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The Breeze Blows Out of Town

The word originated in Cuba to first describe the music and dance in the mid 19th century. And yes it now also means to go party but it's rarely used in Puerto Rico. It's just another word adopted in our lexicon from sharing a common history and culture with Cuba(as well as D.R.) We are more likely to say "Parisiar" or "Pari' or just simply "fiesta".

I think the first time I heard the word Rumba was on a I love Lucy episode.
 
March PPM's from Lance,
Following its flip from Soft AC “106.1 The Breeze” WISX to Spanish Tropical “Rumba 106.1” WUMR, the station dips 3.0 to 1.3.
Source:

So that get me to wondering does it take time to build the brand?
Or are they gonna bill better but have lowe ratings.
Thanks,
John
 
Time. Maybe a year. And a lot of marketing. The have to do outreach into the community. The audience isn't going to look for them.
My experience with Spanish language radio shows that new stations with viable formats tend to have almost instant reaction.

Because the community is close, the word-of-mouth (both in person and via social media) is instantaneous. The audience is very tuned to media, products, services that are specifically aimed at them.

I've never had a station that did not reach #1 overall or #1 in its target in the first 90 days. And competitive stations show their impact in the same amount of time. That is true in Lima or LA, San Francisco or San Juan, Phoenix or Panamá.

Even in direct format competition, the "permanent" levels seem to take very short periods to achieve the final realignment of listening.
 
So that get me to wondering does it take time to build the brand?
It's very fast. We'll get the general level in 90 days of operation unless the station is doing a roll-out of "10,000 songs in a row" where we don't know the permanent format for several months.
Or are they gonna bill better but have lowe ratings.
They will be sold as a Spanish language package, covering a lot of secondary markets. They likely do not need huge ratings, just a dominant position in the Spanish language world.
 
The word originated in Cuba to first describe the music and dance in the mid 19th century. And yes it now also means to go party but it's rarely used in Puerto Rico.
Funny, but in my radio experience of over 50 years in Puerto Rico (half of the total history of radio on the Island) the term is often used as a slang term of a "relajo" or simply an enthusiastic party or gathering.
It's just another word adopted in our lexicon from sharing a common history and culture with Cuba(as well as D.R.) We are more likely to say "Parisiar" or "Pari' or just simply "fiesta".
"Rumba" is widely used in the salsa world. Having been closely involved with everyone from Jerry Masucci to "El Salsero Mayor" it was part of my vocabulary there.

Market leader Salsoul had a Saturday night show in the later 80's and early 90's with "El Cano" that was called "Rumba".
I think the first time I heard the word Rumba was on a I love Lucy episode.
And I heard it around 1970 when I joined Radio Uno in San Juan... Maybe I spent more time in Trastalleres than in Garden Hills, though.
 
The monthly survey period went from March 3 to March 30. The format change took place on March 11 after a couple days of stunting. It's not even a full month of the new format. Way too early to gauge anything. They haven't even hired a Program Director or airstaff yet.

I've never had a station that did not reach #1 overall or #1 in its target in the first 90 days. And competitive stations show their impact in the same amount of time. That is true in Lima or LA, San Francisco or San Juan, Phoenix or Panamá.
David, unfortunately with so many more streaming options those days are long gone. Look at Rock 95.5 Chicago for example. They flipped in September 2020 and it took over a year to show growth. Now in the past few months it is really growing. 94.7 The Block in New York has been holding at a 1.2 share overall six months after launching. Outside of a few bus ads, they've done nothing to promote or market the station and still haven't filled mornings.
 
The monthly survey period went from March 3 to March 30. The format change took place on March 11 after a couple days of stunting. It's not even a full month of the new format. Way too early to gauge anything. They haven't even hired a Program Director or airstaff yet.


David, unfortunately with so many more streaming options those days are long gone. Look at Rock 95.5 Chicago for example. They flipped in September 2020 and it took over a year to show growth. Now in the past few months it is really growing. 94.7 The Block in New York has been holding at a 1.2 share overall six months after launching. Outside of a few bus ads, they've done nothing to promote or market the station and still haven't filled mornings.
Streaming really isn’t hurting radio
 
.David, unfortunately with so many more streaming options those days are long gone. Look at Rock 95.5 Chicago for example. They flipped in September 2020 and it took over a year to show growth. Now in the past few months it is really growing. 94.7 The Block in New York has been holding at a 1.2 share overall six months after launching. Outside of a few bus ads, they've done nothing to promote or market the station and still haven't filled mornings.
I have done very recent format flips or startups (even in the second pandemic year) that reacted the same way or better. For the most recent startup, I think the fact that there was a considerable social media activity and the country was one where you even pay at the supermarket with a phone based account had something to do with it (this was in South America). Another client did a format change and did no outside promotion and achieved their goal in the first book.

Unlike The Block, both of these stations hit the ground running. And no non-commercial weeks as I believe listeners tune out after the "free music" feeling they have been defrauded (that came up in perceptuals a couple of times when a competitor did it).

Rock 95.5 has the common world-wide problem of rock... the genre keeps fragmenting and except for classic rock, is in competition with rhythmic music. But in every case, rock stations are fighting among themselves for a smaller and smaller and older and older audience that is fragmented. The last rock station I started was 22 years ago, and it filled a need that nobody in the market had figured out which was good for a 20 share... but those days are gone because rock everywhere is generically down.
 
Streaming really isn’t hurting radio
Yes it is. Since 2010, in PPM markets, average hours a week of radio listening has gone from about 11 to 12 hours to 7 to 8 hours.

It's all due to streaming.
 
some people stream radio stations as well. You think Pandora and Spotify will destroy radio as we know it

There are two types of streaming: Some people stream radio, some stream music. Spotify and Apple have also created hosted and curated radio stations within their streaming platforms. They are different from the standard unhosted music streams.

For my purposes, I differentiate the types of streaming that people use, because they're not the same thing.

Music streaming is a direct replacement for CDs or the downloading of music. We know that such streaming has basically killed traditional music retail and tactile music distribution. New cars no longer include CD players. But most still include AM/FM radios.
 
There are two types of streaming: Some people stream radio, some stream music. Spotify and Apple have also created hosted and curated radio stations within their streaming platforms. They are different from the standard unhosted music streams.

For my purposes, I differentiate the types of streaming that people use, because they're not the same thing.

Music streaming is a direct replacement for CDs or the downloading of music. We know that such streaming has basically killed traditional music retail and tactile music distribution. New cars no longer include CD players. But most still include AM/FM radios.
I wonder if stations like WIOQ and WKSC should be concerned about the future
 
And who says a station moniker needs to be currently used in a market to prevent anyone else from using it? When Nassau launched Classic Rock "99.9 The River" on WODE in Easton, PA, Clear Channel complained and forced them to change it because they had a service mark on "The River" name and were using it on a Classic Rock station in Harrisburg (WRVV), almost 100 miles away.

Both 99.9 WODE and 97.3 WRVV overlap quite a bit here (I listen to both on portable radios with no problem). It was either rename one or be more specific as to whether it was the Susquehanna or Delaware River. ;)
 
In Allentown, it's on Rock station WZZO-HD2.
Currently that's broken. It keeps repeating the same 2-second clip of "Toto - Africa" with 10 seconds of silence in between. The HD text is still changing every few minutes as if songs are actually playing though.
 
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