AI Radio Host Coyotec Wins Listeners in Los Angeles by Backing Immigrants
Coyotec, an artificial intelligence host on Entravision's José 97.5 FM in Los Angeles, now co-hosts a weekday morning show in Spanish with a human broadcaster. After the show's expansion, the station reports sharp listenership growth, especially among younger people.
Entravision, a US broadcasting group that produces Spanish- and English-language programming for Latino audiences, uses an artificial intelligence host named Coyotec on its Los Angeles station José 97.5 FM. Coyotec debuted with a weekend show in September 2025 and now co-hosts the program Al Aire y Sin Permiso with human broadcaster Geraldine "GeeGee" Guzman, weekdays from 8 to 10 a.m. The case shows how radio companies are experimenting with artificial personalities.
How Coyotec came about
As footage of ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and deportations spread online from the summer of 2025, Entravision's leaders wanted to voice support for immigrants but recognized the risks for human hosts. Eduardo Maytorena, then the Los Angeles station's general manager and now Entravision's president of audio, pitched an AI personality. The company gave him 10 days to develop it.
LeaAnna Hernandez, the company's executive vice president of AI strategy, lists the tools involved: Claude Haiku for live response generation, Eleven Labs for the voice, OpenAI and ChatGPT for initial scripts, and Midjourney for storyboarding the image. Coyotec can reply to Guzman in real time but cannot yet take listener calls.
Its personality is built around life on the border, in Mexicali and in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighborhood. On social media it covers immigrant rights, racism and the Iran war, along with sports and food. Guzman helped refine its Spanish pronunciation and everyday speech, and Coyotec has since begun to swear.
Results
In August the show was syndicated in five new markets in California, Nevada and Texas. According to Nielsen data released by Entravision, cumulative Hispanic listenership in Los Angeles rose 21.6 percent from August to September, listeners aged 18 to 34 increased 84.9 percent, and Hispanic women in that age group grew 500 percent.
Concerns about jobs
Becca Guzmán, a voice-over artist who worked as a contractor for Entravision, believes the company stopped working with her because of AI tools. Entravision says it has not laid off staff due to AI and has hired more people, adding that it may no longer have needed contractor help after adopting new workflow software.
