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97.1 FM country legends

2Speakers said:
It would be even more interesting if the actual KIKK 650 flipped to the format.
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Indeed it would. But it would have to be pre-Westinghouse KIKK, before the new ownership terminated the air talent en masse and switched to Texas Country, New Country, and Young Country. If I wanted to listen to that nonsense, I would switch to KKBQ "93Q Country."
2Speakers said:
Despite the complete lack of ratings for the current 650 format, it'll never happen, but it's kinda fun to think about.
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Audacy apparently has decided to rebrand the station as sports wagering content, despite the fact that sports wagering is illegal not only in the service countour of the daytime-only station, but it's illegal throughout the rest of Texas. A broadcaster promoting an illegal activity seems pretty brazen. I don't think that's happened since the HPD Vice Squad busted an office pool at KILT way back in October, 1960.

houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com

The 1960s - KIKK, Talk Radio, KODA, KENR

Most of the new station activity in Houston in the 1960s would take place on the FM dial; it was to be as active an era on FM as the 1920s o...
houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com
 
Engineering said:
A broadcaster promoting an illegal activity seems pretty brazen.
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You can bet (ha!) they've checked it out with the lawyers. Talking about it isn't illegal. Cumulus is running the sports betting format on KGO in California, another state that hasn't legalized sports betting. So it's being done in several places where betting hasn't been legalized. The nearest casino to Houston is in Livingston. The reality is that casinos will pay for this format. Very few advertisers will pay for classic country.
 
rosecitymedia said:
Although it will not be under the same branding or on the same frequency, I've been told by an individual in the market that the classic country format will continue OTA, following the demise of 97.1.
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Can you tell us how big the broadcaster planning the new classic country format is? Like, is it one of the big guys like iHeart or Audacy (I’m assuming not).
 
2Speakers said:
It would be even more interesting if the actual KIKK 650 flipped to the format.
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Nobody is listening to music on AM any more, unless it is a niche ethnic format. More likely that Audacy sells KIKK, and it spends the rest of its days as Spanish language religion before the license is turned in.

I don’t see any of the full power FMs flipping to an old-skewing, poorly billing format. The current version of Country Legends survived only as a sales add-on to 93Q. The format might have a chance on one of the translators if it was run as a jukebox.

BTW, the “Texas Country” format that had been on 92.9 HD-2 has moved to HD-3. The Country Legends simulcast on 92.9 HD-2 is about 30 seconds behind the audio on 97.1.
 
They should turn up the bass some on HD-2 it's kind of flat. HD-3 still sounds good.
 
I had checked a few days ago and 92.9 HD had a lot lower bandwidth on HD1-3. I believe HD1 is about half the bandwidth now. I'll have to check again soon.
 
HTX said:
I had checked a few days ago and 92.9 HD had a lot lower bandwidth on HD1-3. I believe HD1 is about half the bandwidth now. I'll have to check again soon.
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Yikes, you are right. I just gave 92.9-1 a listen when taking the wife’s car out to get washed… sounds terrible and full of artifacts now, not unlike KILT-HD3. I don’t have my SDR hooked up anymore for an exact bitrate reading, but I’d guess around 32kbps.

I have a feeling that someone at UrbanOne does not understand bitrates, because KBXX had this going on for a very long time several years back.
 
tb_ said:
I have a feeling that someone at UrbanOne does not understand bitrates, because KBXX had this going on for a very long time several years back.
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Radio One has always had audio quality issues in their IBOC digit feeds. I was an early adopter (and deserter) back in 2007-08 and their HD1 always sounded worse than their analog feed.

I wouldn't hold my breath for Urban One to fix an issue that spans over a decade and a half now.
 
tb_ said:
Yikes, you are right. I just gave 92.9-1 a listen when taking the wife’s car out to get washed… sounds terrible and full of artifacts now, not unlike KILT-HD3. I don’t have my SDR hooked up anymore for an exact bitrate reading, but I’d guess around 32kbps.

I have a feeling that someone at UrbanOne does not understand bitrates, because KBXX had this going on for a very long time several years back.
Click to expand...
I got up to 37 kbps on HD1 and 23.5 kbps on KILT HD3 which is higher than KKBQ HD2 or HD3
 
Many listeners might abandon 93Q due to their low quality HD signals. On my HD radio there's no way to set analog-only mode and many people don't even know what that means.
 
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Fun fact. The only HD1 in Houston that has a lower bandwidth is KUHF with 32 kbps
 
011nerve said:
Many listeners might abandon 93Q due to their low quality HD signals. On my HD radio there's no way to set analog-only mode and many people don't even know what that means.
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Doubt it. Based on the rather bland programming and the number of places I hear the station in public, I have a feeling there is not much "active" listening to KKBQ, mostly just people that tune in for background noise... it is basically KODA with a southern accent.
 
HTX said:
Fun fact. The only HD1 in Houston that has a lower bandwidth is KUHF with 32 kbps
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Their's is that low?
I have a part 15 I use variable bitrate MP3 on for the feed, with the highest quality possible. It hangs around the 200s much of the time, with quiet parts of audio dropping down to much lower. If nothing at all is playing 32 KBPS is used. Bandwidth saver while still getting good audio. :)
 
011nerve said:
Their's is that low?
I have a part 15 I use variable bitrate MP3 on for the feed, with the highest quality possible. It hangs around the 200s much of the time, with quiet parts of audio dropping down to much lower. If nothing at all is playing 32 KBPS is used. Bandwidth saver while still getting good audio. :)
Click to expand...
HD radio uses lower bitrates than MP3. It used a compression format called HDC
 
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