MIAMI — On April 20, Carl Como Tutera, known for operating the former CBS Sports Radio affiliate in Orlando, agreed to sell an FM translator serving a tiny patch of Greater Miami.
The buyer? A licensee tied to Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS).
Why would SBS want it? It’s about to move, and where it is heading will give the company a little boost in its home market.
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Tutera’s “Star Over Orlando” is selling to South Broadcasting System — originally an entity controlled by the late Raúl Alarcón Sr. — the FM translator at 104.7 MHz in downtown Miami presently known as W284CT.
As of today, this facility covers tony Fisher Island, South Beach, Key Biscayne and the downtown core, including the Brickell district.
But, a Construction Permit is in play that would convert the facility to W292GE, which on February 13 was granted approval for a signal at 106.3 MHz.
The transmitter site? The same one that SBS’s WCMQ-FM and WRMA-FM just shifted to, atop the tallest building in South Florida.
Given the tower site and the move to 106.3 FM, the $275,000 deal suggests SBS is ready to pair the facility with South-licensed WRAZ-FM 106.3 in Leisure City, Fla., a 50kw rimshot using a tower located in Key Largo.
WRAZ of late has served as a simulcast partner of 6kw Class A WGNK-FM 88.3 “La Nueva,” a Spanish-language religious station. With the translator in downtown Miami, La Nueva could gain full coverage of nearly all of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market’s Hispanic “hot ZIPs.”
Or, another plan may be in the works — one that sees WRAZ return to Spanish-language programming, with a licensed boost designed to reach the core of Miami’s Latino population. Some 20 years ago, 106.3 MHz was WZMQ-FM in Key Largo, simulcast on WMFM-FM 107.9 in Key West and branded as “La Gran Cadena.” The facility was designed to reach Cuba, and even used what is now “Amante 96.3” in Managua, Nicaragua, as a simulcast partner.
According to FCC documentation, W292GE will be fed by WCMQ-FM — possibly a forthcoming HD2 signal tied to the facility’s upgrade and tower move.
SBS COO Albert Rodriguez was in meetings when contacted late Friday by RBR+TVBR. He noted that WRAZ and W292GE will be assigned to an entity wholly controlled by SBS CEO Raul Alarcón Jr., and operated independently from SBS — as was the case with “La Gran Cadena.”
