Timewarp said:
I don't recall seeing or hearing anything about this. Which stations are making the move?
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Hispanic stations
- Thread starter radiobrat
- Start date
I don't recall seeing or hearing anything about this. Which stations are making the move?
Still can't see it happening in Lafayette as a standalone...it would be a sales challenge of monumental proportion. Can this station really find enough accounts, and people who can sell the accounts, to be profitable with that as its only revenue stream? As the other poster said, are there stats about how many Hispanics in the Lafayette area are Spanish dominant? Not that its a scientific survey, but the hispanics I know personally are either English dominant or bilingual.
The best thing about Hispanic Radio is most people just dont get it.... They dont get that numbers dont count and and Hispanic radio isnt like traditional radio.
The census was wrong in 2000, the census was wrong after the "adjustment" and it's still off the mark today. Leave numbers out of it except for the numbers that count.... revenue stream!
The census was wrong in 2000, the census was wrong after the "adjustment" and it's still off the mark today. Leave numbers out of it except for the numbers that count.... revenue stream!
The question is still if the revenue stream is there. Are there Spanish language newspapers or shoppers in Lafayette making a go of it? If so, it might have a fighting chance, but still, I seriously doubt a standalone could pull it off. As far as numbers are concerned, I had read that Frankfort was 14% Hispanic. They do have a English as a Second Language program at the high school.
gr8oldies said:
Lafayette has a weekly Spanish version of the Journal & Courier. Not too sure about shopper magazines but I thought I saw a publication or two out there sometime in the past.
Lafayette isnt a very typical market. Advertisers in this market historically dont like controversial stations and dont like anything new or different.......even if they are getting respectable ratings. When WASK was news/talk...they were one of the top stations 12+...but IIRC the station was loosing money. The same can be said for The Rocket during its modern rock phase. Good ratings......very little return.
A Spanish format has the potential to be a ratings success...but will most likely not be able to generate the revenue needed for a standalone to do it. 1410 would be a good home for such a format since the station is literally making nothing right now and any revenue....no matter how little....would be a plus. Besides they have that WAZY and Rocket money to help support them.
Timewarp said:
The only B1 in the Lafayette area is WIBN.
I cant see John Balvich giving up that Illinois money to market his station exclusively to Lafayette nor do I see him dishing out the cash to move the transmitter closer to town.
Also...WIBN is third adjacent to WASK. They may be able to move a little closer but even if that happened their stick would have to be placed at least 20 miles outside of town.
I wonder which A is moving to town. I noticed WIMC Crawfordsville had a license mod back in March...but it doesnt go into detail as to exactly what they modified. The only other station that would make sense for a move-in is Sunny.
Boilermaker Country said:
WIMC has to deal with WXRD Crown Point, also on 103.9. So I don't know how much further north WIMC can move north without interfering with WXRD.
I can tell you in NW Indiana, while there are Chicago stations with formats catering to the hispanic population, no station in NW Indiana (Lake & Porter Counties) could make it on their own with any form of a 24 hour format to cater to the hispanic population. The closest in the past to having any hispanic programming have been on weekends on WJOB. Currently, the closest to any hispanic programming is WNDZ 750 Portage, but the station targets Chicago with that signal, and while they don't target Milwaukee, it's heard up there too, and even better since their upgrade. Plus Newsweb brokers all their timeslots on their AM stations. I don't know the situation is with Lafayette, or some other small markets, but someone mentioned, it would take a station within a cluster to be able to keep a spanish language program on the air. A stand-alone would struggle. So I don't see WGLM going to any spanish language programming, or even WIBN. In fact, WIBN would alienate the listeners in Benton County, plus any listeners & advertisers in Benton County, plus listeners & advertisers in Illinois. So that station wouldn't make sense at all, when it's barely reachable in Tippacanoe County.
Boilermaker Country said:
You gotta be kidding me right.... Like Lafayette business owners and people are some how different... "Lafayette isnt a very typical market". Typical to the rest of Indiana or typical to Bolivia?
This sounds more like a typical sales persons excuse for failure, a justification as to why they arent selling their product. The story they make up in their head to deny that they suck. Un willing to step out of their own comfort zone. Fire 'em and move on.
Come on every market is that way about change, you just need real production, real promotion, a real driven sales team to drive the change. It doesnt matter if its polka or top 40, any changes to a stations format is seen as controversial by the people who do not know any better.
Are there really that many Spanish-speaking people in Danville that 107.1 no longer serves its city of license? Danville is the county seat of Hendricks county. Are there that many Spanish speakers in Brownsburg, Danville, Avon and Plainfield that 107.1 doesn't serve anyone in the entire county? Next time the license comes up for renewal I hope a local group is ready to challenge for it.
There are maybe 150,000 Hispanic persons within the service area of WEDJ 107.1 That
is greater than all the population of Hendricks County. I'd say they are serving the public interest.
Did they fire you? Perhaps you should apply for 98.9 MHz in Danville during the next LPFM filing
window.
is greater than all the population of Hendricks County. I'd say they are serving the public interest.
Did they fire you? Perhaps you should apply for 98.9 MHz in Danville during the next LPFM filing
window.
Timewarp said:
That must have been quite a magnifying glass you were using. Maybe indeed. Maybe not.
Timewarp said:
Good luck with 98.9.....ain't gonna happen until the FCC does away with the unnecessary channel spacing requirements for LPFM.....not to mention fighting Calvalry Church (and it's awesome ability for satcasting) for the CP...We never realized until we filed that they had a facility in Pittsboro..(yeah, right). Our group has been down that road once and we're prepared to do it again if and when the rules are changed. If it ends up being a 10 watt allocation, then it may or may not be worth the effort to put something on the air that will barely make it out of Danville. It was a hearbreaker to see our app dismissed because of folks like Eddie Fritts and NPR.
As far as 107.1...I worked there during the WGRT days..it was fun, the place was a dump, and it barely broke even. Anything that wasn't bolted down eventually disappeared and you could ALWAYS count on being knocked off the air during a thunderstorm.
More formats and studio re-builds than I can count, and all I can say is that if everything had been run properly (programming, sales, management), it today would have still been a very successful local station. Unfortunately, they kept trying to be something they weren't capable of. I guess it and the sister AM station are doing ok as Hispanic, and if it's making big Marvin some money, then so be it. Their story always was that they could not get enough local advertising to pay the bills, so brokered air time and a new format became attractive options.
As far as 107.1...I worked there during the WGRT days..it was fun, the place was a dump, and it barely broke even. More formats and studio re-builds than I can count, and all I can say is that if everything had been run properly (programming, sales, management), it today would have still been a very successful local station.Their story always was that they could not get enough local advertising to pay the bills, so brokered air time and a new format became attractive options.
[/quote]
Indy Dan, you've probably also seen the posts about the broadcast pros who've decided to make a professional operation out of the Shelbyville AM station. To serve the local community. If you have a group like that, go after 107.1 again and make it truly a Hendricks county radio station.
[/quote]
Indy Dan, you've probably also seen the posts about the broadcast pros who've decided to make a professional operation out of the Shelbyville AM station. To serve the local community. If you have a group like that, go after 107.1 again and make it truly a Hendricks county radio station.
I'd like to see 107.1 a local station again myself...just as I would WIAU in Johnson County. But the last thing I'd want to see is the FCC telling anyone what format to program. The Shelbyville station on 1520 had slipped into such a poor position that it made a sale to some passionate & professional average joes possible. 107.1 has quite a ways to fall before that same scenario could be repeated. But when the demos are right, a better signal will take the hispanic format away from them & at that point, the dynamics will change yet again...and 107.1 could well go full circle back to Hendricks County. Bide your time Dan...and be ready to grab that opportunity if and when it happens.
In the case of Danville, how many people who live there also work, shop and play exclusively in Danville? Don't you need to be in an area a little more removed from the entire metro area to make a go of it from a listener and retail advertiser standpoint? I know from some experience, even in Springfield, OH which is its own city, radio listeners mostly listen to Dayton and shop everywhere but Springfield.
Three radio stations have packed up and left Hendricks County. Money talks guys!
If you want local radio to return to Danville, than somebody has to pay for it.
You need mom and pop businesses to support it. Hendricks County Indiana has
been taken over by giant chains who will not pay the bills.
If you want local radio to return to Danville, than somebody has to pay for it.
You need mom and pop businesses to support it. Hendricks County Indiana has
been taken over by giant chains who will not pay the bills.
I was the PD when WSYW went over to Spanish and 107.1 went to smooth Jazz. I lived in Avon and I had a serious problem with why we were not concentrating on Danville & Hendricks county. However it is very true that most of the people who are living there are using the area as a "bedroom" and living and shopping in other places. They are for better or worse "Indianapolis people". WSYW had long abandoned Hendricks county, and there was no legacy of a "Local" station. Had the station stayed in Danville and done an entirely local act, they might now have a decent, small local operation. But to try and go back and do it today would be next to impossible. Conversely, I am now the GM of a small local station in northeast Pennsylvania coal country, and the station has a long legacy of being the "community" station. We will be 75 years old this December. While we are included in the 68th market, the community is separated from the main part of the market which makes being the "local" much easier. While we're not a big biller, we do have decent revenue and we do local news, high school sports and a lot of the quaint things that make a little station go. We even do Little League Baseball [Insert cringe here] and that happens to be the #3 revenue maker on the station. In the long run WSYW/WEDJ did the right thing, and they are doing better than they ever have.gr8oldies said:
"In the long run WSYW/WEDJ did the right thing, and they are doing better than they ever have" 
You should have said they "WERE" doing better than they ever had! Dodge has all but bankrupted those stations.... Tic Toc, get your resumes polished and in, soon the preverbial fodder hitting the fan is about to occur. In typical Dodge fashion he has lowered revenues and tripled debt. He needs to be a PR guy for some big company and stay away from radio..... unless the point is to ruin them.
You should have said they "WERE" doing better than they ever had! Dodge has all but bankrupted those stations.... Tic Toc, get your resumes polished and in, soon the preverbial fodder hitting the fan is about to occur. In typical Dodge fashion he has lowered revenues and tripled debt. He needs to be a PR guy for some big company and stay away from radio..... unless the point is to ruin them.
MACK184 said:
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