[weegee]

The big deal is that Houston now has one fewer English language station for new music. It also has one fewer "new rock releases" station (we are left with the "edgy" alternative station playing new Green Day and 10 year old Pearl Jam/Nirvana and the Dance Pop station).

They are selling to a "target audience" but denying that a possibly larger audience exists untapped in this market. White people who want to listen to radio are left largely with listening to the same songs they've listened to for 25 years (and the full playlist can be heard every 24 hour cycle; no repeats in a day but every day repeats) or they can go to "talk radio". Even the commercial (non-public radio) classical station just flipped Spanish.

We've been told that we can go to satellite radio and that programming is "better" there. Why pay for radio? Maybe I want to hear local advertisers, local coverage of events, local flavor (regional favorites or music played as a band tours in the area). Also, if pay radio stations are so much better than the local variety, why doesn't some local station adopt that format/playlist?

Seems to me that the demographic that can most likely afford to pay for digital radio has been told to leave analog radio. Clear Channel has tried to downplay their holdings in XM since this has happened.

[superskunk]

Seems to me that there's an untapped market there that could bring some enterprising media company a ton of money.

I'm not opposed to foreign language stations, but if ya want to live here, learn to speak the language. No application for citizenship should ever be considered unless the applicant can speak English.