Tropical Music in Spain and also in Paris, France?

[e-dawg]

I just return from Spain.  This is my first time visiting the country.  I'm surprised at the radio stations in Madrid and in Barcelona.  Lots of radio stations clogging up the FM band in Madrid and Barcelona.  One music format that I'm surprised that they have in Spain is Tropical Music,  there are several radio stations in Barcelona and in Madrid are playing Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata music. Even there's one radio station in Madrid that is playing Bachata music. How did Tropical music become so popular in Spain?  Also, in Paris, they have 2 Spanish radio stations on the FM dial, one is at 92.4 FM and the other is at 99.0 FM.  Same question as Spain, how did Paris have 2 tropical music format stations?

David do you know the answer?

[DavidEduardo]

I just return from Spain.  This is my first time visiting the country.  I'm surprised at the radio stations in Madrid and in Barcelona.  Lots of radio stations clogging up the FM band in Madrid and Barcelona.  One music format that I'm surprised that they have in Spain is Tropical Music,  there are several radio stations in Barcelona and in Madrid are playing Salsa, Merengue, and Bachata music. Even there's one radio station in Madrid that is playing Bachata music. How did Tropical music become so popular in Spain?  Also, in Paris, they have 2 Spanish radio stations on the FM dial, one is at 92.4 FM and the other is at 99.0 FM.  Same question as Spain, how did Paris have 2 tropical music format stations?

David do you know the answer?

Salsa and merengue, while being blue-collar for the most part in PR and the DR and Colombia, is to some extent upscale elsewhere. Salsa is upper socioeconomic level stuff in Mexico. On that note, Caribbean tropical has always been popular in Europe, back to the chachacha and the 50's big band tropical orchestras. Keep in mind that the music is fundamentally Latin, and Spain is the mother country of most of Latin America, so it is natural that this music would be a viable niche.

[oldies76]

in Paris, they have 2 Spanish radio stations on the FM dial, one is at 92.4 FM and the other is at 99.0 FM.

Honestly, I never knew that even "points" were ever used in radio frequencies. Interesting!

[w9wi]

The odd "points" only thing is an American thing.  There's no technical reason you can't use even "points", and most other countries do.  Indeed, "fractional channels" (like 99.35MHz) are also fully possible and are used in some countries.

The regulations for frequency separation between stations in the same area are somewhat arbitrary -- how cheap of a receiver do you want to protect? -- so one country's radio regulators may feel 0.5MHz between stations in the same city is enough, while another feels they need 0.8MHz -- of course, if you think 0.5 is enough, you're going to need odd "points"!

[DavidEduardo]

The odd "points" only thing is an American thing.

Not really (unless you were referring to The Americas)... with the exception of a couple of cases in the Caribbean and a few FMs in Colombia, the entire Western Hemisphere uses the odd-by-200-kHz band plan.

The regulations for frequency separation between stations in the same area are somewhat arbitrary

Just as +/- 75 kHz frequency deviation being equal to 100% modulation is arbitrary.

In a loudness war in the Dominican Republic some years back, I found that the practical limit of receivers at the time was +/- 95 kHz. More than that, the cheaper radios would sound distorted (and the Optimod 8000 would start dropping in stereo pilot injection at that point, anyway).

-- how cheap of a receiver do you want to protect? -- so one country's radio regulators may feel 0.5MHz between stations in the same city is enough, while another feels they need 0.8MHz -- of course, if you think 0.5 is enough, you're going to need odd "points"!

While the FCC will allow .4 mHz separation in the same market for different cities of license, we find around the hemisphere plenty of cases where same-city .4 kHz separation is common and usual.

[w9wi]

The odd "points" only thing is an American thing.

Not really (unless you were referring to The Americas)... with the exception of a couple of cases in the Caribbean and a few FMs in Colombia, the entire Western Hemisphere uses the odd-by-200-kHz band plan.

Yep, I meant "American" in the inclusive sense of all three Americas.  (South, Central, and North)  Probably should have phrased it "Western Hemisphere thing".

-- how cheap of a receiver do you want to protect? -- so one country's radio regulators may feel 0.5MHz between stations in the same city is enough, while another feels they need 0.8MHz -- of course, if you think 0.5 is enough, you're going to need odd "points"!

While the FCC will allow .4 mHz separation in the same market for different cities of license, we find around the hemisphere plenty of cases where same-city .4 kHz separation is common and usual.

Indeed, the FCC itself initially chose 0.4MHz separation for full-power stations at the same site.  That seemed to fall by the wayside in the late 1940s or early 1950s.  My guess is the receivers available at the time drifted too much.  (a receiver tuned to 96.9 might well drift up to 97.3 all on its own?)

With modern (far more stable!) receivers, 0.4MHz is probably plenty of separation for full-power stations at the same site.  Not that doing that would likely create many more stations, as in most cases those 2nd-adjacents are already in use in the suburbs or some adjoining city...