CHICAGO — January 23, 2015 — According to the annual Miller Kaplan revenue report for the nation’s third largest market, total radio income for the market’s stations dipped from $419,715,000 in 2013 to $376,231,000 in 2014. For Hispanic radio, the growth seen in recent years has perhaps ebbed — substantially.
Meanwhile, iHeart’s WNUA-FM 95.5, the one-time Spanish Hot AC “Mega” which in its final Hispanic incarnation competed against WOJO and WLEY as regional Mexican “Patron,” saw revenue slide nearly 18% from 2013 to 2014, to $7.5 million. WNUA earlier this month changed its programming to English-language country music, as WEBG.
There was a huge gain in total revenue for Univision’s Spanish contemporary “Latino Mix” WVIV-FM 93.5/WVIX-FM 103.1 (the simulcast partners saw total revenue increase 60.9% year-over-year), to $5.1 million. Still, the overall numbers pale in comparison to general-market radio stations, increasing the call among Hispanic marketers and media sales executives to do more to build their “total market” stories.
— Adam R Jacobson
