Hurban is a radio programming format from radio chain giant

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

and Senior VP

Alfredo Alonso Alfredo Alonso is a retired Cuba-born media executive. He held senior management positions in Spanish-language media publishing, radio broadcasting, television production, corporate event management and restaurateur. He is known as an innovator of ...

. Hurban radio stations target young Hispanics in the United States, primarily consisting of

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

Latin trap Latin trap is a subgenre of Latin hip hop music that originated in Puerto Rico. A direct descendant of southern hip hop and trap, and influenced by reggaeton, R&B and urbano music. it gained popularity after 2007, and has since spread throug ...

Latin rap Latin hip hop (also known as Latin rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that is recorded by Spanish-speaking artists in the Caribbean, North America, Central America, South America, and Spain. Latin hip hop in the United States West Coast In the ...

, and

Latin dance Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America, though a few styles originated elsewhere. The category of Latin dance ...

. Advertisements and DJs are usually presented in a mixture of English and Spanish. The word hurban is a portmanteau of the terms "Hispanic" and "urban."

Artists

Core artists of the hurban format include

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...

Don Omar William Omar Landrón Rivera (born February 10, 1979), known professionally as Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is also known as the " King of Reggaeton" by music critics and fans alike. The ...

Julio Voltio Julio Voltio (also known simply as Voltio; born as Julio Irving Ramos Filomeno on June 11, 1977) is a Puerto Rican former rapper. An early pioneer of reggaetón—a modern genre of Latin music originating primarily in Panamá and Puerto Rico, ...

and

Tego Calderón Tegui Calderón Rosario (born February 1, 1972) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor. He began his musical career in 1996 (as Tego Tec) and was supported by the famous Puerto Rican rapper Eddie Dee, who invited him on his second studio a ...

History

KLOL KLOL (101.1 FM, "Mega 101") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a Spanish-language Latin pop format. KLOL serves as the Spanish-language flagship station for the Houston Texans football team. ...

Houston, Texas 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 ...

debut LATINO & PROUD as the first Hurban formatted radio station in continental U.S. in late 2004. By 2007, Clear Channel dropped the hurban format and picked up a Spanish Contemporary format. Most of the original personalities have been let go since and the station is no longer bilingual. The only original on-air personality that still remains to this day is Liz Arreola, or Liz de Mega as she is known. Most of the current personalities have been ordered to cease the "Spanglish" act on the air and stick with Spanish. The format has grown to many other cities, including New York WXNY, Los Angeles KXOL , Denver, Miami, and Albuquerque, NM. But more recently, the format has been replaced in several cities. The list includes Miami, Denver, Albuquerque, Dallas (

KZZA KZZA (106.7 MHz "La Ranchera 106.7 FM") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Muenster, Texas, and serving northern communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Estrella Media and it broadcasts a gold-based Regional M ...

), and Las Vegas.

Development of the hurban ideology

The new radio format dubbed "hurban" may seem like it is merely another attempt to profit off of the tastes of a particular ethnic group that has a preference for a given type of music, but this is not the case. These pan-Latin radio stations are embracing

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

music, which largely comprise and explicate hurban thoughts and ideas through their lyrics and styles. Nevertheless, the scope of this music can be comprehended more thoroughly when we understand the movement as a grassroots attempt that will perhaps bring together the pan-Latino movement in the music industry. In relation to the hurban music movement, there are other means by which Hispanic urbans are being encouraged to represent their ethnic background.

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

, a major broadcasting company, announced in fall 2004 that it was transforming 20 to 25 of its 1,200 stations to Hispanic formats over the subsequent 18 months. Some individuals may have felt disappointed when they realized that one of their favorite radio stations was changed in an effort to accommodate the needs of the hurban audience. Tension between musical genres may also exist in subtle commercial competitions such as these with the potential to affect an individual's prejudices that tend to develop in a multi-racial and multi-cultural

America 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 ...

. Hurban radio stations may provide the means for the pan-Latino population to develop a sense of communication within the community that will reverberate in America and abroad.

References

{{Reflist Radio formats

Artists

History

Development of the hurban ideology

See also

References