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WILMINGTON — On Jan. 1 2011, people living in the southeastern part of the state will no longer have a Spanish radio station.

La Gran D 98.7 FM reaches up to 700,000 listeners in nine counties and after two and a half years in the region, it will go off the air. Sunrise Broadcasting will change formats to a modern rock station on 98.7 FM. An FCC requirement only allows Sunrise to maintain five stations.

Market Manager Brian Schimmel said Sunrise chose to relinquish La Gran D because the modern rock station is more marketable.

"We're advertising supported and need to have as large an audience as possible on any of our stations so we can sell more advertising and we feel there's a better opportunity to program a modern rock station, have a larger audience," said Schimmel.
 
The Centro Latino Community Center felt losing the station will make a big impact on the listeners. Operation Manager Nicholas Faherty said the programming offered Latinos a place to come together and also a way to integrate with American culture.

"Without the station, there's going to be a lot of people that don't have that place to call and find out information and connect with," said Faherty.
 
 Supermarket co-owner David Rivera advertises his store on La Gran D. Without the station, he fears he could lose business.

"Probably part of the Latino community will stop listening to, like, our commercials and they will stop coming in, but like i said, I don't know if we will be affected or not," reflected Rivera. "Probably yes."
 
La Gran D's last day on air is December 31. The modern rock station will hit the airwaves on 98.7 on January 3, 2011 at 10 a.m.