Oldies station possibilities?

[someperson]

I've been trying to find an oldies/classic hits station I can actually receive in the Houston area. So far, the best signal that I've been able to find has been KCOL from Beaumont, but it fades in and out a lot. Is there anything else available?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I've been trying to find an oldies/classic hits station I can actually receive in the Houston area. So far, the best signal that I've been able to find has been KCOL from Beaumont, but it fades in and out a lot. Is there anything else available?

(1) If you can null KEYH 850, you can get KONO 860 from San Antonio - better in the West part of town.

(2) With a very good radio in a quiet location, you can get KVNS 1700 Brownsville. It suffers from severe interference from a Dallas station, though.

(3) If you are far enough North, you can get KHVL 1490 from Huntsville.

(4) If you are far enough North and West, you can get KMVL 1220 Madisonville. More of a standards station, but plenty of oldies

(5) There is always KHSN 99.9 Liberty. A bit too much talk for my taste.

(6) If you want to take the plunge into HD radio, both 104.1 and 107.5 have oldies on HD-2

(7) There is always satellite, 60's on 6, etc.

(8) There is always streaming - my favorite is KKHA 92.5, but I have a dozen more oldies radio apps on my phone.

That's it, until somebody figures out that oldies fans aren't all old fogies who don't buy things. I am finding more and more kids who like oldies better than (c)rap and hip-hop. They think the music is fun. I know some professional recording artists who are on the top 40 charts, and who listen to oldies and classic rock almost exclusively for their creative inspiration. Look for a new CD by an artist called Ariana Grande. She is pretty tight lipped about the project, but her album artwork is straight out of the 50's. If she charts with one or more oldies re-makes, it may change the top-40 game.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I had a dyslexic moment on KSHN.

I forgot that if you are far enough West, Bob-FM 103.5 from Austin comes in and plays some oldies. Not many, but some. Don't make a setup to get 98.9 from Austin because it is going away.

At home, I have a deep fringe setup for KLUV 98.7 from Dallas. It comes in extremely well most of the time, and I can even get HD lock on its 50's and 60's HD-2 from time to time, usually evening and mornings particularly after rain storms.

 

[someperson]

I thought KSHN was Soft AC? Still, it does play a lot of older music.

I was thinking more for my vehicle, so nulling stations or building something is out of the question. After all, I can stream whatever I want when I'm at home.

I was listening to KCOL this morning rather well, but on my afternoon drive, it was gone. I guess the tropo just happened to be good this morning.

I've tried to get KONO, KVNS, and KMVL without luck. Haven't tried KHVL, but I'm not holding my breath.

HD Radio might be the answer here. My CD player doesn't work, so I'm already considering replacing my stereo.

That's it, until somebody figures out that oldies fans aren't all old fogies who don't buy things. I am finding more and more kids who like oldies better than (c)rap and hip-hop. They think the music is fun.

This is so very true. I am a college student, and I'm trying to listen to this music. I know plenty of others who would probably listen too.

 

[benale]

Houston is the largest market in the country without an oldies/classic hits station. CBS-FM,WOGL, WLS FM, KRTH, etc all do very well and fill a niche with older listeners. So many sound alike stations and not one that does an oldies format. Washington and Atlanta are the other Top Ten markets without the format.

It really baffles the mind that Houston can't support a station playing the pop hits of the 60's and 70's, and yes, the 80's. PPM methodology has been kind to a lot of these stations. How many more variations of AC does a market need?

 

[someperson]

It really baffles the mind that Houston can't support a station playing the pop hits of the 60's and 70's, and yes, the 80's. PPM methodology has been kind to a lot of these stations. How many more variations of AC does a market need?

"If you build it, they will come." Problem is, nobody is building it.

Just out of curiosity, what were KLDE's ratings before it turned into an Arrow clone?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

It really baffles the mind that Houston can't support a station playing the pop hits of the 60's and 70's, and yes, the 80's. PPM methodology has been kind to a lot of these stations. How many more variations of AC does a market need?

"If you build it, they will come." Problem is, nobody is building it.

Just out of curiosity, what were KLDE's ratings before it turned into an Arrow clone?

I don't think you can invoke KLDE or the old version of 107.5 as an indication of how oldies would rate in this market. I do a lot of back and forth to Dallas and I can tell you that KLUV up there is oldies / classic hits done right. When my daughter does her acting thing in LA, KRTH is oldies / classic hits done right. Compared to those stations, the oldies stations in Houston sucked, and probably deserved to go under. Do the format right, and it would hit just as big as it does in Dallas, LA, NY, San Antonio, or anywhere else but here. I don't know who had charge of the playlist in Houston, but it was evident they didn't know the music, the format, or the listener base. Even as an avid oldies fan, I wouldn't listen down here. Someone is doing oldies right on 107.5 HD-2, but 104.1 HD-2 is still better.

Bottom line - no oldies in Houston is not the fault of the format, it was the fault of the stations we had.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I thought KSHN was Soft AC? Still, it does play a lot of older music.

I was thinking more for my vehicle, so nulling stations or building something is out of the question. After all, I can stream whatever I want when I'm at home.

I was listening to KCOL this morning rather well, but on my afternoon drive, it was gone. I guess the tropo just happened to be good this morning.

I've tried to get KONO, KVNS, and KMVL without luck. Haven't tried KHVL, but I'm not holding my breath.

HD Radio might be the answer here. My CD player doesn't work, so I'm already considering replacing my stereo.

That's it, until somebody figures out that oldies fans aren't all old fogies who don't buy things. I am finding more and more kids who like oldies better than (c)rap and hip-hop. They think the music is fun.

This is so very true. I am a college student, and I'm trying to listen to this music. I know plenty of others who would probably listen too.

KHVL does pretty well in Cypress, and across the north beltway. It suffers a bit from first adjacents on 1480 and 1500 depending on where you are, but it is there.

I'd recommend that Pioneer with the 9400 in the model number. Its got the RF pull to make HD radio work under most circumstances. I wouldn't recommend any less than Pioneer, the other brands just don't have the same sensitivity. If you after HD reception, there is no point throwing second rate equipment at it. I would estimate HD reception over Houston more than 20 miles from the towers is roughly equivalent to analog reception 60 to 80 miles out. It takes good equipment.

 

[Mediafrog+]

One thing that makes room for oldies stations in DFW and LA is the fact that those cities have more viable FM signals. DFW, for instance, has six or seven more full-market signals than Houston. If you were somehow to add six more full market signals here, oldies would probably be one of the formats. The genre is squeezed out under the current situation.

KONO is a somewhat different situation as it is a continuation of a heritage Top 40 from decades ago that simply more or less stayed the course with the music that made it popular in the first place, as opposed to a station that adopted oldies as the result of a format flip.

 

[TXCalradio]

Perhaps CBS would try oldies on 96.5. in Houston. CBS does own KRTH (K-EARTH 101) in Los Angeles and it is a success there. Does anyone else notice that the music on 95.7 and 96.5 sounds somewhat similar and they are owned by CBS.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Perhaps CBS would try oldies on 96.5. in Houston. CBS does own KRTH (K-EARTH 101) in Los Angeles and it is a success there. Does anyone else notice that the music on 95.7 and 96.5 sounds somewhat similar and they are owned by CBS.

96.5 is an interesting identity crisis. It is a mixture of current top-40 and 80's - 00's stuff, with an occasional 70. And that is the problem - too many Houston stations with identity crises - What is KODA? You can't call KODA oldies, or AC, or anything. It is more than one format on a frequency. It obviously works in the ratings, but what is it? What is the Eagle? You can't call it classic rock, you can't call it oldies, etc. Oldies are available as "once in a while they play an oldies song" on 4 or 5 stations. I think oldies here would happen only if all of the identity crisis stations finally settled on a format and stuck with it, leaving the glaring hole for oldies/classic hits. Most people just settle for what Houston has, I doubt they get very excited when a really great Beatles track is followed by Taylor Swift or a really bad over played 80's song. It is passive, non-involved listening. But I do know when I gave my wife a satellite radio, it took her no time at all to dump the Eagle in favor of "the 60's on 6". She is infecting her sister with the satellite bug, that's two Eagle listeners gone back to oldies. Multiply that all over town and Houston's identity crisis stations are in trouble.

I'd align it this way:

- 96.5 goes to top-40 with no hip-hop or rap. Stations like that in Florida where I lived for a while were tremendously popular and high in the ratings. Of course they flirted with accusations of racism, but there are plenty of African American artists who are not playing rap or hip-hip. 96.5 would be differentiated from KRBE and HOT. A niche that could work.

- KODA stays the same, you can't argue with #1.

- The Eagle and the Arrow get together and split up the audience. One takes 60's and 70's classic rock, the other 80's and 90's. Problem solved for both stations, both occupy a niche with loyal adherents, no need to bash each other.

- The Eagle takes one signal and puts Oldies on it. I'd choose 106.9, because Sugarland, Katy, and Cypress where 107.5 has a better signal is primarily a younger demographic. 106.9 reaches the Woodlands, Conroe, where the cost of living dictates an older demographic.

or - KSHN upgrades and covers part of Houston with oldies. It wouldn't require dumping localism. Just a bit more music and less talk. And a carefully targeted, professional oldies format.

Of course, somebody could buy out one of the Spanish language signals - they have to be over-saturated in this area. If there are about 6 formats, you don't need all of the AMs and FMs that are currently in Spanish. Some of them have to be hurting financially and ripe for a takeover. Check the ratings, that will tell you who is in trouble.

 

[someperson]

I always find it amusing when you guys play Fantasy Football

 

[willdav713]

I think KILT 100.3 would be a great Oldies candidate. They could flip 96.5 to KILT's current Country format to be closer to Cox's 93Q, and Country Legends 97.1.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I think KILT 100.3 would be a great Oldies candidate. They could flip 96.5 to KILT's current Country format to be closer to Cox's 93Q, and Country Legends 97.1.

That would be a great sentimental favorite. KILT AM had a great top-40 heritage under Gordon McLendon. I still remember the day the music died in 1980 - when KILT went country. Bleah!!! It would be nice to have the call letters KILT associated with the great music 610 once played. It actually happened in Dallas, 1190 may not have had the call letters KLIF, but for a time it played oldies.

 

[willdav713]

I think KILT 100.3 would be a great Oldies candidate. They could flip 96.5 to KILT's current Country format to be closer to Cox's 93Q, and Country Legends 97.1.

That would be a great sentimental favorite. KILT AM had a great top-40 heritage under Gordon McLendon. I still remember the day the music died in 1980 - when KILT went country. Bleah!!! It would be nice to have the call letters KILT associated with the great music 610 once played. It actually happened in Dallas, 1190 may not have had the call letters KLIF, but for a time it played oldies.

I thought it was in 1981.
During the final days didn't KILT-AM simulcast it's Top 40 format on 100.3?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I think KILT 100.3 would be a great Oldies candidate. They could flip 96.5 to KILT's current Country format to be closer to Cox's 93Q, and Country Legends 97.1.

That would be a great sentimental favorite. KILT AM had a great top-40 heritage under Gordon McLendon. I still remember the day the music died in 1980 - when KILT went country. Bleah!!! It would be nice to have the call letters KILT associated with the great music 610 once played. It actually happened in Dallas, 1190 may not have had the call letters KLIF, but for a time it played oldies.

I thought it was in 1981.
During the final days didn't KILT-AM simulcast it's Top 40 format on 100.3?

It may have been 81. I had a radio in my office at one of my early jobs - which I was at from 1980 to 1981. I came in one morning and heard country. Changed the frequency for good.

I think the FM may have always been country. I definitely had FM in my car and at home, never recall listening to 100.3. That said- the radio in my office was a Radio Shack 12-675 which was AM only.

 

[radiobop]

You want oldies in Houston (or anywhere else, for that matter):

http://tunein.com/radio/Radio-Bop-s8941/

 

[rbrucecarter5]

You want oldies in Houston (or anywhere else, for that matter):

http://tunein.com/radio/Radio-Bop-s8941/

You got an iPhone app?

 

[ChuckTiller]

I think KILT 100.3 would be a great Oldies candidate. They could flip 96.5 to KILT's current Country format to be closer to Cox's 93Q, and Country Legends 97.1.

I thought it was in 1981.
During the final days didn't KILT-AM simulcast it's Top 40 format on 100.3?

It may have been 81. I had a radio in my office at one of my early jobs - which I was at from 1980 to 1981. I came in one morning and heard country. Changed the frequency for good.

I think the FM may have always been country. I definitely had FM in my car and at home, never recall listening to 100.3. That said- the radio in my office was a Radio Shack 12-675 which was AM only.

KILT-FM was AOR (Album Oriented Rock) up until 1981 when it flipped to "Continuous Country Favorites, FM-100 KILT." Then KILT-610 added more country into it's format until the transformation was complete. There was never a simulcast. I was on 1230 KNUZ at the time and the phones died. Now, KNUZ and 1070 KENR had two 100KW FMs to contend with. Both were forced to change formats.

KILT-FM's main competition was KLOL. KILT-FM became very successful until recent years, when real personality was shown the door. As Paul Harvey would say, "........now you know the rest of the story."

 

[radiobop]

All of our stations are available on any smartphone using the free shoutcast or tunein apps ... either search for by station name or go to category "Decades" and subcategories "40s", "50s" or "60s" to find our stations...