Jan. 4--For the employees of Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., which owns four local Spanish-language radio stations, the move from their old bursting-at-the-seams studios on Coral Way to their new digs in Coral Gables is like a move into the modern world.
"The Coral Way studio was like Cuba, and this is like America," enthused Augustin Tamargo, a veteran broadcaster on Radio Mambi (WAQI-710 AM). Tamargo began his journalism career in Puerto Padre, Cuba, before the 1959 revolution.
The four HBC stations -- WAQI, WRTO-Salsa 98.3 FM, WQBA-1140 AM, and WAMR Amor 107.5 FM -- were jammed into a building intended for just two radio stations at 2828 Coral Way. Now the stations and 150 employees are housed on a single floor with studio windows that look out on Calle Ocho -- the Main Street of Miami's Little Havana.
Not only are the new facilities, which sit at the corner of Calle Ocho and Galiano Avenue, more spacious, but everything -- including the furniture and all the radio equipment -- is new.
The move, which took 2-1/2 years to plan and cost more than $3 million, is an affirmation of HBC's commitment to the Miami market.
Dallas-based HBC, which has been on an acquisition binge in recent years and now owns or programs 48 radio stations in 13 top Hispanic markets, entered the Miami market in 1994 with the purchase of two Spanish-language radio stations (WQBA AM and FM).
HBC (then known as Heftel Broadcasting Corp.) followed up a year later with the acquisition of Radio Mambi and an FM music station then known as WRTO Radio Ritmo.
At the new broadcast facility, there are backup studios where guests wait to go on the air and additional production suites. Software for computer editing has been updated and all record-keeping has been computerized. Promotional products and materials for HBC's annual Three Kings Day Parade (on Sunday with Heat star Alonzo Mourning as grand marshal) that were once spread over three warehouses are all housed in one place.
"After the last few years in the old studios, this place feels like heaven. We just could not fit," said Claudia Puig, general manager of HBC's four Miami stations. Space was so tight at Coral Way, "we even converted a closet to an office," she said.
One thing the old studios didn't lack was plenty of character, and they have long figured heavily in Miami's political lore.
Last September, just before HBC began moving, two local politicians -- Rep. Renier Diaz de la Portilla, R-Westchester, and Rep. Carlos Lacasa, R-Miami -- traded punches outside the Coral Way facility -- after Diaz de la Portilla took offense at remarks made by Armando LaCasa -- father of the state representative -- on the Marta Flores show on Radio Mambi.
Mambi consistently ranks among the top-rated AM stations in the local market. So many listeners called 911 after Flores mentioned the battle on the air that Miami's emergency response system crashed.
When there's a crisis in Miami's Cuban community or money needs to be raised to help hurricane victims in the Caribbean or to bury a penniless rafter, the local Spanish-speaking community doesn't hesitate to turn to HBC's Miami radio stations. Listeners have often come directly to the stations at moments of high emotion.
While executives hope the Miami stations will continue to be the voice of the community, security has definitely been stepped up at HBC's new Calle Ocho home. Now it takes a plastic passcard to get inside the studios.
The new HBC Miami headquarters is both bomb-proof and hurricane-proof. In fact, during its first incarnation it was Miami's Federal Reserve building. The old vault doors are now part of the decor, and there's still a shooting range in the basement.
But inside the reconfigured Fed building, the radio equipment is now state-of-the-art and has helped move HBC's Miami stations into the Internet era. In December, the Miami stations launched a local version of netmio.com, HBC's network of Hispanic community-oriented bilingual websites.
Netmio.com features community news, webcasts, news about each station's broadcasters and programming and free e-mail. HBC's fifth Miami online radio offering is Radio Mikimbin -- a station than can only be heard via the Internet.
"We really think the Internet complements radio, but we've taken it slowly so we can do it right," Puig said. "Netmio.com goes beyond our radio products. Not only can an Internet user see an artist being interviewed during a webcast, but Netmio is a source of local information, like a city guide."
Netmio.com has helped expand the Miami stations' listening audience well beyond the range of its antennas and what might be considered prime listening territory for Spanish-language radio.
"Amor (Spanish-language talk/music format) is the most visited site," said Nelson Albareda, HBC's marketing and public relations director in Miami. "Now an announcer might get an e-mail while he's on-air from someone who is listening to the webcast in Tennessee."
Amor's popular morning show -- Desayuno Musical, hosted by Javier Romero and Osvaldo Vega -- slipped to second place during Arbitron's summer survey of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, but October and November ratings showed it once again atop the morning drive-time heap with 8.4 and 8.2 percent of the radio audience age 25 to 54.
"The morning show is doing great again. The toughest thing is not getting there, but maintaining top market share," Puig said. "The chemistry between Javier and Osvaldo is at an all-time high."
Another reason for the uptick, she said, is that HBC has started to test its own promotions before airing them. "Our last Javier and Osvaldo commercial got a really good response," she said.
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(c) 2001, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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