A new day dawns for a Spanish-language publication

Siglo21 will be coming out six times a week

Victor Manuel Gonzalez Lemus, owner of the area Spanish-language publication Siglo21. (Erik jacobs for the boston globe)

New England is about to get its first Spanish-language daily newspaper.

At a time when most newspapers are scaling back staffs and news pages, Siglo21 is making plans to move from a weekly to a daily. The free paper expects to become a daily on Sept. 15, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The Lawrence-based newspaper - which is now distributed on Thursdays in New England cities with large Latino populations - will now be distributed six days a week, primarily in the Merrimack Valley. On Thursdays the paper will continue to be dispersed throughout New England.

"We see a need to reach the larger Hispanic community in the area with a daily," said Victor Manuel Gonzalez Lemus, owner of Siglo21, which he launched in 2000 as a biweekly. Since then, it has grown to a weekly with a distribution of 25,000 copies. "There are many places where we leave a hundred copies in a news rack and we have to go back and refill them because people need more. Despite the bad economy, this is a good time to have a daily newspaper."

Fellow publishers and media observers say the move is a bold one, contrasting with recent cutbacks at struggling English-language dailies and weeklies.

The expansion of Siglo21, whose name translates as "21st Century," also reflects the growing strength of ethnic media. As larger daily English-language newspapers try to maintain their slipping circulation and ad base, ethnic publications are giving advertisers another option to reach a niche audience, such as Spanish speakers.

"Any newspaper that is growing or establishing itself as a daily is a cause for celebration," said Lou Ureneck, chairman of Boston University's journalism department. "I am not surprised that the non-English press in the US is a bright spot. . . . That dimension of the media has been growing rapidly for obvious reasons. The Hispanic population of the US is rising very rapidly, and we see changes in all sorts of ways, and now we are seeing it in the press. It's a terrific development."

The initiative mirrors a recent trend among media outlets. As they look to reverse circulation declines, they are tapping into the Hispanic market. Latinos are the largest minority in the country, and media and advertisers view them as an undertapped audience.

Three years ago Phoenix Media/Communications Group, which owns The Boston Phoenix, bought a 35 percent stake in El Planeta, a Brookline-based Spanish-language weekly owned by Hispanic News Press. Launched in 2004, the newspaper publishes editions in Boston, Lawrence, Worcester, and Providence, and now has the largest local circulation of any Spanish-language publication, with 50,000 copies weekly.

Javier Marin, founder of El Planeta and cofounder of Hispanic News Press, said the local Hispanic demographic is ripe with business potential. New England is home to 900,000 Hispanics, including 437,000 in Massachusetts, according to the 2000 Census. In Boston the Hispanic population jumped from 61,955 in 1990 to 85,089 in 2000, an increase of 17 percent.

Last year Marin expanded El Planeta's portfolio. He created a monthly publication called EntreAmigos, which means "Among Friends" and covers Hispanics in Boston's social scene. He followed that with Health and Family, a bilingual magazine distributed in hospitals and clinics in Greater Boston.

"The advertisers are looking for more interaction with the community," said Marin, whose company recently launched a new Spanish-language portal called tuboston.com to complement his publications. Of Siglo21's expansion, he said, "It's very aggressive. . . . Whatever new idea in the industry is great and it's something that should be applauded."

The Spanish-language media landscape is crowded with other weeklies. They include El Mundo and La Semana in Boston, Vocero Hispano in Worcester, and Providence en Español in Providence.

Beginning next week, Siglo21's publisher will unleash a promotional blitz on local Spanish television and radio to promote his expansion. Although his paper is found in newspaper boxes, restaurants, and mom-and-pop businesses, Lemus plans to have more newsstands in apartment complexes in Lawrence, Lowell, Andover, and Salem, N.H.

To publish several times a week, he also will boost his staff of 22 with more reporters. To keep costs down, he plans to publish only 5,000 copies on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On Thursdays, the run increases to 10,000 and will be distributed throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

Local community leaders said they welcome Siglo21's efforts into daily journalism but remain cautious because of the economic climate.

"It's a good gamble," said Jose Masso, who has lived in Boston for more than 30 years and subscribes to Puerto Rico's daily newspaper. "It would give a chance for up and coming gifted writers and journalists coming out of school to venture into the daily world of journalism in Spanish language news. . . . Their endeavor is worthy."

Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com.