Hurban is a radio programming format from radio chain giant

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

and Senior VP

Alfredo Alonso Alfredo Alonso is a retired Cuba-born media executive. He held senior management positions in Spanish-language media publishing, radio broadcasting, television production, corporate event management and restaurateur. He is known as an innovator of ...

. Hurban radio stations target young Hispanics in the United States, primarily consisting of

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...

Latin trap Latin trap is a subgenre of Trap music, trap music that originated in Puerto Rico. A direct descendant of southern hip hop, and influenced by reggaeton, it gained popularity after 2007, and has since spread throughout Latin America. ''The trap'' ...

Latin rap Latin hip hop (also known as Latin rap) is hip hop music that is recorded by artists in the United States of Hispanic and Latino descent, along with Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean, North America, Central America, South America, and ...

, and

Latin dance Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America. The category of Latin dances in the international dancesport competi ...

. Advertisements and DJs are usually presented in a mixture of English and Spanish. The word hurban is a portmanteau of the terms "Hispanic" and "urban."

Artists

Core artists of the hurban format include

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, composer, and actor. Known as the " King of Reggaetón" by music critics and fans alike, he is the artist who coined ...

Don Omar William Omar Landrón Rivera (born February 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. On September 1, 2017, he announced that he would retire after a ...

Julio Voltio Julio Voltio (born as Julio Irving Ramos Filomeno on June 11, 1977 in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican former reggaeton artist. A pioneer of the reggaeton genre, Voltio retired from music in 2014 and dedicated himself to preaching Christi ...

and

Tego Calderón Tegui Calderón Rosario (born February 1, 1972) is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer and actor. He began his musical career in 1996 (as Tego Tec) and was supported by the famous Puerto Rican rapper Eddie Dee, who invited him on his second studio albu ...

History

KLOL KLOL (101.1 FM "Mega 101") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a Spanish-language Latin pop radio format. KLOL serves as the Spanish-language flagship station for the Houston Texans football t ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

debut LATINO & PROUD as the first Hurban formatted radio station in continental U.S. in late 2004. By 2007, Clear Channel dropped the hurban format and picked up a Spanish Contemporary format. Most of the original personalities have been let go since and the station is no longer bilingual. The only original on-air personality that still remains to this day is Liz Arreola, or Liz de Mega as she is known. Most of the current personalities have been ordered to cease the "Spanglish" act on the air and stick with Spanish. The format has grown to many other cities, including New York WXNY, Los Angeles KXOL , Denver, Miami, and Albuquerque, NM. But more recently, the format has been replaced in several cities. The list includes Miami, Denver, Albuquerque, Dallas (

KZZA KZZA (106.7 MHz "La Ranchera 106.7 FM/1540 AM") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Muenster, Texas, and serving northern communities in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex. It is owned by Estrella Media and it broadcasts a Classic Regiona ...

), and Las Vegas.

Development of the hurban ideology

The new radio format dubbed "hurban" may seem like it is merely another attempt to profit off of the tastes of a particular ethnic group that has a preference for a given type of music, but this is not the case. These pan-Latin radio stations are embracing

, hip hop and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

music, which largely comprise and explicate hurban thoughts and ideas through their lyrics and styles. Nevertheless, the scope of this music can be comprehended more thoroughly when we understand the movement as a grassroots attempt that will perhaps bring together the pan-Latino movement in the music industry. In relation to the hurban music movement, there are other means by which Hispanic urbans are being encouraged to represent their ethnic background.

, a major broadcasting company, announced in fall 2004 that it was transforming 20 to 25 of its 1,200 stations to Hispanic formats over the subsequent 18 months. Some individuals may have felt disappointed when they realized that one of their favorite radio stations was changed in an effort to accommodate the needs of the hurban audience. Tension between musical genres may also exist in subtle commercial competitions such as these with the potential to affect an individual's prejudices that tend to develop in a multi-racial and multi-cultural

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Hurban radio stations may provide the means for the pan-Latino population to develop a sense of communication within the community that will reverberate in America and abroad.

References

{{Reflist Radio formats

Artists

History

Development of the hurban ideology

See also

References