Recently, I published the article Don’t use the term podcast in vain (link ahead). This new article is to help self-proclaimed podcasters to learn from the distribution and irrefutable branding success history of the United States’ top Castilian-language television network, Univisión. In fact, according to Nielsen Media Research, Univisión has the largest Castilian-speaking audience of any network in the entire world, and its ratings even beat many English-speaking shows in some markets. You’ll hear an on-point 1976 soundbite from Arnold Horshack of Welcome back, Kotter which underlines my point. Let’s see how this is all related, and realize that your show is much more than just a podcast.
Recently, I published the article Don’t use the term podcast in vain (link ahead). This new article is to help self-proclaimed podcasters to learn from the distribution and irrefutable branding success history of the United States’ top Castilian-language television network, Univisión. In fact, according to Nielsen Media Research, Univisión has the largest Castilian-speaking audience of any network in the entire world, and its ratings even beat many English-speaking shows in some markets. You’ll hear an on-point 1976 soundbite from Arnold Horshack of Welcome back, Kotter which underlines my point. Let’s see how this is all related, and realize that your show is much more than just a podcast.
Link to prior related article
In August 2015, I published the article Don’t use the term podcast in vain (illustrated above—The graphic is public domain, by the Providence Lithograph Company).
Univisión’s (often forgotten) UHF roots
Univisión has had a phenomenal viewership track record. In recent years, Univisión has reached viewership parity with the five major English language United States television networks – often placing a strong fifth in prime time and overall ratings, outranking The CW, with some fourth-place weekly placings, and as of 2012, even first-place rankings for individual programs over all five English networks due to the network’s consistent schedule of new telenovelas all 52 weeks of the year.
The Univisión network (originally called SIN) was born out of a collection of UHF TV stations. Here is a summary of its history:
In 1955, Raúl Cortez started the Castilian-language KCOR-TV channel 41 (currently KWEX-DT) in San Antonio, Texas, and later changed the station’s call letters to KUAL-TV in 1958. In 1961, Cortez sold KUAL to a group headed by his son-in-law Emilio Nicolás, Sr. and Mexican entertainment mogul Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta – owner of Mexico-based Telesistema Mexicano (the forerunner of Televisa). In 1962, Nicolás and Azcárraga signed on a second Castilian-language station, KMEX-TV channel 34, in Los Ángeles. Then in 1968, they expanded to the New York City market and signed on WXTV channel 41 in Paterson, New Jersey (which —years later— was the first way I began to watch the network as a child in Connecticut). These three stations formed the nucleus of the then SIN network, the first television network in the United States to broadcast its programming in a language other than English.
You may have noticed that all of the channel numbers mentioned above are UHF, since they are between 14 and 83. If you are about my age (or older), you’ll recall that UHF channels were originally tuned on a separate knob connected to the UHF tuner in the TV set.
Above you’ll see an old TV set with a second knob for UHF tuning.
If you are older than I, you may even remember when some TV sets didn’t include UHF tuners, but only VHF. In the United States, that changed before my time in 1962 with the All Channel Receiver Act. But during my time, when many people’s houses had a rooftop antenna for VHF, many did not have any rooftop antenna for UHF. Some people had a round UHF circular antenna, which sometimes came with the TV set.
Above is a typical circular UHF antenna for indoor use, model number ANT11 by SMC Electronics for US$1.75 each.
The bottom line is that for many who didn’t live very close to the UHF transmitter, UHF channels were challenging to get a signal (or a good signal). The following 53-second video clip from Welcome Back, Kotter underlines this further:
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The character called Ronald Horshack of Welcome Back, Kotter and his teacher comment about the difficulty and complexity to watch a particular UHF TV channel in this sound byte from Season 1 Episode 20, “The Telethon” from 1976.
If you have been dealing with podcasting for many years (either as a content producer or consumer), you probably see what the early days of UHF broadcasting and the early days of podcasting consumption had in common: They were both challenging to get the content. Of course, Univisión did not remain only on UHF. Univisión eventually got to cable TV, satellite TV, DBS, to the Internet and even to brand-new services like Sling TV. Just as Univisión’s programming on those other distribution methods are not UHF, when people listen to your show directly on your website, that’s not podcasting: That’s audio on the web. In fact, when you broadcast your show live through any means, be it Google Hangouts on Air, Blab.im or any other platform, that’s not podcasting either, because none of those involve a subscription via RSS, as I explained in detail in Don’t use the term podcast in vain. The same thing applies when people listen to or watch your show on-demand YouTube or Vimeo: Those are not podcasting either. So it is great that Univisión intelligently did not —and does not— promote itself in Castilian as “UHFeros”, or in English as “UHFers”. For the same reason, it does not make sense for us to promote our shows to the general public as podcasts, for three reasons:
- In many cases, our shows are not consumed as podcasts (not via an RSS subscription). When they are consumed in other ways, they are not any less valid to listeners or viewers, but they are not podcasts.
- Many people are unfamiliar with the term podcast. If we attempt to explain what podcasting is before describing our content, they will often become bored before finding out what the show is about. It is much better to intrigue potential new listeners about the content than about the way to consume it. If they become intrigued by the content, just like Arnold Horshack and Mr. Kotter, they’ll do whatever is necessary to consume it.
- If we later teach them what podcasting is —after they are intrigued about our content, they should be clear that podcasting is only one way our shows can be consumed, not the only way. But that comes later.
How not to promote your shows to the general public
Do not say: “I do a podcast” or “I produce a podcast”. That is counterproductive for all of the reasons listed above, and is just as crazy as if Univisión were to promote itself as “We are UHFers”. Your show is much more than just podcasting, just as Univisión is much more than just UHF.
How to promote your shows to the general public
Say: “I do a radio show” or “I produce a radio show”. The next question will often be: “Oh, what’s your show about?”
That is exactly the way it should be. After the person becomes interested in what your show is about, she or he will likely ask about how to consume it. Sometimes, the person might even ask: “Oh, is it a podcast?”
In that case, the correct answer should be: “Yes, podcasting is one of many ways you can listen to it.”
Just as if a person were to ask a Univisión executive: “Oh, are you on UHF?” the answer would be: “Yes, among many other ways to consume Univisión, UHF is one of many”.
If you think your shows are not radio (or television), they are: They are just the next generation of radio (or television), just like watching Univision on your smartphone or tablet is still television, just the next generation of television. Unless you have a specific reason to limit them, your shows should be distributed as many ways as possible, including:
- on the web
- in apps on phones, tablets and car radios
- as a subscribable RSS feed via a podcast app
- via a traditional AM or FM over-the-air radio, either if the station requests to play it, or if you decide to purchase time there. (In fact, some traditional radio producers augment their exposure by additionally offering their over-the-air show via podcast distribution.)
- any other way that will be born in the future
Why you should still use and understand podcasting distribution, among other types
You should still use and understand podcasting distribution —including preparing the appropriate RSS feed— because it is still one of many different types of distribution. It’s just not the only one, so don’t limit your show by calling it a podcast, when it is much more than a podcast, just as Univisión is much more than just UHF.
Upcoming articles, reviews, and books
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Si deseas suscribirte a mi lista en castellano, visita aquí. Si prefieres, puedes suscribirte a ambas listas (castellano e inglés).
Books, consulting, articles, seminars & radio programs
Contact Allan Tépper for consulting, or find a full listing of his books, articles and upcoming seminars and webinars at AllanTepper.com. Listen to his CapicúaFM program at CapicúaFM.com in iTunes or Stitcher.
My latest book (paperback + ebook)
My most recent book is available in two languages, and in paperback as well as an ebook. The ebook format is Kindle, but even if you don’t have a Kindle device, you can read Kindle books on many other devices using a free Kindle app. That includes iPad, Android tablets, Mac computers, and Windows computers. Although generally speaking, Kindle books are readable on smartphones like Androids and iPhones, I don’t recommend it for this particular book since it contains both color photos and color comparison charts. The ebook is also DRM-free.
In English, it’s The Castilian Conspiracy. Click here and you will be automatically sent to the closest Amazon book page to you based upon your IP address. Or request ISBN–10: 1456310232 or ISBN–13: 978–1456310233 in your favorite local bookstore.
En castellano, se llama La conspiración del castellano. Haz clic aquí para llegar al instante a la página del libro correspondiente a tu zona y moneda en Amazon, según tu dirección IP. De lo contrario, solicítalo en tu librería preferida con los ISBN–10: 1492783390 ó el ISBN–13: 978–1492783398.
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No manufacturer is specifically paying Allan Tépper or TecnoTur LLC to write this article or the mentioned books. Some of the other manufacturers listed above have contracted Tépper and/or TecnoTur LLC to carry out consulting and/or translations/localizations/transcreations. Many of the manufacturers listed above have sent Allan Tépper review units. So far, none of the manufacturers listed above is/are sponsors of the TecnoTur programs, although they are welcome to do so, and some are, may be (or may have been) sponsors of ProVideo Coalition magazine. Some links to third parties listed in this article and/or on this web page may indirectly benefit TecnoTur LLC via affiliate programs.
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