The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 1313

4B SUNDAY MARCH 16 1997 RIDING THE RADIO WAVE THE MIAMI HERALD INTERNATIONAL EDITION i Spanish-language stations turn up the merger frenzy RADIO FROM IB News of planned sale saddens employees listeners hear me but the programming will be transmitted in he said Under the letter of intent One-on-One Sports which airs sports talk programs agreed not to compete with SBS in its existing Spanish-language formats Often alot of ground must be covered between the time a letter of intent is signed and an actual sale is completed but' selling off its AM stations is part of Spanish ongoing business plan Executives say SBS wants to concentrate on FM music stations If the sale is completed and when three pending purchases of Spanish-language FM stations close SBS will have 'nine stations all FM-I Another fiscal reality: In the fall ratings period WCMQ-AM ihad only a 5 market share among listeners 25-54 from 6 am to midnight Herald Staff Writer Armando Correa contributed to this report By MIMI WHITEFIELD Herald Business Writer C-M-Q are call letters that evoke powerful memories Before the Cuban government assumed control of the media in the early 1960s CMQ was one of premier radio and television networks So it was with shock and a bit of sadness that employees and listeners learned that WCMQ-AM the' Miami station named after the original Cuban station was slated to be sold and converted to an English-language station On Wednesday New York-based Spanish Broadcasting System said it had signed a letter of intent to sell the licenses and assets of WCMQ and its two AM stations in New York and Los Angeles to One-on-One Sports Inc for $45 million was as surprised at the news as all our listeners because I learned about it from the AP Dow Jones wire said HEFTEL SOME OF STARS: Armando Perez Roura of Radio Mambi (WAQI 710 AM) and Javier Romero of WAMR-FM AmoM07B A ENRIQUE VALENTIN Herald Staff STRONG EMOTIONS: Tomas Garcia program was flooded with calls over the news WCMQ-AM may be sold Tomas Garcia Fuste veteran Spanish-language talk show host Calls came flooding into the station Thursday during Garcia (Open Microphone) program bothered people most is not that not going to Radio rage is not all talk at South Florida stations HEFTEL The stock of Texas-based Heftel owner of Spanish-language radio stations has $50 It hit a 52-week high of $4850 last October language stations and is under contract to buy three more and others also have designs on the Hispanic market long as Spanish Broadcasting System is growing (Heftel) will have said Arturo Villar a New York media consultant who publishes The Hispanic Market Weekly Dallas-based Heftel and New York-based SBS will also be going head-to-head in highly competitive Hispanic market Heftel owns four Spanish-language radio stations (two AMs and two FMs) here When SBS completes the purchase of WXDJ-FM 957 and WRMA-FM 1067 from New Age Broadcasting it will have five Spanish-language FM stations in Miami and the Florida Keys our four stations and their Miami stations talking 95 percent of the Hispanic listening audience and advertising said Luis Diaz-Al-bertini general manager of the four Miami Heftel stations SBS make sale deal Just last week SBS the largest Hispanic-owned radio company announced it had signed a letter of intent to sell its Miami newstalk station WCMQ-AM and its other two remaining AM stations to One-on-One Sports for $45 million When the dust clears from its deal-making SBS hopes to have at least nine FM stations in Florida New York Chicago and Los Angeles are concentrating on FM musical stations now trying to get into music said Raul Alarcon Sr founder of SBS and a former radio announcer and station operator in Cuba His son Raul Jr now runs SBS FM stations are now the ratings leaders in the Miami market and command higher advertising rates In fall ratings for example the two Miami FM stations that SBS is expected to close on by the end of the month ranked first and second among Hispanic stations in the key 25-54 age group and third and fourth in the general market AMs really count in this Alarcon said Miami I think Heftel can compete with us because we have better But Diaz-Albertini willing to concede anything may have a slight ratings lead but not much No one is this market is in the position to be monopolistic good for both advertisers and SBS also wants to acquire FM stations in Orlando and West Palm Beach prices are sky-high now but if the right deal comes along grab Alar-j con said Using high-power station in Key West (WSKP-FM) Alarcon envisions creating a Spanish-language network that will stretch from Orlando to Cuba some day (Fidel) Castro leaves put together the Florida stations with stations acquire in said Alarcon who once owned three stations in Camaguey and six in old Onente Province So convinced is he that Florida S-AL SOUTH FLORIDA FROM IB and trailed four Spanish-language music stations in the Hispanic ratings and WQBA-AM which for decades was the top Spanish-language station in town was eighth in the 6 am to midnight time slot among listeners 25-54 Russ Oasis executive vice pres-identprogramming for the Spanish Broadcasting System says Spanish-language radio market began shifting in the late 1980s trace the shift to two trends: music radio in the Spanish-language market became more sophisticated and the audience that traditionally listens to talk radio has started to age and die he said people listen to FM and older people tend to prefer AM Some of them will be stuck in AM radioland forever because what they grew up on and what they said Oasis reality is that talk and information is on AM and music is on The four Spanish-language radio stations that led the Hispanic market are all on the FM band Politics and more true that Radio Mambi attracts an older audience but it is still the most listened to AM station in the Hispanic points out Luis Diaz-Albertini 4 general manager of Heftel four Miami radio stations Along with politics Radio Mambi whose core audience is 45-65 years old broadcasts a steady stream of talk about diseases health products and cures But much of the popularity rests on the back of fiery anti-Castro announcer Perez Roura a broadcast veteran in both Miami and Cuba where he worked for CMQ and Radio Reloj goal is not to get a young audience for WAQI but for Perez Roura to keep doing what been doing for 36 years that is to do everything he can to make sure Castro Diaz-Albertini said then we remind listeners to take all their vitamins so be healthy when he Some people ask Diaz-Albertini what Radio Mambi announcers will talk about when Castro dies me find plenty to talk he said But the main challenge at sister station WQBA-AM is to get a somewhat younger audience Perez (who hosts a 1-3 pm talk show) has brought in WSUA 1260 AM COMPETITOR: WSUA-AM 1260 owned by California-based Eldorado Broadcasting Corp airs Spanish-language news sports and entertainment younger more affluent said Diaz-Albertini In all families there are sometimes generational conflicts And group of Miami stations is no exception The current rift centers on the playtime WRTO-FM (Tropical 983) is giving to a song by Los Van Van a Cuban (from the island) pop group that recently made its first concert tour in the continental United States but gave Miami wide berth The song La Histona de Tania Juan was underground kind of thing no one wanted to play it (in Miami) because of the political concerns but hear it at said Gino Latino WRTO program director were calling in requesting it so I decided to give it a There have been dissenting opinions among announcers at the Heftel stations to put it mildly said Diaz-Albertini So last week WRTO invited listeners to call in and vote whether they wanted to continue to hear the song or not Los Van Van prevailed said Latino and the vote even close Competition heats up Meanwhile also intense competition among stations When Oasis shifted the format of WRMA-FM (Romance 1067) to romantic ballads in 1994 it was a run-away success So the following year Heftel re-formated a station and created WAMR-FM (Amor 1075) which also relied heavily on romantic music Its call letters position on the dial and format are a bit too close for comfort Oasis said was an intentional try to confuse the move and it did confuse the audience But all you can do is remind listeners repeatedly that this is the place to go for romantic he said Russ Oasis and Bill Tanner programming guru) worked together before so they know each conceded Diaz-Albertini market is just extremely 07 14 21 February 28 07 14 March KATIA TARASCONI Herald Staff Among plans: to start its own unwired network offering syndicated programming Its first venture was a Feb 26 Grammy special hosted by Vikki Carr that was carried on all Heftel music stations A special with Julio Iglesias will be broadcast on the entire network in late Apnl or early May they pool their resources intelligently and lower their costs and use certain programs on all stations they can become their own radio Villar said A difficult venture Still he points out attempts at creating successful Hispanic radio networks have generally failed Heftel in fact had such a network Cadena Radio Centro but shut it down making money or producing a compelling said Jeffrey Hinson chief financial officer This time around hope to be a magnet to attract the best 10 17 24 January BZ MA1697 is the place to be when it comes to Spanish-language radio Alarcon said SBS will relocate its corporate offices from New York to Miami this summer Miami is one of the most sophisticated and lucrative Spanish-language radio markets in the United States Even though the New York and Los Angeles markets are larger Miami ranks second when it comes to Spanish- language advertising revenues Unlike other markets where Spanish-language stations even if ratings leaders generally command the advertising rates charged by gen-'eral market stations top-rated Hispanic stations get a 20-30 percent premium said Diaz-Albertini Meanwhile still in the market for radio stations It recently arranged a $300 million credit acquisition facility to add stations to its roster And the company is exploring opportunities the merger will open up the first time there is a Spanish-language radio broadcaster with national scope allowing us to offer unprecedented services to our advertisers and said Mac Tichenor new president and chief executive of Heftel talent in the industry and be able to take great programming talent in Los Angeles for example and use it to help us in New York and Hinson said Heftel also plans a name change Its namesake is founder Cecil Heftel former congressman from Hawaii and now in the night club business make sense to have the name anymore it really reflect what the all Hinson said So Heftel is holding a contest and asking its employees to come up with a new name Industry analysts will be watching the Heftel-Tichenor merger closely they lower costs and then lower rates and attract more advertisers then it could be beneficial for the entire Hispanic broadcasting Villar said it could be bad if they use their dominance in the local markets to raise The problem with pushing up ad rates he said is that Hispanic media has a long way to go before it gets a proportional share of advertising dollars Although Hispanics account for 10 percent of the US population only 1 billion was spent on Hispanic media buys last year compared to 1 60 billion on English-language advertising Russ Oasis majority owner of the two New Age stations that SBS is buying predicts Hispanic 'radio rates rise much because of the consolidation wave the US radio only accounts for 7 percent of the entire advertising said Oasis who is new executive vice presidentprogram-ming an industry like to grow to 10 percent pver the next few years I think most people are much more interested in growing that pie than bickering over JAMES BYRD Learn how to make a fortune with 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