Radio & TV in Cuba

[Gregg]

I think I'll move this question over to the Miami board.  But I'm curious in how the Cuban expatriot community in Miami supports so many talk radio stations.  670 WWFE, 710 WAQI, 1020 KURN, 1140 WQBA, 1210 WNMA and  1260 WSUA are all listed as Spanish Talk stations.  In most other markets with large Hispanic communities, Spanish Talk stations don't do very well.  Co-owned 710 WAQI and 1140 WQBA (the QBA, pronounced in Spanish, is Cuba) are 50,000 watt stations regularly jammed in Cuba, along with 100,000 watt 1180 Radio Marti broadcasting from Marathon in the Keys, with studios in Miami.

Six commercial U.S. stations and one public station all doing Spanish Talk.  Do they all discuss how bad Castro is and how they will someday reclaim Cuba and turn it into a U.S.-style democracy?

Gregg
nh153@mail.com

[cd637299]

I don't listen because my "espanol" is poor---but I will give this a shot, as I live near Miami:

I'd say that 710 has caused the most brouhaha....only six days after they switched to Spanish in late 1985, the Cuban PTB started the jamming.  670 at night doesn't do much; only 1 kW.  1020 might be talk, but I don't think they are controversial*.  1140 is as 710 politically I'd say, but they are not heard well in Cuba either, day or night, I don't believe.  1210 recently went ESPN Deportes, so n/a!

[*I could be wrong here---they have been approved for 95.3 in Key Largo; let's see what happens if it goes on the air.  But, 1020 has not much reach even into the FL Keys.]

Bottom line which I should mention.....many of the listeners to 710/1140 are above adult-standards demo!  But still they are loyal.

cd

[Gregg]

Thanks for the info CD.  I thought 1450 WOCN was ESPN Deportes.  Maybe they're back to doing Spanish Talk too if 1210 is now Deportes?  They were another Spanish Talk station before signing with ESPN.  I suppose they're all hanging onto the original population born in Cuba who fled Castro.

Gregg
nh153@mail.com

[cd637299]

Thanks for the info CD.  I thought 1450 WOCN was ESPN Deportes.  Maybe they're back to doing Spanish Talk too if 1210 is now Deportes?  They were another Spanish Talk station before signing with ESPN.  I suppose they're all hanging onto the original population born in Cuba who fled Castro.

Gregg
nh153@mail.com

Yeah it moved to 1210, and 1450 is Spanish/English AC music, few announcements, and I believe it's brokered too.

1450, maybe about 15 years ago, was in controversy, as they actually aired Cuban programming----Radio Progreso programs were on, as I recall....so they weren't exactly to be lumped with the others.  I am sure there had been threats left and right (not left and right politically) to WOCN for doing this.

cd

[radiodxrichmond]

In most other markets with large Hispanic communities, Spanish Talk stations don't do very well. 
Six commercial U.S. stations and one public station all doing Spanish Talk.  Do they all discuss how bad Castro is and how they will someday reclaim Cuba and turn it into a U.S.-style democracy?

Gregg
nh153@mail.com

Well, its probably worth noting that not all hispanic cultures are the same. Just like we Americans do not have the same listening tastes as the British when it comes to radio.

However, as a generalization, Cubans has historically been one of the highest-educated and (in Miami, conservative) hispanic cultures. Talk formats in general tend to be frequented by educated conservatives. So maybe not as much of an abnormality as one might think!

I should point out that many of these Cuban-specific formats may not have much more juice left in them in 10-15 years as the first generation Cubans begin to die/retire and the Communist regime slowly softens. Sounds funny now, but many second generation Cuban Americans know about as much Spanish as the average white high school graduate, listen to hip hop or rock, and are fairly ambivalent about post-revolution Cuba. The ties that bound their parents to the homeland just quite often aren't there for many of their offspring!

This doesn't mean a large amount of gringo formats will pop up in their place...South Florida still has a very large number of Central/South Americans, Puerto Ricans, and a growing Haitian population. Not to mention the Quebecers who constitute a good chunk of Broward County and don't have a dedicated radio station yet.

Radio-X

[B Lewis]

That is a good point.  I'd give it 50/50, as for the number of 2nd generation Cubanos, that speak Spanish.  Cuban-American families are very passionate about their culture.  Therefore, many 2nd generation Cubans DO, indeed, speak Spanish.  However, many of these don't use it as their first language.  Also, in agreement with you, many of these listen to American music formats...or a mixture of American and Hispanic formats.  That can be said for Cubans in Florida or Mexicans and Salvadoreans, here in  North Carolina.  I do not see Spanish formats going dark anytime soon.  In fact, many seem to be in a growth phase.  (IMHO).  Nevertheless, this is an interesting thread.

Incidentally, this evening, during the 8pm hour...here in Northern NC, during low clouds and rain:  530 Radio Enciclopedia and 640 Radio Progreso were loud and clear.  I could also hear the time pulse from Reloj, though the signal wasn't clear on 590.

[B Lewis]

As for US-artists on Cuban radio, I believe that for some time, Taino played US pop music.  When I noticed this a few years ago, it was 80's leaning formatics.  David is so right about the use of words like "Imperialist", when referring to anything US-related in newscasts.  They are maybe not quite AS bad as they were, say 30 years ago...but, it's still quite noticeable. 

Though Marti is jammed in Cuba, they must be reaching someone.  Who is this station reaching?  With their super directional antenna, I've never heard the AM, but I have heard Radio Havana Cuba on 6000Khz (Shortwave) and Marti on 6030, with the sound of  the Cuban jammer in the background.  If I am able to hear the jamming here in NC, I wonder how they are heard, at all, in Cuba.  Any thoughts on this Mr. Eduardo?

[borderblaster]

Interesting stuff! I remember getting a 3 and 6 from Cuba in Ohio during eSkip in the 70s.

Cuba at least had radio coverage of the Pan American Games when they were in Indianapolis in the 80s. There was a local TV story about the U.S. vs. Cuba baseball game, and they mentioned that a player for the U.S. who defected from Cuba was called "the traitor" during Cuba's coverage.

The Cuban people are being that Occupy is on the verge of overthrowing the "imperialist" U.S. Government and installing Cuban style socialism? Yeah....right.

[DavidEduardo]

Though Marti is jammed in Cuba, they must be reaching someone.  Who is this station reaching?  With their super directional antenna, I've never heard the AM, but I have heard Radio Havana Cuba on 6000Khz (Shortwave) and Marti on 6030, with the sound of  the Cuban jammer in the background.  If I am able to hear the jamming here in NC, I wonder how they are heard, at all, in Cuba.  Any thoughts on this Mr. Eduardo?

Marti uses  fixed wing aircraft in a contract with Lockheed to broadcast FM to parts of Cuba, and the AM and SW manage to make it into many parts of Cuba.

When I first did the Congressionally mandated outside evaluation of Martí in 1986, I was amazed about the number of Cubans arriving at points outside of Cuba (and were surveyed) who knew of the Rio Canaima incident. A ferry was to be used to transport refugees fleeing Cuba, but the authorities found out and sank it, killing nearly everyone, in a river. The news was totally banned in Cuba; only Martí broadcast the story.

While that was 25 years ago, the conditions are much the same... the signal gets in enough to influence how much the government can suppress the real news. The availability of outside news in some form  contributes to a slightly less totalitarian local news policy.

Keep in mind that Martí on 1180 with 100 kw really has a 500 kw lobe aimed at Cuba... capable of getting into lots of places.

[DavidEduardo]

That is a good point.  I'd give it 50/50, as for the number of 2nd generation Cubanos, that speak Spanish.  Cuban-American families are very passionate about their culture.  Therefore, many 2nd generation Cubans DO, indeed, speak Spanish.  However, many of these don't use it as their first language. 

In Miami, my experience is that nearly all second generation Cuban-Americans know Spanish... the language was spoken in the home, nearly always. And a huge percentage of Cuban exiles send and sent their children to bilingual schools where both languages were used (that is the normal middle and upper income practice in all Latin America. Even I went to one!). But you are right... many of the second generation prefer English among friends, and some even refer to Spanish only speakers as "refs" which is an offensive term for recently arrived refugees.