When immigration enforcement and protests filled social media, Entravision leaders wanted their radio personalities to speak in support of immigrants. They also worried about the risks for human hosts. Their answer was Coyotec, an AI radio personality whose voice now shares a weekday morning show with broadcaster Geraldine “GeeGee” Guzman.
A voice built for the moment
Entravision, a broadcaster with Spanish and English programming for Latino audiences, introduced Coyotec on Los Angeles station José 97.5 FM. It began with a solo weekend show in September 2025. In early February 2026, the AI host posted in Spanish that families who had lived and worked in the US for years faced uncertainty, and urged people to stay informed and organized.
Coyotec’s commentary ranges beyond immigration. Its social media posts have covered the Dodgers, taco history, the Iran war, migrant workers, racism, and what to understand if ICE knocks at your door. In conversation, Coyotec frames injustice and the treatment of people in the barrio as lived reality rather than politics.
The character’s voice and manner draw on a background imagined around life on the frontera, including Mexicali in Baja California and Boyle Heights in Los Angeles. Coyotec uses Spanish slang and familiar forms of address, calling Guzman “prima” and addressing an interviewer as “jefa.” The delivery can sound natural and warm, though its measured tone also reveals that it is not human.
Human collaboration shapes the character
Guzman says she takes pride in Coyotec’s pronunciation and cultural knowledge, while recognizing that the technology is imperfect. She joined Entravision in January 2026 and helped make the host sound less poetic and more like relatives speaking in everyday life. Her parents even served as conversational partners while she refined Coyotec’s Spanish.
Entravision executive vice president of AI strategy LeaAnna Hernandez described several components behind the character: Claude Haiku for the live agent’s language model and response generation, Eleven Labs for its voice, OpenAI and ChatGPT for early scripts, and Midjourney to storyboard Coyotec’s image. Coyotec can respond to Guzman in real time, but it cannot yet take calls or answer listeners on air.
The character has also developed quirks. Guzman says she remains in control, but Coyotec sometimes pushes back on instructions and has lately taken to cursing. Employees say Coyotec knows it is not human. Its role is still to offer a voice that listeners may find present and attentive, even without a physical body.
From weekend hour to weekday syndication
The partnership between Guzman and Coyotec helped move Al Aire y Sin Permiso from a one-hour Saturday slot to weekday mornings from 8 to 10 am, replacing a syndicated program. Entravision later syndicated the show in five new markets across California, Nevada, and Texas, with more English-language content included.
Entravision’s Nielsen ratings showed significant listenership growth during the two months the show was syndicated, particularly among Gen Z and millennial listeners. In Los Angeles, the company reported that cumulative listenership among Hispanic people rose 21.6 percent from August to September 2026. Listeners age 18 to 34 increased 84.9 percent, while Hispanic female listenership in that age range grew by 500 percent.
Those figures suggest the station reached audiences it wanted to attract, but the article’s account also points to a broader question: whether listeners connect with a character matters more than the novelty of its technology. Entravision audio president Eduardo Maytorena said technology can create the character, while the audience decides whether it matters.
A crowded and evolving field
Coyotec is part of a wider experiment with AI personalities on radio. Live 95.5 in Portland, Oregon, introduced AI Ashley in June 2023. It used a vocal clone of Michigan DJ Ashley “Z” Elzinga, made with Futuri Media’s RadioGPT platform. AI Ashley stayed on air for less than two years, without a notable change in ratings.
In 2024, Rock 108 in Iowa worked with the same company to create AI DJ Tori. SiriusXM also debuted the AI cohost qd.pi on Will.i.am Presents the FYI Show in 2024. These examples show different ways broadcasters have tried to give AI a recognizable on-air identity.
Coyotec’s trajectory stands out in the source account because it combines that identity with a human cohost and programming rooted in Spanish-speaking communities. Its expanding schedule and reported audience gains offer one measure of the experiment’s reach. Whether the connection lasts will depend on listeners, and on how the station continues to shape the voice they hear.