are two disney's better than one, jbr hd-2 is now disney

[broadcastguy]

I was hired by Votionis / Emmis (the Hadadd and Emmis joint project) to find and implement a new format for the unsuccessful "Radio News" 98.3 in Bs. As. Fortunately, with research, a very great staff and a good technical facility we reached #1 in less than a month in the IBOPE ratings. I was responsible for programming up until Emmis pulled out in 2005 due to the economic and currency crisis.

Hadad... What a guy...

There is a difference in the focus of what was Radio Disney in the US and that of Latin America. In the US, it was targeted at kids, but mothers could enjoy both the music and the safe environment knowing that "nasty" songs were not going to get aired. In other words, no "Mommy, what's a 'ho'?" questions from the kids. In Latin America, it's an AC/Hot AC aimed at upper middle and upper income young women, principally.

What you say is curious, in LATAM Radio Disney is also considered like a "kid's safe station", all songs are "radio edit" and they don't even air commercials selling alcohol, feminine products or anything related to the sexual/ adult world. The sales dept of the cluster I used to work for had to drop a commercial agreement of thousands of dollars with an agency because we simply couldn't put their commercials on air at Disney and they wanted Disney or nothing, so it was nothing. :/

 

[davideduardo]

Hadad... What a guy...

As the book about him was titled, "Todo Vale".

The good thing is that he did not interfere with me in putting "Puro Rock Nacional" on the air.

I always wondered how he got the license for 710 Radio 10 and then got permission to build the towers inside Campo de Mayo.

What you say is curious, in LATAM Radio Disney is also considered like a "kid's safe station", all songs are "radio edit" and they don't even air commercials selling alcohol, feminine products or anything related to the sexual/ adult world. The sales dept of the cluster I used to work for had to drop a commercial agreement of thousands of dollars with an agency because we simply couldn't put their commercials on air at Disney and they wanted Disney or nothing, so it was nothing. :/

There is a big difference in marketing. Radio Disney in the US was targeted at kids (and on AM) but something moms would enjoy and feel good about. In Latin America, Disney targets the moms with an environment kids will be safe listening to.

In the US Radio Disney was mostly a marketing vehicle for the Disney brand, and did not put much effort into local sales... it was more a part of a package in the ESPN model. In Latin America, the product is not subsidized by Disney so stations have to sell and make a profit.

 

[LibertyNT]

I always got a kick when RD would play "Lola" By The Kinks back in the 90s.

 

[broadcastguy]

The good thing is that he did not interfere with me in putting "Puro Rock Nacional" on the air.

That kind of South American breed CEO doesn't really care what you air as long as it's not against his political interests and it produces some money, ask me how I know that!

I always wondered how he got the license for 710 Radio 10 and then got permission to build the towers inside Campo de Mayo.

Sadly, pure political influence and lobby, like in almost every 3rd world country. For example, in my country we have a 500ft. commercial tower inside a military facility, go figure.

There is a big difference in marketing. Radio Disney in the US was targeted at kids (and on AM) but something moms would enjoy and feel good about. In Latin America, Disney targets the moms with an environment kids will be safe listening to.

Always wondered how a station targeted for kids used to work on the AM band as if we were in the early 80's. Who knows. True what you say about the targeting.

In the US Radio Disney was mostly a marketing vehicle for the Disney brand, and did not put much effort into local sales... it was more a part of a package in the ESPN model. In Latin America, the product is not subsidized by Disney so stations have to sell and make a profit.[/SIZE][/FONT]

There we have the main difference, thanks for enlightening me!

Anyways, I still would like to know why they bother broadcasting in secondary HD channels.

 

[davideduardo]

That kind of South American breed CEO doesn't really care what you air as long as it's not against his political interests and it produces some money, ask me how I know that!.

As someone who lost 12 stations or so due to a military government over the slant of my news coverage, none of that ever, ever surprises me.

 

[Huff]

HD and streams are/can be rated. HDs usually get most ratings via an FM translator, but I think I've seen one or two pop on the bottom of the ratings list themselves.

And station streams have also popped in low in the ratings in some PPM markets (0.1, 0.2 range), but they are rated as well.

In nearly 10 years of PPM, I count only 4 instances of HD stations without an accompanying translator registering at all in any of the 48 metered markets.

 

[Huff]

IMHO if Radio Disney went on air on full FM signals in big markets they could make a huge earthquake (actually in all South America they have really good numbers and even lead the market in some countries being on full power FM stations). No HD's, no XM, a big FM signal in every single top market and a Disney-like marketing job would do the trick.

Data for Latin America is not easy to come by, but here are the latest available from markets where there is a Disney-branded pop outlet:

SAO PAOLO (IBOPE, Persons 10+) January 2014: Radio Disney 0.28 rating (shares not available), 21st in the market
BUENOS AIRES (IBOPE, Persons 12-74) August 2014: Radio Disney 5.1 share, 7th in the market
SANTIAGO (IPSOS, Persons 15+) November 2014: Radio Disney 2.5 share, 20th in the market
MEXICO CITY (INRA, Persons 8+) December 2015: XHPOP-FM "Radio Disney" 3.4 share, 11th in the market

 

[davideduardo]

It's interesting to wonder why the Disney in Bs. As. does quite well, while the one in Santiago, a relatively similar market with fewer stations, does rather poorly.

Since "Radio Disney" in Latin America is a franchise, perhaps the execution and presentation of the format is not as good?

Despite the Wikipedia article that says Disney owns the stations, they are all locally owned and only franchised by Disney. I checked with family, and the one in Ecuador is apparently not doing very well financially... another example of widely diverse performance.

 

[broadcastguy]

It's interesting to wonder why the Disney in Bs. As. does quite well, while the one in Santiago, a relatively similar market with fewer stations, does rather poorly.

Since "Radio Disney" in Latin America is a franchise, perhaps the execution and presentation of the format is not as good?

Despite the Wikipedia article that says Disney owns the stations, they are all locally owned and only franchised by Disney. I checked with family, and the one in Ecuador is apparently not doing very well financially... another example of widely diverse performance.

I guess that as any franchise it depends on the location (location, location, location), management, on air and production team and approach to the public. Chile is very similar to Argentina and Uruguay in musical/ radio preference, and both Argentina and Uruguay stations perform (or used to perform) really well. Don't know about Chile's station history. Furthermore, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay don't have the cookie cutter top40 bombing we have here with all the Mix's, Q's, X's, Y's and Z's

 

[davideduardo]

Furthermore, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay don't have the cookie cutter top40 bombing we have here with all the Mix's, Q's, X's, Y's and Z's

I can't think of anything more cookie cutter than Los Cuarenta Principales.

For those unfamiliar, I think that "Los 40" (a literal translation of Top 40) was the first independent Top 40 station in the world, going back to 1966 in Madrid. Now, they use the same formula, same web template, same rotations and much of the same music (lots less local productions) world wide in 11 countries.

 

[broadcastguy]

I can't think of anything more cookie cutter than Los Cuarenta Principales.

For those unfamiliar, I think that "Los 40" (a literal translation of Top 40) was the first independent Top 40 station in the world, going back to 1966 in Madrid. Now, they use the same formula, same web template, same rotations and much of the same music (lots less local productions) world wide in 11 countries.

Shoot... I always forget about "Los40"... In my mind I tune to 105.5 in Buenos Aires and I still listen to "FM Hit". Thanks again Grupo Prisa for that....