All the major markets in Ohio have a Spanish radio except Cleveland. Any idea why no one stepped up after la mega 87.7 went away? This market would seem like it has more Latinos than Columbus or Cincinnati.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
No spanish language radio?
- Thread starter radioislife2020
- Start date
WNZN 89.1 - which is licensed to Lorain but is really more of a Vacationland station, and carries an urban gospel format - airs the Spanish broadcasts of the Browns and Cavs
It’s also completely incompatible with WNZN’s urban contemporary gospel format. (WNZN being a Lorain station is almost a misnomer; while the studios are in Lorain, the transmitter is closer to Huron and Norwalk due to severe short-spacing with WKSU’s Thompson Township repeater.)
so no Spanish station in the metro. I would expect I heart or radio one to jump on the opportunity.
Way too small an Hispanic population for a bigger group to have any interest in: less than 120,000 total Hispanic population.
I think we both know the number is higher than that. Those are Neilsen numbers, but Cleveland Puerto Ricans alone would be around that number. Yes, you will say those are census numbers, but we have many many Latinos not accounted for
Sometimes I wonder if your take on Spanish-dominants' distaste for anything other than futbol (and beisbol in Cuba and the DR) has calcified over the years. Basketball, especially, seems to be getting more and more popular worldwide with each passing year, Latin America included. Granted, there are few players of Caribbean origin in the NBA, but isn't it possible that interest in the NBA among Spanish-dominants' has ticked upward in recent years, especially with the increased availability of game broadcasts and telecasts in Spanish? Or is this similar to the "must be rhythmic" musical preferences you cite so often, which not only is the case among first-generation but later generations as well?
Nielsen numbers are derived from the Census, the annual Census Bureau reports and independent demographers. I've never been involved with a market where the Nielsen / Arbitron Hispanic numbers were questioned.
The last significant Puerto Rican migration to "the Rust Belt" (and Cleveland is as rusty as they come) was in the later 60's. By 1970 it was done. So the Boricuas in Cleveland are now in their 3rd or 4th generation and those under 50 don't use Spanish language media.
Other sports are popular among English dominant Hispanics, not Spanish dominant ones. The interest in such sports begins with the second or third generation which is English dominant and does not use Spanish media much if at all.
I see some "upper class" interest in Basketball in big cities in Mexico and a few other places, but not a widespread interest. In Puerto Rico, baseball is very much in decline, with basketball being more popular... but not on radio or TV.
And in South America, where I do0 most of my work, there is very very little interest in anything except soccer... and, of course, polo in Argentina..
"No" to your first question. The majority of immigrants are less well educated, less culturally adaptable.
And there are plenty of radio stations and, now, streams in Latin America that are not ever rhythmic. The all-Argentine-rock station I did in Buenos Aires (which is still top 5 in a 200 station market) is and was not rhythmic. There are rock stations (mostly in English) throughout Latin America, but they appeal almost entirely to the income / education classes that do not emigrate. There are plenty of non-rhythmic AC and pop stations, with both English and Spanish music, that do very well but not in the C-, D and E socioeconomic levels all over Latin America.
And the "rhythmic" base applies to most Hispanic communities in the East, where most immigrants are from Afro-Antillean cultures and not from the Indigenous cultures of most of Mexico through Peru.
Last edited:
Hispanic Population % Per Nielsen:
Cincinnati - Market #33 - 4% (2 Spanish FMs)
Columbus - Market #36 - 5% (2 Spanish FMs)
Cleveland - Market # 35 - 6%
That's a good question.
Cincinnati - Market #33 - 4% (2 Spanish FMs)
Columbus - Market #36 - 5% (2 Spanish FMs)
Cleveland - Market # 35 - 6%
That's a good question.
I could see Radio One making a purchase of a new outlet for the format .. they are under the cap in that market. La Mega doesn't have that kind of money. Buddy of mine said they are getting crushed in Columbus
If Radio One was interested, they could make a play for WNWV/107.3, perfect signal for Lorain County and the west of Cleveland (higher Latino populations). They had a chance when La Mega 87.7 went away, but nothing happened.
Another signal that makes sense is WCPN/104.9, if Ideastream would lease it to a Latino broadcaster. Of course, most would argue that it is needed as a WKSU repeater in that area.
I agree that Cleveland should have one or two Spanish music signals on decent FMs, since we have over 100,000 Latinos in the area. There is just no room for one in the market, unless one of the big owners sees a gap (which apparently they do not).
Cleveland might be the only market with 2 tv signals (Telemundo 6 and Univision 61), but no major Spanish music FMs.
Maybe a Spanish AC station for this area would be nice. Amor is obviously open, maybe if SBS, Univision or someone else make an offer for WCPN that Ideastream can agree with, we'll see 104.9 Amor, though it's very unlikely.
David, who knows Spanish-language radio and Cleveland better than most, has already weighed in on this with an explanation of why all of these formats are likely to be losers on the shores of Lake Erie. Why continue to press the issue?
Hartford has a higher percentage of Hispanics than Cleveland and is served only by AMs and a dinky translator run on the cheap by a small-potatoes operator. There has been no full-market Spanish FM signal in the market for 30 years.
Hartford has a higher percentage of Hispanics than Cleveland and is served only by AMs and a dinky translator run on the cheap by a small-potatoes operator. There has been no full-market Spanish FM signal in the market for 30 years.
Cleveland has an older Spanish population and a Spanish AC would make sense for this area.
La Mega should have found a different frequency when 87.7 went away or teamed up with another company.
>>>Hartford has a higher percentage of Hispanics than Cleveland and is served only by AMs and a dinky translator run on the cheap by a small-potatoes operator. There has been no full-market Spanish FM signal in the market for 30 years.<<<
Well, those dinky translators total four. One each in Bridgeport, New Haven, Bolton and Clinton. Those translators are fed by the HD2 subchannel of Alternative Rock WMRQ 104.1 (once owned by Merv Griffin). The funny thing is, the Latin Contemporary translators sometimes get better ratings than the Alternative Rock format.
Why did Hartford have a Spanish language FM 30 years ago? 93.7 FM, now Urban WZMX, had been broadcasting a Tropical format in Spanish from the 1960s to 1991. In those days, few people had FM radios and they weren't widely available in cars. But 93.7 WLVH was a full-power Class B outlet and it broadcast in mono. So with a Latino population spread out among several small Connecticut cities, the best way to hit all of them was on this FM station: Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Bridgeport, even Springfield Mass.
Eventually FM stations increased in value to the point where this Spanish-language FM station was worth more being sold and converted to a popular English-language format. (I remember the transition took several months. And during that time, WLVH kept the transmitter on by broadcasting the National Weather Service.)
Well, those dinky translators total four. One each in Bridgeport, New Haven, Bolton and Clinton. Those translators are fed by the HD2 subchannel of Alternative Rock WMRQ 104.1 (once owned by Merv Griffin). The funny thing is, the Latin Contemporary translators sometimes get better ratings than the Alternative Rock format.
Why did Hartford have a Spanish language FM 30 years ago? 93.7 FM, now Urban WZMX, had been broadcasting a Tropical format in Spanish from the 1960s to 1991. In those days, few people had FM radios and they weren't widely available in cars. But 93.7 WLVH was a full-power Class B outlet and it broadcast in mono. So with a Latino population spread out among several small Connecticut cities, the best way to hit all of them was on this FM station: Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Bridgeport, even Springfield Mass.
Eventually FM stations increased in value to the point where this Spanish-language FM station was worth more being sold and converted to a popular English-language format. (I remember the transition took several months. And during that time, WLVH kept the transmitter on by broadcasting the National Weather Service.)
- Status