Uforia Audio Network

Uforia Audio Network (pronounced like "euphoria"), is the radio broadcasting and music events division of Univision Communications. Formerly known as Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation and Univision Radio, It is the eighth largest radio company in the United States, and the largest Hispanic radio company in the nation. Uforia is also the name of an app that streams all its radio stations, as well as specialty internet streams, it's the first said app with a predominantly Spanish-language interface in the Americas. It is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

History
Univision, previously known as Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. (between 2000 and September 22, 2003) and Heftel Broadcasting Corp, was the result of a February 14, 1997 merger of Tichenor Media System, Inc. a private company based in Dallas, Texas and Heftel Broadcasting, a public company based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tichenor had been in broadcasting since the 1940s. McHenry Tichenor operated a station (KGBS on 1240, later KGBT on 1530) in Harlingen, Texas. In 1950, they added KUNO Corpus Christi, Texas. Later station purchases were KIFN in Phoenix, Arizona; WGMA in Hollywood, Florida; & WACO-AM-FM and TV (construction permit) in Waco, Texas. In 1975, the company (then known as Harbenito radio) added KCOR (AM) and KQXT (FM) in San Antonio.

In 1981, the grandson of the founder, McHenry T. Tichenor, Jr., was named president of the company. He began focusing on its Spanish Language stations; Waco, Hollywood, and Phoenix were sold to their local managers. In 1987 Tichenor bought WOJO, a Spanish-language FM station serving Chicago. In 1984, the company sold KQXT in San Antonio to Westinghouse's Group W Broadcasting and purchased KLAT (AM) in Houston, Texas from Marcos Rodriguez, Sr. and Marcos A. Rodriguez. The KLAT purchase gave Tichenor access to top Spanish Radio talents Chuck Brooks, Ricardo del Castillo (who later became COO, retired and has since passed) and Gary Stone (former President of Univision Radio-retired). In 1985, WIND, Chicago and KYSR AM-FM El Paso were purchased. More stations were purchased in the following years, and the home office moved from Harlingen to Dallas, Texas. Mac Tichenor, Jr.'s brother, Warren (who would later serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations), became general manager of the San Antonio stations in 1991.

Heftel Broadcasting was founded by Cecil Heftel, whose family and in-laws all had been in the broadcasting business. His Heftel Broadcasting in the 1950s and early 1960s was anchored by KIMN in Denver and KGMB AM and KGMB-TV in Honolulu. He added numerous large AM radio stations (KTNQ) and some promising FM stations (KLVE) before selling them in the seventies and eighties. Cecil Heftel was elected as a congressman representing Hawaii's first district in 1976; he would hold that office eleven years before resigning in 1987. During this time, his company was active, buying  and selling stations in places like Indianapolis and Chicago. For about a year, Heftel and Scott Ginsburg (Statewide Communications) merged their holdings into H & G Communications.

In the early 90s, Heftel began to expand into more Spanish stations, and took steps to go public (new executive Carl Parmer). Heftel had a knack for making coalitions work, at least for a time, as in the H & G attempt. Heftel set up shop in Miami with local stations WAQI and WRTO, taking a minority interest. Heftel set up Rodriguez-Heftel Texas broadcasting along with Marcos A. Rodriguez (owner of KESS and other Dallas area stations and son of Marcos Rodriguez, Sr.). Stations were purchased  outright in Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York.

When HBC went public, Clear Channel Communications invested, taking in several steps up to a 20% interest. In 1996 Clear Channel tendered the shares owned by Heftel management. This got them about 62% of the company. They struck a deal to merge the new company with Tichenor Media, to be run by the Tichenor management. The deal closed in early 1997, and made for the first national Spanish Language broadcasting company.

The new company was worth $1 billion at closing and owned 38 stations. Holding were expanded for the next several years. San Francisco was added in 1996. Phoenix was added in 1999. Fresno in 2000.

Besides buying stations, the company has developed a capacity for improving and expanding stations to enhance coverage. VP of Engineering Mark Stennett oversees this effort (begun under previous VP David Stewart now with Moving Target Consulting Works) along with Charles Staples of Staples Technical Services, Dallas, Texas. For example, 104.9 KAMA-FM (was KPTY) in the Houston, Texas area moved from a smaller class A at Rosenberg, Texas to a larger class C3 licensed to Missouri City, Texas. Coverage went from a few hundred thousand to millions. Rating and value increased proportionally. (Note a construction permit for increase to class C2 was granted (BPH-20070914ACP) June 25, 2008. This will allow an increase from 2,700 watts to 8,700 watts. The station will also move from a downtown building roof to the company owned KLTN tower.

May 2013: KAMA-FM has increased power to 10.5 kW. Other expanded and relocated stations include KFLC, KESS-FM and KDXX (FM) in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, KBBT and KGSX in the San Antonio area, KLQV San Diego, and WADO (AM) New York. KKMR in the Phoenix, AZ area was recently granted a CP to change from class A to class C3, at a new site that will allow a 10 fold increase in its population covered. This app was started nearly a decade ago and was granted based on tweaks in the application done in 2006. Former CFO Jeff Hinson observed once that the station upgrade activity had increased the company's enterprise value by "almost $1 billion" (at a point when the company was selling to UVN for 3.5B).

In 1999, the company created a new entity, HBCI, Inc which was its interactive online presence. HBCi created a network of bilingual radio station web sites and a network of bilingual local city guide sites focused on the local Hispanic consumer in each of the markets the radio stations operated. HBCI achieved the rare milestone of reaching profitability in the dotcom industry just prior to the merger with Univision.

The company traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol HBCCA. It moved to the New York Stock Exchange in May 2000. Stock traded as HSP.

In mid-2002, Univision and HBC voted to merge. The approval process was long and controversial. The deal was approved and closed on September 22, 2003.

After the merger of HBC and Univision, the division was renamed Univision Radio and Denver Colorado.

In 2013, Univision launched Uforia, a new streaming platform featuring the Univision Radio stations and other exclusive content relating to Latino music.

On March 5, 2019, Univision announced that it would re-launch the Uforia brand (with the new tagline "The Home of Latin Music"), and that the Univision Radio group had been officially renamed Uforia Audio Network. There are also plans to use the Uforia brand more extensively across platforms, including live events, as well as television programming.

Some of the syndicated shows in the Uforia Audio Network include "El Show De Raul Brindis", “El Bueno, La Mala y El Feo” (“The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”), "El Show de Omar y Argelia”, "El Frey Guey Show", "La Chula Y La Bestia'  “El Hit Parade de América con Javier Romero”, "Todo Deportes con Broderick Zerpa", and “Intimo con Alberto Sardiñas”.

List of Radio stations
Below is a list of radio stations that are currently owned by Univision. As of November 28, 2018, it owns 61 radio stations; 49 local stations in 15 different markets (including Puerto Rico) and the other 12 as national stations.

Each section is in order by call sign

Arizona
Phoenix
KHOT-FM 105.9 FM - Regional Mexican
KHOV-FM 105.1 FM - Spanish Sports Talk
KOMR 106.3 FM - Spanish Adult Contemporary (AC)
KQMR 100.3 FM - Spanish Top 40

California
Fresno
KLLE 107.9 FM - Regional Mexican
KOND 107.5 FM - Regional Mexican
KRDA 92.1 FM - Spanish AC
Los Angeles
KLVE 107.5 FM - Spanish AC
KRCD (FM)/KRCV 103.9 FM/98.3 FM - Spanish Oldies
KSCA (FM) 101.9 FM - Regional Mexican
KTNQ 1020 AM - Spanish News/Talk
San Diego
KLQV 102.9 FM - Spanish AC
KLNV 106.5 FM - Regional Mexican
San Francisco (including San Jose and Oakland)
KBRG 100.3 FM - Spanish AC
KSOL/KSQL 98.9 FM/99.1 FM - Regional Mexican
KVVF/KVVZ 105.7 FM/100.7 FM - Spanish Top 40

Florida
Miami
WAMR-FM 107.5 - Spanish Hot AC
WAQI 710 - Spanish News/Talk
WQBA 1140 AM - Spanish Sports Talk
WRTO-FM 98.3 - Spanish Top 40/Tropical

Illinois
Chicago
WOJO 105.1 FM - Regional Mexican
WPPN 106.7 FM - Spanish AC
WRTO (AM) 1200 AM - Spanish Sports Talk
WVIV-FM 93.5 FM - Spanish Top 40

Nevada
Las Vegas
KISF 103.5 FM - Regional Mexican
KLSQ 870 AM - Spanish Sports Talk
KRGT (FM) 99.3 FM - Spanish Top 40

New York
New York City
WADO 1280 AM - Spanish News/Talk
WQBU-FM 92.7 FM - Spanish AC
WXNY-FM 96.3 FM - Spanish Top 40/Tropical

Puerto Rico
San Juan
WKAQ (AM) 580 AM - Spanish News/Talk
WKAQ-FM 104.7 FM - Bilingual Top 40
Ponce
WUKQ (AM) 1420 AM - Spanish News/Talk
Mayagüez
WYEL 600 AM - Spanish News/Talk
WUKQ-FM 98.7 FM - Bilingual Top 40

Texas
Austin
KLJA 107.7 FM - Spanish AC
KLQB 104.3 FM - Regional Mexican
Dallas/Fort Worth
KDXX/KESS-FM 107.9 FM/107.1 FM - Spanish Top 40
KFLC 1270 AM - Spanish Sports Talk
KFZO 99.1 FM - Regional Mexican
KLNO 94.1 FM - Regional Mexican
Houston
KAMA-FM/KQBU-FM 104.9 FM/93.3 FM - Spanish Top 40
KLAT 1010 AM - Spanish Sports Talk
KLTN 102.9 FM - Regional Mexican
KOVE-FM 106.5 FM - Spanish AC
McAllen
KBTQ 96.1 FM - Spanish Oldies
KGBT (AM) 1590 AM - Spanish Sports Talk
KGBT-FM 98.5 FM - Regional Mexican
San Antonio
KBBT 98.5 FM - Rhythmic CHR
KMYO 95.1 FM - Spanish Top 40
KROM 92.9 FM - Regional Mexican
KVBH 107.5 FM - Rhythmic Adult Contemporary
KXTN 1350 AM - Tejano

Nationwide
Amor Celestial - Spanish Christian and Catholic
Área 53 - Cubatón (Upbeat Cuban Music)
Becky G Radio - Songs from the artist and other pop artists
Betty - Spanish Ballads from the 80's and 90's
El Sancho - Regional Mexican, mainly Corridos
Jenni Rivera - Songs from the late artist
¡Kumbiazo! - Cumbias
Mami - Classic Salsa and Tropical
Planeta Rock - Spanish Rock
Trap Radio - Explicit Latin Trap
Uforia Debut - Trending and newly-released music
TUDN Radio - Spanish Sports Talk from the network, TUDN

References

Category:Univision Radio Network stations
Category:American radio networks
Category:Radio stations established in 1981
Category:Radio broadcasting companies of the United States
Category:Spanish-language radio stations in the United States