Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) is an American media company specializing in Spanish-speaking audiences. It is one of the largest owners and operators of

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. SBS is also invested in television and internet properties, deriving the majority of its income from advertising through its media products. SBS owns the internet portal ''LaMusica.com''. It also acquired WSBS-TV in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, and WTCV in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, the group of

owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

TV stations for its Mega TV network. SBS targets the U.S. Hispanic audience in nine geographic regions:

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

History

Spanish Broadcasting System was founded by Pablo Raúl Alarcón Sr., who started in Spanish-language radio broadcasting in the early 1950s when he started his first radio station in Camagüey, Cuba, and his son, Raúl Alarcón Jr."Pablo Raúl Alarcón Sr."
, Spanish Broadcasting System, accessed June 4, 2011. Alarcón Sr. had acquired 14 radio stations by the time he fled Cuba with his family to the United States in 1960.
Reference for Business, 2nd ed., accessed June 4, 2011. In the U.S. he continued his career as an on-air personality at a New York radio station after arriving in the United States before being promoted to programming director. He subsequently owned a recording studio and advertising agency before borrowing $3.5 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

to purchase the first SBS radio station, WSKQ-AM (La Super 1380) in 1983 with his son, Raúl Alarcón Jr. Alarcón Sr. would serve as SBS Chairman of the board of directors, while his son would serve as an account executive in the sales department. SBS generated sales of about $20 million in its first year, confirming the influence of the growing Spanish-speaking audience. Raúl Alarcón Jr. became President of SBS and a director in October 1985."Raúl Alarcón Jr."
Spanish Broadcasting System, accessed June 4, 2011. In 1988 SBS purchased its first

FM station FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

, regional Mexican KLAX 97.9 FM in Los Angeles. The company went public in the fall of 1991, raising $435.8 million by selling 21.8 million shares at $20 per share. SBS bought its third station, New York's WSKQ-FM, in 1989. In 1993 Alfredo Alonso was hired and reformatted it as Mega 97.9, La Mega, surpassing the market's longtime leader, the light rock station WLTW-FM, by 1998. A major turning point for Spanish radio occurred that year when media researchers at

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

rated La Mega's morning show number one over that of the radio personality

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

In 2002 the company created SBS Entertainment, a concert production arm. It also diversified by purchasing 80 percent of JuJu Media, the operator of the Spanish-English Web site LaMusica.com, which offered Latin music, entertainment, news, and culture. Later that year, at the insistence of Alarcón Jr., SBS launched KZAB-FM (La Sabrosa 93.5), targeting the Central American population in Los Angeles. In 2003, WSKQ was the most listened-to Spanish-language radio station in the United States. That year Alarcón Jr. told ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine, "My opinion is that radio programming continues to be an art. It is not a science. I will not argue with the fact that research gives you a good indication, a good road map." Raúl Alarcón Jr. is the current chief executive officer of SBS, a position he has held since June 1994. He also succeeded his father as chairman of the board of directors on November 2, 1999. Alarcón Sr. would continue to serve as chairman emeritus. Alarcón Jr. is responsible for the company's long-range strategic planning and operational matters, and according to SBS's website, is instrumental in the acquisition and related financing of each SBS station. In 2004, Viacombr>purchased a 10% stake on SBS
Viacom's response to

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

- HBC merger, SBS was combined with Viacom's

Infinity Broadcasting Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Im ...

. In 2009, Raúl Alarcón Sr. was posthumously inducted into ''Billboards Latin Music Hall of Fame. On June 3, 2011, the heavily Cuban-American community of

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a City (New Jersey), city in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in Ne ...

honored Alarcón Sr. with a star on the Walk of Fame at

Celia Cruz Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of , earning the nickna ...

Plaza. Raúl Alarcón Jr. was present to accept the honors for his father. SBS said it would sell Mega TV in 2023 to Voz Media, a conservative Spanish-language news media firm based in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, pending approval by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

. On September 22, SBS terminated the deal after the buyer breached its agreement to close the deal by the Sept. 15 deadline the two companies agreed to.

Radio

SBS radio stations use one of six programming formats: * Spanish tropical:

salsa music Salsa music is a style of Latin American music, combining elements of Cuban and Puerto Rican influences. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most ...

, merengue,

bachata Bachata may refer to: * Bachata (music), a musical genre which originated in the Dominican Republic ** Traditional bachata, a subgenre of bachata music ** Bachata (dance), a dance form * Bachatón, a hybrid bachata/reggaeton music style * "Bach ...

reggaetón Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians. It has evolved fr ...

dance music *

Regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in the vast majority of regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional fo ...

, norteña,

banda Banda may refer to: People * Banda (surname) * Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician * Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor * Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician *Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh ...

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

music typically originating from regions of Mexico * Spanish

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

: soft romantic

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, Spanish pop music * Spanish

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

: Latin/English music classics from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s * American

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

: current pop music hits *

Hurban Hurban is a radio programming format from radio chain giant iHeartMedia and Senior VP Alfredo Alonso. Hurban radio stations target young Hispanics in the United States, primarily consisting of reggaeton, Latin trap, Latin rap, and Latin dance. ...

: (''Hispanic Urban'') reggaetón dance music

Los Angeles, California

KLAX-FM KLAX-FM (97.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an American commercial radio station located in East Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. It is owned by Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS). KLAX-FM airs a regional Mexican ...

97.9 La Raza HD1 (regional Mexican) / La Privada 97.9 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban) *

KXOL-FM KXOL-FM (96.3 FM "Mega 96.3") is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles. It is owned by the Spanish Broadcasting System and airs a Spanish CHR radio format. KXOL-FM's studios and offices are on West Pico Boulevard. The transmitter is ...

Mega 96.3 HD1 (pop) / Mega 96.3 HD2 (Spanish Tropical)

San Francisco, California

KRZZ KRZZ (93.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio station located in San Francisco, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KRZZ airs a regional Mexican radio format, music format branded as "93.3 La Raza". The station's ...

93.3 La Raza (Regional Mexican) / La Privada 93.3 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban)

Houston, Texas

KROI KROI (92.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station serving the Greater Houston market. It is licensed to Seabrook, Texas and owned by the Spanish Broadcasting System. The station's studios are located in Greenway Plaza and the transmitter i ...

La Ley 92.1 (Regional Mexican) / La Privada 92.1 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban)

Chicago, Illinois

* WLEY-FM La Ley 107.9 (Regional Mexican) / La Privada 107.9 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban) / Mega 107.9 HD3 (Spanish Tropical/Simulcasting WSKQ-FM: Mega 97.9)

New York, New York

* WSKQ-FM Mega 97.9 HD1 (Spanish Tropical) * WPAT-FM 93.1 Amor HD1 (Spanish Tropical) / La Privada 93.1 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban)

Puerto Rico

WMEG WMEG (106.9 FM broadcasting, FM), branded on-air as La Mega, is a radio station broadcasting a bilingual Top 40, Top 40/CHR format. Licensed to Guayama, Puerto Rico, it serves the greater San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan area. The station is cur ...

La Mega 106.9 HD1 (CHR - Latin/American top 40) / La Megaestación 106.9 HD2 (American CHR) *

WEGM WEGM (95.1 FM broadcasting, FM), branded on-air as Mega 95.1, is a radio station broadcasting a Rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic contemporary hit radio format. Licensed to San Germán, Puerto Rico, the station serves the western Puerto Rico area. ...

La Mega 95.1 (CHR - Latin/American top 40) * WRXD Estereotempo 96.5 (Spanish adult contemporary) * WZNA Estereotempo 1040 (Spanish adult contemporary) * WZNT Zeta 93.7 HD1 (Spanish tropical) / La Privada 93.7 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban) * WZMT Zeta 93.3 (Spanish tropical) * WIOB Zeta 97.5 HD1 (Spanish tropical) / Estereotempo 97.5 HD2 (Spanish adult contemporary) / Viva 97.5 HD3 (Spanish variety) * WODA La Nueva 94.7 HD1 (urban) * WNOD La Nueva 94.1 (urban)

Miami, Florida

WXDJ WXDJ (106.7 FM, "El Nuevo Zol 106.7 FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and serving the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale- South Florida radio market with secondary coverage of the West Palm Beach- Boca Raton market. ...

El Zol 106.7 HD1 (Spanish tropical) *

WCMQ-FM WCMQ-FM (92.3 MHz, "Zeta 92.3") is a commercial radio station licensed to Hialeah, Florida, and serving the Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale media market, radio market. It is owned by the Spanish Broadcasting System and it airs a ...

Zeta 92.3 HD1 (Romantic Salsa & Spanish Love AC songs) *

WRMA WRMA (95.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Cubatón format. Licensed to North Miami Beach, Florida, United States, the station serves the Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area is a coastal metropolitan area in south ...

Ritmo 95.7 HD1 ( Cubatón) / La Privada 95.7 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban) * WRAZ Zeta 106.3 (Romantic Salsa & Spanish Love AC songs/Simulcasting WCMQ-FM) *

WMFM WMFM (107.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Tropical format. Licensed to Key West, Florida, United States, the station serves the Florida Keys area. The station simulcasts WXDJ In Miami, and is currently owned by South Broadcastin ...

El Zol 107.9 (Spanish tropical)

Orlando, Florida

* WPYO El Nuevo Zol 95.3 (Spanish tropical) / La Privada 95.3 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban) / Salsa 95.3 HD3 (Spanish Tropical)

Tampa, Florida

* WSUN (FM) El Nuevo Zol 97.1 (Spanish tropical) / La Privada 97.1 HD2 (fusion of Regional Mexican and Urban) SBS launched AIRE Radio Networks in 2014.

Internet

In addition to individual radio station websites, SBS operates
www.lamusica.com
' and
www.mega.tv
', all providing bilingual Spanish-English content about Latin music, entertainment and news.

Television

Mega TV was launched on March 1, 2006 and operates as a Spanish-language entertainment station in South Florida, Puerto Rico and Las Vegas. The station's programming targets a young, U.S. Hispanic audience through televised radio-branded shows and general entertainment programs (music, celebrity, debate, interviews, personality based shows). Seventy percent of Mega TV's programming is in-house created. Mega TV is also available nationwide on

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

and

AT&T U-Verse U-verse TV is an internet protocol television (IPTV) service operated by DirecTV. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse was originally a triple play package that included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), IP telephone (now AT& ...

Stations

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

Current

Arbitron lawsuit

(now known as Nielsen Audio) sued SBS in order to force it to reinstall encoders used for the

Portable People Meter The Portable People Meter (PPM), also known as the Nielsen Meter, is a system developed by Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio) to measure how many people are exposed to individual Radio broadcasting, radio stations and television stations. This also ...

system of

audience measurement Audience measurement calculates how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic. The term is someti ...

. SBS and other members of the PPM Coalition contended that the PPM system has had a major negative impact on their ratings and therefore revenue, and asked the

(FCC) in investigate. Arbitron sued SBS for breach of a 2007 contract, including $2.5 million in payments owed since 2009. In February 2010, a court ordered SBS to reinstate, at least temporarily, the coding of its radio broadcasts for measurement by Arbitron.Eggerton, John
"Court Orders Spanish Broadcasting System to Restore Arbitron Encoding"
Broadcasting & Cable, February 15, 2010

Notes

References

* Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. 2006 Annual Report