Medium Markets in Texas...

[Hunan Man]

Did y'all know, McAllen is the 5th, and El Paso is the 6th largest radio market in Texas (and Arbitron Markets #58 & #76)? I've never seen this board post about El Paso or McAllen. Who cares about Lubbock, Bryan, and Tyler when we have two top 100 markets that NEVER get discussed? There is REAL money in these markets...does anyone work in these markets? Or are they all to mature to post on this website? Discuss...

 

[S McCoy]

Thats probably because the REAL true passion of radio is alive and well in small markets like Bryan, Tyler and Lubbock. Get the chip off your shoulder friend and create something worth talking about in those markets.

 

[radiodog2]

I live in McAllen and I can tell you, there is nothing worth a crap in this market. Except maybe Jack-Fm.

 

[blaster69]

Pretty simple. There's seldom ever been a reason to talk about Mcallen, basically a medium/tracked market by default. El Paso was cool to talk about when Magic Mike was still on the air, after that...nothing.
So, Mr. Hunan, your turn. tell us great stuff about the "markets we are all missing out on." I for one would be interested to hear some "new stuff."

 

[Gabba Gabba Hey!]

Did y'all know, McAllen is the 5th, and El Paso is the 6th largest radio market in Texas (and Arbitron Markets #58 & #76)? I've never seen this board post about El Paso or McAllen. Who cares about Lubbock, Bryan, and Tyler when we have two top 100 markets that NEVER get discussed? There is REAL money in these markets...does anyone work in these markets? Or are they all to mature to post on this website? Discuss...

Wow. I've heard the radio in El Paso... there was not much to remember. As for those two markets being more mature... ummmmmmmm. Ok.

I do have to agree with the comment made earlier about smaller markets having more passion.

 

[oldjohnny]

I guess Border cities aren't as exiting as Tyler and Lubbock.

 

[Smittian]

I live in McAllen and I can tell you, there is nothing worth a crap in this market. Except maybe Jack-Fm.

What's so exciting about a station that is a simulcast of the Jack in San Antonio and reaches about half of the RGV's audience?

 

[radiodog2]

Sure it may be a simulcast, but the programming is in my opinion better than anything else being offered here locally.

 

[blaster69]

Market size I think was the standard at one time for what to accept salary wise, and what to expect with the quality of on air performance.
Consolidation pretty much made all that history. There are not many markets that truly are radio active anymore where a name or personality truly makes a difference. Without a farming ground for new talent, the passions that it brings goes away too. In alot of cases you can hear better radio, and have the potential to make more money in a medium to smaller market. Large markets are importing more talent, paying less for the live talent and in most cases taking their listeners for granted by serving up the same ole dish. Time for new operators and owners to take radio to where it needs to be.

 

[elp151]

I moved to South Carolina in '99. After a stop in Mississippi from '04-'06, I'm back in El Paso. I can say that I haven't noticed any big changes to the market, since I've been back.

 

[jd]

I see there's no follow-up from the original poster. I'll admit I'm no expert on medium markets in Texas since I've mainly worked in Top 10's. But I gather that Hunan Man is quite familiar with Market #182 (Binghamton, New York).

 

[Hunan Man]

Actually, I’m not trying to insult the smaller markets. I’ve heard many of them, and they do sound good. I’m simply making the observation that every little thing that goes on in those markets is brought up here…and not one post about these larger markets. Sorry if my first post came off as disrespectful to the other markets (upon re-reading it I can see how you would gather that. That is not what I intended). I guess there just isn’t much interest in McAllen and El Paso. Post on…

 

[jd]

Okay, no problem. You brought up a good point but I found your question, "are they all to(o) mature to post on this website?" to be a little provocative. On that note, my comment about Binghamton was out of line. I worked in central Texas early in my career and have some pretty good memories. (And FWIW, I love Chinese food and the best I've ever eaten in the entire Lone Star State was in...Tyler.)

So back to the original question, first with Bryan/College Station: I believe its proximity to Houston is probably the main reason you see quite a few posts about it. It's also home to a major state university (Texas A&M) and BCS has long been a training ground for big markets like Houston or Dallas-Fort Worth. Tyler also has a history of being a stepping stone since it's a pretty short drive east from Dallas, and some of its stations are listenable on the eastern fringe of D/FW. Also consider Beaumont/Port Arthur, about 80 miles east of Houston but home-base to a number of FM rim-shots. Even pip-squeak Beaumont area AM's are discussed on the Houston board, not on the Texas board.

Beyond all that, though, I get the feeling that maybe it's not the state of radio but the possibility that there just aren't that many active posters in McAllen (or should we say, the "Rio Grande Valley") or in El Paso. Could be a lot of "lurkers," though!

 

[Starbucks]

There was a time back in the late 70's and early 80's that El Paso radio was one of the finest sounding top 40 markets in the country. You had a few good sounding jocks back then like Jim Zippo, Chris Kelly, Danny Austin, Johnny Kay. Some of them went on to become bigger.
Stations like KINT 98, KFIM, XEROX,KSET, KPAS, KHEY. Every format area and hit songs was covered and it was a pretty lively market. Then after the Peso devaluated then alot of stations and jocks one by one dissapeared. It started sounding like the stations you have today.
But I am surprise that know one mentions El Paso radio history or the other side of Texas. At least Midland- Odessa anybody?

 

[jd]

You're right about El Paso radio back then. When I was really young I almost went to work at KELP 920, a really hot top-40 at the time, but I decided to bow to my wife's wishes and stayed around Dallas. A little later I worked with Allen Farmer in Dallas, who had pumped out the hits a few years before on the flamethrower, X-ROCK 80. Last I heard he was still doing a lot of voice-overs.

 

[Musicradio]

All this talk about border cities and they leave out the best one?

Texarkana

hhhmmm......ok, carry on!

 

[jd]

All this talk about border cities and they leave out the best one?

Texarkana

hhhmmm......ok, carry on!

You're right, how could we leave out T-town? There's still some surprisingly good radio in the area and I flip around the dial when I'm up that way. Sometimes [insert shameless plug] when I'm sitting in the car having lunch at Guy's Texas Burger.

 

[mmnassour]

Actually, I’m not trying to insult the smaller markets. I’ve heard many of them, and they do sound good.

Too bad the Valley's no longer on that list! ;D

When I was at KRGV TV about a thousand years ago (late 70s-early 80s) I remember quite a vibrant radio market down there. No, it wasn't nearly what Dallas or even El Paso was, but at least a few folks rocked the boat a bit.

I remember when what's now Wild 104 (then KBFM) ran what everyone thought was the worst conceived contest ever....LIVE FREE FOR A YEAR! They offered rent, food, car payment, up to a certain amount per month. Everyone else in the market laughed a the promo as it went on...and on...and on...and on...for months, it seemed. That is, everyone laughed until the book came out and that little FM in Edinburg, which had lagged behind both KRGV (English) and KGBT 1530 (Spanish) beat them both. From then on, FM in the Valley never looked back and the previously-dominant AMs had to struggle from then on for every point. Not really different from the FM/AM story in the rest of the country, it just happened a little later.

And then there was Charlie Trubb (SP?) who bought KRIO (910AM) which was the #1 rocker in the Valley and promptly destroyed it by sucking money from it into a money-losing TV venture (the first XHRIO-2) and KRIX-FM (99.5) with a signal that as I remember went straight EASTWARD from South Padre Island. Brilliant.

We certainly had our share of ... interesting folks. I remember "Rockin' Ron Shaw" who came by his name honestly. I can see him now, running the overnight board at KRGV, swaying back and forth, back and forth for what seemed like hours on end. "Rockin" did NOT apply to the music he played ;D.

A few of the old folks are still down there, I corresponded with Charlie Kennedy over at 96.1 the other day, Jim Hearn is still on KURV, and I'd really like to know what other old-timers are still knocking around in the RGV.

 

[yeahIwasinradio]

I was born and raised in the RGV, cut my radio teeth while I attended Texas A&M, and worked in the RGV for 5 years in radio before moving to Austin. I grew up listening to B-104 and KRGV. I can remember one summer when they were both playing Madonna's "Holiday" at the same time. I recorded it! The days of waking up to The Mad Mexican and listening to Cindy Ramos do the news! Sonny Laguna doing mornings on KTEX...those were some good times.

Does anyone remember the "stunt" Gunnar pulled on KTEX to get KFRQ to flip to Rock on Halloween 1994? Remember Gunnar hanging up on Ben Trevino from Channel 4? THAT WAS GREAT RADIO!

I can honestly say that my radio days in the Valley were some of the best of my life. It was right before the big guys came into town. There was no voice tracking...you had to be in the studio to answer the phone, catch the ABC feed, play the next record or CD..and play those stupid carts of commercials. I know that I had a blast! And I miss those radio days. In fact, I can remember one contest I on my show that has since turned into a tradition that comes on every Friday at 2pm. We had those kind of liberties. We could put listeners on the air, ask them questions and be ourselves. Those were some good times.

I hope all my compadres in the RGV are doing great! God Bless..and have some El Pato for me!

 

[blaster69]

I have to say, what I thought was going to be another ball-bashing session has turned out to be a great thread. Lots of great info here, and names I haven't heard in quite a while..