• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

New Bloomberg station? Where?

Anything's better than the 24-7 ESPN Deportes they run...

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
Anything's better than the 24-7 ESPN Deportes they run...
Click to expand...

Why do you think ESPN Deprotes en Español is bad? Is it just because it is in Spanish?

The Bay Area has 2.2 million Hispanics, and it would seem appropriate that they, also, have a sports station.
 
Foreign language media is a crutch - or training wheels. Because it's there, people who get into this country without knowing English have less (maybe no) incentive to learn English. They stay marginalized and so do their kids. This country is becoming like Canada.
 
FredLeonard said:
Foreign language media is a crutch - or training wheels.
Click to expand...

Foreign language radio is not a crutch. It was not a crutch when WOV and WHOM were all Italian in New York, nor when WZEN was all foreign language in Cleveland or the various stations in Chicago were all Polish.

Those stations are a more of a "security blanket" for immigrants, just as foreign language papers were going back to the time of Ben Franklin. Today, the radio stations give a bit of contact with one's traditions, particularly in music and sports, and also give enough information to allow first generation immigrants to understand better the way things work in their new country.

Because it's there, people who get into this country without knowing English have less (maybe no) incentive to learn English. They stay marginalized and so do their kids. This country is becoming like Canada.
Click to expand...

The facts show that both in the past and today the first generation for the most part only learns enough English to get by. Learning a foreign language as an adult is enormously difficult and learning to think in a new language nearly impossible for most people.

On the other hand, the children of immigrants tend to be bilingual, favoring English on the street and at work or at school. They consume some foreign language media, but tend to mostly use English media.

So foreign language media does not slow down assimilation, and is entertaining and useful to immigrants. One thing that any degree of assimilation does not do in the first generation is change musical tastes; the musical preferences formed in early adolescence are generally held in some form or progression throughout life. Anecdotally, the music of my early adolescence included a mix of classical, pop / Top 40 in both English and Spanish and tropical / cumbia in Spanish. Guess what I like to listen to today? It's the same thing.
 
FredLeonard said:
Foreign language media is a crutch - or training wheels. Because it's there, people who get into this country without knowing English have less (maybe no) incentive to learn English. They stay marginalized and so do their kids. This country is becoming like Canada.
Click to expand...

Fred, it might be worth noting that foreign language media did extremely well in times when assimilation rates were percieved to be much higher. I don't have San Francisco historical numbers at my fingertips, but in Los Angeles, in the fall of '66, there was a combined 4 share in Spanish-language radio, divided between two stations (KWKW and KALI). If it had been all on one signal, that would have been good enough to tie for 7th place with KFAC, KABC, KFWB, KNX and XETRA (which at the time was English-language all-news).

In '67, that increased to a 5 share, and by '69 a 6 and a half share, with the leader of the two stations, KALI, in the top 10 and beating KNX and KFI. In 1972, it was 3/10ths of a point from being a top 5 station.

Again, that was not an era of unchecked illegal immigration, and assimilation rates weren't low. It's hard to make the argument that those very popular stations held anyone back.
 
michael hagerty said:
In '67, that increased to a 5 share, and by '69 a 6 and a half share, with the leader of the two stations, KALI, in the top 10 and beating KNX and KFI. In 1972, it was 3/10ths of a point from being a top 5 station.

Again, that was not an era of unchecked illegal immigration, and assimilation rates weren't low. It's hard to make the argument that those very popular stations held anyone back.
Click to expand...

Having been in charge of programming on KWKW in 1972, I can address the issues of that period in time from experience.

At the time, KWKW had a 3-person news department, and it's focus was on local and state news with less emphasis on political issues and more on social ones. The station had a heavy news commitment, and also broadcast the LA Dodgers in Spanish; I can't think of anything quite as American as baseball! The station was involved with community events from health fairs and blood drives to adult education and citizenship classes. But the music was "puro México" because we knew our listeners were not going to be tuning in to KMET or even KHJ. We gave the listeners the language and music they liked and our news and community content was a road map towards adjusting and adapting to life in the USA. I think we did a great service to our country and to our listeners.
 
Last edited:
It's a waste because it's almost all syndicated programming off the bird. No "local" in that. Spanish programming is fine but there should be some local programs in that mix as well - unless I am mistaken that KTRB does have local programs.

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
It's a waste because it's almost all syndicated programming off the bird. No "local" in that. Spanish programming is fine but there should be some local programs in that mix as well - unless I am mistaken that KTRB does have local programs.
Click to expand...

KTRB's license is held by a receiver in bankruptcy for Papas Radio, Inc. The task of a receiver is to operate the station as cheaply as possible while the bankruptcy proceeding progress and end with the final liquidation of the assets and the payment of creditors.

Were this a "normal" major market ESPN Deportes en Español station, it would likely have at least one local daypart. However, Spanish language sports generally focues on international soccer, and in the West Mexican League soccer and some Central American soccer. There is no way to localize that content, so networked distribution is a good solution.

I've done sports in Spanish in LA... a big 4-share 5 hour afternoon sports block. We did it locally, because we could. But there was very little we covered that was local, unless it was a Mexican, Guatemalan or Salvadoran team playing in LA. We did not cover baseball, we did not cover basketball, and no way we would cover American rules football.

So again, it really makes total sense for KTRB to carry the full ESPN schedule for cost reasons and the fact that there is no local sports activity that would be of much interest to the audience.
 
FredLeonard said:
Foreign language media is a crutch - or training wheels. Because it's there, people who get into this country without knowing English have less (maybe no) incentive to learn English. They stay marginalized and so do their kids. This country is becoming like Canada.
Click to expand...

My grandpa's family spoke Dutch in the home in the early 1900s before WWI. And in my home county in Iowa, there was a German weekly newspaper until WWI. I suspect anti-German sentiment during WWI had something to do with its ending. But even with that, as DE alludes to above, the foreign language press in Iowa was probably on its way as the generation of original immigrants were starting to die out.

A lot of my ancestors in the 1850s - 1870s came to Iowa from Europe where most of them didn't have two rocks to scratch together. They came here and bettered their lot, mostly as farmers.

Iowa - the Land of Opportunity - built on the lands of Native Americans. By rights, I probably should be speaking Mesquakie.
 
Last edited:
Meanwhile, back to the topic posed by the OP, Bloomberg Business Radio probably won't have an affiliate in Pueblo and Colorado Springs anytime soon.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/07/rolling-stone-pulls-controversial-michael-bloomberg-191883.html

In the article, Bloomberg is quoted, saying "“In Colorado, we got a [gun control] law passed. . .The NRA went after two or three state senators in a part of Colorado where I don’t think there’s roads. It's as far rural as you can get."

The two state senators recalled were from Republican leaning Colorado Springs, and Democratic leaning Pueblo. The two urban areas combined have a population somewhere north of 650,000. Living without roads has proved beneficial to residents' health here, as we hike or bike on a well developed and extensive single-track dirt trail system.

Coming soon to Bloomberg Business News, "Off The Cuff" with Michael Bloomberg. Sponsored by Livestrong brand Rubber Bands. If you feel the need to speak off the cuff, don't blab pap. Just give it a snap! Livestrong brand Rubber Bands...keep them on your cuff so you stay out of the rough!
 
With the announcement that Radio Disney will be selling all of its stations except KDIS 1110 in LA, I'm wondering if Bloomberg will turn out to be the buyer of KMKY 1310.
 
It does seem Bloomberg has the quite pick of SF AM stations.

910, 860, 960, 1310

I am leaving out 560 and 610. And while the best choice might be 810, it seems very unlikely to happen.

Are there are other AM stations in the Bay Area that would fit the bill for Bloomberg. Given the terrain, I also wonder if they could purchase or lease two stations to create signal super combo that would cover the Bay Area both during the day and night.

I am actually very excited that Bloomberg Radio would be coming to Bay Area. It has compelling content that translates well to radio and their own radio app.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom