While I can understand Univision's strategy in switching 99.3 from LA KALLE to RECUERDO, there is now a format hole for the Spanish Urban format in Las Vegas. LA KALLE was really catching on towards the end of their short lived run. They were #1 18-34 in their final month and were in double digits!
I was talking with a former LA KALLE P1 listener. He is from Argentina and said that all of his young (20s) Hispanic friends loved 99.3 and were disappointed when they switched formats. He said that 99.3 was always on at the parties he went to. I believe it, I heard the station on a lot towards the end. For example, at the bank branch I go to the employees are mostly young Hispanic women, they used to listen to 99.3, now they don't listen to the radio at work at all.
The guy from Argentina told me he thought that KLUC had something to do with the 99.3 format change, for some reason he had the perception that there was a conspiracy involving 98.5 to force KRGT out of the format. I'm not sure how he got that idea, but what's interesting is that 99.3 was hurting KLUC more than you could ever tell by looking at 12+ numbers. In their final month, LA KALLE was beating KLUC in 18-34 by a 2X margin, After 99.3 switched formats, KLUCs numbers have gone back up, they should have a nice Spring book on Friday because March (the month La Kalle was kicking their butt) will be dropping off. HOT 97.5 on the other hand didn't seem to be as directly impacted by 99.3.
So that's my argument for Reggaeton, I thnk it's the biggest format hole right now in Las Vegas radio. It's already been proven that if it's executed correctly it can be #1 18-34. I know that's not quite the money demo 25-54 or 18-49 is but it's still a prime demo. Maybe it's a tough advertising sell? Well, I'll always remember an R&R article I read years ago featuring Emmis's Rick Cummings. At one point POWER 106 in LA had high ratings but relatively low blling. Some sales people complained that hip hop was tough to sell. Instead of watering down the format, Emmis hired sales people who believed in the product (and fired the ones who didn't), soon KPWR became one of the top billers in LA. If a station could take reggaeton back to #1 18-34, you would think that it could make some money. Advertisers would be foolish to ignore the large and very fast growing young Hispanic population segment.
I was talking with a former LA KALLE P1 listener. He is from Argentina and said that all of his young (20s) Hispanic friends loved 99.3 and were disappointed when they switched formats. He said that 99.3 was always on at the parties he went to. I believe it, I heard the station on a lot towards the end. For example, at the bank branch I go to the employees are mostly young Hispanic women, they used to listen to 99.3, now they don't listen to the radio at work at all.
The guy from Argentina told me he thought that KLUC had something to do with the 99.3 format change, for some reason he had the perception that there was a conspiracy involving 98.5 to force KRGT out of the format. I'm not sure how he got that idea, but what's interesting is that 99.3 was hurting KLUC more than you could ever tell by looking at 12+ numbers. In their final month, LA KALLE was beating KLUC in 18-34 by a 2X margin, After 99.3 switched formats, KLUCs numbers have gone back up, they should have a nice Spring book on Friday because March (the month La Kalle was kicking their butt) will be dropping off. HOT 97.5 on the other hand didn't seem to be as directly impacted by 99.3.
So that's my argument for Reggaeton, I thnk it's the biggest format hole right now in Las Vegas radio. It's already been proven that if it's executed correctly it can be #1 18-34. I know that's not quite the money demo 25-54 or 18-49 is but it's still a prime demo. Maybe it's a tough advertising sell? Well, I'll always remember an R&R article I read years ago featuring Emmis's Rick Cummings. At one point POWER 106 in LA had high ratings but relatively low blling. Some sales people complained that hip hop was tough to sell. Instead of watering down the format, Emmis hired sales people who believed in the product (and fired the ones who didn't), soon KPWR became one of the top billers in LA. If a station could take reggaeton back to #1 18-34, you would think that it could make some money. Advertisers would be foolish to ignore the large and very fast growing young Hispanic population segment.
