The difference is that religious Anglo and Black Americans are mostly protestant while religious Spanish speaking Mexican Americans are majority Catholic. There is simply not as many Spanish speaking protestants to go around like English speaking protestants.
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January numbers are here
- Thread starter Mediafrog+
- Start date
Changes within a whole demographic do not suddenly occur between two or three books.
As to the TU CHR station, it has always been what I would call "sloppily" programmed, often to benefit artists working with UVN TV and streaming services in cross promotion.
That has changed in recent years. Just look at Puerto Rico, previously thought of as an all-Catholic "country". It is now more than 50% non-Catholic Christian, and 100% are Spanish dominant.
Might I mentioned Vida Unida is more of a Universal Religion station. A non denomination church type of station. Not the same as Radio Aleluya, Centro Cristiano and other that cater more to an Evangelical community. Vida Unida doesn’t mix religion to their programming. Yes they worship God and play nothing but Christian music, but their programming aims more to spread love and hope. While Aleluya, Centro and the rest preach religion, about dress codes, worshipping saints etc etc.
Also Vision Latina although doesn’t claim to be a catholic religion they are closer to Catholic that’s Evangelical with their holy water, holy robes.
Also Vision Latina although doesn’t claim to be a catholic religion they are closer to Catholic that’s Evangelical with their holy water, holy robes.
Brazil is a key example of a Latin American country where explosive Evangelical growth has changed society, becoming a major influence in national politics.
Another Houston area station that appears to be mostly Spanish language CCM is Radio Amanecer KPFG-LP 94.9 in Pasadena. I’ve only sampled the station when within range, but they do seem to emphasize that they are “your place for Christian music.” I’d be curious how much musical overlap there is between them and Vida Unida or Radio Nueva Vida.
KPFG does stream: Radio Amanecer 94.9 F.M.
It has. But this is Houston. Looking almost strictly at Mexican religious demographics will suffice (for now at least).
Of course Central America is trending just like Puerto Rico and Cuba are. Why that is? It would involve us digging into several religious and political discussions I just don't have the energy for. Especially since we now know that the CIA and other American agencies helped spread protestant movements across Latin America during the Cold War.
So the next time you see a protestant migrant, just know that his entire life could be the result of a CIA psyops 😬.
Hence why we are comparing it to Amor Celestial.
I just don't like the chances that a rimshot commercial station would have against an established semi local non-commercial station. Religion can be a touchy commodity to sell. It takes a very unique and experienced approach to do so.
Salem Media has become an expert in commercializing Christianity, so it can be done. But it isn't easy to do so since profiting off of God is technically not allowed per basic Christian teachings. But then again protestants have a history of molding religion around their needs and desires. So I assume they have a pretty good playbook on convincing hesitant protestant business owners to 'see the light'. I'm not sure it would be as easy to convince Catholic business owners to buy an ad on Amor Celestial.
Sustaining is one way to put it. I personally like the word "subsidize". And do you know who doesn't like the word "subsidize"? The private equity shareholders.
The market is now less than 80% Mexican heritage, and non-Catholics are becoming more and more prevalent.
That is among the worst conspiracy theories. I lived and worked in Latin America from the 60’s through the fall of the Berlin Wall. I never saw any concerted effort to suddenly evangelize people. Yes, we had the whit-shirted Mormons and various evangelical groups, but they tended to be home grown and not organized.
Not really.
Yes. But the numbers still don't favor a commercial Spanish CCM to go up against an already existing non-commercial Spanish CCM.
The numbers just aren't there...yet.
It was a baseless conspiracy theory once.
But there is now evidence pointing at this being true thanks to declassifications. We know that the CIA was actively encouraging and in some cases even funding missionaries as a way to keep tabs on rural regions and to suppress the spread of communism. Liberation Theology, which aligned with Catholicism, was viewed as a threat and several tactics were used to undermine it before it brewed communist sentiment.
The protestant spread wasn't completely organic as it was once believed to be.
The undermining went beyond missionaries on bikes. To keep this to the topic of radio, there is even evidence that Trans World Radio received funding to help counter communism. The question if TWR (or any of the other missionaries) knew they were being used by our government as anti communist tools is a different subject. I'm sure they were just happy to receive funding for what they viewed to be a righteous cause.
20 years ago, I would've written this off as a conspiracy theory as well. But with every batch of declassifications, there is more "aaahh, that explains a lot" moments. But we digress, I don't have the energy to derail this thread. Everyone has AI and search engines to ask and do their own research. I just think it is important to note why there is a difference in religious preferences between Mexicans and the rest of Central America for the purposes of radio.
Back to our regularly schedule topic;
I don't think anyone is expecting Amor Celestial to wind up on 93.3. Wouldn't rule it out completely, but extremely unlikely. It was already tried on KLAT and didn't last long.
Radio Nueva Vida is much more likely. Non-commercial service from a huge religious broadcast organization, which I don't see ignoring one of the largest Spanish speaking markets in the U.S.
I think those missionaries were already against Communism without any CIA influence. Communism has generally been anti-religious, as it saw churches as tools used by the traditional power elite to create a compliant populace that didn't question the existing order of society. Missionaries and Communists have long been pulling at opposite ends of the rope.
Liberation Theology was always a small subset of Catholicism and was harshly criticized by the upper hierarchy of the Catholic Church. However, many in the mainline Catholic Church were strong critics of repressive regimes who felt those governments were working against the best interests of most of the people. Those critics often paid with their lives, but they were not Communist sympathizers. They just wanted a better life for the people.
There are a lot of people who feel their "traditional" religious affiliation isn't meeting their spiritual needs and are willing to go in a different direction. Perhaps Evangelical Christianity fills that desire? Look at how mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. have been bleeding membership for decades, while Evangelical churches flourish. Why would it be any different in Latin America in regard to the Catholic Church? I already mentioned the example of Brazil upthread.
Having been a shortwave listener for 60 years, I am well familiar with Trans World Radio. I have never, ever heard any suggestion that TWR received CIA funding for anti-communist programming. I'm sure that many who donated to TWR and other such broadcasters saw evangelization as a way to help counter Communism, but some government grand plot to pull people away from Catholicism? Not buying that.
Mexico long suppressed religious broadcasters in that country, while other countries allowed them to operate freely. How much that has to do with the split between Catholics and Evangelicals is anyone's guess.
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this.
Truth is that now more than ever Latin hits are crossing over Meaning the same song that Mega 101 is playing might be played on 104.9 or 104.5 so Mega 101 and it goes the same way from regional, a new peso Pluma song will be played on 102.9 then 104.5, and mega will also play it, so the audience is now shared more than ever.
I think you may be a bit confused on what was said. You also don't understand how intelligence agencies operate.
No one said that protestant movements were influenced by anyone. Their organic beliefs were simply used as a tool against communism by our government. And because of how we operated during the Cold War, many of the protestant groups were never aware of the geopolitical role they played. Funding, logistics, and permits were always facilitated indirectly through legitimate agencies and nonprofits (large anonymous donations, USAID, Department of Agriculture, Peace Corps, etc.).
As far as Liberation Theology goes, arguing how big or small it was is irrelevant since what's done has been done.
Throw in KOVE to the mix since they do play some light Regional Mexican in their rotation as well.
This can't be sustainable. If we count translators, it's possible we may have more "Grupero" FM stations in Houston than any other market in the world (including those in Mexico). Anyone want to do the math? Maybe Monterrey or Guadalajara could edge us out.