Entravision is bringing back two brands that it had jettisoned from the Los Angeles market in recent years.
In January of this year, the Spanish Adult Hits trimulcast of “Jose” 97.5 KLYY Riverside/103.1 KDLD Santa Monica/103.1 KDLE Newport Beach had flipped to Regional Mexican “La Tricolor“. In May, KLYY reversed course and returned to its previous format and name as “Jose 97.5“. At that time KDLD and KDLE moved to a temporary simulcast of Spanish AC “La Suavecita 107.1” KSSC Ventura/KSSD Fallbrook/KSSE Arcadia.
On Thursday, July 26, that simulcast will come to an end as the two 103.1 stations will restore the “Super Estrella” brand name that had lived on 107.1 from 2003-2016 (and 97.5/103.1 before that). What started as Rock en Español in 1997 had evolved to Spanish CHR in the 2000s as it was expanded to multiple markets. The new version will be Classic Rock en Español as “Super Estrella Retro“.
I don’t think the “Retro” name itself was used at the time, but the new format also reminds me of at least one of the online streams that were being run while the old Super Estrella format was being dropped from broadcast…
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/109443/format-change-imminent-at-super-estrella-107-1-los-angeles
Also, if anyone’s wondering why that video only mentions Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, it’s because the Facebook page is now highlighting a different artist roughly each day. La Ley was spotlighted on Wednesday–and Enanitos Verdes, on Tuesday.
Friday night’s post featured Maná–while Saturday’s featured Soda Stereo (albeit referred to as “Soda Estereo”). Also, I hope that the new format’s playlist isn’t completely ’80s/’90s; I vaguely remember that the aforementioned stream(s) specifically mentioned only those two decades.
Last night’s post was for (La) Maldita Vecindad–while, interestingly enough, tonight’s was for Shakira (although highlighting the ’90s). Separately, it looks like they’ve been pretty good about answering questions within the posts’ comments.
What’s probably the final pre-launch post (which, not surprisingly, features Caifanes) is now up: The official launch is tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Also, I didn’t notice it originally, but the latest videos feature a slightly different logo, which omits “Retro”; the Facebook page itself changed over to that logo a few days ago. That said, I don’t think that’ll end up having any real bearing on the new format.
If they are going to feature a real superstar artist every day, that should be good for about a week. There just are not many artists that have a lot of hits and can be considered superstars today. Los Faboulosos Cadillacs only have about 6 really big hits despite a long career; at the height of Argentine Spanish rocker Mega 98.3’s success in the early 00’s, there were only 3 songs that passed in extensive music testing in the band’s home country.
The website apparently went live overnight, and the related stream has been playing song montages. (The old format may have been dropped as of around midnight, per the Song History.) The site specifically mentions (at least) two additional artists–Héroes del Silencio and (in an affiliated ad) Moenia–and suggests that the format will be a bit broader than solely ’80s/’90s.
The launch took place a few minutes after 10:00–and may have included what’s in this video…
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSuperEstrella/videos/10156884643064415
So far, it’s definitely closer to Classic Hits than to Classic Rock; I even may have heard Kabah’s “La Calle de las Sirenas”. Also, the “Retro” name may still be included in the imaging.
I wasn’t able to listen too much after Thursday’s initial launch, but I don’t remember hearing any announcers. Either way, Entravision’s official press release didn’t mention anything about airstaff–and, indeed, was very much lacking in detail overall…
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/entravision-communications-corporation-announces-return-of-super-estrella-radio-station-to-the-los-angeles-market-300687013.html
Separately, at some point within the past day, the website’s Song History was fixed, so that it does reflect the new format. Eyeballing the past hour’s worth, it looks like the 2000s do play a significant role in the playlist–even though I think some of the imaging may still be specifying an ’80s/’90s focus.