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Saw this story on the local paper website. I used to listen to this station all the time because they always played alot of really good bands and put on alot of good shows and now they are gone. I was listening to them this morning and did not hear a single mention of this change. It kind of reminds me of the movie with Brendan Fraiser that I can't remember the name of. I remember DJ'ing in clubs when the DJ's played what ever song they wanted. Those were the good old days.

Just remembered the name of the movie. It was Airheads.

WHFS changes to El Sol

On Wednesday at noon, the popular modern rock station WHFS 99.1, owned by Infinity Broadcasting, was reformatted to become "El Zol." The new station features salsa, merengue, bacchata, Caribbean and Central American dance music in a Spanish-language format.

"This is the first top 10 market that we've done this in," said Karen Mateo, Director of Communications at Infinity. "We're looking to expand into this marketplace and this is the first station that we've done this with."

El Zol is targeted at the growing population of Spanish-speaking residents in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, which is almost 10 percent of the population, according to figures from Infinity President/CEO Joel Hollander. Infinity has also told sources that in the nation's capital, the Hispanic population has grown more than 25 percent in four years to more than 400,000 residents.

The change in format came about with the assistance of Spanish Broadcasting System, who allied with Infinity in October 2004.

Other Washington, D.C., Infinity stations include WARW - FM (Classic Rock), WJFK - FM (Talk), WPGC - FM (Urban) and WPGC - AM (Gospel). Taking HFS off the menu removes alternative rock from Infinity's D.C. lineup. But the station's low ratings made it a good candidate for reformatting.

"Changing the format at HFS made the most sense from a ratings and performance standpoint," Mateo said. "Infinity is committed to expanding into the Spanish-language radio format."

Jeff Wyatt, regional vice president of programming for Clear Channel in the D.C. and Baltimore areas said, "It's an intense situation when a radio station changes format. It's gonna be felt across the country."

Record labels and bands rely on the radio to get the music to the public and one less station means less air time for music.

"All the record labels will be deeply concerned; the bands will be deeply concerned," Wyatt added.

However, when asked if Clear Channel was planning a similar move, Wyatt said, "We've looked at that possibility and decided not to go down that road. At HOT 99.5, 20 percent of our audience that listens is Latino. WashFM has 15 percent. The Hispanic population doesn't just listen to Hispanic radio."

The same thing happened out here KSJO 92.3 was a rock station from the late 60's it went Spanish "oldies" last year , it leave us with only two or three stations now . FU&* clear channel


SAN JOSE
KSJO's switch to Latin oldies rocks headbangers' world
Janine DeFao, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, November 7, 2004

Steve Portigal was on the way to the gym in his Miata, looking for an AC/DC fix on his car radio, when he drove smack into the changing face of California.

The dial was tuned to 92.3 FM, but instead of the screaming hard-rock guitars that have blared from KSJO for 36 years to the delight of Bay Area listeners, what Portigal heard were accordion-tinged Mexican oldies.

"I was confused and surprised," said Portigal, 36, of Montara. "I could almost always press that button and an AC/DC song would be playing."

With no notice other than its final song -- Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" -- radio giant Clear Channel switched KSJO to a Spanish-language format of Mexican favorites on Oct. 28, giving a nod to the region's burgeoning Latino population and pulling the plug on a Bay Area rock institution.

The move has left a generation of aging headbangers scanning the dial in vain for their Scorpions, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

"There are times I just need to hear Ozzy (Osbourne) or Metallica," said Terence Curtis, 36, of San Jose, who had listened to KSJO since he was 12. "Yesterday I was driving, scanning again, and I practically fell asleep because now Bay Area commercial radio is like a sedative."

Kim Bryant, San Jose-based KSJO's new general manager, said the station has gotten plenty of complaints from longtime listeners but enthusiastic responses from new ones.

"It's emotional because it's a brand. It's legendary," she said. "But it was time."

Bryant said the station had lost listeners as they aged and their tastes mellowed from metal to classic rock, at the same time the Latino population has exploded.

Bryant said KSJO's ratings had fallen "drastically'' over several years. In the latest ratings period for the San Jose market -- which is tracked separately from San Francisco -- KSJO had fallen to 24th place with 1.8 percent of the area's 1.46 million listeners older than 12. And for the first time, a Spanish-language station topped the list. KSOL (98.9 FM), whose regional Mexican format is simulcast on KSQL (99.1 FM), had 7 percent of listeners, beating out longtime leader news station KGO's (810 AM) 6.5 percent.

The switch at KSJO is part of a broader initiative by Clear Channel -- the nation's largest radio station owner, with more than 1,200 stations nationwide and 10 in the Bay Area -- to bring Spanish-language programming to its stations in more than 20 markets.

KSJO's new format, called "La Preciosa," is geared toward Mexican immigrants and "brings back memories of their country," Bryant said, with artists such as Vicente Fernandez and Juan Gabriel, whom she compared with Frank Sinatra and Elton John, respectively. The station also has the only locally produced morning show, with host Alex Lucas.

When the format premiered in Monterey and Salinas 18 months ago, it immediately became No. 1.

Industry expert Adam Jacobson predicts the same for KSJO.

"This is a home run," said Jacobson, radio editor for industry news source Radio & Records, who described KSJO's new sound as "KOIT for the Mexican population." He said the music, which is popular with a wide age range, fills a niche not covered by other Spanish-language stations.

"Clear Channel has put an exclamation point on the enormous growth of Spanish-speaking Hispanics in the Bay Area," he said.

According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were 1.3 million Hispanics in the nine-county Bay Area, almost a fifth of the total population and a ratio that continues to grow.

More change is coming. KBAA (93.3 FM), now adult contemporary, also plans to go Spanish, bringing to five the number of full-strength Spanish signals on the FM dial in the Bay Area. At least five more stations reach parts of the region.

By spring, Jacobson said, there could be three or four Spanish-language stations in the top 10.

While disappointed, some rockers saw the change coming.

"It was only a matter of time. When companies are looking to increase their bottom line, they're going to go where the listeners are," said Dan LaFever, 42, of San Francisco. When KSJO's morning team, Lamont & Tonelli, moved to classic rock station KSAN (107.7 FM) -- "The Bone" -- LaFever went with them and now tunes in to the Friday night Metal Zone.

But he still listened to KSJO for that harder rock and fondly remembers the lineup for KSJO's Day on the Green 3 at the Oakland Coliseum his senior year of high school, where he stood in the front and got a wicked sunburn watching AC/DC, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Mahogany Rush.

He kept the T-shirt for years.

On Saturday, fans of the old KSJO -- which broadcast its rock format on multiple frequencies to reach much of the Bay Area -- hoped to add more T- shirts, bumper stickers and other swag to their collection before they're all replaced with the "La Preciosa" logo. They gathered at Jersey's Cheesesteaks in Campbell to reminisce, say farewell to the DJs and stock up on free stuff.

Many listeners say it will be hard to fill the void.

"It's hard to find a good hard-rock station that isn't just oldies," said Suzee Barrett, 43, among the listeners who liked that KSJO sprinkled in newer bands such as Linkin Park and Korn.

Barrett, who grew up in San Mateo and started listening to KSJO in 1974, has turned to college radio. But her car radio remains programmed to 92.3 because she can't find a replacement.

"I've been trying to hit seek and see if anything good comes in," she said, "but I haven't had much success yet."

Down with WHFS!!! Really, 'Spots Junkies' in the moning and 'Love Line' in the evening???!!!!! ..Don't get me started on that morning show...

BLAH and PUKE!!!!!

WHFS gone salsa?
Who cares. Most of the useful talent found their way to WRNR.

(But they really did rock... back in the day.)

You know you're old when... you remember The Daily Feed :LOL:

I don't really like HFS now that much but I just think it is pretty crappy how this morning it was business as usual and then at 12 noon it's all over. I just wonder how they kept it from getting out to atleast some people. Didn't the staff not notice the all the deliveries from the Spanish labels or notice that the new afternoon guy was named Jesus?

It couldn't be any worse than a Clear Channel country or CC rock oldies station.

jollymon345 wrote:I don't really like HFS now that much but I just think it is pretty crappy how this morning it was business as usual and then at 12 noon it's all over. I just wonder how they kept it from getting out to atleast some people. Didn't the staff not notice the all the deliveries from the Spanish labels or notice that the new afternoon guy was named Jesus?

Radio changes usually come out of the blue to the general public. But the folks that worked at that station knew it was coming, I gurantee it. Usually when something like this happens, the staff knows, but the management doesn't want it to leadk out. This gives the audience time to think about it and possibly decide ahead of time that they won't like it. If the change comes and listeners don't know it, they tune in next time and hear something different, and they just might like it.

Howard Stern has been talking about it this morning. He has been playing the exact moment they switched formats.

Ilph wrote:

jollymon345 wrote:I don't really like HFS now that much but I just think it is pretty crappy how this morning it was business as usual and then at 12 noon it's all over. I just wonder how they kept it from getting out to atleast some people. Didn't the staff not notice the all the deliveries from the Spanish labels or notice that the new afternoon guy was named Jesus?

Radio changes usually come out of the blue to the general public. But the folks that worked at that station knew it was coming, I gurantee it. Usually when something like this happens, the staff knows, but the management doesn't want it to leadk out. This gives the audience time to think about it and possibly decide ahead of time that they won't like it. If the change comes and listeners don't know it, they tune in next time and hear something different, and they just might like it.

From what I heard on one of the other stations last night was that there was a staff meeting scheduled at 11:30 yesterday morning and that is when they were told. They actually did not get the final word that it was happening until 1150am. They shut down at noon and had dead air for 5 minutes before the new station went up. They were told that their contracts would be honored and that some may be offered jobs at the other Infinity stations in the area. So basically they had no advance warning and now people at the other stations are concerned because they are worried about whether their jobs are in jeopardy.

jollymon345 wrote:

Ilph wrote:

jollymon345 wrote:I don't really like HFS now that much but I just think it is pretty crappy how this morning it was business as usual and then at 12 noon it's all over. I just wonder how they kept it from getting out to atleast some people. Didn't the staff not notice the all the deliveries from the Spanish labels or notice that the new afternoon guy was named Jesus?

Radio changes usually come out of the blue to the general public. But the folks that worked at that station knew it was coming, I gurantee it. Usually when something like this happens, the staff knows, but the management doesn't want it to leadk out. This gives the audience time to think about it and possibly decide ahead of time that they won't like it. If the change comes and listeners don't know it, they tune in next time and hear something different, and they just might like it.

From what I heard on one of the other stations last night was that there was a staff meeting scheduled at 11:30 yesterday morning and that is when they were told. They actually did not get the final word that it was happening until 1150am. They shut down at noon and had dead air for 5 minutes before the new station went up. They were told that their contracts would be honored and that some may be offered jobs at the other Infinity stations in the area. So basically they had no advance warning and now people at the other stations are concerned because they are worried about whether their jobs are in jeopardy.

Stern was playing tapes from the switch over. There was no dead air. They went from a JefF Buckley song to the station Id, straight to a spanish ID and Spanish music. It was that quick.

jollymon345 wrote:Saw this story on the local paper website. I used to listen to this station all the time because they always played alot of really good bands and put on alot of good shows and now they are gone. I was listening to them this morning and did not hear a single mention of this change. It kind of reminds me of the movie with Brendan Fraiser that I can't remember the name of. I remember DJ'ing in clubs when the DJ's played what ever song they wanted. Those were the good old days.

Just remembered the name of the movie. It was Airheads.

WHFS changes to El Sol

On Wednesday at noon, the popular modern rock station WHFS 99.1, owned by Infinity Broadcasting, was reformatted to become "El Zol." The new station features salsa, merengue, bacchata, Caribbean and Central American dance music in a Spanish-language format.

"This is the first top 10 market that we've done this in," said Karen Mateo, Director of Communications at Infinity. "We're looking to expand into this marketplace and this is the first station that we've done this with."

El Zol is targeted at the growing population of Spanish-speaking residents in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, which is almost 10 percent of the population, according to figures from Infinity President/CEO Joel Hollander. Infinity has also told sources that in the nation's capital, the Hispanic population has grown more than 25 percent in four years to more than 400,000 residents.

The change in format came about with the assistance of Spanish Broadcasting System, who allied with Infinity in October 2004.

Other Washington, D.C., Infinity stations include WARW - FM (Classic Rock), WJFK - FM (Talk), WPGC - FM (Urban) and WPGC - AM (Gospel). Taking HFS off the menu removes alternative rock from Infinity's D.C. lineup. But the station's low ratings made it a good candidate for reformatting.

"Changing the format at HFS made the most sense from a ratings and performance standpoint," Mateo said. "Infinity is committed to expanding into the Spanish-language radio format."

Jeff Wyatt, regional vice president of programming for Clear Channel in the D.C. and Baltimore areas said, "It's an intense situation when a radio station changes format. It's gonna be felt across the country."

Record labels and bands rely on the radio to get the music to the public and one less station means less air time for music.

"All the record labels will be deeply concerned; the bands will be deeply concerned," Wyatt added.

However, when asked if Clear Channel was planning a similar move, Wyatt said, "We've looked at that possibility and decided not to go down that road. At HOT 99.5, 20 percent of our audience that listens is Latino. WashFM has 15 percent. The Hispanic population doesn't just listen to Hispanic radio."

98 Rock was quick to jump on it though...did you hear that?

halfpint6924 wrote:

jollymon345 wrote:Saw this story on the local paper website. I used to listen to this station all the time because they always played alot of really good bands and put on alot of good shows and now they are gone. I was listening to them this morning and did not hear a single mention of this change. It kind of reminds me of the movie with Brendan Fraiser that I can't remember the name of. I remember DJ'ing in clubs when the DJ's played what ever song they wanted. Those were the good old days.

Just remembered the name of the movie. It was Airheads.

WHFS changes to El Sol

On Wednesday at noon, the popular modern rock station WHFS 99.1, owned by Infinity Broadcasting, was reformatted to become "El Zol." The new station features salsa, merengue, bacchata, Caribbean and Central American dance music in a Spanish-language format.

"This is the first top 10 market that we've done this in," said Karen Mateo, Director of Communications at Infinity. "We're looking to expand into this marketplace and this is the first station that we've done this with."

El Zol is targeted at the growing population of Spanish-speaking residents in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, which is almost 10 percent of the population, according to figures from Infinity President/CEO Joel Hollander. Infinity has also told sources that in the nation's capital, the Hispanic population has grown more than 25 percent in four years to more than 400,000 residents.

The change in format came about with the assistance of Spanish Broadcasting System, who allied with Infinity in October 2004.

Other Washington, D.C., Infinity stations include WARW - FM (Classic Rock), WJFK - FM (Talk), WPGC - FM (Urban) and WPGC - AM (Gospel). Taking HFS off the menu removes alternative rock from Infinity's D.C. lineup. But the station's low ratings made it a good candidate for reformatting.

"Changing the format at HFS made the most sense from a ratings and performance standpoint," Mateo said. "Infinity is committed to expanding into the Spanish-language radio format."

Jeff Wyatt, regional vice president of programming for Clear Channel in the D.C. and Baltimore areas said, "It's an intense situation when a radio station changes format. It's gonna be felt across the country."

Record labels and bands rely on the radio to get the music to the public and one less station means less air time for music.

"All the record labels will be deeply concerned; the bands will be deeply concerned," Wyatt added.

However, when asked if Clear Channel was planning a similar move, Wyatt said, "We've looked at that possibility and decided not to go down that road. At HOT 99.5, 20 percent of our audience that listens is Latino. WashFM has 15 percent. The Hispanic population doesn't just listen to Hispanic radio."

98 Rock was quick to jump on it though...did you hear that?

That is who I got some of my inside info from! They are exchanging WHFS stuff for free 98 rock stuff.

98 Rock was quick to jump on it though...did you hear that?[/quote]

That is who I got some of my inside info from! They are exchanging WHFS stuff for free 98 rock stuff.[/quote]

I still have the 98 Rock Wings!