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A few Houston radio observations

Forum is pretty dead, so I'll toss in a few items:

Looks like KCDE-LP 95.3 turned in its license on August 19, so they are gone. At the beginning of August they ran South Asian music for about a week, no announcements other than a TOH ID crashing into the middle of the music. After that there was two weeks of dead air, last noted the morning of August 20. By that evening KCDE was off the air. I can once again hear KTTF clearly at my Cy-Fair location. KCDE ran La Nueva during most of its existence.

Speaking of dead air, the open carrier on 92.5 which had been there for a couple of weeks has now disappeared. The frequency had last carried Radio Vida. I am now hearing presumed KCOL, but have also had spotty reception of KJJG-LP (with a definite ID) at my Cy-Fair location, some 27 miles away. Not sure if I am also hearing similarly formatted KHGF, which is around 21 miles away.

I have not heard K252FR 98.3 (Radio Aleluya) on the air in quite some time. Gone?

Also have not heard K247CP 97.3 (The timeshifted Hum FM) on the air in several months.

At a couple of checks this afternoon KULF is transmitting dead air.

Also notice at a couple of checks that KCOH is off the air.
 
Forum is pretty dead, so I'll toss in a few items:

Looks like KCDE-LP 95.3 turned in its license on August 19, so they are gone. At the beginning of August they ran South Asian music for about a week, no announcements other than a TOH ID crashing into the middle of the music. After that there was two weeks of dead air, last noted the morning of August 20. By that evening KCDE was off the air. I can once again hear KTTF clearly at my Cy-Fair location. KCDE ran La Nueva during most of its existence.

Speaking of dead air, the open carrier on 92.5 which had been there for a couple of weeks has now disappeared. The frequency had last carried Radio Vida. I am now hearing presumed KCOL, but have also had spotty reception of KJJG-LP (with a definite ID) at my Cy-Fair location, some 27 miles away. Not sure if I am also hearing similarly formatted KHGF, which is around 21 miles away.

I have not heard K252FR 98.3 (Radio Aleluya) on the air in quite some time. Gone?

Also have not heard K247CP 97.3 (The timeshifted Hum FM) on the air in several months.

At a couple of checks this afternoon KULF is transmitting dead air.

Also notice at a couple of checks that KCOH is off the air.


KULF was caught on air well after dark a few nights ago WITH programming near Mobile, AL

As if this isnt obvious to everyone, but someone needs to go give the KGOW phasor a good whap and kick. If I can hear it this well in Wyoming, theres a problem.. audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RTdVs5TETySraur-GVozWdGO-sFRhSRS/view?usp=sharing
 
Here’s another radio observation, ESPN RADIO is on both 97.5 and 92.5.

Yes, straight simulcast of KFNC. Perhaps Gow is kicking the tires on K223CW to help with coverage in Houston's urban core. Or perhaps looking for a local outlet for its newly renamed SportsMap Radio Network, which currently lacks a local affiliate.
 
Wasn’t sports map already on the radio before here in Houston on 94.1 FM for a while? Before 94.1 became radio Luz? And you said 95.3 turned in their license? I was listening to it right now and have Spanish programming. Not very strong like it used to but I still had Spanish talk couldn’t really understand what they were saying but I move closer north by Beltway eight I started to lose a signal and started picking up country music.
 
Wasn’t sports map already on the radio before here in Houston on 94.1 FM for a while? Before 94.1 became radio Luz?

Gow's previous FM effort was SportsMap 94.1, which combined some local content with what was then the national SB Nation Radio feed. That format on 94.1 was the programming continuation of the old 1560 The Game, but fizzled after only 16 months. The local shows were moved to 97.5. SB Nation Radio has now been rebranded as SportsMap, but has not been cleared on the air in Houston since the demise of the 94.1 effort early in 2019.

And you said 95.3 turned in their license? I was listening to it right now and have Spanish programming. Not very strong like it used to but I still had Spanish talk couldn’t really understand what they were saying but I move closer north by Beltway eight I started to lose a signal and started picking up country music.

KCDE-LP's license was turned in and cancelled. I think there was an attempted ownership change that fizzled. Not sure what the week of South Asian music was all about, unless someone was auditing the signal. If you are hearing Spanish language religion on 95.3, you might be hearing KZLD which is in northeast Harris County. As far as the Country music goes, I have heard KQKI out of Bayou Vista, Louisiana on a few occasions when tropo is kicking up. KHYI north of Dallas would be another possibility with good tropo from the northwest.
 
Think 97.5 will ever get SportsMap branding?

For me that would make more sense as 97.5 only uses ESPN Radio for overnight fill. Why not use Gow's own network?

You could even have two of them: SportsMap 92.5 for the national feed and SportsMap 97.5 for the local shows. Simulcast the national network during overnight hours.
 
KCDE-LP's license was turned in and cancelled. I think there was an attempted ownership change that fizzled. Not sure what the week of South Asian music was all about, unless someone was auditing the signal. If you are hearing Spanish language religion on 95.3, you might be hearing KZLD which is in northeast Harris County. As far as the Country music goes, I have heard KQKI out of Bayou Vista, Louisiana on a few occasions when tropo is kicking up. KHYI north of Dallas would be another possibility with good tropo from the northwest.

Maybe MrTejano is picking up this 95.3? https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=kt...=&lmspl=&party_type=LICEN&latd=&lond=&lang=en
It's owned by the city of Tomball and might be country.
 
Maybe MrTejano is picking up this 95.3? https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=kt...=&lmspl=&party_type=LICEN&latd=&lond=&lang=en
It's owned by the city of Tomball and might be country.

You are probably right, KTTF does play a lot of Country along with other musical genres. Haven't had a chance to listen to them much since the KCDE demise cleared the frequency at my Cy-Fair location.

Don't believe the Radio-locator listing having KTTF running only 50 milliwatts. Appears the power level indicated in the FCC Database is rather mangled, so bad info. 50 milliwatts would only get out a few hundred feet at most. Most likely it is at the also listed 52 watts at 42 meters HAAT, which would be consistent with the signal level I'm getting at my location.
 
Gow's previous FM effort was SportsMap 94.1, which combined some local content with what was then the national SB Nation Radio feed. That format on 94.1 was the programming continuation of the old 1560 The Game, but fizzled after only 16 months. The local shows were moved to 97.5. SB Nation Radio has now been rebranded as SportsMap, but has not been cleared on the air in Houston since the demise of the 94.1 effort early in 2019.



KCDE-LP's license was turned in and cancelled. I think there was an attempted ownership change that fizzled. Not sure what the week of South Asian music was all about, unless someone was auditing the signal. If you are hearing Spanish language religion on 95.3, you might be hearing KZLD which is in northeast Harris County. As far as the Country music goes, I have heard KQKI out of Bayou Vista, Louisiana on a few occasions when tropo is kicking up. KHYI north of Dallas would be another possibility with good tropo from the northwest.


KQKI 95.3 was one of my eskip logs from Ridgway, PA in the summer of 2018, 80 miles SE of Erie. And as it turns out, the afternoon female DJ there married a guy from Ridgway.. found out when i called in. The KQKI signal was strong enough that RDs lit up.
 
105.3 has a new client. It’s similar to Radio Dabang, didn’t listen long enough to listen to what station it is.
 
They are simulcasting the same station from 98.7 FM.

It's Masala Radio, which is now on both 98.7 and 105.3. Listened to it on 105.3 for a little while yesterday, and only heard the 98.7 frequency mentioned. Perhaps auditioning 105.3?

Anyone checked KTWL lately? Still running Texas Mix until the sale closes?

Elsewhere: Yes, La Calle is back, on KJFI 102.5, replacing Rumba. Seems the Tropical leaning format was pretty much the same under both names, though I suppose someone intimately familiar with the music genres involved could point out differences.

ESPN 97.5 is still being simulcast on 92.5.

And we should note that it has now been three years since KYND has had a paying client. Albert Einstein, move over...the KYND owners have redefined insanity.
 
Elsewhere: Yes, La Calle is back, on KJFI 102.5, replacing Rumba. Seems the Tropical leaning format was pretty much the same under both names, though I suppose someone intimately familiar with the music genres involved could point out differences.

There are several sub-genres of tropical.

Puerto Rican & Cuban: entirely Salsa.
Dominican: Merengue
Mexican: Local derivative of Colombian cumbia
Northern South America: Colombian Cumbia (tranditional) and in Colombia itself, Vallenato which is the dominant current form.
Peru, Chile, Southern Cone: Techno-Cumbia which is derivitive of Colombian cumbia but without the "native" or original accordeon and other instruments. Mostly electronic keyboard driven.

Those who grow up on one will not favor the others, generally.

... and probably more than your wanted/needed to know!
 
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There are several sub-genres of tropical.

Puerto Rican & Cuban: entirely Salsa.
Dominican: Merengue
Mexican: Local derivative of Colombian cumbia
Northern South America: Colombian Cumbia (tranditional) and in Colombia itself, Vallenato which is the dominant current form.
Peru, Chile, Southern Cone: Techno-Cumbia which is derivitive of Colombian cumbia but without the "native" or original accordeon and other instruments. Mostly electronic keyboard driven.

Those who grow up on one will not favor the others, generally.

... and probably more than your wanted/needed to know!

Was familiar with the categories, but I don't have the trained ear to recognize all the different Tropical sub-genres when listening!

I wonder how much of an audience there is for Tropical in Houston. There have been some efforts here with the format in the past--I think one or two of KAMA's predecessors on 104.9 ran a Tropical-leaning format, and IIRC KEYH had a short-lived Tropical format called "Sonido" which may have targeted Central Americans. My memory may be somewhat fuzzy on these.

I understand the demographic differences, just wonder if there are sufficient numbers to support the format here.
 
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