Ethnic Radio
> > Word on the street is STAR is under heavy pressure to lean
> Hispanic.
>
> As DK points out, fairly small population in this market;
> and now with the KAYO flip on FM. 1210AM, plus specialty
> programming on 1360, etc. seems like that's not as big of a
> "hole" as their might be in someplace like Yakima or L.A.
>
> I am, however, still surprised that none of the fledgling
> AM's have ever taken a stab at trying to reach the Asian
> population -- unless it's just too segmented with too many
> cultures, languages, etc. to address effectively with one
> attempt. It's always been my (clearly uninformed)
> assumption that along the upper Pacific Rim that Asian
> influence is probably more dominant than most other
> "minority" demographics (at least as far as English as
> second language is concerned).
The Puget Sound radio dial is the most ethnic dial north of San Fransisco, I would even venture to say MORE than San Fransisco and even New York City (it's also just as crowded as NYC.)
KSUH 1450 Puyallup and the once famous KWYZ 1230, Everett serves the Korean audience. Both signals weakly hit the Seattle Korean core, but I have heard it in a shop in the International District once.
You find more Asian radio in the North End of Puget Sound, serving mostly the Chinese and South Asian audiences from Vancouver such as CHKG 96.1, which is international mornings and middays and full blown Chinese AC from 3pm to 6am. CHMB 1320 (the former CHQM-AM) is Chinese 24/7 and the bulk of CJVB 1470 mostly Asian (Vancouver has a VERY large Asian Audience.) KVRI 1600 AM, Blaine and KRPI 1550 AM, Ferndale run seperate feeds of Radio Punjab for the Vancouver South Asian audience. South Asian programming was something that was attempted in Seattle on ext-AM 1680, KTFH-remember them? (SOUND OF CRICKETS CHIRPING.) Aren't they Spanish now too?
CBUF 97.7 Vancouver and CBUX 90.9, Vancouver (88.9 Victoria) and CBUFT-TV 26 (analog) serves Vancouver's almost invisible Francophone audience and have signals (especially CBUF and CBUX's Victoria translator) that at least creep into some parts of North King County. Before KFMY upgraded to a Seattle rimshot, you could pick CBUF up easily in Seattle proper.
KSVR 91.7 serves the Hispanic audiences in Skagit and North Snohomish counties, there is a Spanish show that airs Sunday nights on KBRC (which goes no further south than Starbird Road after the nighttime pattern change/power drop.)
The most served ethnic audiences on Northwest radio these days are Hispanic, Chinese, Indian, French and Korean. There used to be programs for the Lao, Burmese and Vietnamese communities on KRAB way back when and there are plenty of perfectly good AM radio stations on the Seattle dial, especially 1590 and 1300 that Salem could make better use of. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Salem played their cards right, you'd be hearing Spanish on the 50,000 watt KKOL. In my opinion, it's a far more lucrative audience than Bible thumping, arch-conservatives.
And where are the Japanese stations? Seattle has a HUGE Japanese audience. Lao, Burmese and Thai are found nowhere (to say nothing of Cambodian, Bhutanese or Mongolian.) The only strong Vietnamese presence is The Seattle Nightly News (6pm on KBCB-TV 24/DT-19/Comcast-14/DSS-24/Dish-24.) KBCB also airs some Filipino TV programming.
Not much for the other nationalities aside from the Scandanavian Hour on KKNW 1150, BBC World Service News on KUOW and KSER. And CBC Overnight, which has English news hours from public broadcasters around the world (690 AM) Some Russian, Persian and Arabic can be found on CFRO 102.7, Vancouver and other small signals across the Northwest.
KBCB-TV is the only ethnic TV station on the air that reaches into Seattle (mostly via cable.) CHNM-TV 42 (analog) from Vancouver is mostly Chinese and Indian mixed with such American fare such as The Simpsons, King Of The Hill and Tony Danza.
The most rarely heard ethnic stuff on Northwest radio are Japanese, Eastern European, South American, Southeast Asian and native African.
But I think there is enough of a market presence in Seattle to support at least a local Chinese or Japanese station. They are the two most visible ethnic groups in Seattle with no Seattle radio to serve them.
But there is another alternative, internet radio. As more people of all ethnic groups go online, radio from their homelands is on tap instantly with a broadband connection (and most streams are low enough for dial-ups.)
If you really want to check out some great radio around the world, get yourself v-Tuner (free 15 day trial) Works with Windows 95/98/Me/XP.
http://www.vtuner.com/ (works best with RealPlayer) Hours of fun!
Other sites:
http://www.live-radio.net (WARNING: My Spyware Doctor program goes off every time on this site amd they are filled with pop-ups.)
http://www.radio-locator.com (No spyware or pop-ups.)
http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/ (EXCELLENT compilation of all UK radio stations with streaming audio, LW/AM/FM/DAB.)
So as the region gets more ethnic, we may end up with more local ethnic radio. Which actually makes for some unique radio and a welcome break from the usual American humdrum. But I would hope the local ethnic communities strongly encourage it and make their presence known as the lucrative demographics they are.
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