Audacy changes—any Houston impact?

[HTX]

I know there have been cuts in the HD sub channels in other markets, but surprisingly it appears no such cuts in Houston so far… just checked 95.7, 96.5, 100.3, and 101.1 and all HD channels are in tact.

I have a feeling they’ll make a lot of the cuts at the beginning of next month. Just speculation

 

[ContinuousWave]

the only iHeart station in the triangle with HD now is KKMY, which makes no sense at all.

KVLU's off as well??

 

[HTX]

KVLU's off as well??

It’s not an iHeart station. But I have not seen them on before. If they were HD they turned it off years ago. KCOL did turn back on recently with just the HD1 still.

 

[Palpatine]

KVLU's off as well??

KVLU lost their HD channels when their transmitter went underwater during the floods from Harvey. They have not been restored. Prior to that they had 3 HD channels and I enjoyed listening to one of the alternative channels.

 

[Astros2023]

KVLU lost their HD channels when their transmitter went underwater during the floods from Harvey. They have not been restored. Prior to that they had 3 HD channels and I enjoyed listening to one of the alternative channels.

I really doubt they're gonna be putting an HD transmitter soon.

 

[Huff]

I know there have been cuts in the HD sub channels in other markets, but surprisingly it appears no such cuts in Houston so far… just checked 95.7, 96.5, 100.3, and 101.1 and all HD channels are in tact.

KHMX HD2 and HD3 are off as of this morning, all the others in the cluster are still on.

 

[Mediafrog+]

KHMX HD2 and HD3 are off as of this morning, all the others in the cluster are still on.

Hmmm, they were still there at a 6pm check Monday evening, 2/27, so must have happened overnight. Never cared for the “HarD Rock” format but will miss Smooth Jazz.

Now we’ll see if Fierro and ”KIKK Texas Country” are next. Not good news for Tejano fans, as KLTN’s HD-3 rebroadcast of KXTN out of SA will be gone by the end of the year.

 

[jras20]

The HarD Rock channel audio quality was horrible. Looks like someone would of noticed that.

 

[mightynine]

I wonder why if you're not going to do side channels, why a station would continue to broadcast in HD Radio on the main.

Or maybe you keep it going in case corporate priorities change, or wait for the encoder to crap out and then not replace it.

 

[tb_]

Would be surprised if KILT-HD3 went away, it is pretty well known amongst Texas music fans, and has even won awards for its programming. But money talks...

 

[Mrtejano]

Now we’ll see if Fierro and ”KIKK Texas Country” are next. Not good news for Tejano fans, as KLTN’s HD-3 rebroadcast of KXTN out of SA will be gone by the end of the year.

I don’t think KXTN Tejano format is going anywhere. Didn’t they recently add Austin and Lubbock to the format?? By recently I mean recent years not weeks.

 

[Mediafrog+]

I don’t think KXTN Tejano format is going anywhere. Didn’t they recently add Austin and Lubbock to the format?? By recently I mean recent years not weeks.

Remember that KXTN 1350 in San Antonio was one of the stations TelevisaUnivision sold to Latino Media Network. The Tejano format (as well as the formats of the other divested stations) is being maintained until the new national LMN programming is launched, presumably late this year.

I think the Tejano format is still on KVBH HD-2 in SA, but I have no idea if TelevisaUnivision would keep it going as an HD only service once KXTN flips.

 

[Deleted member 108832]

Remember that KXTN 1350 in San Antonio was one of the stations TelevisaUnivision sold to Latino Media Network. The Tejano format (as well as the formats of the other divested stations) is being maintained until the new national LMN programming is launched, presumably late this year.

I think the Tejano format is still on KVBH HD-2 in SA, but I have no idea if TelevisaUnivision would keep it going as an HD only service once KXTN flips.

KXTN will drop the Tejano format as soon as LMN takes over programming, leaving Tejano listeners in San Antonio with KLEY "Tejano 95.7 and 103.3" and KEDA "Radio Jalapeño". Note that I don't include KLMO, which isn't a factor in the San Antonio market, with or without the alleged wayward translator.

 

[jras20]

Hmmm, they were still there at a 6pm check Monday evening, 2/27, so must have happened overnight. Never cared for the “HarD Rock” format but will miss Smooth Jazz.

Now we’ll see if Fierro and ”KIKK Texas Country” are next. Not good news for Tejano fans, as KLTN’s HD-3 rebroadcast of KXTN out of SA will be gone by the end of the year.

I like KLBJ's No control radio on 93.7 HD-2 better then HarD Rock.

 

[BamaTX]

Remember that KXTN 1350 in San Antonio was one of the stations TelevisaUnivision sold to Latino Media Network. The Tejano format (as well as the formats of the other divested stations) is being maintained until the new national LMN programming is launched, presumably late this year.

I think the Tejano format is still on KVBH HD-2 in SA, but I have no idea if TelevisaUnivision would keep it going as an HD only service once KXTN flips.

According to David, keeping KXTN on AM was a way of keeping local politicians and community leaders at bay. San Antonio is considered the "Tejano Capital" of Texas and KXTN was the unofficial station for the genre. So completely removing the format at that time would have angered a lot of people and brought bad PR in the region.

I think Univision can clean their hands this time by simply blaming the new owners for refusing to keep the format. I doubt they keep a computer running Tejano music 24/7. If Univision really wants to cover their ass, they'd offer the KXTN call letters to alpha and let them deal with the eventual fallout.

 

[Mediafrog+]

San Antonio is considered the "Tejano Capital" of Texas and KXTN was the unofficial station for the genre.

Corpus Christi might dispute that; look at how well KSAB does in that market. I know iHeart doesn’t like to do music on HD signals, but I wonder if they would consider distributing KSAB on some south Texas HDs if Fierro and KXTN disappear.

If Univision really wants to cover their ass, they'd offer the KXTN call letters to alpha and let them deal with the eventual fallout.

Doesn’t Latino Media Network now control the KXTN call as the divestitures have now been completed? Still not a bad idea to distract attention.

 

[radioislife2020]

According to David, keeping KXTN on AM was a way of keeping local politicians and community leaders at bay. San Antonio is considered the "Tejano Capital" of Texas and KXTN was the unofficial station for the genre. So completely removing the format at that time would have angered a lot of people and brought bad PR in the region.

I think Univision can clean their hands this time by simply blaming the new owners for refusing to keep the format. I doubt they keep a computer running Tejano music 24/7. If Univision really wants to cover their ass, they'd offer the KXTN call letters to alpha and let them deal with the eventual fallout.

LMN won't get involved with the control of the stations for a while. Had lunch with Tom Castro the other day and it doesn't seem like they are ready to take control anytime soon! Someone was telling me they were considering. Mcallen as the main office for LMN seems like a bad idea .

 

[davideduardo]

LMN won't get involved with the control of the stations for a while. Had lunch with Tom Castro the other day and it doesn't seem like they are ready to take control anytime soon! Someone was telling me they were considering. Mcallen as the main office for LMN seems like a bad idea .

McAllen came with ownership of a large building.... so big much of it was sublet. The renters have been notified of termination and the LMN home office will be located there. The cost of operations there is much lower than any other market they are entering,

If one believes that the whole project is intended to focus on the 2024 elections, there is no need to do anything until late 2023 at the earliest.

Personally, I think that once the election is over, the whole thing will be liquidated. There is a considerable amount of valuable real estate that can be sold if certain stations are closed. Other stations, such as the Fresno and Las Vegas FMs, have some small resale value. Only a couple of the AMs have competitive signals, and the rest are likely worth less than the land they sit on.

Before LMN took interest in the stations, the suspected buyer was a well known conservative operator that is expanding its Spanish language programming, and that transaction would have added to the conservative voices in that language. I think that preventing that transaction was a significant motivator for the Soros-backed group.

Beyond that, the idea that a bunch of AM stations would get any Hispanic audience of significance is absurd, and illustrates the lack of real radio experience among the entire group of founders and backers of LMN.

This is not an "if you build it, they will come" situation as AM is almost totally dead or dying all over Latin America. If you look at the ratings in Mexico City, for example, heritage market stations like XEW, XEX and XEQ all get (based on an estimate of a PUR of 8% of the adult population) less than 0.4 shares; this shows how totally irrelevant AM is to Spanish dominant populations.

There is, so far, nearly no radio operational experience among the whole bunch of minority "partners" who are, obviously, figureheads and not operational participants. The closest we find is your acquaintance Tom Castro whose BMP was foreclosed on by lenders in 2008. Nobody among that group has real contemporary day-to-day radio operations knowledge or experience.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Personally, I think that once the election is over, the whole thing will be liquidated. There is a considerable amount of valuable real estate that can be sold if certain stations are closed. Other stations, such as the Fresno and Las Vegas FMs, have some small resale value. Only a couple of the AMs have competitive signals, and the rest are likely worth less than the land they sit on.

And we should point out that KLAT has two pieces of real estate that could be sold off, as it has separate transmitter sites for day and night operation.

 

[JustinT]

McAllen came with ownership of a large building.... so big much of it was sublet. The renters have been notified of termination and the LMN home office will be located there. The cost of operations there is much lower than any other market they are entering,

Did Univision McAllen leave Chase (Neuhaus) Tower? Safely assuming the most prominent building in McAllen didn’t come as a package deal with the KGBTs/Recuerdo.