Radio & TV in Cuba

I think I'll move this question over to the Miami board. But I'm curious in how the Cuban expatriot community in Miami supports so many talk radio stations. 670 WWFE, 710 WAQI, 1020 KURN, 1140 WQBA, 1210 WNMA and 1260 WSUA are all listed as Spanish Talk stations. In most other markets with large Hispanic communities, Spanish Talk stations don't do very well. Co-owned 710 WAQI and 1140 WQBA (the QBA, pronounced in Spanish, is Cuba) are 50,000 watt stations regularly jammed in Cuba, along with 100,000 watt 1180 Radio Marti broadcasting from Marathon in the Keys, with studios in Miami.

Six commercial U.S. stations and one public station all doing Spanish Talk. Do they all discuss how bad Castro is and how they will someday reclaim Cuba and turn it into a U.S.-style democracy?

Gregg
[email protected]

I don't listen because my "espanol" is poor---but I will give this a shot, as I live near Miami:

I'd say that 710 has caused the most brouhaha....only six days after they switched to Spanish in late 1985, the Cuban PTB started the jamming. 670 at night doesn't do much; only 1 kW. 1020 might be talk, but I don't think they are controversial*. 1140 is as 710 politically I'd say, but they are not heard well in Cuba either, day or night, I don't believe. 1210 recently went ESPN Deportes, so n/a!

[*I could be wrong here---they have been approved for 95.3 in Key Largo; let's see what happens if it goes on the air. But, 1020 has not much reach even into the FL Keys.]

Bottom line which I should mention.....many of the listeners to 710/1140 are above adult-standards demo! But still they are loyal.

cd

Thanks for the info CD. I thought 1450 WOCN was ESPN Deportes. Maybe they're back to doing Spanish Talk too if 1210 is now Deportes? They were another Spanish Talk station before signing with ESPN. I suppose they're all hanging onto the original population born in Cuba who fled Castro.

Gregg
[email protected]

Gregg said:

Thanks for the info CD. I thought 1450 WOCN was ESPN Deportes. Maybe they're back to doing Spanish Talk too if 1210 is now Deportes? They were another Spanish Talk station before signing with ESPN. I suppose they're all hanging onto the original population born in Cuba who fled Castro.

Gregg
[email protected]

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Yeah it moved to 1210, and 1450 is Spanish/English AC music, few announcements, and I believe it's brokered too.

1450, maybe about 15 years ago, was in controversy, as they actually aired Cuban programming----Radio Progreso programs were on, as I recall....so they weren't exactly to be lumped with the others. I am sure there had been threats left and right (not left and right politically) to WOCN for doing this.

cd

Gregg said:

In most other markets with large Hispanic communities, Spanish Talk stations don't do very well.
Six commercial U.S. stations and one public station all doing Spanish Talk. Do they all discuss how bad Castro is and how they will someday reclaim Cuba and turn it into a U.S.-style democracy?

Gregg
[email protected]

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Well, its probably worth noting that not all hispanic cultures are the same. Just like we Americans do not have the same listening tastes as the British when it comes to radio.

However, as a generalization, Cubans has historically been one of the highest-educated and (in Miami, conservative) hispanic cultures. Talk formats in general tend to be frequented by educated conservatives. So maybe not as much of an abnormality as one might think!

I should point out that many of these Cuban-specific formats may not have much more juice left in them in 10-15 years as the first generation Cubans begin to die/retire and the Communist regime slowly softens. Sounds funny now, but many second generation Cuban Americans know about as much Spanish as the average white high school graduate, listen to hip hop or rock, and are fairly ambivalent about post-revolution Cuba. The ties that bound their parents to the homeland just quite often aren't there for many of their offspring!

This doesn't mean a large amount of gringo formats will pop up in their place...South Florida still has a very large number of Central/South Americans, Puerto Ricans, and a growing Haitian population. Not to mention the Quebecers who constitute a good chunk of Broward County and don't have a dedicated radio station yet.

Radio-X

That is a good point. I'd give it 50/50, as for the number of 2nd generation Cubanos, that speak Spanish. Cuban-American families are very passionate about their culture. Therefore, many 2nd generation Cubans DO, indeed, speak Spanish. However, many of these don't use it as their first language. Also, in agreement with you, many of these listen to American music formats...or a mixture of American and Hispanic formats. That can be said for Cubans in Florida or Mexicans and Salvadoreans, here in North Carolina. I do not see Spanish formats going dark anytime soon. In fact, many seem to be in a growth phase. (IMHO). Nevertheless, this is an interesting thread.

Incidentally, this evening, during the 8pm hour...here in Northern NC, during low clouds and rain: 530 Radio Enciclopedia and 640 Radio Progreso were loud and clear. I could also hear the time pulse from Reloj, though the signal wasn't clear on 590.

As for US-artists on Cuban radio, I believe that for some time, Taino played US pop music. When I noticed this a few years ago, it was 80's leaning formatics. David is so right about the use of words like "Imperialist", when referring to anything US-related in newscasts. They are maybe not quite AS bad as they were, say 30 years ago...but, it's still quite noticeable.

Though Marti is jammed in Cuba, they must be reaching someone. Who is this station reaching? With their super directional antenna, I've never heard the AM, but I have heard Radio Havana Cuba on 6000Khz (Shortwave) and Marti on 6030, with the sound of the Cuban jammer in the background. If I am able to hear the jamming here in NC, I wonder how they are heard, at all, in Cuba. Any thoughts on this Mr. Eduardo?

Interesting stuff! I remember getting a 3 and 6 from Cuba in Ohio during eSkip in the 70s.

Cuba at least had radio coverage of the Pan American Games when they were in Indianapolis in the 80s. There was a local TV story about the U.S. vs. Cuba baseball game, and they mentioned that a player for the U.S. who defected from Cuba was called "the traitor" during Cuba's coverage.

The Cuban people are being that Occupy is on the verge of overthrowing the "imperialist" U.S. Government and installing Cuban style socialism? Yeah....right.

B Lewis said:

Though Marti is jammed in Cuba, they must be reaching someone. Who is this station reaching? With their super directional antenna, I've never heard the AM, but I have heard Radio Havana Cuba on 6000Khz (Shortwave) and Marti on 6030, with the sound of the Cuban jammer in the background. If I am able to hear the jamming here in NC, I wonder how they are heard, at all, in Cuba. Any thoughts on this Mr. Eduardo?

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Marti uses fixed wing aircraft in a contract with Lockheed to broadcast FM to parts of Cuba, and the AM and SW manage to make it into many parts of Cuba.

When I first did the Congressionally mandated outside evaluation of Martí in 1986, I was amazed about the number of Cubans arriving at points outside of Cuba (and were surveyed) who knew of the Rio Canaima incident. A ferry was to be used to transport refugees fleeing Cuba, but the authorities found out and sank it, killing nearly everyone, in a river. The news was totally banned in Cuba; only Martí broadcast the story.

While that was 25 years ago, the conditions are much the same... the signal gets in enough to influence how much the government can suppress the real news. The availability of outside news in some form contributes to a slightly less totalitarian local news policy.

Keep in mind that Martí on 1180 with 100 kw really has a 500 kw lobe aimed at Cuba... capable of getting into lots of places.

B Lewis said:

That is a good point. I'd give it 50/50, as for the number of 2nd generation Cubanos, that speak Spanish. Cuban-American families are very passionate about their culture. Therefore, many 2nd generation Cubans DO, indeed, speak Spanish. However, many of these don't use it as their first language.

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In Miami, my experience is that nearly all second generation Cuban-Americans know Spanish... the language was spoken in the home, nearly always. And a huge percentage of Cuban exiles send and sent their children to bilingual schools where both languages were used (that is the normal middle and upper income practice in all Latin America. Even I went to one!). But you are right... many of the second generation prefer English among friends, and some even refer to Spanish only speakers as "refs" which is an offensive term for recently arrived refugees.

Just curious about this, David...are you able to tell me at what points outside of Cuba that you surveyed these Cubans? (I ask are you 'able', as I don't know if this is classified info, or not). I have distant Cuban blood in my family (and speak Spanish), so this topic has been a fascination for me since I was a kid. Incidentally, I have a friend, who has a friend, who gave me an opportunity to go to work at Marti. I was getting married to my 1st wife at the time and didn't want to move. Right, I didn't want to move back to South Florida...was I insane?? It just wasn't the right time...or, at least I didn't think so. Looking back, I want to kick myself for not going for it!

B Lewis said:

Just curious about this, David...are you able to tell me at what points outside of Cuba that you surveyed these Cubans?

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All I was told was that the information was gathered from "persons arriving from Cuba at airports and other destinations" which I took to be travelers going through Caracas, Mexico City, etc., and refugees. As we know, there was a lot of interest by certain agencies in interviewing such people to find out about conditions in Cuba, and determining information sources was part of that.

(I ask are you 'able', as I don't know if this is classified info, or not). I have distant Cuban blood in my family (and speak Spanish), so this topic has been a fascination for me since I was a kid. Incidentally, I have a friend, who has a friend, who gave me an opportunity to go to work at Marti. I was getting married to my 1st wife at the time and didn't want to move. Right, I didn't want to move back to South Florida...was I insane?? It just wasn't the right time...or, at least I didn't think so. Looking back, I want to kick myself for not going for it!

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All my experiences with Martí have been positive. A number of people I knew or worked with in Miami went to work there, and the people I met inside Martí were genuinely dedicated. I think anyone who believes in the "causa Cubana" would have enjoyed working there.

Thanks for the reply, David! Very interesting stuff!

I want to know if any of the radio and TV channels in Cuba run any commercial advertisements. I know that Radio Reloj doesn't run any.
Personally, I'll get my news on Cuba from Radio Marti in Miami. They report the news on Cuban prisoners of conscience that Radio Havana Cuba won't report on. Are the RHC trying to muzzle the truth? What do you think?

blackgold said:

I want to know if any of the radio and TV channels in Cuba run any commercial advertisements. I know that Radio Reloj doesn't run any.
Personally, I'll get my news on Cuba from Radio Marti in Miami. They report the news on Cuban prisoners of conscience that Radio Havana Cuba won't report on. Are the RHC trying to muzzle the truth? What do you think?

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Well, obviously there is a certain "spin" on things on RHC. I'm sure that there are those out there who will say that Radio Marti does the same, only the other way.

The only "commercials" you will hear on Cuban radio/TV are those that you will hear on Radio Taino, which is FM-only in Cuba, but can be accessed online, via www.vtuner.com . Radio Taino is mainly a station for tourists, and it used to be very bilingual Spanish/English, but today I only hear the top-of-hour ID in both languages, and I believe there is an English news report at 7pm Eastern, maybe 7:15.

I am not sure if the "commercials" are actually underwritings like our non-comms have in the US. I wanna say that most of these are for local shops in La Habana.

Note: There *are* quite a few PSA's they have, something like our Ad Council puts out. Also on their TV are many announcements of upcoming arts festivals, maybe concerts and such.

I'm sure DavidEduardo has more to say here.

cd

cd637299 said:

I'm sure DavidEduardo has more to say here.

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The whole question is disingenuous. Cuba has a state run economy. The government owns just about everything. It was not until just the last few years that even selling eggs and fruit from your "own" property was illegal and subject to arrest.

(I say "own" because the state decides who gets the use of property)

There is now a certain degree of independent entrepreneurial activity, mostly small shops and taxis and things like that. There is no privately owned beer label, no local Proctor & Gamble.

As you pointed out, the tourist sector is the exception. Foreign hotel chains cater to foreign tourists, etc. But there is otherwise no client base, other than the government, for advertising. And the government owns all, absolutely all, stations.

^ Well, yes of course. I suppose it's "el gobierno" that supplies the commercials, as indeed they own/control everything.

Some will remember Taino in the late 1980s/early 1990s, when they ran on AM 1160 or 1180 with maybe 300 kW, blasting bilingual commercials way way up into the FL panhandle and well beyond. I heard it well in the daytime on FL's west coast.

cd

Has anyone ever published a coverage map for Radio Martí's big directional signal? I'd love to see what an unencumbered 500 kW lobe over salt water could do.

DavidEduardo said:

But there is otherwise no client base, other than the government, for advertising. And the government owns all, absolutely all, stations.

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Jumping into this very late, but better late, etc.

On a video I saw recently on YouTube, a Radio Havana official, a woman, criticized the US for allowing companies like Clear Channel to own most of the radio stations in the country.

As opposed to the Cuban way of doing things, right? ???

"Free territory of the Americas" my posterior.

You're right! Cuba is no "free territory" in the Americas, if you ask me.