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Would a spanish Tropical FM station do well in New Haven/Hartford?

GlennO said:
Spanish audiences apparently prefer FM over AM for music even more than other listeners, at least according to David Eduardo's posts. It's reasonable to conclude whatever a modestly successful AM got what be dramatically increased by that format's move to FM.

The next question is: Who would do it? As long as Clear Channel feels it can use 104.1 as a rhythmic CHR flanker to 93.7, then change isn't likely in Hartford. 95.7 may be one to watch, if cutbacks hurt it. Forget about 104.9 selling to a non-religious broadcaster. They're like 94.7 in NYC... determined to keep religion despite all offers.

A market that's 9.8% Hispanic is nothing to sneeze at, but then what particular Spanish language format can get someone the most ad dollars?
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Most hispanics in Connecticut are Puerto Ricans and most are fluent in English. There is a much higher percentage of cultural assimilation in the Hartford market than what you see in a place like New York (which has many more recent immigrants). Thus, you can't count on that 9.8% to fullly support a Tropical format. Which, by the way, is a much different format than reggaeton (which was promoted above).

Also, Spanish language radio has lousy "power ratings" which means that the sales figures per listener are lower than for many other formats. Definitely lower than Urban Contemporary. So, for CC to flip 104.1 to Tropical (for example) - they'd basically need 1/3 more listeners in the desired demos in order to just break even. I doubt they'd get that. As it stands now, almost every listener to Power is in the desired age demos. Tropical may skew older in Hartford - younger latinos there are more likely to listen to Hot or Power.

Then again, CC recently blew out an AC for tropical in Philly despite a glaring lack of need for such a station in a market that's 96% NOT hispanic. So, anything can happen.
 
MarcB said:
While on the subject of changes flip 93.7 to Alt. Rock and 104.1 to News-Talk. 93.7 and 104.1 ae the two biggest waste of dial space.
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Amen to that!!!! :)
Of course, this is just personal opinion, before anyone starts going off on that :)
 
MarcB said:
While on the subject of changes flip 93.7 to Alt. Rock and 104.1 to News-Talk. 93.7 and 104.1 ae the two biggest waste of dial space.
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Because alternative rock did so well on 104.1 before Power, right? ::)

And, while we're at it, let's blow out one of the most successful FM signals in the market for FM news-talk that has to compete with WTIC for a far older demo. More brilliance....
 
I agree with BRNout, just because you have a bias against the programming thats on 93.7 and 104.1 don't assume your idea will get better ratings than what Hot 93.7 and Power already have.

Plus why would you want a news talk station when there already is one on WTIC-AM?

X
 
We have 3 News/Talk stations in the Hartford area right now - WTIC, WXCT, and WDRC. An new FM news/talk station can take the best programming from WXCT and WDRC. The best weekday programming from DRC would be O'Reilly, Dr. Joy, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, and Joey Renyolds. Best weekday programming from WXCT would be Sally Jessy, Bruce Williams, and Rollye James.


I don't have a biased against the music on 93.7 and 104.1, I just don't like it and it should be put on a low-powered AM station. 104.1 and 93.7 aren't even the same format anymore since Memorial Day 2006 104.1 has been Urban Contemporary. Musically they sound how JAMZ 910 souned. 93.7 is hip-hop. Anyway it all belongs on low powered AMers.
 
MarcB said:
We have 3 News/Talk stations in the Hartford area right now - WTIC, WXCT, and WDRC. An new FM news/talk station can take the best programming from WXCT and WDRC. The best weekday programming from DRC would be O'Reilly, Dr. Joy, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, and Joey Renyolds. Best weekday programming from WXCT would be Sally Jessy, Bruce Williams, and Rollye James.


I don't have a biased against the music on 93.7 and 104.1, I just don't like it and it should be put on a low-powered AM station. 104.1 and 93.7 aren't even the same format anymore since Memorial Day 2006 104.1 has been Urban Contemporary. Musically they sound how JAMZ 910 souned. 93.7 is hip-hop. Anyway it all belongs on low powered AMers.
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Hey, why not make WCCC tropical? I don't like it and it's been sliding a bit in the ratings so it must make sense. Well, that makes as much sense as your suggestion - doesn't it?

This is a business and is not based on someone's personal tastes.

Spanish still belongs on AM in Hartford. One exception: if that religious cracker class A FM at 104.9 happened to fall into capitalist hands. The economics could work if you put tropical on that one. But, to blow out any of the stations that you suggest would be ridiculous. Both do fine and keep their respective owners happy. Frankly, to me, both are better than ANYTHING on in Boston. Except Wendy Williams - that show is awful!
 
104.9

Nothing useful can ever be done with 104.9 FM because of their piss poor signal. And they can't boost their signal either. Here's why:

104.5 WXLO in the Worcester Area
104.7 WSPK in the Hudson Valley Area
104.7 WMOS in Montauck, Long Island
104.7 WKPE in the Cape Cod Area
105.1 WWPR in NYC
105.1 WWLI in Providence
105.1 WAMQ the WAMC simulcaster in Great Barrington
105.3 WDRE on Long Island

Furthermore even if it were possible to boost 104.9's signal the WFAR Translator on 104.9 in Bridgeport would have to go dark.
 
Marc, I get 104.9 decently clearly all the way to Willimantic, and up to Holyoke, Mass, where WYRY/Hinsdale, NH takes over the frequency. They have a lucrative signal in a market lacking a significant amount of signals. There are a lot of niche's to be filled in the market. Market research that I've seen just confirms the fact that people are looking for an alternative station, and there are even some folks that would like to see the "Movin'" Rhythmic/Dance AC format here in Hartford. I think alternative would come first (or would hope so, at least, as a big alternative rock fan).

For all us alternative rock fans shut out in the dark, there's an awesome online alternative station at http://www.enterthevirus.com. It's run by Kid and Ruben, the former morning team on 104.7 Kiss FM/KZZP in Phoenix. It's awesome.
 
[/quote]


This is a business and is not based on someone's personal tastes.


[/quote]

Well, if the format doesn't suit personal tastes, there is no business...correct?
 
Re: 104.9

MarcB said:
Nothing useful can ever be done with 104.9 FM because of their piss poor signal. And they can't boost their signal either.
Furthermore even if it were possible to boost 104.9's signal the WFAR Translator on 104.9 in Bridgeport would have to go dark.
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Well, actually they're holding a CP to increase their power from 3.1 kw to 5.8 kw and raise their antenna by about 12 feet.
 
kms575 said:
This is a business and is not based on someone's personal tastes.


Well, if the format doesn't suit personal tastes, there is no business...correct?
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True - but the programming has to make good business sense. Just because someone here hates a certain format (that many others seem to enjoy - BTW) does not mean that he has made a reasonable argument for changing formats on an otherwise successful station.

Let's put it this way, just because you personally like Peruvian folk dancing and hate hip hop doesn't mean that its reasonable to expect CBS radio to blow out Hot 937 for '93punto7 la Peruviana'.

Now, if the ratings for 93.7 were crashing (in the demos) and Peruvian folk dancing was taking the nation by storm - well, that'd be different.
 
Spanish on FM in the Hartford market? Hey, it's already been done. WLVH/93.7 ("La Grande Noventa Cuatro") was Spanish for many years until it was sold in the early 1990's and went to an English mainstream format (after practically running the National Weather Service for an entire year). I believe the cost of running a full-time, full-power FM in Hartford was rather pricey. So the principals of WLVH sold the FM and used some of the proceeds of the sale to buy two small AM'ers in suburbia and continued the WLVH format. I'm sure they got a nice price for one of the last full powered FM'ers in the market.
 
Running The National Weather Service for an entire year??
 
Yes, 93.7 ran the NWS feed for an entire year in the Early-to-mid 90s.
 
NOAA weather on Class B FM

I can remember clearly when WLVH 93.7 ran NOAA for a year. It shocked everyone but evidently was used to "hold the frequency" after dumping the Spanish format.

There are several related stories that might be of interest:

First, like just about everyone in the business I always pay attention to what station is playing where ever I go. Back then, before iPods and before CDs were really popular, many businesses just played the FM radio. Suddenly in addition to hearing WRCH or WTIC-FM or WDRC-FM, I began hearing NOAA weather. When I checked for a weather radio or scanner I found just an FM radio tuned to 93.7! The "format" was quite popular and one of the people who worked at the station when they went back to music told me they got a surprising number of calls from people who wondered where "the weather station" went!

Rebroadcasting NOAA was and is legal since the programming is in the public domain but I would have assumed that the station would have informed the local weather service office as a courtest (which was at Bradley International at the time). Back then, NOAA's on air presentation was pretty rough, often sounding like a bored radio operator reading the weather. I ran into one of the Bradley guys a few months after 93.7 started the rebroadcast and made a joke about how they are dealing with the "larger" audience. He had no idea what I meant and didn't believe me that they were on a commercial FM frequency until I took him out to my car and showed him. It took a few weeks but to their credit the Bradley NWS guys cleaned up their act and really made the broadcasts sound good (considering the "dry" content).
 
there already is a spanish tropical station in hartford. wzmx-hd2 broadcasts reggaerton, salsa and soca. the only problem is that you need a hd radio to hear it :(
 
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