Radio Column November 11, 2005

Listening In


By Sandy Wells


November 11, 2005


Bilingual “Latino 96.3” KXOL-FM soars in latest ratings

Latino 96.3 FM’s midday entertainer Donaji and morning man Nico Jones (KXOL photos)

The latest ratings from Arbitron proved that LA radio was ready for something mucho grande! Pues, the new bilingual “Latino 96.3” KXOL-FM 96.3 exploded on the radio scene this summer, zooming from a tie at No. 18 to a tie at No. 2 in a matter of weeks.

I guess this success story helps prove that the idea of the “melting pot” is still valid in America and especially here in Southern California. On Latino 96.3, both English and Spanish are woven into a seamless sound texture that reflects the linguistic reality in many Southland communities.

The practice is not new to radio. There have been numerous instances of bilingual patter by personalities before - the long running Chicano-oriented “Sancho Show” on KPFK-FM 90.7 is one example - but as a fulltime commercial radio venture, it is new to Southern California.

“We’re absolutely thrilled!” said KXOL Vice President and General Manager David Haymore about what may well be counted as the fastest ratings ascent of a new format in LA radio history. “It hit a vibe, a nerve. We knew right a way from the calls we received. The listeners responded, adopting it passionately.”

Latino 96.3 prominently features Reggaeton, a genre of Caribbean music that originated almost twenty years ago in Panama and Puerto Rico.

“This station incorporates a mix of Hip Hop in English and Spanish with Reggaeton,” says Haymore. “We saw Reggaeton concerts that immediately sold out, so we saw there was this demand for the music.”

“We launched this station back in May with the strong belief that LA was ready for a bilingual station with emphasis on the youth. The dominant ethnicity of LA youth is Hispanic – 59 percent of 12 to 24 year old males and 56 percent of females 12 to 24 are Hispanic who are (nevertheless) predominantly functioning in the English language world.”

There were none of the common marketing gimmicks often involved with the launch of this new station, such as playing no commercials for the first month.

“Its popularity was driven by word of mouth, with text messaging, email, phone calls, all with an excitement we’ve never seen before,” said Haymore.

As with the launch of “Jack FM” (KCBS-FM 93.1) this year, this move showed some guts on the part of corporate radio station owners. Their examples could lead to more exciting new formats for us in the next year.


In other ratings news, the top stations among listeners 12+ were No. 1 KIIS-FM 102.7, KXOL tied at No. 2 with Spanish adult contemporary “K-Love” KLVE-FM 107.5. News/talk KFI-AM 640 tied with hip hop KPWR-FM 105.9 “Power 106” at No. 4, followed by alternative/modern rock KROQ-FM 106.7 at No. 6. Regional Mexican stations KLAX-FM 97.9 and KSCA-FM 101.9 scored at No. 7 and 8 respectively with “Jack FM” KCBS-FM 93.1 at No. 9 and soft rock KOST-FM 103.5 rounding out the top 10.

In morning drive, Renan "El Cucuy" Almendarez Coello on KLAX moved up to No, 1, swapping rank with Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo on KSCA, then talk radio kingpin Bill Handel on KFI again in third place. KROQ’s Kevin and Bean moved from No. 6 to No. 4 and KIIS’ Ryan Seacrest slipped from fourth to fifth place.

In the morning talk radio sweepstakes, KABC-AM 790’s Doug McIntyre gained eight tenths of a point to move into 10th place from 16th with a very respectable 3.0 share of listeners. KRLA-AM 870s Laura Ingraham moved up from 29th place to a tie for 25th and liberal talker Stephanie Miller gained some traction by moving from 47th to 29th place with a gain of eight tenths of a point on KTLK-AM 1150. KLSX’s Howard Stern, still a potent force on the eve of his departure to satellite radio, is in at 7th place while KLOS-FM 95.5 funnymen Mark and Brian inched up to No. 11.

Meanwhile, Jamie White on KYSR-FM 98.7 fared poorly without Danny Bonaduce, dropping half a point from a tie at No. 16 to a tie at No. 23.