Interestingly, the Regional Mexican name did not come out of Mexico. It was the creation of record retailers in the US who did not know how to classify Latin Music in their stores, so the idea of dividing music by "Regional Mexican" and "Pop" and "Tropical" and the like was developed.The "Regional" part in "Regional Mexican" was meant to cram a variety of subgenres found around Mexico (and the US as well....anyone remember The Sparx?) into one station. This was a US industry standard that began before the explosion of Mexican migration. It worked wonderfully back then for a few of reasons;
When I was at KWKW in the 70's, the term had not yet been originated. We just called it "Mexican". It was later when non-Hispanic record stores smelled money that the term developed and the one-stops and rack jobbers even provided those plastic dividers with artist names to the record stores and showed dealers how to split up the inventory by type.
To give you an idea of how diverse the music is in Mexico, the style of music can vary by neighborhood in Mexico City. Yet all of it would fall under the "Regional Mexican" umbrella here in the US. But of course, don't tell that to the people running 104.5. You'd figure an out of touch gringo who thinks Tejano and Regional Mexican are the same thing is running the show (which coincidentally is exactly what is happening a few hour(s) outside of town).
In Mexico, all the norteña and banda and the rest, when plaed as part of a station format, is called "grupera". That is how those stations list themselves in Medios Publicitarios Mexicanos.
In Mexico City, the few grupera stations have almost identical playlists. Over the years, it went from mostly ranchera to a bit more norteña to mostly banda. The problem with the format in Mexico is that it is not the highest billing genre because the audience is almost all levels C2, D and E. There are several of the stations playing English language AC that outbill them, yet they have far lower ratings. but the listeners are all A, B and C1.
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