Too many Spanish Christian Stations in my area (Orlando, Kissimmee, St Cloud)

[randysradioarchives]

So I did some research about what happened to WURB 92.7 LPFM which was previously "Super K 92.7" a Bilingual AC Format, But as of today, it Flipped to a Spanish-Christian Format. This station is from Puerto Rico. It's called "Maranatha Radio Ministries" it launched this morning around 9am, Plus we already have a few Spanish Christian stations Listed here


WLAZ 89.1 FM "Pura Palabra 89.1 FM" Kissimmee, FL
WGRL LP "Alpha 92.9" St. Cloud, FL (note: This station is also part of Uncion 99.7 FM, they are sister stations)
WWID LP 96.1 FM "Vid96" Orlando, FL
WBVL LP 99.7 FM "Uncion 99.7" Kissimmee, FL
WMQV LP 102.3 FM "Radio Renuevo 102.3" Kissimmee, FL
WPOZ HD2/W273CA/W284DU 102.5 & 104.7 "La Zeta" (Note: For those of you know, This station is part of "Central Florida Education Foundation" aka Z Ministries) Orlando & Kissimmee FL


Many Hispanics have moved into the Orlando and Kissimmee areas over the last few years. But does the market need seven Spanish Christian FM stations (Including other LPFM Stations)

 

[radiofan2023]

seven Spanish stations

Best Willie Nelson song ever!

Joking aside, if the market and its listeners can’t support all of them, some of them will flip format or go off air.

 

[ok walters]

Best Willie Nelson song ever!

Joking aside, if the market and its listeners can’t support all of them, some of them will flip format or go off air.

Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be A Spanish Christian Station is another Willie and Waylon favorite

 

[Identnut]

So I did some research about what happened to WURB 92.7 LPFM which was previously "Super K 92.7" a Bilingual AC Format, But as of today, it Flipped to a Spanish-Christian Format. This station is from Puerto Rico. It's called "Maranatha Radio Ministries" it launched this morning around 9am, Plus we already have a few Spanish Christian stations Listed here

This is the ministry founded by Hector "El Father" Delgado and Julio "Voltio" Ramos Filomeno, the former reggaetón stars who became born-again Christians. They also broadcast on WRRE 1460 am in Puerto Rico.

 

[davideduardo]

So I did some research about what happened to WURB 92.7 LPFM which was previously "Super K 92.7" a Bilingual AC Format, But as of today, it Flipped to a Spanish-Christian Format. This station is from Puerto Rico. It's called "Maranatha Radio Ministries" it launched this morning around 9am, Plus we already have a few Spanish Christian stations Listed here


WLAZ 89.1 FM "Pura Palabra 89.1 FM" Kissimmee, FL
WGRL LP "Alpha 92.9" St. Cloud, FL (note: This station is also part of Uncion 99.7 FM, they are sister stations)
WWID LP 96.1 FM "Vid96" Orlando, FL
WBVL LP 99.7 FM "Uncion 99.7" Kissimmee, FL
WMQV LP 102.3 FM "Radio Renuevo 102.3" Kissimmee, FL
WPOZ HD2/W273CA/W284DU 102.5 & 104.7 "La Zeta" (Note: For those of you know, This station is part of "Central Florida Education Foundation" aka Z Ministries) Orlando & Kissimmee FL


Many Hispanics have moved into the Orlando and Kissimmee areas over the last few years. But does the market need seven Spanish Christian FM stations (Including other LPFM Stations)

Nearly all are translators and LPFM. A lot of the signals do not overlap. The average person can hear perhaps 2 of those signals in any given location, in the market, if that!

 

[TheBigA]

But does the market need seven Spanish Christian FM stations (Including other LPFM Stations)

A lot of people ask this question about formats, and there are no limits to the number of stations in a format per market. In fact, it's possible for every station in the market to flip to Spanish Christian. Formats are not based on need. The limitation has to do with funding. These appear to be all non-coms, so if they can attract donations, then they can operate.

 

[Voicetrack of Reason]

Slightly unrelated, but I never understood why 1270 in Orlando had the "Romantica" format for a number of years. Sounded lovely on night pattern, with all of the noise from Cuba (and probably other places) 😆

 

[101.9 La Kalle]

Slightly unrelated, but I never understood why 1270 in Orlando had the "Romantica" format for a number of years. Sounded lovely on night pattern, with all of the noise from Cuba (and probably other places) 😆

IIRC, "Romantica" was (and now once again is) WONQ. WIWA was "Radio Luz," Spanish Religous.

 

[RadioRonnie285]

EMF is formally buying Radio Nueva Vida after airing the network on multiple translators and HD sub channels of EMF owned stations. Now it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of EMF. Since the partnership EMF sees there is an audience for Spanish language Christian music. Up the road in Jacksonville Klove 90.9 WJKV airs it on its HD3 and 98.3 translator the market.

 

[Identnut]

EMF is formally buying Radio Nueva Vida after airing the network on multiple translators and HD sub channels of EMF owned stations. Now it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of EMF. Since the partnership EMF sees there is an audience for Spanish language Christian music. Up the road in Jacksonville Klove 90.9 WJKV airs it on its HD3 and 98.3 translator the market.

I wonder if they'll do something about their 105.7 signal in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Which might have issues considering that there is already an extremely popular CCM station named Nueva Vida in the market.

 

[DXingRadio]

I wonder if they'll do something about their 105.7 signal in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Which might have issues considering that there is already an extremely popular CCM station named Nueva Vida in the market.

They handled the KLove situation in Los Angeles, they'll work something out.

 

[davideduardo]

I wonder if they'll do something about their 105.7 signal in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Which might have issues considering that there is already an extremely popular CCM station named Nueva Vida in the market.

Do you mean a change in format or improvement of coverage? Or just the name conflict?

As to coverage, the station is pretty well locked in and can't move far from Cerro Marquesa... and that site covers well the extended San Juan metro, which is about 2/3 of the Island's population if you included Caguas, the San Juan MSA and the central north coast out to about Barceloneta.

As to format, there are a number of CCM stations as well as many preaching stations, all evangelical. Since the 60's and 70's, there has been a growing interest in that variety of Christianity, too. I wonder if EMF would switch from the English Christian format to the Nueva Vida one. Of course, the Nueva Vida presentation is all in Mexican style in accent, speech patterns, even vocabulary; that is why Televisa never was able to make significant inroads in Puerto Rico. For those unfamiliar, Puerto Rican Spanish is different from Mexican Spanish just as Cockney British English is different from Arkansas English.

 

[Identnut]

Do you mean a change in format or improvement of coverage? Or just the name conflict?

As to coverage, the station is pretty well locked in and can't move far from Cerro Marquesa... and that site covers well the extended San Juan metro, which is about 2/3 of the Island's population if you included Caguas, the San Juan MSA and the central north coast out to about Barceloneta.

As to format, there are a number of CCM stations as well as many preaching stations, all evangelical. Since the 60's and 70's, there has been a growing interest in that variety of Christianity, too. I wonder if EMF would switch from the English Christian format to the Nueva Vida one. Of course, the Nueva Vida presentation is all in Mexican style in accent, speech patterns, even vocabulary; that is why Televisa never was able to make significant inroads in Puerto Rico. For those unfamiliar, Puerto Rican Spanish is different from Mexican Spanish just as Cockney British English is different from Arkansas English.

The Alfa Rock sale would have made more sense if it were sold to Nueva Vida PR. CCM music in English with an English presentation isn't going to get ears. CCM is one of those genres where understanding the lyrics matters.

The only time I ever heard K-Love in the wild was a gift shop in Old San Juan. A place likely to be owned by mainlanders and have a lot of mainland tourists.

 

[Voicetrack of Reason]

IIRC, "Romantica" was (and now once again is) WONQ. WIWA was "Radio Luz," Spanish Religous.

Romantica was definitely on 1270, probably a dozen or more years ago. I was a fan of 1270 way back when it was WORL, back in the 80's playing soul, R&B, and jazz at night. Wish I had rolled tape on the nighttime show.

As to the original question, I agree, there's probably too many Spanish religious stations, or religious stations in general, in Orlando. When I was in Casselberry, 1190 was oldies, 1270 and 1600 were soul, 1080 was country...1400 in Sanford was standards. 1440 Winter Park (WAJL?) was religious, but not Spanish. A lot has changed in 40 years.

 

[davideduardo]

The Alfa Rock sale would have made more sense if it were sold to Nueva Vida PR. CCM music in English with an English presentation isn't going to get ears.

English is probably spoken reasonably well by at least 40% of Puerto Ricans on the Island. It's taught at nearly every private school, and a huge percentage of the population avoids the dreadful public schools in every way possible.

 

[Identnut]

English is probably spoken reasonably well by at least 40% of Puerto Ricans on the Island. It's taught at nearly every private school, and a huge percentage of the population avoids the dreadful public schools in every way possible.

And yet there are only two stations that play exclusively music in English (WTOK and WOYE) and their presentation is in Spanish. WOYE's morning show is even political news-talk.

 

[davideduardo]

And yet there are only two stations that play exclusively music in English (WTOK and WOYE) and their presentation is in Spanish. WOYE's morning show is even political news-talk.

But there are many stations that play considerable amounts of English language music in their blend.

Going back to the first pseudo-Top 40 station in Puerto Rico, Carpenter and Vigoreaux's WUNO in the earlier 1960's, and then full blown Mike Joseph Top 40 at WKAQ in 1968, the pop stations in Puerto Rico all played a percentage of English language music. Even AC stations like 11-Q in the mid and late 70s's and WFID when in the 80's it became AC all played some English songs.

This same scenario was repeated from Mexico to Chile. My own Top 40, HCRM in Ecuador, played about 25% English Top 40 hits starting in 1964... 60 years ago.

If you look at Orlando, where now over 35% of the adult population is Hispanic (and nearly all Puerto Rican), the Spanish language stations only get about 12% to 14% of the Hispanic listening.... all the rest are listening to English language stations.

 

[Mediafrog+]

EMF is formally buying Radio Nueva Vida after airing the network on multiple translators and HD sub channels of EMF owned stations. Now it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of EMF. Since the partnership EMF sees there is an audience for Spanish language Christian music. Up the road in Jacksonville Klove 90.9 WJKV airs it on its HD3 and 98.3 translator the market.

Here in Houston we have the flagship of Hope Media Group’s Vida Unida, which is a Spanish language CCM format that is adding additional markets. HMG also owns the national WAY-FM format along with local Houston CCM KSBJ. I haven’t listened much to RNV but it appears to be quite similar to VU.

Of course, the Nueva Vida presentation is all in Mexican style in accent, speech patterns, even vocabulary; that is why Televisa never was able to make significant inroads in Puerto Rico. For those unfamiliar, Puerto Rican Spanish is different from Mexican Spanish just as Cockney British English is different from Arkansas English.

That would seem to be a challenge for a national Spanish language CCM format, reconciling all the linguistic differences in the host presentation. As for the music, are the lyrics neutral enough to cross those boundaries? Also curious if you have sampled Vida Unida and have any thoughts on the language usage?

 

[Gregg.]

Many owners of AM stations in the early 2000s thought ESPN Deportes would be successful in their markets. The thinking was "The Hispanic population in my city is growing. The young men like sports. So I'll put ESPN Deportes on my struggling AM station. Low cost, high reward!"

Of course, ESPN Deportes mostly had Mexican and Mexican-American hosts talking about Mexican and International Soccer. Not much of a draw for Latinos from the Caribbean. You could run the same ESPN English sports network in Bangor, Miami, Anchorage and Honolulu and it worked. But ESPN Deportes eventually was shut down.

One Spanish-language format, be it music or spoken-word, does not fit all.

 

[Identnut]

Many owners of AM stations in the early 2000s thought ESPN Deportes would be successful in their markets. The thinking was "The Hispanic population in my city is growing. The young men like sports. So I'll put ESPN Deportes on my struggling AM station. Low cost, high reward!"

Of course, ESPN Deportes mostly had Mexican and Mexican-American hosts talking about Mexican and International Soccer. Not much of a draw for Latinos from the Caribbean. You could run the same ESPN English sports network in Bangor, Miami, Anchorage and Honolulu and it worked. But ESPN Deportes eventually was shut down.

One Spanish-language format, be it music or spoken-word, does not fit all.

Also, I'm not sure there are many successful sports stations even in Latin America itself. I only know of one station in Monterrey and one in Mexico City.