Luis Albertini new VP/GM of WQYK/WYUU/WBZZ

[LouPickney]

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned on here before, but as the trades reported on Friday, Luis Albertini is returning to Tampa to serve as the VP/GM of WQYK, WYUU and WBZZ. Charlie Ochs isn't going anywhere (at least according to the presser), as he'll retain management duties at WLLD, WRBQ and WSJT.

What I find interesting is that Albertini has experience on the Spanish language programming side, serving as VP/GM of Spanish Broadcasting System's WLEY in Chicago and that company's Miami cluster of WAMR, WAQI, WRTO & WQBA.

Now call me crazy, but if I was going to flip a station to Spanish in Tampa, Albertini is someone who seems like an ideal person for overseeing the job, since he has years of experience in this market and experience programming Spanish in major markets. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but if I found out that was in the works, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

Thoughts?<P ID="signature">______________
Lou Pickney
Tampa, FL
RadioHotTalk.com & VarietyHits.com</P>

 

[RealDeal]

> I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned on here before, but
> as the trades reported on Friday, Luis Albertini is
> returning to Tampa to serve as the VP/GM of WQYK, WYUU and
> WBZZ. Charlie Ochs isn't going anywhere (at least according
> to the presser), as he'll retain management duties at WLLD,
> WRBQ and WSJT.
>
> What I find interesting is that Albertini has experience on
> the Spanish language programming side, serving as VP/GM of
> Spanish Broadcasting System's WLEY in Chicago and that
> company's Miami cluster of WAMR, WAQI, WRTO & WQBA.
>
> Now call me crazy, but if I was going to flip a station to
> Spanish in Tampa, Albertini is someone who seems like an
> ideal person for overseeing the job, since he has years of
> experience in this market and experience programming Spanish
> in major markets. I'm not saying that's going to happen,
> but if I found out that was in the works, I wouldn't be the
> least bit surprised.
>
> Thoughts?

Why would they take away three stations from Charlie Ochs if things were great? It looks like a demotion, which I hope is not true because Ochs is a stand-up guy. It would make sense to bring in Albertini to the market if they were going to flip to Spanish.
>

 

[RMarino]

Where have I heard his name before? Wasn't he somehow involved with Q105 in the '80s?

 

[bossmsx]

Reading into this too much!!

Albertini has experience in both Spanish and English radio..Prior to being hired at Heftel's Spanish stations in Miami (this was ca. late 1995), he was indeed in Tampa, at WQYK if I'm not mistaken, and yes, he had been involved at RBQ previously.

 

[TampaTV]

Re: Reading into this too much!!

Strange that the two groups will have two different general managers since they are all going to be co-located in the same building soon. WQYK/KYUU/WBZZ are moving into the same building as WSJT/WLLD/WRBQ in north St. Petersburg.

 

[LouPickney]

Re: Reading into this too much!!

> Albertini has experience in both Spanish and English
> radio..Prior to being hired at Heftel's Spanish stations in
> Miami (this was ca. late 1995), he was indeed in Tampa, at
> WQYK if I'm not mistaken, and yes, he had been involved at
> RBQ previously.

This link to Radio & Records' website has details on Luis Albertini's history in the Tampa market. But yes, Albertini was GSM at WQYK from 1990-1995, so he certainly has a knowledge of the station and its legacy in the market.

As for reading anything into the move, the fact that Albertini has experience programming Spanish cannot be overlooked entirely, though logic dictates that you don't bring in a new VP/GM to flip a weaker-powered FM (or a relatively weak powered AM) to Spanish. A new PD could handle that. What is important to remember is that there's a huge country war that's about to happen beginning this fall between Infinity and Clear Channel once Skip Mahaffey's non-compete expires. You could say the war began on April 13 when CC lured Mahaffey away, but the real fight for listeners begins in October.<P ID="signature">______________
Lou Pickney
Tampa, FL
RadioHotTalk.com & VarietyHits.com</P>