15 MAY 09: Viva es Muerte

Census numbers indicate more than 8,000 Columbus residents are Hispanic. Yet that community has seen a stunning string of setbacks over the last 60 days. They lost a "Fiesta" at South Commons. They lost a nightclub in the Ritmo Latino raid. And I have yet to see a picture of Mimi Woodson wearing a sombrero for Cinco de Mayo.

The latest casualty for Hispanic Columbus is the end of its most powerful radio station. Richard Hyatt's web site revealed Thursday WHAL-AM "Viva 1460" will stop the Spanish-language music Monday. It will become "Fox Sports Radio 1460" - perhaps inspired by former Mexican President Vicente Fox speaking at Emory University's commencement.

(Oh yes - "muerte" in our title is the Spanish word for dead. But my favorite Spanish word is the translation of "to receive." Recibir can be pronounced "racy beer.")

Clear Channel Radio isn't hiding the change online. The Viva 1460 web site already has been updated, and Spanish-language items were removed during the course of Thursday. Of course, the site should still have plenty of Hispanic names - such as baseball's Albert Pujols and basketball's Pau Gasol.

Viva 1460 still carries the call letters of the music format it replaced. This week marks six years since WHAL-AM began as "Hallelujah 1460." It was replaced by Spanish-language music in April 2006, several hours earlier than scheduled - so I'm not sure if there was ever a benediction.

The time seemed right in 2006 for a Spanish-language radio station in Columbus. The Hispanic population was growing, with businesses for them opening along Victory Drive. Someday I'll figure out why La Cocina Cubana is located way out Macon Road - as if the prison on Schatulga Road is filled with Mexican drug-runners.

Yet for some reason, Viva 1460 apparently didn't gain a following. The two radio rating reports from last year didn't show WHAL-AM with any listeners at all. It's as if Hispanic residents feared their rating diaries would be handed to federal immigration agents.

I've enjoyed listening to Viva 1460 for its Sunday afternoon "salsa classics." It also broadcast international soccer matches, such as the 2006 World Cup - where people falling asleep during games could be awakened by the announcer yelling "Goooooooooooool!"

The good news for Hispanic Columbus is that another radio station still broadcasts in Spanish - WTMQ-FM, or "Tropical 88.5." It plays a large amount of salsa and meringue music, yet it doesn't sound quite right on my radio. The audio sounds badly filtered -- almost like they broadcast from the back of a minivan.

But there may be bad news regarding Tropical 88.5. The station's web site wouldn't come up Thursday - and when we called the station several times for a comment about Viva 1460, no one answered the phone. Hopefully they're not secretly broadcasting from a hideout for the Ricci brothers.

As for Viva 1460's replacement -- is Columbus big enough for two sports radio stations? WEAM-AM seems to have found its footing, mostly broadcasting ESPN Radio. Fox Sports Radio tends to be a runner-up network -- and it succeeded on WRCG about as well as Doug Graham did hosting "Talkline."

The program schedule posted online indicates Clear Channel Radio is supplementing Fox Sports Radio with a big talk-show name. Jim Rome will be on during the early afternoon -- and I'm not sure how long he could tolerate Coach B.R. Johnson as a co-host.

. I hope Clear Channel Radio will use WHAL-AM to broadcast teams you can't hear in Columbus now. The Atlanta Thrashers disappeared from WRCG this past season. Georgia Tech games have been missing from Columbus radio for years. And I'd think the Columbus Lions would like to prove they actually have a winning record.

Now instead of some appropriate flan for dessert, we'll offer a check of the Thursday news:

+ Fort Benning hosted a job fair, and WRBL estimated about 2,000 job seekers showed up. The bad news for many of them is that the Army is meeting its recruitment goals right now.

+ Pine Ridge Elementary School in Harris County bragged announced all its third-grade students passed the CRCT exam this year. For doing this, the children apparently were rewarded with nothing more than a longer recess. At Rigdon Road Elementary, somebody would be going to Disney World.

+ Habitat for Humanity announced board chairman J. Ron Terwilliger has pledged $100 million to the organization, effective when he dies. Habitat calls this a "legacy donation" -- while I'm not sure Legacy Chevrolet can afford to donate a car to the Teacher of the Year.

+ Chrysler announced hundreds of dealerships nationwide will lose their affiliation, due to bankruptcy. Glynn Smith Chevrolet-Jeep in Opelika will have to drop the Jeep name. Now the sales staff is even more thankful that Bill Heard Chevrolet went under first.

+ Instant Message to Calvary Baptist Church Pastor Don Wilhite: After that health problem at The Gardens of Calvary, can I assume you'll no longer preach about having a "fire in your belly" for the things of God?

SCHEDULED THIS WEEKEND: Why would we bring up Panama here? See if you can figure it out....

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