Raul Alarcon and a few others from Miami were here recently and it appears the company senior management is preparing to depart soon. We have been working with a very limited staff since Marie Mason departed recently. Mr. Alarcon took us out for dinner last week and thanked us for our time and loyalty to the company. Mr. Alarcon didn't say who would be taking over, but someone who accompanied him from Miami told us an announcement will be made by the end of this month.
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Final days of SBS
- Thread starter JoesancNY
- Start date
That is quite the tease. Sale of the company, or just changes in NYC? Or only idle speculation?
Would MediaCo have the money to buy SBS? Or does SBS hope for relaxed ownership caps and an acquisition frenzy?
Will keep this in “I’ll believe it when I see it” mode for now, but I won’t dismiss it out of hand.
Will keep this in “I’ll believe it when I see it” mode for now, but I won’t dismiss it out of hand.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Via Wikipedia, here are the affected stations (currently owned by SBS):
Orlando
- WPYO El Zol 95 (Spanish Tropical)
Tampa
- WSUN (FM) El Zol 97 (Spanish Tropical)
Los Angeles
- KLAX-FM 97.9 La Raza HD1 (Regional Mexican)/La Privada 97.9 HD2 (Regional Mexican Oldies)
- KXOL-FM La Mega 96.3 HD1 (pop)/El Zol 96.3 HD2 (Spanish Tropical)
Houston
- KROI La Ley 92.1 (Regional Mexican)
New York
- WSKQ-FM La Mega 97.9 HD1 (Spanish Tropical)
- WPAT-FM 93.1 Amor HD1 (Spanish Tropical)/La Privada 93.1 HD2 (Regional Mexican Urbano)
Puerto Rico
- WMEG La Mega 106.9 (CHR – Latin/American Top 40)
- WEGM La Mega 95.1 (CHR – Latin/American Top 40)
- WRXD Estereotempo 96.5 (Adult contemporary)
- WNVI Estereotempo 1040 (Adult contemporary) (owned by Aurio A. Matos Barreto)
- WZNT Zeta 93.7 (Salsa)
- WZMT Zeta 93.3 (Salsa)
- WIOB Zeta 97.5 (Salsa)
- WODA La Nueva 94.7 (Urban)
- WNOD La Nueva 94.1 (Urban)
Chicago
- WLEY-FM La Ley 107.9 (Regional Mexican)
Miami
- WXDJ El Zol 106.7 (Spanish Tropical)
- WCMQ-FM Zeta 92.3 (Salsa / Adult Contemporary)
- WRMA Ritmo 95.7 (Cubatón)
- WRAZ-FM Salsa 106.3 (Salsa) (owned by South Broadcasting System)
- WMFM El Zol 107.9 (Spanish Tropical) (owned by South Broadcasting System)
San Francisco
- KRZZ 93.3 La Raza (Regional Mexican)
If SBS is being bought, I wonder who would go home with the gold? Wasn't Meruelo interested in SBS back in the late 2010s? Maybe a Mediaco-SBS merger? God forbid EMF, though they have slowed down in the past two years.
Meruelo has gone through considerable "belt tightening" in LA, so that is unlikely even if SBS is in jeopardy (a rumor that is totally unconfirmed beyond in-office speculation).
A merger would mean assumption of debt. I doubt Mediaco wants that.
Let's keep the wild speculations under control. Within the Spanish language radio world, there has been no other indication of anything other than the eternal SBS struggle to pay its loans... and that goes back about 40 years.
I've been very attentive to all of the SBS stations with jocks this month and all of them are doing business as usual. I know that they wouldn't just spill the can of beans live on the radio, but usually it slips or there are slight references to something happening behind the scenes. Nothing, nada, not even that. You sure SBS is being sold?
It’s the end of the month. Update?
A quick note for those not in the know. The reason that Puerto Rico has several radio stations that appear to simulcast each other is because they *do simulcast each other. @davideduardo probably knows this better than I do but my understanding is that the island of Puerto Rico is pretty mountainous so that nowadays radio stations in Mayaguez (not sure how to create the accent on the computer keyboard) on the island's western coast simulcast the programming of San Juan radio stations that are closer to the island's eastern coast.
I heard that SBS is being bought by Children's Television Workshop and all stations will flip to an audio version of "Sesame Street", "Zoom" and "The Electric Company". You'll know when it's going to happen, you'll start hearing "Rubber Duckie" being repeated 24/7 til the format flip begins. [Sarcasm mode *off*.....no one knows what's going to happen till it happens.]
No, they don't fully simulcast. Each of the stations in a Puerto Rican "cadena" does local / regional stopsets every hour in addition to doing "national" ones. So, by Nielsen standards, they do not simulcast. Period.
To cover all of Puerto Rico (about 100 miles by 35 miles) you need a station in the San Juan metro, the Ponce metro and the Mayagüez metro. If possible, one in the Arecibo metro helps, too.
Part if the issue is that all but the coastal areas and a few inland flatlands, all of the Island is very mountainous, making FM coverage limited. But Ponce is about 50 miles from San Juan, and Mayagüez is 70 miles from there. So even if the island were as flat as Kansas, you could not cover the three major metros well from any of the others.
Oh, and San Juan is not on the eastern coast. It is about 30 miles from Fajardo in the northeast and 35 miles from Humacao on the southeast.
Note: SBS has lived while walking on the edge of a cliff for the last 45 years or so. They almost got foreclosed on several times in the 80's, but played the fear of several financing groups foreclosing on a minority business.
Right now is not the worst I have seen them go through, but the political climate may not favor their typical playing of the "race card" to get postponements and refinancing.
Right now is not the worst I have seen them go through, but the political climate may not favor their typical playing of the "race card" to get postponements and refinancing.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I interpret the OP's statement as meaning that the programming is simulcast, with some local commercials (like the satellite-delivered formats) and no local content otherwise. Essentially, no local air talent, etc.
More news about SBS’s debt problems. Any ideas of how this will play out?
radioinsight.com
SBS Enters Forbearance Agreement With Lenders
Spanish Broadcasting System has entered into a forbearance agreement with its note holders while it continues negotiations to come to an solution.
radioinsight.com
Correct. The "networks" run some all-Island spots, and some local spots in the stopsets. Everything else is a total simulcast.
iHeart played that forebearance game right before declaring bankruptcy in 2018.
And as speculated:
radioinsight.com
SBS To File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy As Part Of Planned Debt Restructuring
Spanish Broadcasting System has agreed to a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a Restructuring Support Agreement with funds
radioinsight.com