Rumors of radio’s death are greatly exaggerated. So says Raul Alarcon, Jr., the dial giant who is head of Spanish Broadcasting System, one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States. Alarcon said Wednesday (April 27) at the Billboard Latin Music Conference that radio is simply reinventing itself.
“From the beginning, this company has never stopped evolving,” Alarcon told more than 200 participants who had gathered in a ballroom at the Ritz Carlton to hear him announce the new app, La Musica. “I wanted to see if people would listen to music through their eyes, or watch music through their ears. Make it a total immersion.” he told Leila Cobo, Billboard’s executive director of content and programming for Latin Music.
The app comes with video vignettes and short stories about the artists and their music. “Fun things about the artist, like why today is important or what’s happening next, to their favorite things.” There will be a website offering the same content in about a month, he said. And they will soon have a new artist category where wannabes can upload their latest song and see what happens.
“A user can upload his video and, depending on how much it’s seen and how much it’s liked, it rises up. I want to be able to cultivate new artists,” Alarcon added. They tested the concept about a year ago exclusively in New York and got back about 1,000 videos. SBS picked three winners who got major radio play. “For an upcoming artist to be picked and be played in a New York market, a Miami market, I think that’s a big thing.”
Especially on La Mega in New York, the most listened to Spanish-language station in the U.S. and the most listened to station period – Spanish or English – in New York City, which is the largest radio market in the country. “Its relationship to its audience is very unique and very special.”
Venturing into the digital atmosphere was a natural, he said. He remembers hearing about how the internet and digital would disrupt his business. “Have technology be your friend. Do not be afraid,” Alarcon said. “If it’s going to disrupt my business, then I’m going to disrupt my business. Let us, the company, use this technology.”
His father, who founded Spanish Broadcasting System, would be proud of how far it has come. “My father was a pure radio man. And he loved music,” said Alarcon, who remembers hearing his father try out new vinyl records in the basement of their home at 3 a.m.
“I think he would be very excited about everything going on today. If anything, we are trying to grow [on what he started]. It’s still music. That’s why we’re creating this new vehicle. It’s all about the artists and the music.”
“It’s going to be a very nice fit, a very nice sister or brother to the radio.”
