The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 77

The Media 21 3 Palm Beach stations adjust to new listeners By PATRICIA BELLEW Herald Business Writer With an estimated 90 new residents pouring into Palm Beach County each day radio stations here are juggling new formats and new promotional campaigns in order to burrow a profitable niche in a new audience as if someone picked up a small town and plopped it into the middle of Palm Beach County every comments Douglas Shull vice president and general manager of sister stations WJNO-AM and WRMF-FM A year ago for example WRMF-FM switched from a rock music format to one that now features adult contemporary music a softer music format that the station believes will appeal to a wider audience than rock a rock format we were picking up a predominantly young male audience and we thought that limited our advertising adds Shull one else really had a handle on the adult contemporary market and we jumped on At the same time the radio station up markedly the with billboards newspaper ads and television spots hoping to build a loyal fol- lowing of listeners Sister stations WIRK-AM and WIRK-FM as well have "increased promotional budgets every eyeing the growing audience says vice president and general manager Rome Hartman The closely followed Arbitron ratings due in mid-February are likely to show whether the changes were noticed by the 12 million ears But the new ratings are not likely to show any upset of the two dominant stations WEAT-FM a beautiful music station and WIRK-FM which features country music Radio market analysts say the two formats have maintained such a wide following here because so much of Palm Beach population has typically split into two groups: and In the last survey which was done in April and May WEAT-FM held an impressive 146 per cent of the radio audience while WIRK Coun under consideration before the latest ratings were released La Cubanisima begins a new format today with more emphasis on news and commentaries News programming will increase from nine to 11 hours and WQBA has added four new commentators and beefed up its newsroom staff is a reflection of the desire to hear more about international events and the Cuban Levin says think they (WRHC) outnewsed us he says is the first tabloid station and very successful at that "The Cuban community is becoming more inward more Levin says implication is for the American businessman to watch that closely and decide how to deal with Some of competitors say its success in part is based on a sensational approach to the news and a decidedly anti-Castro bent think objective at says one competitor (It is difficult to report news objectively in this market he adds) Cuban exiles want you to say: bloody assassin But Lew says WRHC is objective problem is we call Fidel Castro president He says Lew people say we objective but we are being objective when we call him Dictator Fidel WOCty a middle-of-the-road Latin music and talk station has a definite point of view but Carlos Fernandez station general manager says it is by design and comes under the public service umbrella Anti-Castro groups such as Abda-la Movimiento Insurrectional Mar-tiano and Junta Patriotica have regular weekly programs on WOCN "We violate anylaw by letting these groups come says Fernandez speak of a free democratic Cuba" Fernandez says this type of programming and other public service shows have proven to be good for business Although some Spanish stations are still cashing in on techniques and call letters that conjure up memories of pre-Castro Cuba others are moving away from traditional Latin entertainment or politicized formats Such formats they say appeal to the over-50 crowd and they are pursuing a younger audience WHTT the Spanish sister station of WHYI is trying to project the inage of modern environment in which to present Latin music and says Gleason It is aiming at the 25-49 age group a group that Gleason says was the least satisfied with existing Spanish programming WCMQ-AM a daytime station offers a mass appeal entertainment format while its 24-hour FM-coun-terpart FM-92 is a music station that features a mellow sound and is geared toward a more international audience WCMQ-AM is the Puro" (Pure Gold) music station and caters to a somewhat older audience with its golden oldies format Since there is no phrase for golden oldies in Spanish Rey coined Puro" It has apparently taken hold and Rey thinks it is partly responsible for ratings jump from 17 to 39 in the Miami market Although La Cubanisima still offers some programming that would sound familiar to the Havana listener of 20 years ago young bilingual dee-jays mix American disco music with salsa on WQBA-FM (Super Q) Super was inaugurated in March 1979 after a WQBA study showed that hardly anyone under 30 was listening to Spanish radio 1 try had a firm grip on 114 per cent In contrast the nearest competitor with a country music format WIRK-AM could claim only 17 per cent of the audience According to Arbitron the CCT bined market shares of the three other stations gave those stations only half the audience of dominant WEAT-FM think there will be big changes among the top says Rome Hartman vice president and general manager of the sister stations WIRK-AM and WIRK-FM has country music well in hand and the other has beautiful music well in He believes though that the battle for listenership will place among the 17 other radio stations and the 14 radio stations in Dade and Broward that can claim an audience in the southern end of Palm Beach County 5811 FT LAUDERDALE Envirwood Executive Plaza 5950 Oakland Park Bvd Suite 207486-1400 A Direct Lender pavkins- DOYliTOrll MUI1I AIIISLEY BUILDING OFFICE SPACE FOR RENT 600 SC FT AVAILABLE $13 SQ FT YEARLY Don't be a conversational dropout instead be a part of the conversation Stay informed with The Miami Herald We represent most of the major newspapers and magazines in South Central America Free translations no handling charges For more info ask your ad 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West men follow Costa Dei Sol B'vd srons to mows twai art located past security gales The Miami Herald Monday February 2 1981.