Isn't ESPN Deportes almost totally aimed at Mexican-American sports fans? That's why till recently, ESPN Deportes penetration into Eastern U.S. markets has been virtually non-existant.
David Eduardo states that Puerto Rico has no all-sports station, even though there are 6 or 7 AM stations doing talk in Spanish in San Juan. Why are none of them interested in having turn-key, low-cost talk programming from ESPN? There's no ESPN Deportes station in NYC. In Miami, a 1000 watt station far up the dial carries ESPN Deportes, but never shows in the ratings. No ESPN Deportes in Boston. By the way, the Yankees, Marlins and Red Sox all have Spanish language radio broadcasts but NOT the Phillies. Again, not enough interest.
Clearly in markets with Hispanic listeners from Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, there's really no interest in ESPN Deportes. Do the folks at WWDB know this? Do they know the history of trying to put a Tropical FM station in Philly? Will sales of the new WWDB be totally bogus? In the press release, Beasley talks about Philadelphia's sizable Hispanic population of nearly 12%. But as David Eduardo tells us, they're so diverse and assimilated that Spanish language radio in Philly accounts for less than a one share and TV only does a bit better.
Yet there is that unspoken but automatic ad sales for Spanish-language radio, no matter how bad the ratings. Larger corporations will put a percentage of their advertising money into Spanish-language media without asking too many questions. Case in point... WRLX West Palm Beach, which still carries the call letters of its former "relaxing" Soft AC format. Despite a so-so signal, WRLX was sometimes #1 12+ in that market. Clear Channel blew up the Soft AC format to go Latino Hits. Today the station is ranked around #15 in WPB, not even getting a two-share. Yet it makes more money due to "automatic" corporate Spanish-language advertising. Maybe that's what Beasley is counting on in Phi8lly, even if the station has no listeners.
Gregg
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