CBS Houston O&O radio or TV station

[KTN Corp]

Is CBS more likely buy KTRH (AM) and insert the big-city newsradio format (à la WCBS, KNX, WBBM) or buy KHOU from Belo for it's second TV station (and third that it has ever owned) in Texas for it's network voice in Houston?

 

[ilistentotheradio]

I'll vote... neither. Is there a source for any of this?

 

[snoman]

Is CBS more likely buy KTRH (AM) and insert the big-city newsradio format (à la WCBS, KNX, WBBM) or buy KHOU from Belo for it's second TV station (and third that it has ever owned) in Texas for it's network voice in Houston?

I can't see Belo parting with KHOU. It is a huge money maker for them. It's been awhile since I've seen the Dallas ratings, but last time I saw them, they were doing better than Belo's flagship WFAA. I think CBS would have better luck prying KPRC away from Post-Newsweek and switching it to CBS before Belo would part with KHOU.

And as much as I'd like to see it, Cheap Channel is not parting ways with KTRH. I'm afraid Full-Service Newsradio in Houston, is a thing of the past. You may even see that happen soon in Chicago & LA. Radio is downsizing big time and anywhere they seem to be able to cut corners these days, they are doing so. It's cheaper to pay for syndie talk and news networks like CNN and Fox News Radio, then to hire a full-fledged news team.

 

[Mediafrog+]

I can't see Belo parting with KHOU. It is a huge money maker for them [snip] I think CBS would have better luck prying KPRC away from Post-Newsweek and switching it to CBS before Belo would part with KHOU.

Rumor some years back was that CBS made an effort to buy KHOU to pair it with (then Viacom owned) KTXH for a duopoly. Belo turned them down. Spurned, Viacom unloaded KTXH to Fox.

Probably the only sale scenario for KHOU would have it be part of an overall Belo selloff or takeover, which isn't out of the realm of possibility.

And as much as I'd like to see it, Cheap Channel is not parting ways with KTRH. I'm afraid Full-Service Newsradio in Houston, is a thing of the past. You may even see that happen soon in Chicago & LA. Radio is downsizing big time and anywhere they seem to be able to cut corners these days, they are doing so. It's cheaper to pay for syndie talk and news networks like CNN and Fox News Radio, then to hire a full-fledged news team.

Nope, CC will hang on to KTRH's 50kw signal. As for CBS owned NewsRadio in the biggest markets: Both NYC and LA have two CBS owned News stations (WCBS and WINS in NYC, KNX and KFWB in LA.) I could see CBS dropping news on one of those signals in both markets, but I think the format on the surviving station would be moved to or simulcast on FM rather than being axed completely. And in Chicago WBBM is still a solid station. It could wind up on FM as well.

 

[KTN Corp]

I can't see Belo parting with KHOU. It is a huge money maker for them [snip] I think CBS would have better luck prying KPRC away from Post-Newsweek and switching it to CBS before Belo would part with KHOU.

Rumor some years back was that CBS made an effort to buy KHOU to pair it with (then Viacom owned) KTXH for a duopoly. Belo turned them down. Spurned, Viacom unloaded KTXH to Fox.

Probably the only sale scenario for KHOU would have it be part of an overall Belo selloff or takeover, which isn't out of the realm of possibility.

I'd have to agree with both of you. KHOU serves the largest city in the second-largest TV market in Texas and it's Belo's second-largest station--that was the motivation behind the Corinthian merger. Sometimes it seems that they treat KHOU better than their flagship in their home city, WFAA. I'd bet they'd sell WFAA first before they would ever let go of KHOU. Maybe it's because it started in Galveston like the company.

Belo going bankrupt isn't unlikely considering that the newspapers and television station divisions were spun-off into separate companies recently. It was only a matter of time that Tribune collapsed. I saw a headline on Google News about the Times-Mirror acquisition causing the financial woes (much like Golden West/World Savings did to Wachovia).

And as much as I'd like to see it, Cheap Channel is not parting ways with KTRH. I'm afraid Full-Service Newsradio in Houston, is a thing of the past. You may even see that happen soon in Chicago & LA. Radio is downsizing big time and anywhere they seem to be able to cut corners these days, they are doing so. It's cheaper to pay for syndie talk and news networks like CNN and Fox News Radio, then to hire a full-fledged news team.

Nope, CC will hang on to KTRH's 50kw signal. As for CBS owned NewsRadio in the biggest markets: Both NYC and LA have two CBS owned News stations (WCBS and WINS in NYC, KNX and KFWB in LA.) I could see CBS dropping news on one of those signals in both markets, but I think the format on the surviving station would be moved to or simulcast on FM rather than being axed completely. And in Chicago WBBM is still a solid station. It could wind up on FM as well.

Yeah it's cheaper and easier to play national syndie/network programs over the air than to produce original programming. You can spread the costs over a larger population but at the expense of covering local issues.

I never liked WINS and KFWB because it goes too fast. I could see WCBS and KNX (probably change the calls to KCBS and make new ones for S.F. to revamp it) as the survivors in the duopoly. The problem with FM in L.A. (and the West) is the mountains blocking the line of sight that it blocks out the signal over portions of the metro area. That may be the reason there isn't a phase out of AM instead of analog TV.

 

[FilioScotia]

When I worked at KTRH in the mid and late 70s, I heard stories that CBS really really wanted to buy that station for a long time. It is after a 50KW powerhouse that covers the Gulf Coast like a blanket for hundreds of miles in both directions.

The station manager at the time told me that at one point in the early 70s, a CBS executive came down from NY to talk with the Jones family about buying the station. He said the guy actually handed John Jones Jr a blank check and told him to write in whatever price would suit him. Jones graciously declined, saying they would never part with the station his uncle Jesse put on the air in the 1920s.

Honestly, I don't know if that story is true or not, but it was told to me by the station manager.

John Jr died in the early 90s, and it's worth noting that his son John Jones III sold the station before his father's body was even cold.