• 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

Any format flips on the horizon for LA?

How could KROQ bill that high when the alternative rock format is on the wane and Kevin & Bean are long gone?
All kinds of reasons, ranging from market tradition, results for direct accounts, relationships with local agencies, good sales staff.

Agencies don't look at format trends. They look at impressions in the last 4 to 6 books.
 
Is there many hispanic radio listeners that listen to english speaking radio formats
Where?

In highly assimilated San Antonio y Albuquerque, with over 50% Hispanic population, 80% of Hispanic listening is to English language stations. In less assimilated Los Angeles, it is about 50% rash way.

In Latin America in urban centers, upper and middle income populations predominantly listen to stations that play music in English.
 
Hey David or if anyone can spill the tea on this question. AM870 the answer back in Dec got rid of Brian Whitman on the morning show after 8 years and after 6 months settled on grant stichfield. I assume they did that to make the show all conservative. My question did this improve the numbers in the morning with Jennifer Horn or make them worse or did they stay the same?

I liked the dynamic they had with ben Shapiro and Brian.
 
Where?

In highly assimilated San Antonio y Albuquerque, with over 50% Hispanic population, 80% of Hispanic listening is to English language stations. In less assimilated Los Angeles, it is about 50% rash way.

In Latin America in urban centers, upper and middle income populations predominantly listen to stations that play music in English.
I’m not sure of the exact demographics, but my company is HQ in Phoenix. About half of my coworkers are Hispanic. Almost none of them speak Spanish, much less listen to Spanish language radio.

Just looking at demographics don’t tell the whole story of who’s listening to what.
 
I’m not sure of the exact demographics, but my company is HQ in Phoenix. About half of my coworkers are Hispanic. Almost none of them speak Spanish, much less listen to Spanish language radio.
There are two factors here... at least!

First, second generation and later Hispanics don't get formal Spanish in school. So they tend to speak... if they do at all... Spanish with family and friends but not at work, particularly if they have an "anglo" employer.

Second, assimilation by those born here means they pick up on the music and lifestyle of the USA, not of Mexico or Honduras or Cuba. Kids like to be part of a group that makes them feel good, and that usually means speaking English and "being American".

In some places like San Antonio and Albuquerque and Fresno we have things like the Tejano culture in parts of Texas... a blend of some things Mexican and some American but very distinct.

But there are still inner cities in large markets where an immigrant and their family can get by very nicely only speaking Spanish with just enough English to get through school. Those communities tend to be the ones we jokingly say "you need a passport to go into" because they are so culturally different from the typical middle class neighborhood of the same metro areas.
Just looking at demographics don’t tell the whole story of who’s listening to what.
A few take advantage of it. One of my daughters is a lawyer and does visa work for multi-national companies that need visas and work papers for employees and contribuitors to come to the US or to go and manage a division in another country. She has law degrees in four countries and can write lawyer-talk in 6 languages: that gives here a big advantage over the lawyer from someplace in the Midwest who only does English and thinks the "problem with France is that there are too many people who don't speak English".
 
Last edited:
Hey David or if anyone can spill the tea on this question. AM870 the answer back in Dec got rid of Brian Whitman on the morning show after 8 years and after 6 months settled on grant stichfield. I assume they did that to make the show all conservative. My question did this improve the numbers in the morning with Jennifer Horn or make them worse or did they stay the same?

I liked the dynamic they had with ben Shapiro and Brian.
I will look, but the problem is that the margin of error with stations that have under a 1 share is so immense (+/- 50% in most cases) that trying to analyze dayparts is often going to show that margin of error and not actual moves.

Through the November of last year, KRLA in AM Drive was in the 2 to 3 share 18+ range, but by December it fell below a 2 and entered 2022 at just over a 1 share and is now in the 0.9 to 1.0 average range.

Overall, all week, in 18+ they peaked at a 2.6 last October and now have a 0.9 so the whole station is off by two-thirds. All dayparts have fallen, not just mornings.
 
I will look, but the problem is that the margin of error with stations that have under a 1 share is so immense (+/- 50% in most cases) that trying to analyze dayparts is often going to show that margin of error and not actual moves.

Through the November of last year, KRLA in AM Drive was in the 2 to 3 share 18+ range, but by December it fell below a 2 and entered 2022 at just over a 1 share and is now in the 0.9 to 1.0 average range.

Overall, all week, in 18+ they peaked at a 2.6 last October and now have a 0.9 so the whole station is off by two-thirds. All dayparts have fallen, not just mornings.
That is mostly due to despair in the conservative community. They lost the election, leftism is all around them (especially in California), and they feel that listening to more right-wing talk radio isn't gong to do them any more good. Also, ratings are down across the board for conservative radio since the passing of Rush. He had coattails, and there is nobody out there even close to being able to fill his shoes.
 
I liked Brian Whitman not his politics but he was very talented. His Trump impression is perfect. . So I guess getting rid of brian was the answer from the numbers you sight. I don't like grant as much. I do his views but he is just so so. I think Dr drew would have been a good replacement for he was a guest host with Ms horn once.

Does anyone know the reason they let him go? My guess is to have one voice on the show a conservative one not conservative and liberal but that's just a guess. I mean why eight years then. Seems like for ben Shapiro leaving the answer was the answer for him. It seems it has paid off.
 
Last edited:
That is mostly due to despair in the conservative community. They lost the election, leftism is all around them (especially in California), and they feel that listening to more right-wing talk radio isn't gong to do them any more good. Also, ratings are down across the board for conservative radio since the passing of Rush. He had coattails, and there is nobody out there even close to being able to fill his shoes.
Also, the hosts no longer have individual talking points. It’s all “the election was stolen” and “this is a witch hunt” or else. I didn’t always agree with them, but I did think some news/talk hosts were fairly logical in their views prior to the last 5 years. Limbaugh and Levin weren’t initially thrilled with Trump then they suddenly changed course (gotta please the audience) and any common sense went out the window. I’m an independent and listened to conservative talk and NPR, but these days with the brain rot on conservative talk radio I really can’t handle it anymore. These stations are playing to an even more narrow audience now since it seems to be “the election was stolen or else.”
 
There are two factors here... at least!

First, second generation and later Hispanics don't get formal Spanish in school. So they tend to speak... if they do at all... Spanish with family and friends but not at work, particularly if they have an "anglo" employer.

Second, assimilation by those born here means they pick up on the music and lifestyle of the USA, not of Mexico or Honduras or Cuba. Kids like to be part of a group that makes them feel good, and that usually means speaking English and "being American".

In some places like San Antonio and Albuquerque and Fresno we have things like the Tejano culture in parts of Texas... a blend of some things Mexican and some American but very distinct.


Thanks for the info, sir! I’ve often wondered how many markets in the west/southwest are truly composed when it comes to Latino residents. “30% of the market is of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity” doesn’t mean very much when you don’t know if they’re of Mexican descent and go back 4 generations in the US and only speak English or if they just arrived and speak little English from Ecuador.

How are Vegas and Phoenix when it comes to the Latino population? Are there more fully assimilated multi generational residents of Latino origin (like Albuquerque or San Antonio), or more like, say, Dallas and especially Atlanta where the population is heavily first/second generation where there are still a lot of ties to their heritage?

I know the individuals I mentioned earlier that I (remotely) work with on a daily basis in Scottsdale/Phoenix are 20s-40s and are 100% American culturally with very few to no ties to their Mexican heritage. Some may speak “Spanglish” but few speak Spanish at all, home or not. Ironically, with the talk regarding KROQ, a number of those of Latino origin that I talk to daily are rock and even country fans.
 
Also, the hosts no longer have individual talking points. It’s all “the election was stolen” and “this is a witch hunt” or else. I didn’t always agree with them, but I did think some news/talk hosts were fairly logical in their views prior to the last 5 years.

I think you're right, and explains why iHeart moved the syndicated talk to KEIB and focused KFI as a local station with unique hosts who are more entertainers than ideologues. To their credit, they made that move over ten years ago, and it's really paid off for them.

In another thread, I compared the topics of today's conservative talk radio hosts to the narrow playlists of CHR radio. But in point of fact, the list of permissible topics is even smaller.
 
How are Vegas and Phoenix when it comes to the Latino population? Are there more fully assimilated multi generational residents of Latino origin (like Albuquerque or San Antonio), or more like, say, Dallas and especially Atlanta where the population is heavily first/second generation where there are still a lot of ties to their heritage?
Vegas and Phoenix are predominantly first generation immigrants from Mexico and their children who tend to be bilingual and lean towards English dominant.

Atlanta is a mixture of Mexican and some Central American and Puerto Rican. The Puerto Ricans are all migrants from the bad economy of the last 25 to 30 years on the Island. Many if not most are middle class and professionals... they are more likely to listen to a station that plays the same kind of English language music that they listened to on the big music stations in Puerto Rico. The Mexican population is the opposite... rural in origin, very limited education (the Mexican Consulate has data that says about 6th grade for men, less for women) and radio preferences for the country music of Mexico that we call "Regional Mexican" and they call "grupera".
 
There wouldn't be much of an upside for sales---it would be upper demos on a non-city-grade AM.

The FM is only Country because competitors bailed out of the format and Saul saw a rare chance to be the only station in L.A. doing Country. Apart from that, Saul will always try to keep Standards, Classical and Oldies alive---pretty much in that order. I don't think he's even considering billing---but I'm sure he thinks it would be nice if 1260 could pay its own power bill. As of a few years ago in the oldies format, it couldn't.
I believe it's a personal taste issue...Classical is Saul's first love, he put 105.1 on the air with Classical music in the late 1950's. He switched KBCA to Jazz a couple of years later because Classical fans were still very much glued to KFAC 1330. I think 1260 is still Classical because Saul simply wants his own Classical broadcast station in this market. And as I have said in other posts, except for perhaps a bit too much compression (which I don't think is necessary ) the KMZT audio is excellent through wide band radios.
 
As a 31 year old, maybe I’m just too optimistic. But, I just don’t see AM dying as a whole. There’s always going to be an audience for it. People age, their tastes change. I used to listen to Amp, now I’ll tune into KNX (AM or FM). Listeners will always be there. I work in local TV, and everyone has pretty much predicted the end of local news for years due to streaming apps, and TV companies shedding excessive salaries. I can guarantee you in 30 years, if there’s something actually compelling (KSPN/KLAC for example) I’ll tune in. Not all 20-30 year olds stare at their phones all day, and/or get their news from Tik Tok. There’s always going to be a market for AM radio, especially in Top 10 markets.
The magic of radio is its immediacy, and it's free. No sub required just have some spare batteries!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom