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Were there ANY english Speaking Talk Stations in Mexico

L

lugnuts6

Guest
Have to Ask Dave or ANYONE who had equal knowledge ..
was there ANY english speaking talk stations in Mexico ?

Reason I ask is because of a statement made by someone when listing his credentials

"It really has not been a career; it has been an adventure in learning. It has been like being a full time career student. In a nutshell, I started in the early '80s in Los Angeles, went to Mexico in the '90s to do English Talk Radio and worked in 28 states in the current decade, which led me to Cabo San Lucas where I created a legendary sound, to where I am now. Mojito anyone? "
 
lugnuts6 said:
Have to Ask Dave or ANYONE who had equal knowledge ..
was there ANY english speaking talk stations in Mexico ?

Reason I ask is because of a statement made by someone when listing his credentials

"It really has not been a career; it has been an adventure in learning. It has been like being a full time career student. In a nutshell, I started in the early '80s in Los Angeles, went to Mexico in the '90s to do English Talk Radio and worked in 28 states in the current decade, which led me to Cabo San Lucas where I created a legendary sound, to where I am now. Mojito anyone? "
Click to expand...

The only pseudo talker was XEVIP in Mexico City... it started as an AM in th 60's, then migrated to FM and lasted until, if I recall correctly, the late 90's or the very early part of this decade. When the format switched to Spanish, the presence of English language announcing in Mexico CIty disappeared.

The station was not quite like the talkers in the US; it was geared to American expats who were predominantly folks attached to US companies with operations in Mexico. Economic news and "stateside" information was more important than local news, although they did that too.
 
lugnuts6 said:
...which led me to Cabo San Lucas where I created a legendary sound, to where I am now. Mojito anyone? "
Click to expand...
Legendary sound in Cabo? There are only 2 stations in Cabo, one AM and one FM. The AM recently flipped and the FM is basically block-programmed.
 
The only English/News Talk being done in Mexico is Ana María Salazar's morning newscast aired at 5:30 AM on Imagen's radio group. She has a weekend show with some key reporters from the group who talk about sports and other cultural elements. That show is called "Living in Mexico," and airs Saturdays.
 
Maybe he was talking about Cabo Wabo Radio. It was an Internet station that Sammy Hagar and Shadoe Stevens were involved with. It was legendary for a little while.
 
A business case very well could be made in the future for an English news/talk format, at least in Mexico City. With the number of younger people learning English nowadays, such a station could be viable in the future. This station could affiliate with the BBC World Service for world news, and/or ABC and CBC for news in North America.
 
M.J. said:
A business case very well could be made in the future for an English news/talk format, at least in Mexico City. With the number of younger people learning English nowadays, such a station could be viable in the future. This station could affiliate with the BBC World Service for world news, and/or ABC and CBC for news in North America.
Click to expand...

There has always been an English-proficient segment of the population, mostly in upper and upper-middle socioeconomic levels, throughout Latin America. My "High School" in Ecuador was bilingual... half the classes in English, half in Spanish... back in the 60's.

However, the listenership to any talk station is going to be the same in nearly every country: over 35. By that time, unless practiced often, language skills learned in school will diminish.

The target for English language stations in Latin America has always been American, Canadian and British expats who are temporarily in the country. Mexico City had many tens of thousands of these from the 60's well into the 80's because American companies imported managers and engineers to run their divisions. This has changed, with almost all such positions filled by Mexican staff. Thus, the need for XEVIP disappeared long ago.

As mentioned previously, in the 60's and 70's, there were two to three English language stations in Puerto Rico, a full-fledged part of the US. The reasons were mostly the same... lots of Americans running the "Operation Bootstrap" industries on the Island. As the local universities trained more and more managers and engineers and scientists, the need was reduced (and PR was not considered a prize assignment in most companies) and the English dominant population decreased. Further, the public schools changed English from a requirement to an option, so only those going to private schools got English training. Now there is just one station in English, and it generally does not show in the ratings.
 
The case for an English language talk station in Mexico has propably lost a lot of its muscle thanks to the Internet and satellite radio. Terrestrial radio no longer has the territorial exclusivity it once enjoyed. Expats can easily call up news from home on their computers or wireless devices.
 
fredcantu said:
The case for an English language talk station in Mexico has propably lost a lot of its muscle thanks to the Internet and satellite radio. Terrestrial radio no longer has the territorial exclusivity it once enjoyed. Expats can easily call up news from home on their computers or wireless devices.
Click to expand...

Today, what few expats there are in places like Mexico City, San Juan, Panama (formerly full of off-base dependents) and a few other places can certainly use the web and satellite TV and so on. Satellite radio can't be sold outside the 50 states, due to music royalty issues, although its going to finally be offered in Puerto Rico.

But English radio in Latin America died when the Internet was in its very infancy, because the number of expats living in Latin America had declined immensely... and there was no market other than a few diplomats.

Still, one of the main features of XEVIP and stations like WHOA in San Juan was the broadcasting of news about the local American, British and Canadian communities and information about "coping" with life in a foreign country. In both cases, there was a lot of local business news, particularly concerning local legislation of interest to business people. That couldn't be provided by foreign web streams, and just no longer exists... even the English press in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Mexico City, San Juan, Caracas), is gone or nearly dead.
 
DavidEduardo said:
fredcantu said:
The case for an English language talk station in Mexico has propably lost a lot of its muscle thanks to the Internet and satellite radio. Terrestrial radio no longer has the territorial exclusivity it once enjoyed. Expats can easily call up news from home on their computers or wireless devices.
Click to expand...

Today, what few expats there are in places like Mexico City, San Juan, Panama (formerly full of off-base dependents) and a few other places can certainly use the web and satellite TV and so on. Satellite radio can't be sold outside the 50 states, due to music royalty issues, although its going to finally be offered in Puerto Rico.

But English radio in Latin America died when the Internet was in its very infancy, because the number of expats living in Latin America had declined immensely... and there was no market other than a few diplomats.

Still, one of the main features of XEVIP and stations like WHOA in San Juan was the broadcasting of news about the local American, British and Canadian communities and information about "coping" with life in a foreign country. In both cases, there was a lot of local business news, particularly concerning local legislation of interest to business people. That couldn't be provided by foreign web streams, and just no longer exists... even the English press in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Mexico City, San Juan, Caracas), is gone or nearly dead.
Click to expand...

I haven't been to Mexico City in a long time, but I think I remember XEVIP being high up on the AM dial around 1560 or so. Is that correct?
 
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