but they are separated because they do not have anything that can bring everyone together. That is what we are now trying to do. Television, radio, concerts, and activities can pull everybody from all corners of the area and bring them together. We are bigger together, and when that happens, they can count us. If we don’t show up, they can say we aren’t here.”

For the past seven months, Gonzalez has been working at iHeartMedia as an account executive, a role that is nominally sales focused, but one that he has transformed into a movement within the organization to launch the St. Louis region’s first Spanish language radio station, hopefully within a year. His work at iHeartMedia dovetails with another project he’s involved in, his brother’s St. Louis-based music and events production company, APR Entertainment, which is working to bolster the area’s Hispanic cultural scene through concerts and events. Both the radio station and APR are boons for the St. Louis Latin music scene, but as Gonzalez sees it, they are part of a larger movement to empower the area’s Hispanic and Latino population by creating community and a shared sense of belonging. 

Gonzalez sees his work with iHeart Media and APR as filling a void in the community that he initially noticed when he moved to the St. Louis area from Puerto Rico in 2013. Then a high school junior, Gonzalez and his family came to town in order for him to play basketball at O’Fallon Township High School in O’Fallon, Illinois. At the time, he knew no English and was one of only three Spanish speakers at his school. It was an isolating feeling, but it quickly dissipated when he moved to New York City for college and found himself surrounded by a vibrant Hispanic and Latino culture and community. He was struck by the sense of belonging he felt and knew that he wanted to be a part of fostering that no matter where he lived or what work he pursued in his career. 

Gonzalez spent some time in the New York area after graduation, supporting himself through jobs at Chipotle and a car wash before landing a sales position with T-Mobile. There, he fell in love with sales and quickly rose through the company’s ranks to become one of their top representatives. The experience taught him that he could achieve anything he set his mind to if he was willing to put in the work, and he carried that with him when he returned to St. Louis in 2018 to be closer to family. Here, he got into the insurance and finance business with Merrill Lynch and Bank of America where he noticed a deep void. As one of only five Spanish speaking associates at Bank of America in the state, he saw that there was a sizable portion of his community being left behind when it came to their personal finances and wealth management. He was determined to help.

“When a Hispanic person walked into the bank, saw my face and heard me speak in Spanish, I could tell how great that felt,” Gonzalez says. “I realized my job was to make sure they felt safe. When a language barrier exists, the trust is not there because the understanding is not there. I really enjoyed helping to build that.”

Gonzalez continued that work when he joined his friend’s company, Azteca Insurance, which catered to the area’s Hispanic community. Although he had a positive impact for three years at the agency, he couldn’t help but feel that he was called to do more — something that struck him when he happened upon iHeartMedia’s St. Louis headquarters. After joining iHeart as an account executive, he quickly carved out a space for himself as a champion of the region’s Hispanic community, lobbying the organization for a Spanish language station by demonstrating that it would not simply be good for Spanish speakers — it would be good for the St. Louis region as a whole.

“This is about something bigger than just the Hispanic community,” Gonzalez says. “One of the reasons the St. Louis economy is growing is because of the Hispanic community. By doing this, and then bringing people here through concerts and events, we can show people that St. Louis is a city where things are growing and that a lot of people are investing in. It allows us to do what we can to continue changing the narrative.”

Gonzalez sees his work with iHeartMedia and his role as COO for his brother’s company, APR, as being two sides of the same coin. By having a local Hispanic radio station — as well as Telemundo St. Louis, a new television station that his brother Angel helps run — St. Louis will put itself on the radar of national and international touring acts. Then, in turn, those big-name artists will come to town and provide both a rich cultural experience for the community at large as well as a positive impact on the local economy. Gonzalez notes that, currently, these acts often skip over St. Louis in favor of Chicago or Kansas City, where there is more Hispanic-focused media and event infrastructure to make doing business easier and a better investment for artists. Gonzalez believes that he and his brother, through the forthcoming iHeart radio station and APR Entertainment, are building up an infrastructure that will allow St. Louis to put itself in the conversation as an essential stop for Hispanic and Latin music and other international artists. 

Already, Gonzalez has seen the positive results of their efforts. Over the past year, APR has brought in national and international touring artists including two-time Latin Grammy-nominated De La Ghetto, who played at The Factory in Chesterfield in August 2023. The company also hosted music and food event Fiesta Cardinales at Ballpark Village in early September 2024, which Gonzalez notes was a great success and inspired a major milestone in the region’s Hispanic media scene. At the event, Gonzalez hosted the first-ever interview conducted entirely in Spanish on St. Louis’ iHeart radio channel 100.3 The Beat. He’s confident it will be the first of many. 

“This is a way we can have music, but it’s also a way for us to have connection and to have a voice,” Gonzalez says.

Gonzalez feels that the rise of Spanish-language media in St. Louis that he’s been helping to facilitate has been a long time coming. Since his early days living in the area as a high school student a little over a decade ago, he’s seen the community grow and thrive. He’s seen it create a critical mass of demand for the connection that media provides and that will contribute to the vibrance of the larger St. Louis region. 

In Gonzalez’ view, it’s high time that St. Louis becomes a must-stop market for major Hispanic acts and events. The community and culture are here — and now with media and events being led by two passionate brothers in Angel Recci and Ricardo Recci Gonzalez, there’s no limit to what’s possible. 

“This is just the beginning, but I know we are going in the right direction,” Gonzalez says. “I think what is happening in the St. Louis entertainment industry is exciting. In the next six to 12 months, we are going to be a place that is not jealous of what’s going on in entertainment in Miami, Chicago, or any other big city. You’ll be able to find that all here.” 

Editor’s Note: This is the first of two stories dedicated to APR Entertainment and its COO, Ricardo Recci Gonzalez, and its founder and CEO, Angel Recci. Read our second story, focused on Angel Recci and his work at APR, as well as Telemundo St. Louis, here.