From Lady Gaga to … mariachi music?

Yes, plus cumbia, merengue, mambo, banda, Norteno, salsa, Bachata and passionate love ballads in Spanish.

That’s been the recent transition of WGBJ-FM 102.3, or as it’s now called on the radio, Ciente Dos Punta Tres, a station that, staff members say, provides the only Spanish-language radio in the Fort Wayne area.

Branded as Radio Unica and in the dial spot most recently held by the hip-hop- and dance pop-oriented The Bee, the station has gained listeners and advertisers since going on air under new ownership in April.

Broadcasts, which reach Ohio and Michigan as well as northeast and north-central Indiana, originate from a storefront studio in Coliseum Plaza shopping center on Parnell Avenue.

Radio Unica offers typical FM fare – a morning show with a female and a male DJ bantering between songs about the differences between the sexes, a public service program with information about childhood immunizations or H1N1 and advertisements for local car dealers, nightclubs and supermarkets.

But everything is in Spanish – with a little Spanglish thrown in, says Jorge Aguayo, 45, the station’s recording engineer who occasionally takes a turn in the booth as a DJ.

“We play everything – from old school to, you could say, new school,” he says, noting the station’s slogan is “Solo Exitos” (only hits). “We’re pushing the new without forgetting our roots.”

Lupita Morales, the female half of the morning show, El Vacilon de la Manana (Party in the Morning), says Radio Unica hopes to provide a way for more people to become acquainted with contemporary music coming out of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the southwestern United States.

“We have regional Mexican, tropical, pop, traditional Mexican, everything,” she says, adding the station has a growing minority of English-speaking listeners who just like the melody, the beat or the sound of the different types of music.

“They say that the music is the language of the world, and many times you don’t need to understand the words to know what it is saying,” Morales says.

Aguayo says the station’s new local investors, a businessman and an accountant, are trying to avoid the pitfalls of a previous Spanish-language station by being more professionally run.

Not only are there shows focusing on certain kinds of music at different times of the day, but there’s also a rotation of music within many shows. DJs, who play 16 songs an hour, have a must-play list but are also allowed to choose four songs themselves, he says.

The result is a little like the weather in Indiana, he jokes – if you don’t like what’s happening now, wait a few minutes, and it’ll change.

Among the most popular artists: the Kumbia Kings, headed by the brother of the late famed pop star Selena, who play Mexican versions of the traditional Colombian sexy dance rhythm; and Alejandro Fernandez, the son of famed Mexican ranchero (cowboy-style) crooner Vincente Fernandez, whom Morales calls “the Mexican Frank Sinatra.”

DJs keep the banter clean, Aguayo says, making most shows family-friendly.

“We play happy music, and we don’t say bad words,” he says. “It’s not like with kids in the car, you’re going ‘Oh my God!’ We try to careful about that.”

The public service program is on Saturday mornings, and there is religious programming on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

DJs also provide news about what’s happening in Latin American countries and the United States as well as local events, including when musicians of interest are playing locally or in nearby big cities such as Chicago, he says.

“We had no (local) radio station for, I think, a couple years. People didn’t know what’s going on,” he says, noting that in Latin American countries where TVs are still sparse and Internet access sporadic, radio has traditionally played a major cultural role.

Palmero Galindo, a Fort Wayne planner and Hispanic and immigrant liaison, says the station is helping area businesses get exposure.

“The possibilities are just there to make it grow,” he says, adding that he likes listening to the station while driving and has been interviewed about his job with the city.

The station is so new, Aguayo says, that it hasn’t received its first listener numbers. Managers hope to use them to reach more advertisers from big American and international companies who want to reach the region’s Hispanics. There are an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 Hispanics in Allen County, according to the U.S. census.

And, recently, Radio Unica scored a major coup by taking advantage of an opportunity to broadcast selected World Cup soccer games in Spanish, Aguayo says.

He’s pretty sure the games bumped up the station’s ratings, because the soccer championship is like the Super Bowl and World Series rolled into one for Spanish-speaking people.

Many businesses that employ Spanish-speaking workers had the games on in the background during the whole series, Aguayo says.

“Yeah, that was great for us,” he says. He laughs. “It would have been better if it had been Mexico that won.”

rsalter@jg.net