If you’ve ever sat in a car on SW 8th Street during a humid Miami afternoon, you know the sound. It’s a mix of rapid-fire Spanish, passionate political commentary, and that distinct, crackling energy that belongs to AM radio. Specifically, it belongs to Radio Mambi 710 AM Miami Florida. For decades, this wasn't just a frequency on a dial; it was the heartbeat of a community in exile. It was the place where you heard the news that mattered to your family back in Havana or Managua before the mainstream papers even had a lead.
But things are changing. Quickly.
The station is currently navigating one of the most tumultuous periods in its long history. Between ownership shifts and the evolving demographics of South Florida, people are asking if the "Old Guard" of Spanish-language talk radio can actually survive the digital age. It’s a messy, fascinating story about culture, power, and how we talk to each other when the stakes feel like life or death.
The Powerhouse of the 710 Dial
Radio Mambi didn't become an institution by accident. WAQI—the station's official call sign—found its niche by becoming the unapologetic voice of the Cuban-American community. We're talking about a station that, for years, boasted some of the highest engagement rates in the country. Why? Because it understood its audience better than anyone else.
The programming was never meant to be neutral. It was "La Grande." It was the home of legendary figures like Armando Perez-Roura, whose voice carried the weight of a thousand stories of displacement and hope. For the abuelos sipping colada at Versailles, Mambi was the only source of truth. It provided a platform for a very specific brand of conservative, anti-communist rhetoric that shaped local elections for nearly forty years.
Honestly, if you wanted to win an election in Miami-Dade County between 1985 and 2010, you basically had to run your campaign through the 710 AM microphones.
The 2022 Sale That Shook Miami
Things got weird a few years ago. In 2022, a massive deal was announced: TelevisaUnivision was selling a portfolio of 18 radio stations, including Radio Mambi 710 AM Miami Florida, to a new group called Latino Media Network (LMN). This wasn't just a corporate hand-off. It was a political earthquake.
LMN, led by Stephanie Valencia and Katie Stanton, was backed by some heavy-hitting investment. But here’s the kicker—it also had ties to capital from firms linked to George Soros.
In Miami, that name acts like a lightning bolt.
The backlash was instant and intense. Longtime listeners and several prominent on-air personalities saw this as a "leftist takeover" of a conservative bastion. Some of the station’s most recognizable voices, like Lourdes D’Kendall and Nelson Rubio, decided they weren't sticking around to see what happened. They jumped ship to Americano Media, a startup that promised to keep the hard-line conservative flame alive. It was a mass exodus that left the 710 frequency in a weird sort of limbo.
The tension was palpable. You had protesters outside the studios. You had local politicians holding press conferences about "media integrity." It really highlighted just how much a radio frequency can mean to a city's identity.
Is AM Radio Still Relevant in 2026?
You might think AM radio is dead. You’d be wrong. Especially in Miami.
While the rest of the world moved to podcasts and Spotify, a huge chunk of the South Florida population stayed loyal to the dial. There's a technical reason for this: AM signals travel far and they penetrate buildings well. But the emotional reason is stronger. For many, the radio is a companion. It’s the "radio-reloj" habit that’s hard to break.
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However, Radio Mambi 710 AM Miami Florida is facing a demographic cliff. The original "Exile Generation" is aging. Their children and grandchildren? They’re bilingual. They’re getting their news from TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp groups. They might respect Mambi because their grandfather listened to it, but they aren't tuning in for four hours a day.
LMN has been trying to figure out how to bridge this gap. How do you keep the core audience—the people who have been loyal since the 80s—without alienating the younger, more moderate Latinos who are now moving into the neighborhood? It’s a tightrope walk. A really high one. Without a net.
What You Hear When You Tune In Now
If you turn on 710 AM today, you’ll notice a shift. It’s still Spanish. It’s still focused on news and community affairs. But the fire-and-brimstone commentary of the Perez-Roura era has been tempered.
The station still covers the "Big Three" of Miami radio topics:
- Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua: The geopolitical "troika of tyranny" remains the primary focus. If there’s a protest in Havana, Mambi is going to cover it, even if the English-language news ignores it.
- Local Politics: From school board meetings to county commission votes, the station serves as a hyper-local watchdog.
- Immigration: Not just the policy, but the human stories. The paperwork, the legal battles, the reality of the border.
The vibe is slightly more "professionalized" now, which is a polite way of saying it feels a bit more like a corporate broadcast and a little less like a neighborhood rally. For some, this is a welcome change toward "objective" journalism. For others, it feels like the station has lost its soul.
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The Impact of Disinformation Debates
We have to talk about the "D" word. Disinformation.
During the last few election cycles, South Florida Spanish-language radio became a flashpoint for national debates about fake news. Critics argued that stations like Mambi allowed conspiracy theories to flourish. Supporters argued that this was just a way for outsiders to silence conservative Hispanic voices.
This tension is why the ownership change was so controversial. The new owners, LMN, emphasized their commitment to "balanced" reporting. In the context of Miami radio, "balanced" is often interpreted as a code word for "less conservative."
The reality is more nuanced. Radio Mambi has always been a mirror of its community. If the community is angry, the radio is angry. If the community is worried about the economy, the radio reflects that. By trying to sanitize the content to avoid "disinformation" labels, there’s a risk of making the station irrelevant to the very people who built it.
Key Figures in the Mambi Legacy
- Armando Perez-Roura: The undisputed king of the station for decades. His "Toma Nota" segments were legendary.
- Ninoska Pérez Castellón: Another titan of the airwaves who eventually moved to other platforms but remains a symbol of the station’s peak influence.
- The LMN Leadership: Stephanie Valencia and Katie Stanton are the new faces behind the scenes, trying to modernize a legacy brand.
How to Listen and Connect
Despite the corporate drama, Radio Mambi 710 AM Miami Florida remains accessible.
You can obviously find it at 710 on the AM dial if you're within the South Florida signal range. But like everything else, it’s gone digital. You can stream it via the Uforia app (though the transition of digital rights during the sale was its own headache) or through various online radio aggregators.
The station also maintains a presence on social media, though it’s noticeably different from the "wild west" days of call-in shows where anything could—and often did—happen.
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The Actionable Bottom Line for Listeners and Observers
If you want to understand Miami, you have to understand Mambi. You don't have to agree with the politics to recognize its cultural importance.
Here is how to approach the station today:
- Listen for the Subtext: Don't just listen to what the hosts are saying; listen to the callers. The callers represent the unfiltered anxiety and hope of the Miami diaspora. It’s a real-time ethnographic study.
- Compare the Sources: If you really want to see how media bias works, listen to a segment on Mambi and then read the same story in the Miami Herald. The gap between the two is where the "real" Miami usually lives.
- Watch the Advertisers: You can tell a lot about a station’s health by who is buying airtime. On Mambi, you’ll see a mix of local personal injury lawyers, immigration consultants, and health clinics. This shows the station is still deeply embedded in the service economy of the Cuban-American community.
- Stay Critical: Regardless of who owns the station, remember that AM talk radio is designed to provoke emotion. Whether it’s the "old" Mambi or the "new" Mambi, the goal is engagement.
The story of 710 AM isn't over. It’s just in a new chapter. Whether it becomes a relic of the past or a bridge to the future of Hispanic media depends entirely on whether it can keep the trust of a community that has been burned many times before.
The best way to stay informed is to tune in during a major news event. When a crisis hits the Caribbean or South America, the microphones at Radio Mambi still have a way of capturing the raw, unedited emotion of Miami in a way that no satellite station ever could. Check the signal, listen to the debate, and decide for yourself if the "Voice of the Exile" still speaks for the city.