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97.7 flipped to Latin at Noon

I mean it's whatever ultimately, right? you don't want to believe facts you want to believe (very personal) anecdotes. As I said I won't argue any further, just pointing out the legitimacy of what I'm saying. Obviously, iHeart didn't listen to your anecdote.

Puerto Rico? comparable to the economic juggernaut that is New Jersey... one of the top 3 wealthiest states in the nation? One that's seeing modest population growth, not loss? This just affirms my opinoneven more.
My US data comes from Nielsen and the Arbitron Data before it. I was on the Arbitron PPM exploration and test committee starting in 2002 and ran an in-house 60 person research division as well and had, through the last two decades or mor access to all kinds of confidential data covered by non-disclosure agreements.

My anecdotes are supported by facts, and since much of the data I have is subject to non-disclosures or done by the radio groups I represented, my anecdotes they are prime examples of the real market data. And I use my real given names here, so you can look it up.

Back in Puerto Rico in the 30 prior years I got San Juan ranked in the SRDS publications as a Top 30 market for the first time and got to know all the government development and statistics folks…instrumental in getting Pulse and then Arbitron into the market.

NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation, one of the wold’s most horrible cities, Camden, and a number that are close to tying it. Puerto Rico is stunningly beautiful, has some of the world’s nicest people and has terrific radio.
 
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tell me, honestly, do you think that this station has miscategorized itself?
Yes, they have, and on purpose. CHR is an easier sell than “Spanish Churban” or some other more accurate term that would have less agency “curb appeal”.

Most big shop and buying service planners and buyers don’t know Spanish and will favor a good, well accepted kind of format name.

When I did a Spanish network of oldies stations in markets like Chicago, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phx, SD, LA, SF and others, we called it Spanish Adult Hits, not ”oldies” or even “classic hits” because buyers knew the Hispanic listener was an average of 12 years younger than the general, non-ethnic market and a format name that sounded old would have a huge barrier.

iHeart named the format with a term buyers would like and accept. They won’t use that name on the air, and there are many format names designed for advertisers and not used on the air, like CHR and AOR. And if you don’t deliver listeners, none of that matters, but creating objections is never good.
 
Yes, they have, and on purpose. CHR is an easier sell than “Spanish Churban” or some other more accurate term that would have less agency “curb appeal”.
FWIW, back in the day, Kiss 108 was considered CHR, even though they leaned highly towards R&B, and did not play all of the traditional Rock Hits, unless deemed necessary in order to keep their CHR reporting status.
 
Often stations changing format will continue it for a time on HD radio or a webstream, most likely jockless...satisfying some.
WBCN, WFNX, "Star 93.7", Evolution 101.7, WAAF etc But maybe they won't bother.

When WKLB went from 96.9 to 99.5, and later 102.5--2006*-- I believe it
was said the new freq would reach a good country audience north of Boston.Essex and Middlesex counties etc.

*--12-1-06 a freq swap with WCRB
WKLB started national anthem by Ricochet,
finishing it on 102.5 then going to Life Is A Highway. "Yes there is a Santa Claus and his name is Greater Media".
WCRB finished at previous freq w Copland's "Rodeo" then went to Hallelujah Chorus
And your point is......?
 
I know I said I was gone from here for good (posting), but I just had to reference 2015 Biff Tannen and say "this all seems very familiar."

Regarding this new format, I'm always for a station serving a format that is not widely available. I don't speak Spanish, but there was no full power FM in the city with this format. Much better than this competing in the same format. Two sports stations, two country stations, two classic rock stations, even multiple rock stations at one time. And let's not split hairs over CHR vs Hot AC vs whatever else it wants to call itself. It's basically mostly the same music with some variations thrown in to identify itself as "different." This is truly something different on FM outside the pocket of Low Power translators. I'm always for true variety, and the lack on FM is why I observe streaming and satellite slowly overtaking FM in dominance. Heck, we can't even get alternatives (meaning choices, not the format) on HD anymore. It's just a way to relay AM stations, now.
 
My US data comes from Nielsen and the Arbitron Data before it. I was on the Arbitron PPM exploration and test committee starting in 2002 and ran an in-house 60 person research division as well and had, through the last two decades or mor access to all kinds of confidential data covered by non-disclosure agreements.

My anecdotes are supported by facts, and since much of the data I have is subject to non-disclosures or done by the radio groups I represented, my anecdotes they are prime examples of the real market data. And I use my real given names here, so you can look it up.

Back in Puerto Rico in the 30 prior years I got San Juan ranked in the SRDS publications as a Top 30 market for the first time and got to know all the government development and statistics folks…instrumental in getting Pulse and then Arbitron into the market.

NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation, one of the wold’s most horrible cities, Camden, and a number that are close to tying it. Puerto Rico is stunningly beautiful, has some of the world’s nicest people and has terrific radio.
Well. no, it isn't. And you cannot prove that it is. But hey if it's just "much of your data" then provide what you do have, i'll wait.

I posted factual information and you just said "nah" because you are obsessed with being right even when you're very wrong (as you were about a Spanish Format and an Urban format being launched in the Boston market).

You're telling me Nielsen and Arbitron know how many Puerto Ricans immigrated to Massachusetts.... <--That's a joke of a statement.

You're going to argue that Nielson and Arbitron monitor that better than the United States Census Bureau? - a 230-year-old organization dedicated specifically to the purpose and dedicated to impartiality.

It takes all of 20 seconds and a google search to confirm Puerto Ricans still move to Massachusetts (I've done that part for you) and have never stopped moving there. You cannot find any legitimate information to the contrary because it simply does not exist.

^If you can find ANY information that does not support that statement-provide it here and I'll admit I'm wrong.


Please just stick to radio, not demography- you're embarrassing yourself.

Having high property taxes and a bad city is not a failed state, lmao. It's top 3 for education and median family income, one of the healthiest states, and is home to Princeton University...and has high taxes because it provides abundant public services. Never mind it's home to many of the countries wealthiest and safest municipalities.

Puerto Rico is by and largely poor, underdeveloped, uneducated, losing population, and literally more comparable to Jamaica than New Jersey- try to regain some credibility and stop with the nonsensical anecdotes. If high taxes equals a failed state then what is Denmark?

Furthermore, Camden is a small city of 74,000 people and no city in NJ approaches Camden levels of dysfunction but even Camden is much improved and seeing serious private and public investment. Can't say the same for the country that is Puerto Rico-that's why they're moving to Massachusetts ;)
 
Well. no, it isn't. And you cannot prove that it is. But hey if it's just "much of your data" then provide what you do have, i'll wait.
As I said, much of the data I have, just like the weekly and monthly subscriber PPN and monthly diary data I receive, is subject to confidentiality and non disclosure. I won’t reveal data on fallout or music tests or perceptual, either.
I posted factual information and you just said "nah" because you are obsessed with being right even when you're very wrong (as you were about a Spanish Format and an Urban format being launched in the Boston market).
And your data is not in the same format as Nielsen used, such as city by city data, or comes from a random probability sample such as the annual Census Bureau projections. For example, I did find public data on the growth of Hispanic populations in the government (not Nielsen) MSA (same initials, different Meaning) that demonstrated that the Hispanic population growth is almost entirely due to the higher Hispanic birth rate; second generation, even in markets with around a third Hispanic population or greater, is a light or non user of Spanish language radio.

That fact is why Entravision is launching a “bunch” of second generation Hispanic formats with just a touch of Spanish language rhythmic songs, English announcing and hip hop and pop English music to serve that generation whic does not regularly or intensively use Spanish languAge media.
You're telling me Nielsen and Arbitron know how many Puerto Ricans immigrated to Massachusetts.... <--That's a joke of a statement.
No, because they don’t use origin as a stratification variable. But see the local Umass study I mentioned. And the Puerto Rican government study available only in Spanish and in printed form shows almost no migration to the Northeast, with FL and GA leading and Texas following, but well behind.

There is a caveat: since Puerto Rican’s are born US citizens, the data cán be very inaccurate as there is nearly zero migration data, just as there is no “real” data on Californians migrating to Arizona or Texas.

You're going to argue that Nielson and Arbitron monitor that better than the United States Census Bureau? - a 230-year-old organization dedicated specifically to the purpose and dedicated to impartiality.
Yes, they do monitor the kind of data needed for radio surveys much better than the Census. And that is why there are a number of private consumer research companies that have, for decades, done vastly better than the Census bureau. In fact, Nielsen owns a company hat does that and many American marketers use them, not Census data.
It takes all of 20 seconds and a google search to confirm Puerto Ricans still move to Massachusetts (I've done that part for you) and have never stopped moving there. You cannot find any legitimate information to the contrary because it simply does not exist.
A few may move there, but I gave you data from Umass showing little external growth; the decay of the industrial northeast in the last 50 years and the change in Boricua migrants from manual labor rural origin persons to educated city dwellers who come from professional and skilled labor sectors makes the growing South more attractive than the troubled Northeast.
Please just stick to radio, not demography- you're embarrassing yourself.
As mentioned, I worked with the PR government to get PR and metro San Juan classified as a ranked US market by SRDS and got mainland radio ratings installed there. And i ran an in-house research division with over 60 employees for over a decade for the major Hispanic broadcaster and consulted them for another decade, Too. The reason we did this is that the “official” data is not accurate or actionable.
Having high property taxes and a bad city is not a failed state, lmao. It's top 3 for education and median family income, one of the healthiest states, and is home to Princeton University...and has high taxes because it provides abundant public services. Never mind it's home to many of the countries wealthiest and safest municipalities.
it also has extremely high cost of living, decaying larger cities, a dying resort industry and nearly no inbound migration other than defecting NYC residents.
Puerto Rico is by and largely poor, underdeveloped, uneducated, losing population, and literally more comparable to Jamaica than New Jersey- try to regain some credibility and stop with the nonsensical anecdotes. If high taxes equals a failed state then what is Denmark?
Puerto Rico is highly developed,and it’s economy was crippled by the ending of the Section 936 tax incentives. Prior to that, about 80% off all US prescription drugs (to cite one of many examples) were made there.

I lived and worked there for over 30 years; what is your knowledge of the Island.

Your statements about Puerto Rico are very offensive and totally inaccurate. Puerto Rico has long been the victim of a colonialist government attitude, but still had an economy comparable to MS or Arkansas, not Jamaica.
Furthermore, Camden is a small city of 74,000 people and no city in NJ approaches Camden levels of dysfunction but even Camden is much improved and seeing serious private and public investment. Can't say the same for the country that is Puerto Rico-that's why they're moving to Massachusetts ;)
I used it as an example. Look at Atlantic City or Trenton or many of the metro Philly or NYC cities or rural disaster zones like Vineland and add in the horrible cost of living and I’ll take TX or AZ or FL any day.
 
Puerto Rico has long been the victim of a colonialist government attitude, but still had an economy comparable to MS or Arkansas, not Jamaica.

"Puerto Rico: We're not quite Mississippi, but we're getting there!"

Obviously in Puerto Rico, there's nowhere near the economic or, certainly, the racial gap that Mississippians suffer, but the fact remains that Puerto Rico would be our poorest state if it were to achieve statehood. You seem to attribute that to the tight yoke of colonialist oppression, but wouldn't more economic progress have been possible by now?
 
"Puerto Rico: We're not quite Mississippi, but we're getting there!"

Obviously in Puerto Rico, there's nowhere near the economic or, certainly, the racial gap that Mississippians suffer, but the fact remains that Puerto Rico would be our poorest state if it were to achieve statehood. You seem to attribute that to the tight yoke of colonialist oppression, but wouldn't more economic progress have been possible by now?
First, there is racial discrimination in PR, with skin color beings judged more on scale, though. There is an old saying used in reference to wanting your kid to marry a whiter person than oneself: “hay que mejorar la raza” (you have to improve the breed) which is inherently a statement that “whiter is better”.

Note: the word “raza” in Spanish does not just mean “race” and it also means breed as in breeds of animals. Thus, in Spanish, Puerto Rican’s are a raza but not a race.

Puerto Rico was doing amazingly well economically until Congress repealed Section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code which gave tax havens to US companies doing manufacturing in PR. At one point, 80% Of prescription drugs in the US came from factories in PR; now it is zero.

There are several other things that Congress did that destroyed the economy, such as not removing the law that requires only US registered ships from transporting goods to PR, that have crippled the economy in the last 2 years.

Remember, Puerto Rico is a US colony and it can’t even vote in the House or Senate on bills that effect it.
 
The WODS and WAAF calls were moved to AM stations in the Wilkes- Barre area where they serve to repeat WILK NewsRadio.Visiting the area last year I heard the calls mentioned in a top of the hour ID...and could see the (what was then) Entercom building.Parked for now and who knows if they'd be brought back somewhere.So
when 97.7 went to the AAF simulcast, the WKAF calls came about--similar like what they do with
the various WEEI stations.So WZRM somehow can be associated with RuMba..those most people will just remember nickname and dial position.
 
Maybe not a big deal but new calls for 97.7 are a bit close to those of WZMR-LP, a low power station in E. Boston --94.9

No one but perhaps a couple of call-letter geeks will care, or even notice. I don't see a flea-powered hobby operation like Zumix forcing iHeart to change calls on 97.7 again.
 
It's up to the FCC to moderate any conflicts. iHeart applied for and were granted the letters.
I don't see anything happening in this case, but in the past 1460 in Brockton was granted WBZB, WBZ complained, and they ended up changing to WXBR.
 
I don't see anything happening in this case, but in the past 1460 in Brockton was granted WBZB, WBZ complained, and they ended up changing to WXBR.
Wasn't there also a WWBZ -- 700 in Athol, IIRC -- that had to change its call when WBZ raised a stink? Again, though, 1460 in Brockton and 700 in Athol weren't low power operations.
 
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