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80s Houston Radio

M

michaelshiloh

The topics on the board are running a little slow, so for fun... I recently found a copy of the Houston Birch ratings for Winter 1987 which I'm posting just as a reminder of how things have changed...and stayed the same. Birch is defunct (this was their press release) though one of their guys is starting up a small ratings service again now; still, these ratings aren't much different from ARB's at the time. These are 12+ of course.

1. KMJQ (Urban) 13.8

2. KKBQ-FM/AM (CHR) 8.6

3. KIKK-FM (Country) 8.4

4. KRBE-FM (CHR) 8.4

5. KZFX (Birch calls it Gold) 7.1

6. KILT-FM (Country) 6.5

7. KLOL (AOR) 5.0

8. KODA (Easy Listening) 4.6

9. KTRH-AM (News) 3.8

10. KFMK (AC/Gold) 3.7

11. KQUE (AC) 3.3

12. KJYY (AC) 2.5

13. KLTR (AC) 2.4

14. KPRC-AM (News/Talk) 2.4

15. KTSU (Jazz) 2.3

16. KKHT (AC) 2.2

17. KYOK-AM (Urban) 1.9

18. KXYZ-AM (Spanish) 1.5

19. KCOH-AM (Urban) 1.1

20. KLAT (Spanish) 1.0

21. KSBJ (Cont. Christian) 1.0

22. KUHF (Classical) 1.0

Classic Rock KZFX had just moved from 1.1 to 7.1 in just two books, taking listeners from Album Rock KLOL and "Oldies"/Classic Rock/AC KFMK.As KFMK began losing listeners to more specific formats, Dan Mason and co. turned it into Contemprary Crossover KBXX. Birch says it was the beginning of a big rise for KILT-FM, too, which "might soon" overtake longtime Country leader KIKK-FM.

KRBE had been struggling for years to catch up with Contemporary Hits KKBQ. KTSU was moving up because KUHF was moving away from Jazz toward Classical, and KTSU was programming so much Jazz that it was losing listeners to KMJQ, according to Birch.

I've wondered sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic scanning the stations what it might have been like if so many people over the years hadn't ruined some of these stations. For KKBQ, it was a long time after it blew up the CHR format and went Easy Country and then Country. KIKK lasted another, what, six years? KJYY (Joy) later became Oldies, and what can you say about KPRC?

Still, there are big successes, like KMJQ staying on or near the top all this time and KILT-FM moving into the top spot in the '90s, then staying mostly in the top ten for most of these years.

And then there's KSBJ's phenomenal rise. Morning shows? They're all different now except...back in those days, the morning anchors on KTRH were...Lana and JP, right? And according to Birch, Spanish was a format then.
 
80s Houston radio was great. I remember KZFX at the peak of its popularity, with Ted Carson and Paul Christy in the morning. And I could pick up KZFX in Beaumont with regularity. Not so much today.
 
I live here, but speaking of Beaumont...

I used to love Powerhits K-106 battle it out with B95. KIOC signal was and still has the best Houston area coverage but back then it promoted itself every hour "Transmitting from the tallest tower in SE Texas" while KZZB promoted "52 minutes of music every hour".

Some of the personalities from those days included Brandon Shaw and Tommy Richards from KZZB who I talked with numerous times on the request line and a couple of nice guys I use to chat with some over at K-106 Mark Kaytree (sp?) and who was the PD? Not Mark Landis at the time but Jeremy Jackson or something like that?

Back to Houston radio for a moment, every morning I had to flip a coin to decide between Power 104 and 93Q. I usually went KRBE cause they seemed to talk less with Glen Beck and Clydie Clyde of course the Q Morning Zoo's chit chat was half the fun as well. You really couldn't lose.

On the country option, I enjoyed the "quick and you misssed it" move in of KYKR 93.3 from 95.1. I hated to see B95 go (whatever was the reason for the dissapearing act btw?) but I thought KYKR was a solid replacement or maybe not. Before they could get all their signal problems down (it seemed they were off the air for hours on Sundays) they were gone and back to 95.1. While the ratings never compared to that of KIKK or KILT and rightly so they were an enjoyable alternative. Gotta love those old KIKK'er bumper stickers I tell ya!

And finally, I was brought up on the old KENR 1070 and KNUZ 1230. Yep, enjoyed these stations as well. In fact I believe the short-lived USFL's Houston Gamblers were broadcast on KENR. Oh those were the days as I have fond memories of the 80's. The best decade EVER!
 
yragha said:
On the country option, I enjoyed the "quick and you misssed it" move in of KYKR 93.3 from 95.1. I hated to see B95 go (whatever was the reason for the dissapearing act btw?)
Click to expand...

I believe B-95's owner went bankrupt as its sister stations in Mississippi went dark at about the same time, too. Around the same time, KWIC 107.9 also was having problems and went dark.
 
Isn't amazing how times have changed? A 5.0 rating will likely land a station in the top 5, today; in the 80s, it was only good for 7th, as more people were listening. Regardless of the current station or its current format, ALL would do anything for a 13.8!

Oh... for the good old days. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
 
downthedial said:
Isn't amazing how times have changed? A 5.0 rating will likely land a station in the top 5, today; in the 80s, it was only good for 7th, as more people were listening. Regardless of the current station or its current format, ALL would do anything for a 13.8!
Click to expand...

Actually, the reason for the decline in shares is mostly due to more stations and changing demographics, not fewer people listening. More people reported hearing a radio during the most recent trend than did in that Birch survey. Remember, Houston has about 10 more stations today than it did 15 years ago. That plus Houston is a lot more of a Hispanic market today than it was in '87 explain most of the changes. In '87, the number one Spanish speaking station had a 1.5; KLTN had more than three times that in the last full book.
 
Was that 13.8 for KMJQ as "Majic 102" or as "102 Jamz"? Seems like it wasn't too long after rap became popular that KMJQ made the change. IIRC, that would fit around this time frame.
 
Hey Michael,

Did we work together on KKHT? I know I worked with Cecil Knight and Darrian Hunter there, but you and I worked together once on 96.5 and I thought I did my own traffic at 97 Rock. Anyway, I do remember that we had fun together then. Still have some packs of KKHT bumper stickers at home somewhere. (Roaches sure do love the taste of bumper sticker glue!) Even though, that was one of my worst experiences in my whole career. Worst management EVER!!! That station was destined for doom! But I sure enjoyed working with you!
 
It's true Colonel, we worked together at KKHT, and there was one great thing about that station, at least they encouraged us to have some fun! Bobby Mitchell clowning around in the morning, then your funny afternoon show with what I remember to be really tight board work.

I still have airchecks. My favorite was around Christmas, 1986 with your segueway out of the George Michael song into traffic, "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart, then you gave it to Michael Shiloh..." and I replied, "Yeah, and I keep it in a jar on the mantle." I figured things were okay if I could get a laugh out of you!

You can tell from the tapes that we had a good rapport and it was seamless, right into weather and traffic. I think there was just too much good competition back then for a rock/AC like KKHT to make it, especially morphing from a legend like 97 Rock.

A Bowling/Hawaiian/Polka/Active Rock/Dance format woulda been better.
 
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