• 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

How much longer will 105.3 El Patron hang on?

L

Lotologist492

I have noticed El Patron 105.3 ratings dipping below 1.0 PPM in the past two books. There are a few smaller stations and translators which serve the NE/Gwinnett area and the target demo so much better than 105.3 which can hardly be heard there, which may explain the downward PPM trend lately.

I am just wondering if iHeart will eventually flip 105.3 or use it as a 'format lab' like they did pre-2006, or could it be that this station is still turning a profit in spite of the low PPM's. I guess time will tell....
 
Lotologist492 said:
I have noticed El Patron 105.3 ratings dipping below 1.0 PPM in the past two books. There are a few smaller stations and translators which serve the NE/Gwinnett area and the target demo so much better than 105.3 which can hardly be heard there, which may explain the downward PPM trend lately.

I am just wondering if iHeart will eventually flip 105.3 or use it as a 'format lab' like they did pre-2006, or could it be that this station is still turning a profit in spite of the low PPM's. I guess time will tell....
Click to expand...

We've talked about this before. Ratings are almost irrelevant to El Patron because they're pretty much the only game in town for Hispanic buys. Yes, there is La Raza in Buford as well as a couple of small AM's.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
We've talked about this before. Ratings are almost irrelevant to El Patron because they're pretty much the only game in town for Hispanic buys. Yes, there is La Raza in Buford as well as a couple of small AM's.
Click to expand...

Very good point. Plus iHeart can sell it based on "we can give you the Hispanic market too!".
 
Lotologist492 said:
I have noticed El Patron 105.3 ratings dipping below 1.0 PPM in the past two books. There are a few smaller stations and translators which serve the NE/Gwinnett area and the target demo so much better than 105.3 which can hardly be heard there, which may explain the downward PPM trend lately.

I am just wondering if iHeart will eventually flip 105.3 or use it as a 'format lab' like they did pre-2006, or could it be that this station is still turning a profit in spite of the low PPM's. I guess time will tell....
Click to expand...

Teresa Prieto's WPLO is working on a translator at 104.3, and there's a translator for another Latino station (WISK) at 103.9--both in Lawrenceville.

I've never seen WPLO or WISK show up in the ratings. That's not to say they aren't getting buys, but El Patron is obviously el perro grande.

More of a concern is how many buys they are getting. I heard on the news that a lot of businesses that cater to the Latino community are suffering because of the administration's current stance on undocumented immigrants is killing business. No business=no money=no buys. Nobody is going to throw a big flashy quince for their daughter if they are concerned that La Migra could show up and start hauling away family members. This could also be driving the reduced ratings of WBZY. But only iHeartClearChannel knows how many buys they are getting.

Is anyone listening to WBZY and hearing a lot of PSAs, etc. that could be indicative of unsold inventory? Are most of the advertisers iHeart clients on their other stations or national advertisers (who may be buying time on WBZY as part of a larger package), or are they mom and pops that could be vulnerable to a downturn in business?
 
jabba17 said:
Teresa Prieto's WPLO is working on a translator at 104.3, and there's a translator for another Latino station (WISK) at 103.9--both in Lawrenceville.

I've never seen WPLO or WISK show up in the ratings. That's not to say they aren't getting buys, but El Patron is obviously el perro grande.

More of a concern is how many buys they are getting. I heard on the news that a lot of businesses that cater to the Latino community are suffering because of the administration's current stance on undocumented immigrants is killing business. No business=no money=no buys. Nobody is going to throw a big flashy quince for their daughter if they are concerned that La Migra could show up and start hauling away family members. This could also be driving the reduced ratings of WBZY. But only iHeartClearChannel knows how many buys they are getting.

Is anyone listening to WBZY and hearing a lot of PSAs, etc. that could be indicative of unsold inventory? Are most of the advertisers iHeart clients on their other stations or national advertisers (who may be buying time on WBZY as part of a larger package), or are they mom and pops that could be vulnerable to a downturn in business?
Click to expand...

I remember several years back when iHeart (ClearChannel) made a big push nationally with Hispanic programming. They hired a gentleman (can't remember the name but a Hispanic programming specialist?) to head that up if I remember correctly.
Does iHeart still have the same interest in Hispanic programming? Has the donald really dampened business in the Hispanic community as Jabba suggests?
 
jabba17 said:
Teresa Prieto's WPLO is working on a translator at 104.3, and there's a translator for another Latino station (WISK) at 103.9--both in Lawrenceville.

I've never seen WPLO or WISK show up in the ratings. That's not to say they aren't getting buys, but El Patron is obviously el perro grande.

More of a concern is how many buys they are getting. I heard on the news that a lot of businesses that cater to the Latino community are suffering because of the administration's current stance on undocumented immigrants is killing business. No business=no money=no buys. Nobody is going to throw a big flashy quince for their daughter if they are concerned that La Migra could show up and start hauling away family members. This could also be driving the reduced ratings of WBZY. But only iHeartClearChannel knows how many buys they are getting.

Is anyone listening to WBZY and hearing a lot of PSAs, etc. that could be indicative of unsold inventory? Are most of the advertisers iHeart clients on their other stations or national advertisers (who may be buying time on WBZY as part of a larger package), or are they mom and pops that could be vulnerable to a downturn in business?
Click to expand...

This is kind of what I was getting at with my post. I know, Roddy this topic has been visited before but last time the ratings on 105.3 had not dropped below 1.0 yet. Plus we have new translators on air now serving the Hispanic demo much better than 105.3 ever could. From a listener standpoint it seems like iHeart is wasting a slot on the FM dial. But - then again there is probably a business angle to this station's survival which is keeping it afloat. And to that end I will honor Roddy's and others' expertise.
 
Last edited:
wavo said:
I remember several years back when iHeart (ClearChannel) made a big push nationally with Hispanic programming. They hired a gentleman (can't remember the name but a Hispanic programming specialist?) to head that up if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

They hired Alfredo Alonso, who had published, with his father, "Radio & Música", a record duck financed magazine that was later sold to R&R. He briefly managed WSKQ in New York, but did not last long. He then joined Clear Channel. He had no programming experience.

Does iHeart still have the same interest in Hispanic programming? Has the donald really dampened business in the Hispanic community as Jabba suggests?
Click to expand...

iHeart just reorganized its Hispanic operations, appointing Enrique Santos to head their Miami station and to oversee the other operations such as Atlanta and Orlando and WPB. In Miami, where he was #1 in the mornings at WRTO, he is now #4 at the station he is running the programming for.

In the Southwest, they keep "La Preciosa", a gold based adult hits format, alive in a few markets but it is not doing as well as it did some years back.

So I guess that they see Spanish language as a "special situation" format that they do when the market warrants it.
 
jabba17 said:
More of a concern is how many buys they are getting. I heard on the news that a lot of businesses that cater to the Latino community are suffering because of the administration's current stance on undocumented immigrants is killing business. No business=no money=no buys.
Click to expand...

The bulk of advertisers on Spanish language radio are general market businesses that want to invite Hispanics into their stores or to use their services.

Keep in mind that of 55 million Hispanics in the US, only about 5 million are not documented. The rest have no reason not to shop, work and be part of their communities. Anecdotally, my daughters have not changed their routines in any fashion...
 
Keep in mind the Atlanta metro is 10% Hispanic. So 105.3's share among Latinos is 9.0%.

El Patron's rates are the same as they've been, and an iHeart salesperson told me that he expects them to increase for the summer months.
 
That's assuming 10% of latinos listen to 105.3. Maybe it's because most of the hispanics I know have been in the states for most of their life but the ones in my neighborhood are doing pop or rock. Some even hip hop.
 
acheron1982 said:
That's assuming 10% of latinos listen to 105.3. Maybe it's because most of the hispanics I know have been in the states for most of their life but the ones in my neighborhood are doing pop or rock. Some even hip hop.
Click to expand...

The market is about 55% Spanish dominant. Since Nielsen lumps bilinguals in with English dominant, that means that probably 70% of area Hispanics either only listen to Spanish radio or listen predominantly.

Bilinguals are split between those who know "enough English" to function in the English speaking community, but whose tastes in music and other cultural areas are totally Hispanic and those who grew up here in a Spanish speaking household but whose "outside world" is all English speaking, and they will listen very little to Spanish language radio.

The real issue is format. Not all Mexicans like Regional Mexican music; in Mexico City the regional stations have less than a combined 25 share. Most non-Mexicans do not like it at all. So no matter what format a station has, not all Hispanics will pick it.
 
Last edited:
acheron1982 said:
That's assuming 10% of latinos listen to 105.3. Maybe it's because most of the hispanics I know have been in the states for most of their life but the ones in my neighborhood are doing pop or rock. Some even hip hop.
Click to expand...

No, it does not assume that. It's taking the .9 share and doing simple math.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Keep in mind the Atlanta metro is 10% Hispanic. So 105.3's share among Latinos is 9.0%.

El Patron's rates are the same as they've been, and an iHeart salesperson told me that he expects them to increase for the summer months.
Click to expand...

In markets with comparable percentages of native and non-native born residents, the total Spanish language share is usually equal to about 60% of the percentage of Hispanics in the market. The "over-performance" is generally due to the fact that Hispanics spend more time with the radio. Not so in Atlanta.

With Atlanta now at 11% Hispanic in the MSA, there should be about 6.5 total shares for all the Spanish language stations. But since there is not a single decent FM in any format, and so many of the Spanish language stations are AM, we see that the total share potential is not even half achieved.

This is a market where Hispanics, who over index every other significant group in smartphone ownership and usage, are simply opting for Pandora, YouTube, Spotify and the other alternatives because there is no reliable signal that covers all the areas of a normal daily routine for most of the population.

On the other hand, look at Orlando where one station picks up more than a third of all Hispanics because it has a great fully competitive signal. And Orlando is a challenging Hispanic market, as it is predominantly composed of Puerto Rican migrants, not immigrants, and a huge percentage of folks in PR grew up listening to English language music on many of the top stations there... so in Orlando, they do the same.
 
One thing we all have to remember, just because someone speaks Spanish, doesn't mean they all listen to the same radio station. If you are playing "Mexican" music, Puerto Ricans and South American Hispanics are not necessarily going to listen. So having one Spanish language station (iHeart) doesn't mean you're getting all the Hispanic listeners in town.
 
David...you gave us a tutorial on the different formats, or "styles" of Spanish language music before. Would you please explain the different genres again? Which format, or genre would 105.3 considered to be?
It surprises me that they serve such a small number of the potential Spanish language listeners. I know the signal is weak in the northeastern metro area where many potential listeners live but the signal CAN be heard, albeit with some noise, but it is still a usable signal in many areas. Is it the format genre? As I type they are playing the tuba/accordion sound which I think you have labeled as the "country" flavor of Latin music.
 
wavo said:
David...you gave us a tutorial on the different formats, or "styles" of Spanish language music before. Would you please explain the different genres again? Which format, or genre would 105.3 considered to be?
It surprises me that they serve such a small number of the potential Spanish language listeners. I know the signal is weak in the northeastern metro area where many potential listeners live but the signal CAN be heard, albeit with some noise, but it is still a usable signal in many areas. Is it the format genre? As I type they are playing the tuba/accordion sound which I think you have labeled as the "country" flavor of Latin music.
Click to expand...

Principal formats (within each there are sub-formats or flavors)

1. Regional Mexican.
The country music of México which includes genres like norteña (accordion), banda (tuba and brass), ranchera (mariachi) and lesser varieties. Today, these stations are very current based with high rotations. This format will have much more limited appeal to non-Mexicans, although those from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras will definitely listen. It's the biggest format in Spanish, and is on about half of all Spanish language stations in the US.

2. Contemporary.
This is somewhere between CHR and Hot AC in general market equivalency. Mostly current based, today the format is based on reggaetón and rhythmic music, with fewer pop and ballad songs than ever. Rotations tend to be like English language Hot AC. Stations in the Eastern US will be more Caribbean flavored than those in the Southwest, but the biggest hits will be universal.

3. Adult Hits
This is a format that works only in mostly Mexican heritage markets, and is a blend of mass appeal adult pop, softer regional Mexican and some traditional rhythmic sounds. It's a 30-54 format, with no currents, perhaps some older recurrents, and slow rotation gold.

4. Pure Rhythmi
A format variation of #2, but with no pop and no ballads. Often will play some English music, such as Pitbull and Drake. Only seen in a few markets like LA and Miami.

5. All ranchera
Traditional mariachi music. This appeals to an old audience, and would usually be seen on an AM such as KFWB in Los Angeles.

6. Tropical
I list this only because there are almost no examples of pure tropical stations in the mainland US any more. Salsa is almost entirely an older demo (45 and over) format, and Mexican tropical, including a genre known as "sonidero", is pretty dead. Some contemporary tropical may be found on the more Caribbean leaning contemporary stations, but, again, not in the Southwest.

7. Rock en español.
There has only ever been one successful all-Spanish-rock station in the world, and it is in Argentina. A non-starter in the US, even for specialty shows.
 
Last edited:
DavidEduardo said:


Principal formats (within each there are sub-formats or flavors)

1. Regional Mexican.
The country music of México which includes genres like norteña (accordion), banda (tuba and brass), ranchera (mariachi) and lesser varieties. Today, these stations are very current based with high rotations. This format will have much more limited appeal to non-Mexicans, although those from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras will definitely listen. It's the biggest format in Spanish, and is on about half of all Spanish language stations in the US.

2. Contemporary.
This is somewhere between CHR and Hot AC in general market equivalency. Mostly current based, today the format is based on reggaetón and rhythmic music, with fewer pop and ballad songs than ever. Rotations tend to be like English language Hot AC. Stations in the Eastern US will be more Caribbean flavored than those in the Southwest, but the biggest hits will be universal.

3. Adult Hits
This is a format that works only in mostly Mexican heritage markets, and is a blend of mass appeal adult pop, softer regional Mexican and some traditional rhythmic sounds. It's a 30-54 format, with no currents, perhaps some older recurrents, and slow rotation gold.

4. Pure Rhythmi
A format variation of #2, but with no pop and no ballads. Often will play some English music, such as Pitbull and Drake. Only seen in a few markets like LA and Miami.

5. All ranchera
Traditional mariachi music. This appeals to an old audience, and would usually be seen on an AM such as KFWB in Los Angeles.

6. Tropical
I list this only because there are almost no examples of pure tropical stations in the mainland US any more. Salsa is almost entirely an older demo (45 and over) format, and Mexican tropical, including a genre known as "sonidero", is pretty dead. Some contemporary tropical may be found on the more Caribbean leaning contemporary stations, but, again, not in the Southwest.

7. Rock en español.
There has only ever been one successful all-Spanish-rock station in the world, and it is in Argentina. A non-starter in the US, even for specialty shows.
Click to expand...

Thanks David!
I know you're not in the Atlanta area so maybe you can't answer my other question...what is the 105.3 format? I hear them play some regional but it is more "uptown" than the regional I hear on the first AM station to go Mexican in Atlanta (WAOS AM1600). That station is still heavily tuba/brass/accordion and reminds me of Tex-Mex music we used to listen to back in the 60s and 70s...artists like Flaco Jimenez with the Tejano sound.
105.3 seems to be "middle of the road" and also mixes in music that sounds more Latin pop with the "mild" regional. Might that be the reason their audience is limited?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom