Sports on FM

[Ryan Williams]

Coming this Monday Univision will dump the 93.3 part of the "Latino Mix" simulcast in order to instead simulcast spanish-language sports TUDN 1010 on FM.

Who would have thought than in September 2021, spanish-language sports would have by far the strongest FM presence in Houston, while KILT and KBME are still wasting away on "ancient modulation".

Probably the final death knell for KLAT before the millions of dollars of real estate are realized, following KGOL.

TUDN Radio Adds FM Simulcast In Houston - RadioInsight

radioinsight.com

 

[BamaTX]

Coming this Monday Univision will dump the 93.3 part of the "Latino Mix" simulcast in order to instead simulcast spanish-language sports TUDN 1010 on FM.

Who would have thought than in September 2021, spanish-language sports would have by far the strongest FM presence in Houston, while KILT and KBME are still wasting away on "ancient modulation".

Probably the final death knell for KLAT before the millions of dollars of real estate are realized, following KGOL.

Odd move. But then again simulcasting KAMA has always been odd. But hey, at least they finally fixed the audio issues that have plagued 93.3 since the "Que Buena" days.

Having said that, I think this weekend we may be able to catch a glimpse of sports on 93.3. KLAT is the home of Texas A&M's Football "en español". In recent years when there have been scheduling conflicts between A&M and the Astros, the Aggies get pushed to 93.3 FM. (Kind of weird to see the Spanish broadcast have better signal in the city than the English broadcast on KFNC).

 

[Mrtejano]

It mentions Cesar will have a local show from 10 am -12.

Very good radio personality, he does an awesome job running the morning show when Raul isn’t there.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Odd move. But then again simulcasting KAMA has always been odd. But hey, at least they finally fixed the audio issues that have plagued 93.3 since the "Que Buena" days.

I have also found the simulcast odd as well. 93.3 probably adds a very small number of listeners in the far northern and southeastern parts of the market, but the core audience is already well served by 104.9. I doubt Univision cares about B/PA.

I’ll have to prod David Eduardo who has been supportive of the simulcast for adding additional audience. So why would Univision bring it to an end?

I strongly suspect KLAT is not long for this world. The land for two transmitter sites might bring in a good chunk of money.

 

[davideduardo]

I have also found the simulcast odd as well. 93.3 probably adds a very small number of listeners in the far northern and southeastern parts of the market, but the core audience is already well served by 104.9. I doubt Univision cares about B/PA.

I’ll have to prod David Eduardo who has been supportive of the simulcast for adding additional audience. So why would Univision bring it to an end?

There is a belief that there is a following for American sports narrated in Spanish as well as ongoing sports talk all day. The contrarian belief is that most Hispanics who like baseball, American rules football and basketball are generally and predominantly not Spanish dominant and won't listen to Spanish play by play.

Further, one say: "find me a successful all sports station anywhere in Latin America".

So the reasoning on this one has to be that there is money to be found in Spanish language Sports.

I strongly suspect KLAT is not long for this world. The land for two transmitter sites might bring in a good chunk of money.

Or it might be cheaply traded for a station with a less complex antenna system if the sports alternative gets revenue.

 

[BamaTX]

There is a belief that there is a following for American sports narrated in Spanish as well as ongoing sports talk all day. The contrarian belief is that most Hispanics who like baseball, American rules football and basketball are generally and predominantly not Spanish dominant and won't listen to Spanish play by play.

At the end of the day, how many listeners do English play-by-play broadcasts even attract? I don't see this experiment attracting more ratings than existing HD subchannels.

But I do understand why it is being tried. Mexico is the NFL's largest market outside of the US. Some of that popularity has to be spilling over, right? Also, Mexican and international soccer has a huge following in Houston.

Another thing to keep an eye on is sports gambling. Gambling could create some good opportunities here (keyword here being "could"...gambling is still illegal in Texas).

Further, one say: "find me a successful all sports station anywhere in Latin America".

Aren't there full-time Sports stations in Monterrey and Mexico City? Whether they're successful is a different argument.

I get the move if this was an obsolete AM station. But for a rimshot, I suppose no harm, no foul considering the station was being used to simulcast an existing station.

 

[Mrtejano]

Will they still be on KLTN HD2? Wonder what they will do with KLAT? Maybe use it for talk?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Will they still be on KLTN HD2? Wonder what they will do with KLAT? Maybe use it for talk?

You dont read do you? the FM sports signal is simply going to be a simulcast of 1010 AM

 

[davideduardo]

But I do understand why it is being tried. Mexico is the NFL's largest market outside of the US. Some of that popularity has to be spilling over, right? Also, Mexican and international soccer has a huge following in Houston.

The folks in Mexico who go to NFL games are predominantly upper and upper middle class who have gone to college in the US, are bilingual, and learned to follow American football while in the USA. There is no lower income population interest in American football.

Yes, Mexican soccer has a wide following in the US, as everyone brought their "home team" with them when they migrated here. But that alliance only covers first generation immigrants.

Aren't there full-time Sports stations in Monterrey and Mexico City? Whether they're successful is a different argument.

There is an almost all sports station in Mexico City, XEABC. It is a suburban rimshot, and also carries brokered shows. It gets around a 0.3 to 0.4 share in INRA ratings. The Monterrey station does even worse.

I get the move if this was an obsolete AM station. But for a rimshot, I suppose no harm, no foul considering the station was being used to simulcast an existing station.

It did result in a significant decrease in the margin between it and KLOL when the simulcast began.

 

[davideduardo]

You dont read do you? the FM sports signal is simply going to be a simulcast of 1010 AM

And that signal got a 0.1 last month in 18-49.

 

[CTListener]

But I do understand why it is being tried. Mexico is the NFL's largest market outside of the US. Some of that popularity has to be spilling over, right?

I only see Texas A&M football mentioned. Does this station also carry NFL games in Spanish? I'd imagine interest in American college football among Spanish-dominant listeners in the US is practically nonexistent.

 

[radioislife2020]

One of those let’s see what happens moves . I have yet to see the sports format they carry on many AM stations even come close to a share .

 

[Mediafrog+]

It did result in a significant decrease in the margin between it and KLOL when the simulcast began.

Which makes it more puzzling as to why Univision is ending the 93.3 simulcast with 104.9. If they wanted to increase overall numbers wouldn’t they do that with a new, separate music format on 93.3? What that particular format might be, I have no idea…but you would think it would do better than Spanish language sports. Is the Univision Houston cluster coming up short in males 25-54?

 

[BamaTX]

Which makes it more puzzling as to why Univision is ending the 93.3 simulcast with 104.9. If they wanted to increase overall numbers wouldn’t they do that with a new, separate music format on 93.3? What that particular format might be, I have no idea…but you would think it would do better than Spanish language sports.

I don't see it working.

But I suppose it is worth the try. The format is fully syndicated already and adding one local show isn't much of an expense. It's worth the risk to see if there is potential for this format.

On the flip side, TUDN did launch on a Phoenix FM rimshot and didn't move the needle. Sure, the rimshot has a rinky dink signal over the market. But there was no excitement for it just because it was an FM station.

 

[radioislife2020]

I don't see it working.

But I suppose it is worth the try. The format is fully syndicated already and adding one local show isn't much of an expense. It's worth the risk to see if there is potential for this format.

On the flip side, TUDN did launch on a Phoenix FM rimshot and didn't move the needle. Sure, the rimshot has a rinky dink signal over the market. But there was no excitement for it just because it was an FM station.

I've been involved with both 93.3 and 1010 and I don't see the demo that already listens to them really even caring if they are AM OR FM. 93.3 will add nothing but better audio quality .

 

[Ryan Williams]

On the flip side, TUDN did launch on a Phoenix FM rimshot and didn't move the needle. Sure, the rimshot has a rinky dink signal over the market. But there was no excitement for it just because it was an FM station.

You are being too generous with 105.1's signal.

Regardless, I don't expect TUDN on 93.3 will even make it a full year. I'm putting in a calendar event to follow up on this thread on September 27th, 2022.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Regardless, I don't expect TUDN on 93.3 will even make it a full year. I'm putting in a calendar event to follow up on this thread on September 27th, 2022.

Well, they can always reinstate the simulcast with 104.9 if SportsTalk fizzles.

As much as I would love to see something different on 93.3, I'm not holding my breath. After all, we saw KROI launch a new transmitter facility and instead of boldly trying something new, interesting and innovative for the 2020s, what did they do? Trot out a failed format from 15 years ago that is getting even worse numbers than the failed format it replaced...which leads me to believe that programmers in this market have simply run out of ideas, and have no clue where to go next.

Wonder if Univision would ever consider LMAing out 93.3 to a programmer that didn't compete with their other formats?

 

[BamaTX]

I've been involved with both 93.3 and 1010 and I don't see the demo that already listens to them really even caring if they are AM OR FM. 93.3 will add nothing but better audio quality .

Sure, existing TUDN listeners on 1010 AM may be indifferent about the FM simulcast. But potential listeners who refuse to use low quality AM may finally give TUDN a chance.

Whether enough people join the broadcast to justify this move is a different story though.

 

[davideduardo]

Which makes it more puzzling as to why Univision is ending the 93.3 simulcast with 104.9. If they wanted to increase overall numbers wouldn’t they do that with a new, separate music format on 93.3? What that particular format might be, I have no idea…but you would think it would do better than Spanish language sports. Is the Univision Houston cluster coming up short in males 25-54?

25-54 is not the target demo for Spanish language buys.... it is 18-49. That is because the Hispanic community has a much lower (more than a decade) median age than non-Hispanic whites. Similar statistics can be seen with the Black community.

 

[Mediafrog+]

93.3 flipped at 12:01am Monday morning. No announcements or introductions, just an abrupt switch from the Latino Mix feed to TUDN. Still in stereo, but that could change later today.