WPAT is Dominican AC. Over half the Nielsen NYC sample is Dominican. Understanding that is the key.
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Emmis Hires a Manager For La Exitosa 98.7
- Thread starter Barry
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An AC station in the Dominican Republic sounds absolutely NOTHING like WPAT. HIGP in Santo Domingo (better known as Primera FM), one of the nation's leading ACs, doesn't play soft modern Latin Pop artists like Karol G, Bad Bunny, J Balvin and more like the former does. HIGP is at times more comparable with KLVE in Los Angeles than WPAT. WPAT is more like a softer version of the Dominican Republic's “Mortal 104.9”.
But AC stations in Latin American countries cater to higher socioeconomic levels. Immigrants from Mexico or the DR come from lower economic levels and have different tastes.
ive said that countless numbers of times.... when people complain about the lack of XYZ format in big or medium market.... with all the stations, if it was profitable someone would likely be doing it
ive said that countless numbers of times.... when people complain about the lack of XYZ format in big or medium market.... with all the stations, if it was profitable someone would likely be doing it
Maybe Audacy will buy. the station & make The Format Classic Rock or some type of Rock to compete with Q104.3 which has been Boring for many years now & Maybe people who don’t like sports wanting to here music when The Jets are on. Though I can’t see Audacy spending 50 Million Dollars 🤔
I doubt Audacy cares how "boring" Q104 is. The demographics for the market are bad for rock. Multiple versions of it at 92.3, the ending of the legendary WNEW, and despite being well-programmed, 90.7 isn't doing in the NYC ratings what comparable operations like WXPN are managing elsewhere. It's not a good fit for rock formats anymore.
Much as I wish it was. I enjoyed the first version of WRXP, but that like many other experiments, can't be maintained in that market in a sustainable way.
Much as I wish it was. I enjoyed the first version of WRXP, but that like many other experiments, can't be maintained in that market in a sustainable way.
That to me reads more like they are expecting it to be a while before the FCC alters the caps (or more likely, it will be attempted and then there will be a protracted legal fight about it before it succeeds) and they are going to make the best of the time they have.
I also am among those who expects this will be some kind of Latin-forward format, as this is what the numbers support. Country and rock stations keep floundering in the NYC market because the listener base isn't there, so another attempt at it is just never going to be feasible. Finding the right Latin-forward format is the much better business move.
That original version of WRXP, when Matt Pinfield was the "face" of the station, was honestly refreshingly great. But I also acknowledge the reality that the market doesn't really support a station like that in this day and age in NYC, so outside of lower powered stations existing at college campuses, etc., I doubt we will ever see something like that again.
Right! If you look at the market, you start with the 25% Black and 25% Hispanic populations, then add the immigrant population that did not grow up listening to rock in Russia, Iran, or Greece and then add the Asian groups, you have a very small segment that would be a natural for another rock format.
And even on college campuses rock has mostly given way to other music forms.
The problem is that Hispanics are not of a monolithic music and entertainment taste group.
The reason that the Spanish presentation with mostly English pop songs format works in Miami is that there is a huge group of upscale immigrants in that market who grew up listening to stations "back home" that played mostly or all English pop, rock and AC type songs. These are listeners who came to the United States already familiar with lots of such songs, but whose preferred language for everything else is Spanish.
There are really no other markets in the United States that have that sort of upper and middle class Hispanic immigrant population.
And Hispanics who grow up in the U.S. acquire predominantly the tastes of their peer groups at school and work.
Rock has been big with Russian youth since the Soviet era (on an underground basis) and has blossomed out in the open since perestroika and the collapse of the Gorbachev regime. There's plenty of documentation out there on this. I remember hearing homegrown rock on Russian domestic and international shortwave services right through the '80s, '90s and '00s. Where do you get the idea that Russian immigrants didn't grow up with rock?
That's OK. There are no radio stations that get a 100 share. All 98.7 has to do is get a 3 share to be competitive in this market. They're almost there now.
Because, when I had access to Metromedia's Russian ratings (they owned stations in two markets there) rock was not the dominant format. Yes, there were big subsets who liked rock, but not the majority. And if you got outside of the major markets, zilch.
Only their black peers, it appears. Don't Hispanics ever become fans of rock, country , K-pop or other musical preferences of their non-Hispanic, non-ethnic white or Asian classmates?
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I question whether even the 2 share is sustainable. There is essentially no "upper and middle class" Latin American migration to New York City or its general area. The sample in the market is well over 50% Dominican and the population from the Dominican Republic in New York is definitely "working class".
In Latin America, stations that play all or mostly English language music appeal to levels A, B and, sometimes, C+, C, D, and E essentially don't listen at all to that type of station. And people in those high income levels generally only migrate if social conditions are bad in their home country. That is why the station in Miami succeeds: lots of Venezuelans, Colombians, Ecuadorians and even many second generation Cuban-Americans listen to that music.
They were able to get a 2 share without Giacomelli. They obviously feel they're not done.
My point, based on working on Spanish language radio projects in NYC dating back to the 70's, is that there is no a big enough population base for the predominantly English language music format. I also created what this year has been the #1 station in the Dominican Republic for 40 consecutive years.
While there might be an opportunity to do a blend of English and Spanish AC for the non-Dominican population, much of the issue in the market is that the sample for the PPM is overwhelmingly from the Dominican Republic.
One of the issues is that the Dominican population is predominantly Afro-Antillean culturally and ethnically. In the U.S., how many Afro-Americans listen to AC stations?
But HIGP is AC for upper and middle income Dominicans in the big city. WPAT is AC for working class emigrants living in NYC. And "Mortal" is, per the ratings, much more a lower income listener station than "Primera" is. That matches the available Dominican audience in NYC.