KLOL ain't all that, but yeah. I'd agree that Austin should be capable of supporting the format, given it was programmed by the right people, and that sure ain't the folks at Sinclair.
I think your initial point about not providing adequate time to succeed is good and true. I'd push back on this part though.
Waterloo has a lot talent and on the whole, they are a very good operator.
Look at La Z, which has led spanish-language stations since basically its creation even though they have competed with hispanic-specialist Univision and many others signals of varying quality
Bob FM is very very well done and the ratings reflect that.
590 makes tons of money and has been the dominant non-public talker forever, despite a relatively poor night signal and only having a translator on FM.
93.7 is strong and does well in its demo.
101X is pretty solid too, especially for an alternative outlet in this decade.
Translator 102.7 has had a lot of flips, but does seem more stable now with sports.
What we do have though is a lot of shifting ground over the years on 93.3 and this goes back before Waterloo even before Emmis entered the market. It's the closest thing to "cursed frequency" in Austin. It just can't seem to get enough traction or hold a market position for very long. Whether that was country, CHR, hip-hop, dance, or the more recent iterations of AAA, Spanish CHR, or now classic hip-hop.
I think this is a pretty good case for taking a solid news/talk operation (590) that is likely missing some audience on AM and a translator and giving it a full-market FM signal that has had a lot of struggles over the years to say the least.
If Vibe is doing adequately well, maybe you eventually put that on 99.7.
Maybe we should page
@Huff for the all time highest share for 93.3.