No spanish language radio?

[davideduardo]

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).

Remember, the larger portion of the Hispanic population is Puerto Rican, and the Spanish dominants are in their 60's or beyond n ow.

In the majority of markets, half or more of the Hispanics are not Spanish speaking (meaning they don't speak Spanish anywhere nearly as much as English.

Cleveland might be the only market with 2 tv signals (Telemundo 6 and Univision 61), but no major Spanish music FMs.

The TV formats are mass appeal in both age and national origin. Neither is true in radio.

 

[davideduardo]

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?

The problem is that the "undercount" claimed by several posters is not provable, and the figures used by advertisers to buy time are the "official" ones from Nielsen based on the Census and independent demographers. But as long as some look at assumptive data that is never viewed by radio time buyers, we will have people claiming that Cleveland needs and can support a Spanish language station.

Further, of course, is that there are many formats possible in Spanish, just as there are in English. Depending on a person's taste and age and national origin, they may find most formats of no interest at all.

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 is 16% Hispanic, meaning there are about 210,000 Hispanics. Cleveland is 6% Hispanic and has 122,000 Hispanics. Both markets trace their "Hispanic Heritage" to the Puerto Rican flood of the 50's and 60's, have a much lower percentage of Spanish dominants than newer markets.

 

[davideduardo]

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.

Univision Radio has dropped all its smaller market stations, like Las Vegas, ABQ, LRGV, Fresno, etc. They are not going into a tiny market.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

The problem is that the "undercount" claimed by several posters is not provable, and the figures used by advertisers to buy time are the "official" ones from Nielsen based on the Census and independent demographers. But as long as some look at assumptive data that is never viewed by radio time buyers, we will have people claiming that Cleveland needs and can support a Spanish language station.

Further, of course, is that there are many formats possible in Spanish, just as there are in English. Depending on a person's taste and age and national origin, they may find most formats of no interest at all.

Hartford is 16% Hispanic, meaning there are about 210,000 Hispanics. Cleveland is 6% Hispanic and has 122,000 Hispanics. Both markets trace their "Hispanic Heritage" to the Puerto Rican flood of the 50's and 60's, have a much lower percentage of Spanish dominants that newer markets.

From my own observations, the Puerto Rican community here is a lot more Americanized than what I remember growing up in NYC. But then again, it's been 30-plus years.

 

[Rusty Muck]

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.

WCPN 104.9 to my understanding is not for sale, nor would it ever be. It fills an important coverage gap for WKSU 89.7 in the immediate west of Cleveland to Lorain.

 

[tblanks]

With the FM WHK translator moving from 102.5 FM to 102.9 FM, maybe when the next translator filing window opens, La Mega or other interested party should acquire 102.5 FM? Not a great signal, but better than nothing.

 

[davideduardo]

From my own observations, the Puerto Rican community here is a lot more Americanized than what I remember growing up in NYC. But then again, it's been 30-plus years.

As mentioned before, the Puerto Rican diaspora to the Northeastern US took place in the post-WW II years up to about 1968 or 1969. By 1969, the industrialization of the Island had created many new jobs there and emigration almost totally ended.

So anyone under about 65 of Puerto Rican heritage grew up on the mainland, and many well into their 70's were born in Cleveland. That second generation may have spoken all Spanish in the home, but did not get any instruction in school. Those under 50 are likely third generation and they know enough Spanish to order an asopao or a bistec encebollao.

 

[skiwest]

With the FM WHK translator moving from 102.5 FM to 102.9 FM, maybe when the next translator filing window opens, La Mega or other interested party should acquire 102.5 FM? Not a great signal, but better than nothing.

Wouldn't La Mega or other party need to have an existing parent station in order to do that?

 

[davideduardo]

Wouldn't La Mega need to have an existing parent station in order to do that?

Any commercial translator needs what you call a parent locally... AM, FM or HD-2 channel or above.

 

[tblanks]

Gotcha on La Mega. Maybe Radio One could acquire 102.5 FM for WERE/1490, then flip to Spanish?

 

[CTListener]

As mentioned before, the Puerto Rican diaspora to the Northeastern US took place in the post-WW II years up to about 1968 or 1969. By 1969, the industrialization of the Island had created many new jobs there and emigration almost totally ended.

I remember a large number of Puerto Rican families moving to Connecticut cities in the wake of Hurricane Maria. I assume this was happening in other states, too. How large a migration was this, and has a significant percentage of those people moved permanently to the mainland?

 

[davideduardo]

I remember a large number of Puerto Rican families moving to Connecticut cities in the wake of Hurricane Maria. I assume this was happening in other states, too. How large a migration was this, and has a significant percentage of those people moved permanently to the mainland?

About 600,000 Puerto Ricans have moved since the early 90's, mostly due to crime and the collapse of industry due to the end of certain Federal tax incentives and high costs of shipping due to the Jones Act. The vast majority went to Central Florida, followed by the rest of Florida, and then the Atlanta area. Very few have moved to the Northeast unless they already had family there.

Unlike the 50's and 60's migration of the least educated and skilled, the more recent wave comes from the most educated professional class... doctors, technicians, management, etc., who are scared of the crime and drugs and fleeing the high cost of island living.

 

[CTListener]

About 600,000 Puerto Ricans have moved since the early 90's, mostly due to crime and the collapse of industry due to the end of certain Federal tax incentives and high costs of shipping due to the Jones Act. The vast majority went to Central Florida, followed by the rest of Florida, and then the Atlanta area. Very few have moved to the Northeast unless they already had family there.

Fair enough, as you must have the statistics. I was winding down my newspaper days when Maria hit, and I remember reading many stories in the Hartford Courant and New Britain Herald about the schools in those cities having trouble accommodating all the children who had moved there temporarily in this mini-exodus. I guess most of these families already had relatives in Connecticut. I'd imagine that in Meriden, they probably came from Aguada or Aguadilla, as those towns were at the heart of the initial wave of influx to the Silver City.

 

[MediaLover]

Gotcha on La Mega. Maybe Radio One could acquire 102.5 FM for WERE/1490, then flip to Spanish?

I don't see Radio One doing much for WERE. Plus, 102.5 is a crowded frequency in Northeast Ohio.

 

[Gregg.]

In Ohio, all three large cities are roughly the same size. As Directional Day showed us above...

Hispanic Population % Per Nielsen:
Cincinnati - Market #33 - 4% (1 Spanish FM)
Columbus - Market #36 - 5% (2 Spanish FMs)
Cleveland - Market # 35 - 6% (0 Spanish FMs)

Granted, the Spanish-language FM outlets are lower-power stations and are outside the markets' downtown areas. Columbus has Regional Mexican 102.5 WWLG in Baltimore (about 20 miles east) and Latin Contemporary 103.1 WVKO-FM in Johnstown (about 15 miles northeast). In Cincinnati, there's Regional Mexican 97.7 WOXY in Mason (about 10 miles northeast, so it also hits some suburbs of Dayton).

It is odd that no station owner, not even a lower-power suburban station near Cleveland, can see an opportunity here. But then, I can't figure out why Chicago has four Spanish-language FM stations and Detroit has none. If factory jobs lured Spanish-speaking folks to Chicago, why didn't factory jobs lure them to Detroit? It did for African-Americans.

 

[almaniac27]

Cincinnati actually has two Spanish FMs. Urban One flipped their translator at 101.5 from a simulcast of WDBZ to the HD2 of WIZF about a year or so ago. 101.5 covers the urban core and northern Kentucky while 97.7 hits the northern suburbs.

 

[Directional Ray]

Cincinnati actually has two Spanish FMs. Urban One flipped their translator at 101.5 from a simulcast of WDBZ to the HD2 of WIZF about a year or so ago. 101.5 covers the urban core and northern Kentucky while 97.7 hits the northern suburbs.

That's why I had originally listed Cincinnati as 2 FMs. Not sure why that got changed

 

[davideduardo]

It is odd that no station owner, not even a lower-power suburban station near Cleveland, can see an opportunity here. But then, I can't figure out why Chicago has four Spanish-language FM stations and Detroit has none. If factory jobs lured Spanish-speaking folks to Chicago, why didn't factory jobs lure them to Detroit? It did for African-Americans.

Chicago has 24% Hispanic population, most due to the huge influx of Mexicans in the last 40 years or so. The economy of Chicago offered jobs and there was considerable inbound migration... not just Hispanics but rural folks from downstate and the South.

Detroit, since the 70's, has been in economic recession or depression for most of the time; think of how terrible American cars were in the 70's and 80's. Detroit's Metro Survey Area is around 4.7% Hispanic and not growing. Further, the Hispanic population lies in diverse clusters spread all around a rather large metro. A small signal would not work there, and AM does not work with Hispanics anywhere (if there is no FM, they stream... Hispanics have a very high percentage of smart phone ownership).

 

[Gregg.]

>>>Cincinnati actually has two Spanish FMs. Urban One flipped their translator at 101.5 from a simulcast of WDBZ to the HD2 of WIZF about a year or so ago. 101.5 covers the urban core and northern Kentucky while 97.7 hits the northern suburbs.<<<

I guess I should count 99 watt translator W268CM. I was only counting regular FM stations.

 

[radioislife2020]

In Ohio, all three large cities are roughly the same size. As Directional Day showed us above...

Hispanic Population % Per Nielsen:
Cincinnati - Market #33 - 4% (1 Spanish FM)
Columbus - Market #36 - 5% (2 Spanish FMs)
Cleveland - Market # 35 - 6% (0 Spanish FMs)

Granted, the Spanish-language FM outlets are lower-power stations and are outside the markets' downtown areas. Columbus has Regional Mexican 102.5 WWLG in Baltimore (about 20 miles east) and Latin Contemporary 103.1 WVKO-FM in Johnstown (about 15 miles northeast). In Cincinnati, there's Regional Mexican 97.7 WOXY in Mason (about 10 miles northeast, so it also hits some suburbs of Dayton).

It is odd that no station owner, not even a lower-power suburban station near Cleveland, can see an opportunity here. But then, I can't figure out why Chicago has four Spanish-language FM stations and Detroit has none. If factory jobs lured Spanish-speaking folks to Chicago, why didn't factory jobs lure them to Detroit? It did for African-Americans.

Detroit has 2 AM AND ONE TRANSLATOR