Spanish Stations Move Up Radio List
by July 17, 2006 12:00 am 112 views
Three Spanish language radio stations made it on this year’s list of largest radio stations published by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.
In 2002, the last time a comprehensive list on area radio stations was compiled, no Spanish stations were tracked by Arbitron Inc., a research and marketing firm that is used as a benchmark in the radio industry.
On this year’s list are KSEC-FM, 95.7, owned by Vega Enterprises of Springdale with a fall 2005 share of 4.9 percent; KAKS-FM, 99.5, owned by Davidson Media Group of New York with a 1.6 percent share; KZRA-AM, 1590, owned by Cumulus Broadcasting Inc. of Atlanta with a 1.4 percent share.
However, share numbers for the three stations are skewed because of changes in ownership within the last year.
Vega Enterprises purchased KSEC-FM in July of 2005. Before then, Vega Enterprises leased airtime from Butler Broadcasting of Fayetteville on what is now KAKS-FM.
After that agreement ceased, Butler sold the station (KREB-FM) to Davidson Media.
Another notable change on the list was the number of stations. There were 14 stations broadcasting at a high enough wattage to be tracked by Arbitron in the area in 2002. There are 18 stations on this year’s list.
The top 10 stations had formats that break out like this: three are country; three are contemporary hits, or pop music; two are rock stations; one is Spanish language; and one is adult standards, or everything from Frank Sinatra to Neil Diamond.
The list is ranked by fall 2005 share because the numbers are the most recent available. New Arbitron numbers are due out in mid-August.