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Some questions about asian radio in LA

30james

Banned
Just wanted to know from the experts here is weather Asian radio which is mainly on the AM dial is thriving? How well is their billing I imagine if it's on the AM side it doesn't bill that great. Just saying.
 
Just wanted to know from the experts here is weather Asian radio which is mainly on the AM dial is thriving? How well is their billing I imagine if it's on the AM side it doesn't bill that great. Just saying.
Actually, while there is no published data, most of those stations do extremely well. They work with businesses within their communities for the most part, but those communities are quite wealthy and they support their own businesses.
 
I think David's answer is obviously the case. Just as sports formats bill well, even on AM, when you have a dedicated audience that will support the advertisers there is plenty of profitability. If they were not doing well I doubt they would be still on the air, and I am hard pressed to think of any station targeted at one of the Asian cultures that has been doing so for less than a decade.

This is a parallel to the early stations in the market that targeted Spanish-speakers in the 1960s. They were all on AM (in my recollection, the first FM to do so was KLVE, in the late 1970s ... David will remember the date better than I) and they billed well for that period of time because their listeners patronized the businesses that obviously wanted their business enough to advertise on "their" radio stations.

In the long run it does not matter "weather" (laughing at the auto-correct typo) or not an ethnic-focused station is on AM if its audience is loyal. Ask Lotus about KIRN/670, which has programmed in Persian for over 20 years how they are billing ...
 
I am curious why no one has tried a station targeting Filipino audiences; it's the second largest Asian American population in California.
 
I am curious why no one has tried a station targeting Filipino audiences; it's the second largest Asian American population in California.
I asked this question of a Filipino associate once, and he said that one of the issues is that there are so many major languages spoken in the Philippines.

"If you were to randomly pick two people from anywhere in the Philippines, there’s a roughly 76% to 84% chance that they grew up speaking different languages.

This is based on the country’s Greenberg Linguistic Diversity Index, which estimates a place’s linguistic richness on a scale of 0 to 1. A place in which every person speaks a different language would have a diversity index of 1, while a country in which every person speaks the same language would have an index of 0.

While the language website Ethnologue pegs the country’s diversity index at 0.84 or 84%, our own computations based on data from the 2010 Philippine Census puts the figure at around 76%. Even at the lower figure of 76%, the Philippines would still be more linguistically diverse than as many as 190 other countries."


This is from The language landscape of the Philippines in 4 maps

It mentions that 6 out of every 10 Philippinos speak a language other than Tagalog at home. And that means that there are also musical and cultural differences, further making it hard for one station to serve all people frm the Philippines.
 
I have to agree. The bilingual culture of the Philippines does not really warrant a Tagalog format station in Southern California as most here who speak Tagalog, also speak English. As far as getting news TFC (ABS-CBN) and GMA both have cable channels and/or OTT video services, and even there, all-English news on the Phillipines is available on ANC through ABS-CBN's app.

With our recent launch of J1HD in portions of Los Angeles, we knew up front that we would not necessarily attract the Japan diaspora as a primary audience, but seeks attraction to those are or may eventually be interested in Asian/Japanese pop culture regardless of demographic.

While KPOP has the most widespread following in America, I don't believe that PPOP has that same attraction.. Even JPOP gets a little more attraction (KyaryPamyuPamyu, Baby Metal, etc.), but that attraction is among more niche fans than it is among the mainstream (i.e. BTS, Girls Generation, etc.).
 
I am curious why no one has tried a station targeting Filipino audiences; it's the second largest Asian American population in California.
I noticed that a certain percentage of Filipinos are also likely to identify themselves as multiracial too. According to this study. Also Filipinos are more likely to be multilingual it's not just Tagalog spoken the country but also Kapampangan and Ilocano. Note current data according to the Pew Research center shows that the most reported places for Filipinos are centered in Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.



Between 1981 and 1992, Filipinos were the second largest group immigrating to the United States, exceeded only by those from Mexico. The number increased from 3,130 in 1965 to 61,000 Filipinos in 1992 alone. In 1990, there was a total of 1,407,000 Filipinos in the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2010, the Filipino population in the U.S. grew 38 percent from 1.8 million in 2000 to 2.5 million in 2010. The population of mixed-race Filipinos increased 44.5 percent from 2.4 million in 2000 to 3.4 million in 2010. Washington is among the top 10 states with the largest concentrations of Filipinos (others include California, Hawaii, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Florida and Virginia.)

Most Filipinos who came in 1920's were unskilled laborers. The Immigration Act of 1965 not only significantly increased the number of Filipino immigrants but also changed the qualifications of immigrants. The majority of the immigrants at the present are professional, technical and skilled workers. They seek jobs that are more consistent with their training. A significant number are specialists in the health professions, engineers and scientists.
 
While KPOP has the most widespread following in America, I don't believe that PPOP has that same attraction.. Even JPOP gets a little more attraction (KyaryPamyuPamyu, Baby Metal, etc.), but that attraction is among more niche fans than it is among the mainstream (i.e. BTS, Girls Generation, etc.).
The Asian Pop translator in Honolulu does play some Filipino songs for variety, but the backbone of that station is K-Pop.

I think a plucky low-powered station could give this format a try in LA. They would attract not only Asian demographics, but plenty of White and Hispanic younger demographics also enjoy this type of music.
 
If someone wants to produce a sustaining noncommercial show for J1HD, I would be more than happy to allocate some time. We are currently running "Green Bubble Tea", a 2 hour weekly program from Pacifica Network that features different Asian genres. The show also runs on our internet-only J1 XTRA. J1 is not fundraising and we are running at the grace of KBUU-LP and the HD reception is a challenge (since the station is in Malibu, but the HD-3 signal has been able to cut through the noise floor and be receivable in some parts of the basin, mainly along the beach communities (Santa Monica to Redondo), but with the stream and app, we have worldwide potential reach.
 
Does anyone have data on what percentage of CA Filipino immigrants are from Greater Manila and Central Luzon vs. the rest of the country?

What I really, really want to know is when there will be a Jollibee near me (Ontario and Miramesa are both nearly 80 mile drives)!
 
When I was in high school in the 80s, our area had a moderate Filipino community (Monterey area/Seaside). Some friends who had been to Hawaii told me about KISA/1540 in Honolulu which was a station that catered exclusively to the Filipino community in Hawaii. After high school my family visited Hawaii and I had the opportunity to hear KISA. It was a bilingual station that played more Tagalog during the day and was English with a Hit Music format at night and when younger audiences would be listening. It played very much like a Rhythmic CHR in the evenings with a unique jingle package that I never got to hear again but really liked. It was known as "Keesa" in its earlier years but by the time I heard it, it was going by the name "Kiss" or "Kiss AM." I'm not Filipino but found the evening program entertaining. I don't know how well KISA did in Hawaii but it was Filipino from 1973-2000 and today is KREA, a Korean format. I'm not sure if another station serves that community in Hawaii today.

I would think that a Filipino format, even from a bilingual perspective would do well in both LA and San Diego, or perhaps one of the other Asian language stations might target some programming to a Filipino audience. What's 690 trying to do these days? Weren't they having some political issues with their Chinese format?
 
I would think that a Filipino format, even from a bilingual perspective would do well in both LA and San Diego, or perhaps one of the other Asian language stations might target some programming to a Filipino audience.
The first question around any such programming that will serve a group that is too small to attract major advertisers is whether the community itself has enough businesses and services to sustain the station.

For example, the Farsi-programmed KIRN in LA is mostly "sold" to Iranian owned businesses who both support the station and find that advertising to other Iranians is profitable.
 
Does anyone have data on what percentage of CA Filipino immigrants are from Greater Manila and Central Luzon vs. the rest of the country?

What I really, really want to know is when there will be a Jollibee near me (Ontario and Miramesa are both nearly 80 mile drives)!
Well, you got it better than me. The closest Jollibee from Delmarva is 113 miles away; nearly 3 hours in Bay Bridge and DC Beltway traffic.. just to get some Chickenjoy and Palabok. :)
 
When I was in high school in the 80s, our area had a moderate Filipino community (Monterey area/Seaside). Some friends who had been to Hawaii told me about KISA/1540 in Honolulu which was a station that catered exclusively to the Filipino community in Hawaii. After high school my family visited Hawaii and I had the opportunity to hear KISA. It was a bilingual station that played more Tagalog during the day and was English with a Hit Music format at night and when younger audiences would be listening. It played very much like a Rhythmic CHR in the evenings with a unique jingle package that I never got to hear again but really liked. It was known as "Keesa" in its earlier years but by the time I heard it, it was going by the name "Kiss" or "Kiss AM." I'm not Filipino but found the evening program entertaining. I don't know how well KISA did in Hawaii but it was Filipino from 1973-2000 and today is KREA, a Korean format. I'm not sure if another station serves that community in Hawaii today.

I would think that a Filipino format, even from a bilingual perspective would do well in both LA and San Diego, or perhaps one of the other Asian language stations might target some programming to a Filipino audience. What's 690 trying to do these days? Weren't they having some political issues with their Chinese format?

KNDI 1270 is a multi ethnic station and serves many varities of asian ethnicities

KMPC 1540 in los angeles is korean.. ive heard both KMPC and KREA up here.. i always have to pull up a webstream to verify which im here, as both are possible and sound aliek to me.
 
While KPOP has the most widespread following in America, I don't believe that PPOP has that same attraction.. Even JPOP gets a little more attraction (KyaryPamyuPamyu, Baby Metal, etc.), but that attraction is among more niche fans than it is among the mainstream (i.e. BTS, Girls Generation, etc.).

PPOP? I don't know if it ever goes beyond certain Filipino Communities in some parts of the USA like Bay Area and Sacramento though or even beyond the shores of the country ? It may have but its very niche.
 
PPOP? I don't know if it ever goes beyond certain Filipino Communities in some parts of the USA like Bay Area and Sacramento though or even beyond the shores of the country ? It may have but its very niche.
Actually, the appropriate name for the genre is "OPM" or Original Philippine Music.
 
Actually, the appropriate name for the genre is "OPM" or Original Philippine Music.
Yes I remember this OPM. The genre has some following in certain parts of California but that was never been viable as a radio format on OTA radio here in the USA. Music apps and radio streams from the Manila area may be a partial factor how the Philippines content never reached OTA radio like it does for TV.


On the TV side KTSF-TV San Francisco at one point aired Filipino Programming prior to the Chinese News.
 
Well, you got it better than me. The closest Jollibee from Delmarva is 113 miles away; nearly 3 hours in Bay Bridge and DC Beltway traffic.. just to get some Chickenjoy and Palabok. :)
They've yet to invade New England. From my old location in Connecticut it would be a couple of hours on the train/subway to Manhattan. From here in Vermont ... add two hours on I-91 to that trip.
 
Yes I remember this OPM. The genre has some following in certain parts of California but that was never been viable as a radio format on OTA radio here in the USA. Music apps and radio streams from the Manila area may be a partial factor how the Philippines content never reached OTA radio like it does for TV.


On the TV side KTSF-TV San Francisco at one point aired Filipino Programming prior to the Chinese News.

There's an AM in Hawaii and is or was one station in guam doing it too, i think
 
Well, you got it better than me. The closest Jollibee from Delmarva is 113 miles away; nearly 3 hours in Bay Bridge and DC Beltway traffic.. just to get some Chickenjoy and Palabok. :)

In California there is 23 branches of Jollibee in the area.


In fact their first US Location is in Daly City, CA which is notable for being one of the cities in NorCal for having the largest percentage of the city population who are identified as Filipino according to the census.

Somehow the Filipino demographics in the USA is more noticeable on TV and Internet rather than radio. This could be where advertisers and subscribers are able to reach the demo easily is through these two venues.

 
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