Do you think Latino 96.3 has run its course??

[HIPHOPJUNKI]

do you think this station is do for a makeover

 

[wdb2003]

If SBS makes any changes its back to Spanish music. AMP was the final nail in their coffin. Im not sure how much their billing is. I hardly hear anybody talk about the station. Myself I havent listen to the station in a long time. Doesnt 93.9 and 107.1 play the same muisc?

 

[davideduardo]

If SBS makes any changes its back to Spanish music. AMP was the final nail in their coffin.

KXOL is (English) hiphop an (Spanish) reggaetón. It's competition is more KPWR than Amp.

Im not sure how much their billing is.

Very low. There are essentially no 12-24 Hispanic buys.

I hardly hear anybody talk about the station. Myself I havent listen to the station in a long time. Doesnt 93.9 and 107.1 play the same muisc?

No, those two are pop stations. KXOL is rhythmic, and while there are some crossover songs between the formats, the formats are entirely different.

 

[wdb2003]

Thanks David well we all know as long as SBS owns it Spanish will be its main target which is fine. I just dont see the format making any progress. Question is what other Spanish format could work?

 

[BJordan]

I listened maybe once or twice they play the same music that you hear on Power 106, KGGI, Amp Radio and KIIS-FM such. Wow I thought that Latino 96.3 was a the same station that took many of KKBT's and KPWR's listeners.

 

[justpassingthough]

I wonder how much Latino put themselves into a corner with a name like Latino? Sure, Latino listeners make up a substantial part of the audience for KPWR and KAMP, but there are certainly Asian, White and Black listeners too. It would be interesting to see if Latino would have benefited by going with a more neutral name like Hot 96.

I know SBS is primarily a Spanish language broadcaster, but it seems a little shortsighted to try to compete with the big rhythmic stations in a market like LA and immediately handicap yourself by not fully appealing to the potential audience.

 

[davideduardo]

I wonder how much Latino put themselves into a corner with a name like Latino? Sure, Latino listeners make up a substantial part of the audience for KPWR and KAMP, but there are certainly Asian, White and Black listeners too. It would be interesting to see if Latino would have benefited by going with a more neutral name like Hot 96.

Latino has always had two core characteristics, reggaetón (the Spanish language Afroantillean music with origins in Panamá) and Spanglish. The programming has leaned in different directions on the balance scale in each of these two areas, but no matter what, the only audience group it could ever appeal to without totally changing format is Hispanics.

I know SBS is primarily a Spanish language broadcaster, but it seems a little shortsighted to try to compete with the big rhythmic stations in a market like LA and immediately handicap yourself by not fully appealing to the potential audience.

Latino, starting with the name, had some characteristics that made it uniquely able to compete for Hispanic listeners against stations like Power. But the station's fate depends on the core element, reggaetón, and that music has had lots of ups and downs.

As mentioned, the real issue has been the lack of a significant ad target they can sell to.

 

[justpassingthough]

I wonder how much Latino put themselves into a corner with a name like Latino? Sure, Latino listeners make up a substantial part of the audience for KPWR and KAMP, but there are certainly Asian, White and Black listeners too. It would be interesting to see if Latino would have benefited by going with a more neutral name like Hot 96.

Latino has always had two core characteristics, reggaetón (the Spanish language Afroantillean music with origins in Panamá) and Spanglish. The programming has leaned in different directions on the balance scale in each of these two areas, but no matter what, the only audience group it could ever appeal to without totally changing format is Hispanics.

I know SBS is primarily a Spanish language broadcaster, but it seems a little shortsighted to try to compete with the big rhythmic stations in a market like LA and immediately handicap yourself by not fully appealing to the potential audience.

Latino, starting with the name, had some characteristics that made it uniquely able to compete for Hispanic listeners against stations like Power. But the station's fate depends on the core element, reggaetón, and that music has had lots of ups and downs.

As mentioned, the real issue has been the lack of a significant ad target they can sell to.

I'm a white guy that listened to reggaeton as an outgrowth of listening to hip hop- and would occassionally listen to Latino and watch countdown shows on MTV Tr3s, as a result. So while I'm just an audience of one, I was wondering if there were others out there that enjoyed the music but didn't feel like the station was for them.

As you said, though, Latino has focused on the reggaeton and Spanglish to varying degress, and this has probably had more of an impact on the station than anything. It seemed unfocused, even at its best. I would occcassionally listen to Eddie Uno in the mornings, even with my VERY limited Spanish language abilities, but I essentially stopped listening entirely once the morning show went away (which was around the same time that reggaeton experienced a marked decrease in its influence over hip hop).

 

[HIPHOPJUNKI]

i know they had trouble in the morning show and that girl that's on right now has an annoying voice and once i tuned in all she talked was statistics.i think they need to change there name to focus more on other audience ,when some one hears the name LATINO right away they think Spanish.

 

[Identnut]

Thanks David well we all know as long as SBS owns it Spanish will be its main target which is fine. I just dont see the format making any progress. Question is what other Spanish format could work?

Spanish Top 40, probably, as la Mega 96.3.

Of course, they'd be like the Puerto Rico Mega, not the New York Mega.

 

[davideduardo]

When some one hears the name LATINO right away they think Spanish.

That's the whole idea. The station is supposed to complement KLAX in sales. This is just like how KBIG and KOST and KYSR and KHHT all complement each other in the sales area for CC.

Successful programming strategies also have a matching sales strategy.

The real issue is whether there is a big enough Spanish / Spanglish audience and sales demand for the existing format or some modification of it.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I wonder how much Latino put themselves into a corner with a name like Latino? Sure, Latino listeners make up a substantial part of the audience for KPWR and KAMP, but there are certainly Asian, White and Black listeners too. It would be interesting to see if Latino would have benefited by going with a more neutral name like Hot 96.

Latino has always had two core characteristics, reggaetón (the Spanish language Afroantillean music with origins in Panamá) and Spanglish. The programming has leaned in different directions on the balance scale in each of these two areas, but no matter what, the only audience group it could ever appeal to without totally changing format is Hispanics.

I know SBS is primarily a Spanish language broadcaster, but it seems a little shortsighted to try to compete with the big rhythmic stations in a market like LA and immediately handicap yourself by not fully appealing to the potential audience.

Latino, starting with the name, had some characteristics that made it uniquely able to compete for Hispanic listeners against stations like Power. But the station's fate depends on the core element, reggaetón, and that music has had lots of ups and downs.

As mentioned, the real issue has been the lack of a significant ad target they can sell to.

I'm a white guy that listened to reggaeton as an outgrowth of listening to hip hop- and would occassionally listen to Latino and watch countdown shows on MTV Tr3s, as a result. So while I'm just an audience of one, I was wondering if there were others out there that enjoyed the music but didn't feel like the station was for them.

As you said, though, Latino has focused on the reggaeton and Spanglish to varying degress, and this has probably had more of an impact on the station than anything. It seemed unfocused, even at its best. I would occcassionally listen to Eddie Uno in the mornings, even with my VERY limited Spanish language abilities, but I essentially stopped listening entirely once the morning show went away (which was around the same time that reggaeton experienced a marked decrease in its influence over hip hop).

As an African American (or the simplified way to say it, black guy), I enjoyed Club 95 Latino Vibe back when they first came out. However, their "secondary slogan" (used with "reggaeton y mas"), "For Latino's by Latino's" did make me feel a little like an outsider. I didn't think it made much sense when they started using "Arizona's Party Station", either. But I do like the current "toda tu musica" they use now.

 

[wdb2003]

I listened maybe once or twice they play the same music that you hear on Power 106, KGGI, Amp Radio and KIIS-FM such. Wow I thought that Latino 96.3 was a the same station that took many of KKBT's and KPWR's listeners.

It was the station that took away KKBT latino base listeners. Emmis kinda took it personal and filed a lawsuit aganist SBS because they share the same tower and somewhat the same music. KXOL relocated to another tower which still gives them good coverage around Los Angeles just not a Mt. Wilson station anymore. At the time the format was blooming all over the country in New York, Houston ,Dallas and Pheniox. Now most of them are Spanish Pop stations. I guess the whole reggaeton movement slowed down. Since then alot of Pop music has been on the playlist for a few years. Do they still have mix shows on friday and saturday nights?

 

[jonbruce]

96.3 was never on Wilson. They were on the old 1150 site for decades and moved to Flint Peak. That site is owned by 105.9 and they got kicked off and forced to move to the old 1500 site on the mountain that also has 106.7. That site is ok, but not as good as Flint Peak.

 

[davideduardo]

It was the station that took away KKBT latino base listeners. Emmis kinda took it personal and filed a lawsuit aganist SBS because they share the same tower and somewhat the same music. KXOL relocated to another tower which still gives them good coverage around Los Angeles just not a Mt. Wilson station anymore. At the time the format was blooming all over the country in New York, Houston ,Dallas and Pheniox. Now most of them are Spanish Pop stations. I guess the whole reggaeton movement slowed down. Since then alot of Pop music has been on the playlist for a few years. Do they still have mix shows on friday and saturday nights?

By the time Latino appeared, KKBT had severely declined and was not holding onto its Hispanic listeners. Power was the beneficiary of that. Latino impacted KPWR, KSSE and to some extent, KIIS when it went on.

KXOL was bought in 2000 by SBS and moved its antenna from Montecito Heights (the hill with three towers, the middle one being taller, visibal around the intersection of the 5 and the 110 between Dodger Stadium and, I think, Highland Park) to a leased location on an Emmis-owned Flint Peak tower Flint is sort of "above" the 210 NE of the Colorado exit, and has the 210 to the other side.

The Flint site is the Emmis auxiliary site. Power and Exitos are both on Wilson. Flint is also the KLAX main site, and the auxiliary site for KSCA and KLVE.

Flint is a good site for LA Basin coverage. But the SBS contract with Emmis specified they would not compete with KPWR. And they did. So they had to move, finding a home with CBS (who owns a tiny bit of SBS) on the far less desirable Verdugo site built for KROQ AM and FM, complete with an underground (or is that "under rock") bunker.

As mentioned, KFSG /KXOL never lived on Wilson.

 

[davideduardo]

Thanks David well we all know as long as SBS owns it Spanish will be its main target which is fine. I just dont see the format making any progress. Question is what other Spanish format could work?

Spanish Top 40, probably, as la Mega 96.3.

Of course, they'd be like the Puerto Rico Mega, not the New York Mega.

LA has two top 40's, KSSE and KXOS. There is room for one.

 

[Identnut]

Thanks David well we all know as long as SBS owns it Spanish will be its main target which is fine. I just dont see the format making any progress. Question is what other Spanish format could work?

Spanish Top 40, probably, as la Mega 96.3.

Of course, they'd be like the Puerto Rico Mega, not the New York Mega.

LA has two top 40's, KSSE and KXOS. There is room for one.

They'd certainly have a better signal than KSSE. Plus, SBS knows how to program this kind of station well. La Mega is one of the biggest stations in Puerto Rico right now.

How much reggaetón do the other stations play? No doubt Mega 96.3 would still be playing quite a bit.

 

[mandella]

The music seems better suited for Miami, or New York City, than west coast hispanic. Reggaeton has a more tropical vibe, and L.A. is a Mexican market. Not quite the same musical taste. It's a small niche to serve.

 

[davideduardo]

The music seems better suited for Miami, or New York City, than west coast hispanic. Reggaeton has a more tropical vibe, and L.A. is a Mexican market. Not quite the same musical taste. It's a small niche to serve.

It's not a small niche. Look at the leading CHR/pop stations in Chile or Buenos Aires... they play 40% or more reggaetón cuts on their playlists. And neither of those locations is "East Coast" or Carribean.

And the audience for KXOL is bilingual or even English dominant, so the appeal is based on the tastes developed here, not the country the listener's parents came from.

Tropical rhythms have had as much appeal in Mexico as elsewhere, going back 50 or 60 years.

 

[davideduardo]

They'd certainly have a better signal than KSSE.

Not really. The 60 dbu for KXOL is about 11.4 million, while for KSSE it is 10.6 million. Limiting data to Hispanics and only in the LA metro, they are almost at parity. KSSE is two-thirds of the way up the Mt Wilson / Mt Harvard slopes, about 3000 feet over the LA Basin. KXOL is on a glorified hill called Mt Verdugo, at about half that height. The power levels for both are comparable, but KSSE is much closer to the center of population, while KXOL is well to the north of the center of population.

Plus, SBS knows how to program this kind of station well.

No, they don't. They knew how to hire a big morning show in a diary market... they have no success with a pop/chr format on the mainland, anywhere.

La Mega is one of the biggest stations in Puerto Rico right now.

And that is based on "talk" shows in a diary market. Both Reggaetón 94 and KQ beat Mega's music dayparts very significantly.

How much reggaetón do the other stations play? No doubt Mega 96.3 would still be playing quite a bit.

They play the reggaetón hits that are mass appeal, just as CHR stations in Mexico City do. Or the way that KQ 105 does.