The Media Drop

On October 16, Debbie Gilbert wrote in the Gainesville Times about a format change on a Clear Channel-owned radio station that not only came as somewhat of a surprise to listeners, but to some employees of the station as well. As it turns out, Clear Channel’s September 16 announcement that they would be switching formats on up to 20 of their stations to a Spanish-language broadcast had already started taking effect by the time the news hit the wires. On September 15, Spanish music started playing over the WHEL-FM 105.1’s airwaves - with management of the news/talk station being told 10 minutes before it happened. And, according to the station’s general manager Monika Demuth, “Clear Channel didn’t do their homework to see what the demographics were” in the area - which is reportedly under 2% Hispanic.