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97.1 FM country legends
- Thread starter Radio guy
- Start date
First part of May.
Yikes. I have not been paying attention to local radio.
Was pretty noticeable, they had Scott Fisher on there forever... at least 20 years!
I certainly wouldn't suggest it if KIKK were having any impact whatsoever, but it's not. When was the last time it pulled even a 0.1 share? It didn't pull any listeners as CBS Sports Radio, and it doesn't pull any listeners with the sports betting format either.
I guess it gets the betting format a clearance in Houston, but Audacy just sticks it on HD2/HD3 channels in markets that don't have a loser AM to clear it that way. After wiping out a lot of their HD2/HD3 formats, they have plenty of capacity to stick it somewhere else.
As far as nobody listening to music on AM these days goes, classic country blasts into Houston from WSM every night when KIKK signs off, and KKYX San Antonio hovers around a 1 share in the beauty contest. Unlike WSM, that one has a translator, but it doesn't cover the market.
WDIA does well in Memphis too.
Would classic country on KIKK set the world on fire? No, but I'm willing to bet it could beat the zero share the station has had for years.
D
Deleted member 108832
Guest
It's significantly harder to set the world on fire, when you have to spit on the match every day at sunset. Without a translator, it's not going to make any difference what you program on 650. No one is going to listen.
Sports betting, such as all-sports, is not a purely ratings driven format. The concept of being an all-male foreground format sells well, and those stations also garner sports marketing money which other statiohns can not get.
I hope you don't think anyone but AM DXers listens to noisy, fading distant AM stations any longer.
Among persons over 60.
Better a format like sports betting which has a separate revenue stream than a 0.1 share that is totally unsalable.
Remember that BetQL KIKK 650 is an Audacy sibling of SportsRadio KILT 610. From all appearances the programming on 650 is a local sales add-on bonus for clients buying 610. Otherwise it merely gets the national BetQL programming cleared in a major market.
The station used to have a weekend foodie show. The host passed in 2020. That was the only thing on the station that brought in any revenue.
It costs Audacy more to maintain the transmitter site and pay to light the tower than the station brings in.
If the land were worth anything, it would be gone already, but the land is pretty much worthless.
It's bounded by a drainage ditch to the north, a bunch of not terribly well maintained early 70s homes, and some low rent auto shops. There is no access from any major road, just a residential street half a mile into the neighborhood that dead ends into the transmitter site.
The only thing KIKK does for Audacy is lose money.
Probably because sports gambling is illegal in Texas. But then again, so is prostitution and drug dealing, and I don't see radio stations dedicated to women selling sex as a passive income steam or unlicensed pharmacists selling drugs brought across our southern border by migrant mules. Why is this?
It's also illegal in California, but sports betting is on KGO San Francisco. Radio & TV stations can advertise "gentlemen's clubs" after 10PM. CBD is legal in Texas if derived from hemp, so it's legal.
CBD is legal in Texas. Sports gambling is not.
Listening to sports betting on the radio is legal. People talk about betting all the time on ESPN and everywhere else. The only illegal part is the actual betting, but there are casinos where Texans can go and place bets. There are $99 roundtrips from Houston to Las Vegas.
It's a form of entertainment.
It is also something you can partake in legally in about 2 hours by car on I-10 East or by a direct flight to Las Vegas from one of the many airlines offering direct service (United, Southwest, Spirit, Frontier, and Sun Country Airlines)
But you do see shows depicting those types of scenarios. Just because they're all illegal doesn't mean you can't depict or talk about them on OTA broadcasts.
It amazes me that Audacy, with all its problems, continues to hang onto KIKK. It is by far the worst facility in their entire portfolio.
Being at the lower end of the AM band, the 250 watt signal actually gets out quite well if there is nothing in the way. But once you are amongst any sort of urban density (tall buildings, power lines, etc) the station and its low field strength gets smothered.
Too bad Audacy has so far missed out on acquiring an FM signal for its local sportstalk format…92.1 would have been the perfect place. The BetQL format could be moved to 610, while 650 is sold off, most likely for Spanish language religion. The KIKK transmitter is on the wrong side of the market to be of use for any Asian/ethnic format…and it is a now-rare true daytimer.
You might be able to fit 24 to 30 homes on the KIKK transmitter site, or maybe some row houses.
I don't know who you would sell them to.
What new home buyer wants one that is junkyard adjacent, and bounded by 50 year old homes that are pretty much neglected? The entrance to the neighborhood is across the street from an auto salvage lot.
There are several parcels this size or larger that actually have frontage along a major street within a half mile of KIKK.
If they've never sold, this won't either.
There's a mobile home park about half a mile to the south, so I guess that might be an option.
So is prostitution and cocaine. But they are also illegal in Texas.
Gambling is legal in Las Vegas and Lake Charles. But not in Texas.
Yes. But just because something is illegal doesn't mean you can't talk about it or depict it over the air. There are TV stations that advertise beer and show beer consumption in shows despite the fact that their airwaves cover "dry" counties.
And Houstonians practice gambling when they travel there. There is a niche market for gambling all over the US because consumers travel for it.
It is only a matter of time before the people get to vote for it. The Oklahoma - Louisiana special interest groups are slowly losing their grip. The only person standing in the way now is Dan Patrick.
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