With their impending $800,000 purchase and takeover of Christian 1220 WFAX/100.7 W264DB Falls Church VA starting with an LMA on July 1, Costa Media has announced its programming plans for the station.
WFAX will become “La Pantera” with a format mixing Regional Mexican and Spanish Rhythmic music. The station will also emphasize soccer including being the Washington DC’s market exclusive home of the 2022 World Cup this fall. Costa Media President of Programming Gerardo López will oversee the programming of the station with a mix of local news, variety shows, music, and live sports.
COSTA MEDIA, an audio-centric media company focused on the U.S. LatinX audience in underserved markets, has acquired radio station WFAX 100.7 FM/1220 AM that covers the Washington, D.C., metro area, including Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV). Since 1948, WFAX, with a religious format through brokered programming, has been in the hands of the same family.
“Our mission is to super-serve the Latino communities in Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia by introducing a new format that combines Regional Mexican Music with a mix of Latin Pop and Latin Urban,” said José M Villafañe, Managing Partner and founder of Costa Media LLC. “We launched our first station in Boston on Aug. 1, 2021, and now we expand into the D.C. DMA. We see an opportunity to create and forge partnerships in the local market to super-serve the DMV local LatinX and bilingual community through our format LA PANTERA.”
LA PANTERA brings a unique proven format that combines Regional Mexican and Spanish Urban music and content targeting the 17% of the Hispanic/LatinX D.C. population originally from Central America, South America and the Caribbean, as well as the bilingual English-speaking community through multimedia platforms. Fulfilling the euphoric Hispanic fandom for fútbol/soccer, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will air in the D.C. area in Spanish EXCLUSIVELY on LA PANTERA.
The format, led by Partner and President of Programming Gerardo López, will include local news, variety shows, music, and live sports. “Radio audiences have become more diverse in the U.S., and we aim to entertain and inform as many as possible through our premium content. We believe in the power of the community through radio and it’s where we want to focus, working with our local community leaders, politicians, and business owners. The LA PANTERA format already airs in multiple U.S. DMAs successfully,” Lopez said.
