END OF AN ERA IN MIAMI: RADIO MAMBI GOES OFF THE AIR
Wilfredo Cancio Isla
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The Radio Mambí station (WAQI-710 AM), a bastion of conservative positions of the Cuban community, comes to an end after 40 years as a communication platform in Miami.
According to reports of employees and people close to business management who were consulted by Cafe Fuerte, the station will cease its programming next Friday, December 12.
La Grande, as proclaimed by the station’s promotional ads since its release in 1985, goes off the air, leaving a trail of nostalgic memories for a generation of listeners that found it among the informative reference sites and political platform of exiled Cubans, under the initial leadership of figures like Agustín Tamargo, Armando Perez Roura and Marta Flores, among others.
It’s the second blow for Miami’s Spanish radio in just months, after another of South Florida’s emblematic institutions, WQBA-1140 AM, also owned by the Latino Media Network group, canceled its live programming and fired all of its employees last July.
It is estimated that around twenty people, including program hosts, journalists, technicians and hired staff, are unemployed.
The information obtained indicates that Latino Media Group is in the final phase of selling the stations, and that the potential owners asked to close the ongoing professional work.
When Latino Media Network acquired both stations in 2022, Radio Mambi’s programming was expected to undergo a radical shift, leaning more toward an editorial line of Democrat-centric projection.
The management of Latino Media Network then said they were interested in “provide greater representation to Miami’s growing Latino community.”
But it didn’t happen that way. Radio Mambi’s programming grid remained unchanged, with a clear Republican vocation and Trumpist backing, even holding all the conspiracy versions about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol assault.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t until mid-2024 that the WQBA redesigned its programming with new figures, but the changes failed to translate into ratings and ratings, and the station had to lay off all of its employees at the return of a year’s work.
But neither the sales nor the audience of Radio Mambi made a difference either, which hastened the decision to sell the stations.
Steve Whitt to MWCircle iog (2025-12-11)