In less than a year’s time, reggaeton has gone from fringe music at Latin radio to the core sound of several new major-market launches every week. Detractors are questioning the music’s long-term viability, but the real triumph here is Latin radio’s increasing success in attracting younger Hispanic listeners, something that has eluded many broadcasters for more than 20 years. Don’t count on the repatriation of younger Hispanics to end any time soon.
The Billboard Radio Monitor previews Conclave Learning Conference: moderated by Edison Media Research VP of music and programming Sean Ross, the session titled “This Is Your iPod; This Is Your iPod On Shuffle” takes place on July 22, 2005.
For anybody who grew up in radio, “Do jocks matter?” should be a rhetorical question. But there’s nothing like seeing Cousin Brucie, Fred Winston and numerous others replaced by jockless radio stations, as we have in recent weeks, to bring that question back to the fore. This week’s “Ross on Radio” asks why so many programmers should equate “music-intensive” or “different” with “jockless” and looks at the last 15-or-so years’ worth of attempts to have production do the job of the air personality.
