I have to vent about Houston FM radio

[joesixpack]

I've lived in and around Houston my entire life, and one thing that gets on my nerves is just how boring our major FM radio stations are here. I remember listening to Oldies 94.5 and Z-ROCK heavy metal on 106.9. Rock 101 KLOL was a great station. Remember 97 Rock? I even remember listening to Big Band music on, if I remember correctly, 103.7.

Nowadays, we have 93.7 and it's classic rock clone station, 107.5. 103.7 and 106.9, "The Zone", sound the same. The Buzz, to me, is the only barely unique one among our stations here. We have Mix 96.5 and Mix 96.5 Lite, aka Sunny 99.1. KRBE and 95.7 are nearly identical twins. And do I really need to get into our laughable country stations? The best thing that 93Q has to say about itself is that it plays less commercials than KILT. There's K-Star Country 99.7 out of Conroe, but that's turning into another 93Q/KILT clone. I miss the old KIKK.

Maybe nostalgia is making things seem better than they really were.

 

[tfsports]

Joe, you're not wrong. FM radio in Houston used to be a whole lot better, but then so did all of radio. What you're hearing now is the homogenization of corporate radio. Every city has the same formats with the same playlists, and, in may cases, the same voices reading liner after liner. The charm of radio used to be the local flavor you got in going from city to city. Sadly, that doesn't exist any more, as most stations fall under some corporate umbrella, and are run by accountants rather than people who actually know radio.

By the way, Houston's big band station was the old KQUE, 102.9 FM. It's where I got my first job, more years ago than I care to admit.

 

[jras20]

Its sad really. When radio use to talk trash about how XM is not local. Now look at what FM/AM is doing.

 

[yragha]

K-Lite 93.7 (Lite rock, less talk)

Energy 96.5 which morphed into a real "MIX" 96.5 and not today's watered down version.

KFMK "Classic hits" 97 FM

Kiss 98.5, Y98.5 and Jammin' Oldies 98.5

93Q Morning Zoo vs. Power 104's Glen Beck & Clydee Clyde

Powerhits K106 Morning Wakeup Service vs. B-95

Just some of my favorite morning duels of the 80's from Houston and Beaumont.

Is Bob Kingsley's Top 40 Country countdown show still around?

Sad day when KFRD Country 104.9 FM and KGLF 103.3 Freeport went away.

And all of things, I miss KENR 1070 AM which broadcast the Houston Gamblers back in the day I do believe and KNUZ 1230, the english version mind you.

 

[kendro]

No reason to get angry. Just do what everyone else did. Abandon the medium until the product becomes desirable again.

 

[purpledevil]

K-Lite 93.7 (Lite rock, less talk)

Energy 96.5 which morphed into a real "MIX" 96.5 and not today's watered down version.

KFMK "Classic hits" 97 FM

Kiss 98.5, Y98.5 and Jammin' Oldies 98.5

93Q Morning Zoo vs. Power 104's Glen Beck & Clydee Clyde

Powerhits K106 Morning Wakeup Service vs. B-95

Just some of my favorite morning duels of the 80's from Houston and Beaumont.

Is Bob Kingsley's Top 40 Country countdown show still around?

Sad day when KFRD Country 104.9 FM and KGLF 103.3 Freeport went away.

And all of things, I miss KENR 1070 AM which broadcast the Houston Gamblers back in the day I do believe and KNUZ 1230, the english version mind you.

You're a youngster. Lite 93.7's predecesor was "Love 94" and its disco sounds in high quality FM STEREO....

I died a little bit the day I heard "Energy 96.5" where 97 Rock should've been.

KFMK was 98 FM not 97. Present day 97.9 The Box. Targetted Spring Branch originally. Imagine that today, a neighborhood station.

I used to move my radio everywhere I could to get reception of Kiss 98.5, B 95, Zoom 104 and 1/2, and K 106 out of the Triangle. My how the Triangle offerings have died off.

93Q v. Power 104 is some of the best radio we'll never see the likes of again.

I never remember hearing the old KGLF out of Freeport, but have fond memories of the old country KFRD at 980/105 FM.

You mention the English version of KNUZ, but I don't recall KNUZ at 1230 being anything other than English programming. Earliest I remember KNUZ was as a country station. It was a news station after that and then big band as KQUE was moved from the FM in 98. That was the end of KNUZ in Houston proper as the KQUE call was moved to 1230 and 102.9 took on new calls of KKPN. 1230 only programmed a non-English format after Liberman purchased it.

You miss KENR at 1070, I miss KRBE at 1070. Country music just never has been my cup of tea. Classic Rock 1070 KRBE was my AM preset of choice.

 

[rageradio]

In the days before 790 KULF became 79Q. KNUZ was also a top 40 outlet. The morning 79Q launched John Lander and the morning zoo joked about not wanting to be KNUZ as they were going oldest or country at noon.

 

[stan]

Kiss 98.5, Y98.5 and Jammin' Oldies 98.5


Powerhits K106 Morning Wakeup Service vs. B-95


I used to move my radio everywhere I could to get reception of Kiss 98.5, B 95, Zoom 104 and 1/2, and K 106 out of the Triangle. My how the Triangle offerings have died off.

Ah, the good old Golden Triangle radio days before the stations were either killed off or became Houston rimshots which served neither market well. All the above stations are owned and mismanaged by CC. The only CC station I currently listen to regularly is KCOL, and that is because it tends to have more local talent than the other stations mentioned.

When you had talent like Mark Landis (K106) and others on the radio locally and not voice tracked, it certainly made radio more entertaining - back in the days when people would talk about what they heard on the radio that morning on the drive in to work.

 

[mrbeasley]

Beaumont and surounding cities had so many stations that it was hard for anyone to make any money. So there was fierce competition for the small market-full of listeners, thus real programming with real jocks. When stations were bought by the idiot accountants who thought they knew how to run a radio station (as opposed to those of us who really knew) and started moving them towards Houston, the competition disappeared. That's why you now have sterilized radio in the Triangle. Especially the poorly managed CC stations.

 

[Smittian]

The best thing that 93Q has to say about itself is that it plays less commercials than KILT.

God, that's annoying. Everytime I get near Houston, I can't listen to that station for 5 minutes without hearing a KILT reference. Now Cox is doing it in San Antonio too "Did you know that last hour KJ-97 played 2 minutes more commercials than we did............."

One station plays more commercials, the other spends the same amount of time telling you about it.

 

[willdav713]

K-Lite 93.7 (Lite rock, less talk)

Energy 96.5 which morphed into a real "MIX" 96.5 and not today's watered down version.

KFMK "Classic hits" 97 FM

Kiss 98.5, Y98.5 and Jammin' Oldies 98.5

93Q Morning Zoo vs. Power 104's Glen Beck & Clydee Clyde

Powerhits K106 Morning Wakeup Service vs. B-95

Just some of my favorite morning duels of the 80's from Houston and Beaumont.

Is Bob Kingsley's Top 40 Country countdown show still around?

Sad day when KFRD Country 104.9 FM and KGLF 103.3 Freeport went away.

And all of things, I miss KENR 1070 AM which broadcast the Houston Gamblers back in the day I do believe and KNUZ 1230, the english version mind you.

You're a youngster. Lite 93.7's predecesor was "Love 94" and its disco sounds in high quality FM STEREO....

I died a little bit the day I heard "Energy 96.5" where 97 Rock should've been.

KFMK was 98 FM not 97. Present day 97.9 The Box. Targetted Spring Branch originally. Imagine that today, a neighborhood station.

I used to move my radio everywhere I could to get reception of Kiss 98.5, B 95, Zoom 104 and 1/2, and K 106 out of the Triangle. My how the Triangle offerings have died off.

93Q v. Power 104 is some of the best radio we'll never see the likes of again.

I never remember hearing the old KGLF out of Freeport, but have fond memories of the old country KFRD at 980/105 FM.

You mention the English version of KNUZ, but I don't recall KNUZ at 1230 being anything other than English programming. Earliest I remember KNUZ was as a country station. It was a news station after that and then big band as KQUE was moved from the FM in 98. That was the end of KNUZ in Houston proper as the KQUE call was moved to 1230 and 102.9 took on new calls of KKPN. 1230 only programmed a non-English format after Liberman purchased it.

You miss KENR at 1070, I miss KRBE at 1070. Country music just never has been my cup of tea. Classic Rock 1070 KRBE was my AM preset of choice.

So 93.7 was the station that played a lot of the Bee Gees. I remember that in 1984 I was 4 and my parents were driving through Freeport at the time.

I miss Club 104 with the Ultimix's all mixed up in 1991. Majic 102 played a lot of Micheal Jackson back in 1984. When I started really listening to Houston Radio was 1989-1992, my favorites were 93Q, 98.5 Kiss, Majic 102, and Club 104 KRBE.

 

[Jay F]

The best thing that 93Q has to say about itself is that it plays less commercials than KILT.

God, that's annoying. Everytime I get near Houston, I can't listen to that station for 5 minutes without hearing a KILT reference. Now Cox is doing it in San Antonio too "Did you know that last hour KJ-97 played 2 minutes more commercials than we did............."

One station plays more commercials, the other spends the same amount of time telling you about it.

They do it because it works.

 

[canismajor]

I KNOW IT IS OLD NEWS BY NOW AND THIS IS A NEW YEAR BUT.....you hear just about the same corporate dribble in every city across the US, and as always, the smaller markets are evil empire wannabees so they just emulate all the big market corporate "radio in a box".

Most of these Wall-street track companies run radio stations like manufacturing lines and have little regard for talent or original programming. The notorious Texas outfit that started this wave of consolidation, salary caps, wage reductions, voice tracking and yearly yuletide people sacrifices to the bottom line alter, also set the bar for all the rest that would follow in their image.

Lowery Mays made the statement proudly, that ADVERTISING was radio's product and that was considerably longer than a decade ago so add that growing feeble mentality to the foundation of deregulation and consolidation and it is very easy to see and hear why radio sucks the way it does.

Almost every major broadcast corporation has already been through a major reorganization or bankruptcy and as soon as another bunch of investors with more money than brains infuses more major capital, these companies continue to operate in the atrocious same way that brought them to the brink of demise.

Radio isn't the only sector that operates on these absurd principles. The financial sector itself is probably the worst example of
insulated self-abuse. Harvard and Wharton don't teach these things. Greed and power inspire them and money does wonderful things to have our government protect and promote this behavior.

Naturally, every one of these operators would like to be the sole voice of broadcasting and own everything. They obviously think that control and monopoly is something to be admired by all people in our free society where the airwaves are owned by the public. Uh, huh.

We are somewhat lucky that these folks are in major denial that radio is headed the way of the dinosaur and that the ever declining audience is unimpressed by anything they hear and feel less compelled to listen. TV is on the same trail. It is so hard to understand how communications and entertainment mediums don't have a clue that we have entered a new age of devices, platforms, and all new habits. Who listens to what and why has all changed but these guys are Neanderthals in Nikes thinking somehow they can stage a carnival, cheat mortality and delay extinction.

Now, we all know that everything will soon be delivered via broadband on the big screen or on mobile devices. You would think that even the brilliant brains of broadcasting could read the flat screen TV boxes. That big hint that tells you where this is all going is printed boldly on the cardboard (Internet ready). Nawww. they are still out there buying and trading up for near-obsolete stick properties like collecting the most hotels on each block for property in a monopoly game. They even throw their money at radio stations like the yellow, green and blue money that is so worthless in the famous game of reality. Paying 100 times value is not an exaggeration either. Unlike the game board, they will NEVER recoup.

The only thing we have to worry about is when they bail from the broadcast spectrum that they don't gain control of the new listening frontier destinations of cyber space. It isn't enough that the Jedi Warrior claim and squat the territory unless they are also influential in making the rules. On this count, it is not who is there first, who has the more artistic, people pleasing ideas, or who manages with sound practices and treats people with respect. It is about lobby, power and sweet green energy that keeps the folks in our government fat and happy and eating their young.

 

[HoustonRadioZombie]

I too am sick of the repetition on the radio. I am sick of a "competing" station coming in and playing the same music as another station, adding even more repetition. I could only think of one thing to do. I got the idea that if Facebook could get Betty White on SNL, then maybe it could get better radio in Houston. Not many people have found the site. If you want to show advertisers that you are listening to something else, let's do it through Facebook! Spread the word and "like" Houston Radio is a Zombie.

 

[Rock101KLOL]

I apologize for posting in a thread that has not had a post since 2010, but I thought some of you might want to hear that Rock 101 KLOL lives again, and you do not have to be in Houston to hear it.

Check it out http://www.facebook.com/Rock101KLOL