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News-Talk on FM: Could it happen?

I

Identnut

Leading Participant
People have been talking about AM Properties moving to FM in the US and Latin America a lot. But for some reason, we're not seeing that in Puerto Rico, despite it being a big format.

We all know of SBS's failed station Red 96.5. But that was a new station going against the already established stations and its signal didn't cover the entire island. But what it WKAQ or Noti-Uno decided either to buy an FM station or flip one of their properties to a simulcast? If Hot 102 doesn't work out island-wide I could see it as a simulcast for Noti-Uno.

Would having news on FM attract the younger crowd or just turn them away?
 
most smartphones ,mp3 players and Ipods have FM tuners so it can happen. I see WABA AM850 moving over to FM in a few years. WABA FM 88.9 Aguadilla-Mayaguez?
 
AM talk moving to FM is not just a "48 states" thing, as far as I am concerned. It will happen.....has to......

Music on the radio is not as big a deal for the younger set anymore. IPods, IPads, smartphones, apps etc. are the latest for them. Radio has to change, just like it did in the late 40s/early 50s when TV took over the sitcoms & dramas.

I don't know which one will take the plunge first.....WKAQ 580 maybe.....I doubt it'll be WOSO. :)

cd
 
TVCOOL said:
most smartphones ,mp3 players and Ipods have FM tuners so it can happen. I see WABA AM850 moving over to FM in a few years. WABA FM 88.9 Aguadilla-Mayaguez?
Click to expand...

The non-commercial reservation of 88-92 also applies in Puerto Rico.
 
TVCOOL said:
most smartphones ,mp3 players and Ipods have FM tuners so it can happen. I see WABA AM850 moving over to FM in a few years. WABA FM 88.9 Aguadilla-Mayaguez?
Click to expand...

WABA is a minor, regional station which simulcasts a lot of WKAQ's programming. I think we're more likely to see a WYEL or WORA simulcast, though (which are the full-time satellites of WKAQ and WUNO, respectively.
 
cd637299 said:
I don't know which one will take the plunge first.....WKAQ 580 maybe.....I doubt it'll be WOSO. :)

cd
Click to expand...

The major players in news are WKAQ, WUNO, and WSKN. And WSKN is quite a distant third to the first two powerhouses and doesn't have any sister FM's. So really, it would have to be either WKAQ or WUNO.
 
Identnut said:
The major players in news are WKAQ, WUNO, and WSKN. And WSKN is quite a distant third to the first two powerhouses and doesn't have any sister FM's. So really, it would have to be either WKAQ or WUNO.
Click to expand...

None of the three you mention are news stations any more. They are talk stations.

With radio billings off by nearly 50% since 2006, it is unlikely that any operator would pay the price of an FM network (assuming, inaccurately, that a San Juan-Ponce-Mayagüez FM net could be purchased) and then sacrifice the existing FM billing to put talk on FM.

As long as the economy in PR is horrible and the AM operations are profitable, it's unlikely that either WUNO or WKAQ will move to FM.
 
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