WSTL 1220 now Spanish Tropical Mega 94.9

[MarcB]

The other board is reporting that WSTL 1220/93.7 is now Spanish Tropical Mega 94.9 - they have added a second translator and is in the process of being sold to former Latina 100.3 PD "DJ Frankie" also known by his real name Quilvio Perdomo who runs a Hispanic station in Allentown/Reading, Pennsylvania. This gives Providence 3 Spanish Tropical Stations.

1. Latina 100.3
2. Poder 102.1 (1110)
and now 3. Mega 94.9 (1220/93.7)

 

[TVCOOL]

Love it three spanish music stations on the FM Dial in this area gives us latinos options, funny thing earlier this year all we had was Latina 100.3 FM WKKB.

 

[Rattlesnake]

We need a full time Portuguese station in the Providence Market.

 

[Methuselah]

Given the demographics of Providence, I'm surprised the majority of stations are not already non-english.

 

[TVCOOL]

We need a full time Portuguese station in the Providence Market.

They have a full time Portuguese station in WJFD-FM 97.3 in New Bedford, MA and WTHB-AM 1440 in Fall River, MA. And the Latino population is growing every day in this area.

 

[davideduardo]

They have a full time Portuguese station in WJFD-FM 97.3 in New Bedford, MA and WTHB-AM 1440 in Fall River, MA. And the Latino population is growing every day in this area.

And the Portuguese-speaking population is getting older and older.

 

[TVCOOL]

The younger Portuguese population isn't exactly listening to Portuguese language radio stations.

 

[Channel 83]

And the Portuguese-speaking population is getting older and older.

This being the case, it stands to reason that at some point...sooner or later....WJFD will become no longer economically viable....at which point either a format change or station sale is in the offing.

This would literally be a case of a format outliving its usefulness.

 

[davideduardo]

This being the case, it stands to reason that at some point...sooner or later....WJFD will become no longer economically viable....at which point either a format change or station sale is in the offing.

This would literally be a case of a format outliving its usefulness.

Sort of like WOV and WHOM's Italian programming in New York 60 years ago!

 

[Gregg.]

I remember older relatives in my family seeking out Italian programming in the NYC area as a kid. But as David tells us, most of it was gone by the time I was aware of radio, except for some hours on WEVD 1330. However, in the Toronto market, there are still two stations running Italian programming either all day (530 CIAO) or part of the day (1540 CHIN).

Back to the original post, aren't immigrants from Brazil coming to the Providence-New Bedford market, keeping WJFD viable? Obviously the owner could have sold out to a mainstream format decades ago but is keeping the station Portuguese as a labor of love. Those times I hear it while traveling in New England, it seems to have a good number of commercials.

I think the Portuguese language station in the Boston area, 650 WSRO, is pretty much aimed at Brazilians now. However, in the Lawrence-Lowell area, I think all the Portuguese language stations have switched to Spanish-language formats.

 

[CTListener]

How about the Azorean population? Have immigrants from the Azores supplanted Brazilians as the predominant Portuguese-speaking people coming into the Providence/New Bedford area? Are they mainly young and are they having big families once here?

 

[Channel 83]

How about the Azorean population? Have immigrants from the Azores supplanted Brazilians as the predominant Portuguese-speaking people coming into the Providence/New Bedford area? Are they mainly young and are they having big families once here?

I'm pretty sure you have it exactly BACKWARDS.

It's the Portuguese folks from the Azores Islands who have been here almost forever......as opposed to the Brazilian Portuguese folks, who are the more recent arrivals.

In any event.....the two groups speak different dialects of Portuguese, and there are also cultural differences between the two groups. It seems unlikely that a station programmed to one group would appeal to the other.