FCC approves Latino Media Network acquisitions

[Mediafrog+]

FCC Approves Latino Media Network Purchase Of 18 Univision Stations

The FCC has approved Latino Media Network's $60 million acquisition of eighteen stations in ten markets from TelevisaUnivision. The approval

radioinsight.com

Earlier threads were closed, so starting a new one. Please play nice.

 

[TheBigA]

At the same time, the FCC denied a listener lawsuit filed against the sale.

https://news.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=b17270

An attempt by Miami listener Pedro Roig to stop the $60 million purchase of 18 radio stations from TelevisaUnivision has been denied by the FCC's Audio Division. Latino Media Network, a new company founded by entrepreneurs Stephanie Valencia and Jess Morales Rocketto, agreed to acquire the 18 outlets in ten markets in an all cash transaction for $60 million last June.

I said in the previous threads that these objections were completely baseless. The FCC agrees.

 

[BocaWayne]

I guess I don't understand the business strategy, much less the political one. All that's going to happen is a struggling, opportunistic station (or two) switches to conservative Spanish talk and the audience follows. Where is the audience for Latino Media going to come from?

 

[davideduardo]

I guess I don't understand the business strategy, much less the political one. All that's going to happen is a struggling, opportunistic station (or two) switches to conservative Spanish talk and the audience follows. Where is the audience for Latino Media going to come from?

There are already two higher power AMs with conservative Spanish language talk, and many of the WAQI employees have moved to them already.

This is a generously sized nothingburger; the market has vastly more high power AMs than programming options, so there is plenty of space on the dial for stations with the WAQI style to move to.

 

[TheBigA]

There are already two higher power AMs with conservative Spanish language talk, and many of the WAQI employees have moved to them already.

But most of the listeners have stayed with Mambi. Of all the Spanish talk AMs, it's still #1.

 

[TheBigA]

Where is the audience for Latino Media going to come from?

The same place as the audience for iHeart's BIN.

 

[davideduardo]

But most of the listeners have stayed with Mambi. Of all the Spanish talk AMs, it's still #1.

And that is because it is still doing the same format as always. But the 55+ share is off about 35% compared to before the sale was announced, and much of the staff has left.

 

[TheBigA]

And that is because it is still doing the same format as always.

Yes I know. That's what I said back when some hosts left and some in congress demanded the FCC stop the sale.

Meanwhile, what happened to Radio Libre? Talk about a "nothingburger."

 

[dlf1]

Could this be the end of the Cuban chorus on 710? The new ownership politics is more closely aligned with Castro oriented Cuba than capitalism.

 

[davideduardo]

Meanwhile, what happened to Radio Libre? Talk about a "nothingburger."

And that one has only been on for a few survey weeks. It has gone 0.1 to 0.3 to 0.5 so far this month. And WAQI has lost about the same amount in 12+ in the same weeks.

Not an astounding move to 790, but a fairly good start for a brand new station with a very different lineup of commentators.

 

[davideduardo]

Could this be the end of the Cuban chorus on 710? The new ownership politics is more closely aligned with Castro oriented Cuba than capitalism.

I don't think it matters. Cuba does not want any Spanish language voice that is not controlled by them to be listenable in Cuba. When WAQI cut its power and changed the pattern, making it far less listenable in Cuba, they did not change anything so I doubt they will do much for now, either.

And the Cuban government opposes anything from the US, whether Red or Blue. They are opposed to the United States, not to a particular party within the USA.

 

[TheBigA]

Could this be the end of the Cuban chorus on 710? The new ownership politics is more closely aligned with Castro oriented Cuba than capitalism.

The problem is likely to be more ethnic than political. It sounds like they are going to try to do a single national Hispanic news service, when there are so many diverse Hispanic communities. The way 710 has been successful has been by doing focused LOCAL talk. My view is unless the new owners keep the local focus, they will lose most of the audience.

 

[davideduardo]

The problem is likely to be more ethnic than political. It sounds like they are going to try to do a single national Hispanic news service, when there are so many diverse Hispanic communities. The way 710 has been successful has been by doing focused LOCAL talk. My view is unless the new owners keep the local focus, they will lose most of the audience.

WAQI has not been a station focused on US national politics or local talk. It's content has mostly been about the government of Cuba, and in more recent years, that of Venezuela and Nicaragua and, of course, the new socialist governments of Peru and Colombia. Local subjects are addressed only when they were intermingled with the "Cuban cause" (La Causa Cubana) or the parallel issues in other Latin nations.

So its listeners will not find the content they desire on US national politics, whether Red or Blue. Immigrants fall into two broad categories: those who left "home" due to repressive governments that did things like imprison them or their families, assassinate friends or family, confiscate property and the like or those who lived at subsistence levels at home due to poor education, lack of opportunity or widespread poverty.

The political refugees are very interested in politics, particularly of their home country. The economic refugees are apolitical, as they tend to have a 6th grade education or less and live at subsistence levels here... just a better subsistence. In Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador or Guatemala they had a dirt-floor hovel with stolen electric connection and a life that paralleled that picture.

Economic refugees represent a good place to look at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for they are at the lowest subsistence levels of food and shelter. The political refugees are near the top of the Hierarchy as they are professionals, had high incomes in their home country, have a superior education and see politics as a way to try to right the wrongs "back home".

So, although I see the reasons to be deeper and different, I agree that the new owners' intended focus on national politics will be of zero interest to the current WAQI listeners. And given that nearly all Miami-Dade Hispanics are economic refugees or their children, a national American Red vs Blue political focus is of little or no interest to Spanish speakers who remember "the homeland".

 

[TheBigA]

I agree that the new owners' intended focus on national politics will be of zero interest to the current WAQI listeners.

I don't think it will be of much interest to listeners in any of the LMN markets. Every Latino sub group has its own areas of interest, and very little of it has to do with what's going on in DC. That's one market where they won't own a station.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't think it will be of much interest to listeners in any of the LMN markets. Every Latino sub group has its own areas of interest, and very little of it has to do with what's going on in DC. That's one market where they won't own a station.

The basic fact is that the vast majority of users of Spanish language media are not citizens. They don't have much of an interest in a political system where they are disenfranchised.

When I created the talk format of KTNQ about 25 years ago, we avoided national politics as well as political news from Mexico. We talked about social issues, family issues, relationships, getting employment, the differences in the US legal system, how to get residency and similar items. We applied that in all our other markets later on, except for Miami.

Several groups have tried to do a national talk format in Spanish, going back to Radio Labio in the 90's, Radio Única later on and Radio Visa in the early 2000's. All have failed due to the lack of commonality among different immigrant groups as I mentioned in another post. There have been no changes in the national "Latino Community" that make such a proposition more attractive today.

 

[TheBigA]

The new owners of the Latino Media Network are starting to lay out their plan for their stations. As I expected, it will take on more of a national service rather than a single station approach, with the radio stations being integrated with online content:

Starting With 18 Stations, Latino Media Network Plans To Build ‘Multiplatform Audio Company.’

After closing on its controversial $60 million purchase of 18 radio stations in ten cities from TelevisaUnivision, Latino Media Network has begun to talk about its plans for the stations

www.insideradio.com

 

[davideduardo]

The new owners of the Latino Media Network are starting to lay out their plan for their stations. As I expected, it will take on more of a national service rather than a single station approach, with the radio stations being integrated with online content:

There have been multiple intents to do a national Spanish language talk format over the last three decades, and all have failed. The reason is simple: there are different interests, cultures and lifestyles among the various national origin points for US Spanish-dominant Hispanics.

The biggest issue is that there is limited interest in national US politics and news. Newer immigrants who were born outside the US are interested more in social issues, getting jobs, acquiring a home or a car, educating their children, understanding a different legal system and the like. Since all those issues are predominantly local and state related, national radio can't address them.

We can remember when one of the "Big 3" networks tried to do a national radio all-news network. The problem was that most people wanted a lot of local news, and a service that was mostly national did not work, particularly when the local stations did not do an adequate job of local news inserts. This is the same situation, just in another language. The concept is flawed in any tongue.

Of course, the fact that nearly no Hispanics listen to AM radio is the "elephant in the room". Nearly all the stations are AM, and many are poor technical facilities. Nobody is going to listen to a national network on mostly bad AM signals. And the national focus content is not going to do any better when streamed, either.

 

[TheBigA]

The biggest issue is that there is limited interest in national US politics and news.

Nowhere in the article does it say they intend to do US politics & news. In fact, most of the article says the opposite.

Nobody is going to listen to a national network on mostly bad AM signals. And the national focus content is not going to do any better when streamed, either.

Depends on what that content is, and so far, they're not specific.

 

[Kelly A]

When I created the talk format of KTNQ about 25 years ago, we avoided national politics as well as political news from Mexico.

So, should I say 'thank you' or Ten-Q?

 

[davideduardo]

Nowhere in the article does it say they intend to do US politics & news. In fact, most of the article says the opposite.

Since they won't be doing local programming, what is left in talk radio but national news/talk?

Nearly every subject of interest in Spanish language talk is local... and I saw and researched that in places as diverse as Miami, New York, Chicago, Dallas-Houston-San Antonio, LA, Phoenix, San Francisco and others.

And in research for morning shows as recently as pre-pandemic years, the same conditions and interests showed up. Even light subjects, like humor, have enormous geographic limitations and restrictions due to origin, language, accent and social conditions.

That is why I said before that the focus of interest in such a talk format is in local social issues.

Depends on what that content is, and so far, they're not specific.

If you read the description of the person the want as COO (about two screens long) on their site, it is very obvious that they will be all talk, and social/sociopolitical issue based.

That has been the focus of three national Spanish language talk networks in the past. All have failed due to the lack of interest in national themes and the failure to find personalities who could do the broader social issue subjects. A very major problem is that live talk radio tends to reflect the accent and vocabulary of the national origin of each host... scripted and accent controlled TV does not have that issue anywhere near that extreme.

The word for "bug" in one country is the one for the male organ in another. The word for "bus" in one is the word for "child" in another... and so on.

Again, those who are first generation Hispanics (second and beyond just does not use much Spanish language media) don't listen to AM, and did not in their home nations.