Spanish Radio War Begins
A battle is brewing to become the top-rated morning show in the nation's most lucrative market - and you have to understand Spanish to listen.
On one side is Luis Jimenez, who hosted the nation's No. 1 Hispanic radio show for more than a decade and even beat out Howard Stern in the New York ratings. He left his Spanish Broadcasting System station in New York last year and returned to the airwaves Thursday in the city on a station owned by archrival Univision.
On the other side is former sidekick Raymond "Moonshadow" Broussard, who is assuming Jimenez's mantle on his old station along with co-hosts Juan Carlos and Franky Jay.
Industry experts say the competition will be a high-stakes fight that reflects how lucrative Spanish-language radio has become as traditional forms of radio flounder. In New York City alone, there are about 2 million Spanish speakers.
"It's great for radio, and it's great for Spanish radio. It's bound to bring more attention and more dollars to that arena," said Tom Taylor of the industry Web site radio-info.com. "And the Hispanic market continues to grow, even as the rest of the radio world is soft and flat."
It also underscores the deep competition between Univision and Spanish Broadcasting System, who have been locked in a heated ratings battle in several major Spanish-speaking markets as they've expanded their media empires over the last decade.
Univision is a Spanish-language media giant, and it has one of the most watched networks in America. Spanish Broadcasting System specializes in radio, and saw its annual revenue grow to more than $176 million at the end of the last fiscal year.
"These are the two big Spanish operators around the country," Taylor said. "Univision and SBS are big rivals, and this is a fairly personal fight that goes back well over a decade."
Jimenez hosted "El Vacilon de La Manana" (The Morning Party) on 97.9 La Mega for more than a decade. He left last year for Univision, but was forbidden from broadcasting in New York or online because of a no-compete clause in his contract; he was allowed to broadcast in other cities. He is back on New York's airwaves Thursday on the Univision station 105.9 La Kalle.
Even with years of experience waking up millions of New Yorkers, Jimenez felt apprehension before he went in front of the mic Thursday morning.
"I was a little nervous before I went on - but I always am," Jimenez told The ShowBuzz. "You can't help thinking, 'I don't want to disappoint the people.' But fear is what drives me."
Thursday's show was more of a welcome back party, with media gathering in the studio during the show's last hour for an on-air press conference. Jimenez said that Friday will be the first "real" show with guests, parodies, and the return of show favorites like the pot-smoking slacker Findingo.
Broussard also left La Mega last year to work on a book, but he also returned to the station Thursday. To promote Broussard's return, the station is giving away $10,000 an hour to kick off the new era.
In the absence of Broussard and Jimenez, Carlos and Jay maintained the hold on the top spot in the ratings in New York as they took over "El Vacilon."
Jimenez says he has been refining a new morning show, complete with fancy new digs at Univision and more characters.
"The Luis Jimenez Show" will be six hours long starting at 5 a.m. Monday through Friday, and will be syndicated in six cities as well as Puerto Rico. Jimenez says he aims for Spanish-speakers born in the U.S., and infuses the broadcast with spanglish for the listeners who may understand - but not speak - the language. His new show will be more reality-based, and Jimenez is planning a contest to find the next "big" radio personality.
"Before, the show was more like a cartoon," he said. "Now, people will really get the sense of reality. The voices they hear are real people, with real stories to tell, and everyone is a character," he said.
He also returns to the Internet on a new Web site.
Still, Univision's radio reach is small compared to SBS, experts say, and Jimenez has his work cut out for him in his new gig.
"I am worried," Jimenez says. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be doing all this work, that's why we're coming up with this new show, working for the audience."
Broussard is excited as well. "I realized that it was time to return to my true calling: radio," he said.
Jimenez has experience growing a radio show, though, and that was before he had millions of fans eagerly awaiting his return. While on La Mega, he created "El Vacilon" and brought it to No. 1, drawing in millions of listeners with his prankster humor. He doesn't consider himself a "shock jock" like Stern or Don Imus - he just wants to make people laugh.
He's also well known outside of radio, as a standup comedian, and he made a film called "El Vacilon: The Movie."
"Jimenez has great street cred, he's a larger-than-life character," Taylor said. "And he's got the fan base to prove it. But radio is often about habit."