When did 95.7 go Smooth Jazz? What was before The Box on 97.9?
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Old Houston stations
- Thread starter ksradiogeek
- Start date
Anything you want to know about the history of Houston Radio can be found here:
http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/
Look on the right side and you will find a lot.
http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/
Look on the right side and you will find a lot.
Didn't find anything.
That's because you did not take the time to really look it over and learn. I know it's all there because I've seen it.
95.7:
KHUL has been remembered fondly as a jazz station by many but that can not be confirmed from the newspaper accounts and early listings; it may have evolved into a jazz station later. An ad in 1963 touted ‘All Night Jazz’ and ‘Swinging Standards all day and evening.” An ad for the station in 1964 mentioned ‘Jazz after Midnight’ in addition to other special programs and did not claim it was a full time Jazz station.
The station changed hands and call letters in the mid to late 60s becoming KIKK-FM and operating as a country station for more than three decades before becoming a smooth jazz station, KHJZ-FM, The Wave, in 2001. It is now Hot Hits 95-7 (KKHH).
97.9:
KFMK-FM was the first commercial FM on the air in Houston without a sister AM. The station was apparently ready to go on the air in mid-January, 1958 but had to await regulatory approval and finally got on the air Sunday, February 2nd at 5pm. The station operated with 10,000 watts from the Medical Towers Building at 1709 Dryden. The newspaper listings showed the frequency just as 98 mc but later as 97.9; the format was popular music.
It was Houston's 1st underground station playing what was known then as Progressive rock. The FCC forced it off the air in the late 1960s due to many violations. KFMK returned to air in the mid 1970s as a Christian station. Around 1980 it became a Oldie station. By the late 1980s it morphed into an Adult AC format which failed miserably until the call letters were changed to KBXX, known as 97.9 The Box.
A true radiogeek should be able to find it.
95.7:
KHUL has been remembered fondly as a jazz station by many but that can not be confirmed from the newspaper accounts and early listings; it may have evolved into a jazz station later. An ad in 1963 touted ‘All Night Jazz’ and ‘Swinging Standards all day and evening.” An ad for the station in 1964 mentioned ‘Jazz after Midnight’ in addition to other special programs and did not claim it was a full time Jazz station.
The station changed hands and call letters in the mid to late 60s becoming KIKK-FM and operating as a country station for more than three decades before becoming a smooth jazz station, KHJZ-FM, The Wave, in 2001. It is now Hot Hits 95-7 (KKHH).
97.9:
KFMK-FM was the first commercial FM on the air in Houston without a sister AM. The station was apparently ready to go on the air in mid-January, 1958 but had to await regulatory approval and finally got on the air Sunday, February 2nd at 5pm. The station operated with 10,000 watts from the Medical Towers Building at 1709 Dryden. The newspaper listings showed the frequency just as 98 mc but later as 97.9; the format was popular music.
It was Houston's 1st underground station playing what was known then as Progressive rock. The FCC forced it off the air in the late 1960s due to many violations. KFMK returned to air in the mid 1970s as a Christian station. Around 1980 it became a Oldie station. By the late 1980s it morphed into an Adult AC format which failed miserably until the call letters were changed to KBXX, known as 97.9 The Box.
A true radiogeek should be able to find it.
bigroo said:
It was November 2002. I was there.
My site does not have the answer to the specific questions asked. 95.7 was not known as Smooth Jazz in the 50s and 60s. It was never my intention with that site to document more recent history. Fortunately there have always been people here on RI who have that sort of information and I turn to them when I have questions myself (including you, Chuck, and JD, and others). It is my intention with that site to document and preserve some of the history of our business in earlier eras, stuff that most of us weren't around to know about but is a big part of what made the business and hence why we wound up getting into it.
I may have something somewhere on what 97.9 was before becoming the Box - I'll have to check. Was it still KFMK? Still oldies?
I may have something somewhere on what 97.9 was before becoming the Box - I'll have to check. Was it still KFMK? Still oldies?
KFMK was stunting to The Box with a war scenario going on. Sound EFX and all and some guy giving a play by play about the battle in between songs. I remember I didnt understand what he was talking about or what this war was all about. It wasnt relatable to the format change. If I recall correctly.. but that was 22 years ago
I just remember lots of Technotronic and C+C Music Factory on it. As a kid, I liked that kind of stuff so I'd switch it to 93Q, Energy 96.5 or KRBE if something else came on. I wish I had recorded more as a kid. It seems like airchecks of KBXX in it's early days are extremely rare. I have some from around late 1991 and early 1992 but they are all short clips.
Mk then. Let's not get defensive here. I tried looking around the site, but I didn't see anything.Chuck Tiller said:
FWIW, when KBXX started, the format was "Contemporary Crossover," picking hits from several charts for a unique CHR-Urban feel, pioneered by Dan Mason and Ben Hill (IIRC) at WPGC in the Washington DC market, where it was very popular and still is. The format, of course, changed a lot over the years.
Chuck Tiller said:
Me too, the first song played was Smooth Operator by SADE. I think it was 12 noon. I know this because I moved into my grandads house when he was placed into a nursing home back in September 2002 and was listening to KIKK and then Smooth Jazz in November (the same month they closed Hollywood Video across the street from Sharpstown Mall funny thing is they closed it on Black Friday Evening), which later became Circuit City (I wonder what is there now?) I think it was the first week of November they did this. November 2 or 4? I will have to look at the Houston Chronicle archives on this which told me the airdate of KHYS 98.5 in Houston Sept 4 1988 Noon .
djjfive said:
me too, I have a lot of Technotronic and some C+C Music Factory LPs.
Do you have any Club 104 KRBE airchecks from August of 1991? Is there a way you can upload them along with The Box from the days of the first launch?
willdav713 said:
I've never heard an aircheck with the "Club 104" moniker other than some mixshow clips. I think I'm the only one who doesn't remember KRBE using the "Club" moniker (other than the Club 104 mixshows). I remember arguing this on this board, but I was outnumbered so I have to assume it did indeed exist with that name. To answer your question, no I don't. I have some "Power 104" and "104 KRBE" airchecks from around that time, though. I do plan on uploading everything I have eventually once I find a good tape deck. I'll hit up some thrift shops tomorrow.
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