When it comes to South Florida, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market has long been an outlier. Disco never really died, nor did freestyle dance music. An FM focused on English-language classic hits, but with Spanish-language announcers and commercials, is off to a fast start. Multiple AM radio stations offer spoken word programming targeting Hispanohablantes.
Elsewhere in Florida, however, the same thirst for news, talk and informational fare en español proved to be less successful. As such, iHeartMedia has pulled the plug on its Acción offering, with English-language FOX Sports Radio replacing it two markets.
As first reported by Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink, the Acción Radio Network is now defunct, concluding five years of serving listeners in Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa.
Acción was born on WRSO-AM in the Orlando market in 2018; it then was added to Tampa and Jacksonville signals in 2021, seemingly in response to the growth of Hispanics in these markets. While there may be more Latinos, consumption of Acción paled in comparison to music-driven stations in the three markets. Acción had been offering select local programming alongside syndicated shows from Héctor Marcano, Mariano Gonzalez, and Millie Colon.
Signs of Acción‘s demise first surfaced in January, when Tampa’s WHNZ-AM changed to English-language Financial Talk. Now, WRSO and sibling WFXJ-AM in Jacksonville are adopting FOX Sports Radio, with WFXJ returning to the Premiere Networks brand.
For iHeartMedia North Florida Area President Paul Rogers, the company is “fully committed to providing the best quality entertainment and information to the Hispanic residents on the First Coast and will continue to explore ways we can increase our impact there. The opportunity to return the Fox Sports brand to its original home on AM930 in Jacksonville was simply too good to pass up. Its appeal cuts across and unites every segment of our community.”
Locally focused Sports stations are among the most successful radio properties in the U.S., with properties including KNBR-AM & FM in San Francisco, WBZ-FM in Boston, WXYT-FM in Detroit, and WFAN-AM & FM in New York generating strong revenue and ratings success.
