Thoughts on Houston Radio

[thebroker]

I just returned from a great weekend in Houston, and I have a few thoughts I'd like to share, as well as a couple of questions. I'm planning to open an office in Houston in October, so I'm trying to become a bit more familiar with the radio scene down that way.

First and foremost, I absolutely LOVE KLDE. It is, by far, one of the best oldies stations I've heard in a while. I was a bit freaked out, though, when I heard their liners...they are identical to our oldies station here in Asheville.

I was a little bombarded by the AM choices. KTRH seemed to have great news, but I was surprised that they don't have a lot of the big names in talk. KPRC seems to have most of the major programs, and I'm curious as to whether CC makes it a habit to cross-promote the two stations.

I'd like to know what you folks consider your 'favorite' stations so I can listen more effectively next time I'm in town.




-TheBroker

 

[radiodial]

> I'd like to know what you folks consider your 'favorite'
> stations so I can listen more effectively next time I'm in
> town.
>
>

Two favorites are:

KACC 89.7 (A JACK-FM type format that was JACK before JACK was JACK)
KPFT 90.1 (Weekends cannot be beat: Texas music and the Blues with GREAT DJs)

 

[snoman]

> > I'd like to know what you folks consider your 'favorite'
> > stations so I can listen more effectively next time I'm in
>
> > town.
> >
> >
>
> Two favorites are:
>
> KACC 89.7 (A JACK-FM type format that was JACK before JACK
> was JACK)
> KPFT 90.1 (Weekends cannot be beat: Texas music and the
> Blues with GREAT DJs)
>

I like KLDE as well. They've done a lot of tweaking with the format over the past couple of months and they are sounding better.

I have to give 93.7 The Arrow KKRW (Classic Rock) some props, too. They are sounding better as well. I'm hearing more and more music that I haven't heard in a while on the station. Adding the "Colonel" wasn't a bad move either.

I mostly listen to:
KHJZ 95.7 The Wave (Smooth Jazz)... Great talent and nice music. A little repetitive, but it is decent.

KCOH 1430 AM (Urban AC/Blues/Talk)... Despite the rough AM signal, KCOH has great personalities and when they're playing music, it is much better than Majic 102.

KTSU 90.9 FM (Jazz/Gospel/Urban AC)... The voice of Texas Southern University is one of my favorite stations, especially when they are playing Jazz on Thursdays & Saturdays. I wished they'd play more R&B Oldies, because I think they would get a lot more listeners, who are fed up with 102.

KILT 100.3 FM (Country)... Still one of the best country stations in my opinion. The talent is outstanding. The music variety is nice. The imaging and community involvement is good.


I wished I had more recommendations for you, but that's about all I listen to locally anymore. I'm not pleased with the Rock or AC choices anymore. <P ID="signature">______________
"I Believe In The Power Of Love."
Luther Vandross 1951-2005</P>

 

[jras20]

I like just about all of them mainly kilt though for the most part. Saturday nights I listen to KRBE mostly when they do old school hiphop & dance, but when they play the mainstream in the mixshow I flip over to 95.1 kvic *Victoria* they play all dance . I basicly just can listen to almost any format.
<P ID="signature">______________
jras20</P>

 

[radiomojo1]

> Adding the "Colonel" wasn't a bad move either.

>

I'd feel a lot better about that if I didn't know about the part-time pay structure over there...nobody likes to see a friend undervalued.

 

[slaterradio]

KRBE 104.1 is still one of the best top 40 stations in the country--right up with Z100 in NY. The DJ's are mostly live and all local--no VT'ing.
About as fair a balance of rap, alternative, dance and pop as you will find anywhere. Hip-hop dominates top 40 these days (as it should), but KRBE is programmed-well where the sets don't sound like a hip-hop station with Green Day "Blvd. of Broken Dreams" as the token non hip-hop song.

It's certainly the best top 40 in Texas.

KACC 89.7 as mentioned above is enthralling to listen to, but that's if you can get it--the signal coverage is severely spotted.

Mega 101.1, reggaeton, while probably a station you would hate is a refreshing listen if you listen to any Spanish language music. I listen to a fair amount, so I enjoy having this as a listening option.

I still think KODA 99.1 is winning the at-work wars and Zoe Bonet's nightly dedications show is all live and local--a breath of fresh air from CC.

KTBZ 94.5 is a peculiar station. If you like Metallica, this is a quite good station. By far the best "Mandatory Metallica" segment I have heard on terrestrial radio. This is one of the few segments that is free programming.
The 4 o' clock flashback that DJ Don Jantzen does is usually a great listen. 2 songs--generally stuff you haven't heard in a long time and some that you forgot even existed.

The all-request hour is a bummer--half of it is pre-programmed, so people are just requesting the songs they were already going to play.
They sure do listen to what the listeners want. You want to request something--NO. Of course I'm describing most radio stations, which do not take real requests.

Other than the new music show at 10pm, listen to this station sparingly. It might piss you off if you're not careful.

And I'll go ahead and throw out KIOL 103.7--a rock station with a lot of promise that has brought much dissapointment. I must say though that they play a lot of music I haven't heard in a while like Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Striper.
The air talent is a bit musty, but they've been at it a long time. Outlaw Dave, Wendy Miller--both DJ's at KLOL which was Houston's rock station for 34 years, plus Houston favorites Lisa Kendall and Pam Kelly.
Give it a listen when you get here. The signal still sucks even with a revamped tower, but you'll never know if you like it until you try.

MORNING SHOWS:
Rod Ryan on KTBZ--if you tend toward younger-targeting morning shows, this is a great one. Hysterical and Rod, Theresa and Travis have great chemistry. Humor is sophomoric, but always enjoyable.

KRBE--while I am still pissed off about the departure of Sam Malone from the morning show, Maria Todd is still there and Atom Smasher, who has been on the station going on 6 to 8 years (can't remember) has kept it in good hands.

Poor Funky Larry Jones who is an institution here in Houston was booted when Power 97, a promising R&B station, which resided at 97.5 was killed due to poor ratings and revenues--horrible signal. FM Talk now installed there.
Larry is now doing mornings on KHJZ 95.7fm (smooth jazz). Interesting listen.

KILT, country, have a somewhat heritage morning show in Hudson&Her.

Tuttle and Kline, formerly an alternative rock morning show are now on country competitor KKBQ 92.9. This was a strange move on Cox's part, but it appears to be working and they've pulled it out.

Thanks for reading and hope this helped some.

 

[snoman]

>
> Poor Funky Larry Jones who is an institution here in Houston
> was booted when Power 97, a promising R&B station, which
> resided at 97.5 was killed due to poor ratings and
> revenues--horrible signal. FM Talk now installed there.
> Larry is now doing mornings on KHJZ 95.7fm (smooth jazz).
> Interesting listen.
>

F**king Radio One and Majic 102! It still burns me up that they would ditch him for a played-out Tom Joyner. Corporate radio at its ugliest!

<P ID="signature">______________
"I Believe In The Power Of Love."
Luther Vandross 1951-2005</P>

 

[thebroker]

Wow, what great stuff! I'm definitely gonna have more direction when I'm down next time.

I have to say, for all the trade pub press it got when it flipped, I was very disappointed with the FM Talker on 97.5. It was mediochre talk radio at best...but then I'm a bit of a News/Talk nut myself so I'm pretty hard to please.

I was also a little disappointed in the Classic Country station...97.something, maybe? I was excited when I first tuned in, since I like the format, but the playlist seemed much too small to me.

I was also surprised that I didn't hear more AM music stations. I was expecting at least one good ol' fashion AM country station, but I heard mostly Hispanic and talk.

Also, it seemed like the 'other' country station was taking some cheap shots at KILT. How long has that war been going on?

I'll be glad to be able to spend a lot of time in a city with so many stations. Here in Asheville, NC, we have very few choices. Now, if only business will take off down there like it has here!

 

[CW]

> F**king Radio One and Majic 102! It still burns me up that
> they would ditch him for a played-out Tom Joyner. Corporate
> radio at its ugliest!
>
Who do you think owns Joyner now? He left ABC Radio (which probably made Doug Banks happy) and went to Radio One a while back......(and Joyner is screaming Racism all the time...but I never saw a bigger biggot than him! I dont care for the Fly Jock...he can get "swatted" anytime)

 

[snoman]

> > F**king Radio One and Majic 102! It still burns me up
> that
> > they would ditch him for a played-out Tom Joyner.
> Corporate
> > radio at its ugliest!
> >
> Who do you think owns Joyner now? He left ABC Radio (which
> probably made Doug Banks happy) and went to Radio One a
> while back......(and Joyner is screaming Racism all the
> time...but I never saw a bigger biggot than him! I dont care
> for the Fly Jock...he can get "swatted" anytime)
>

He used to be GREAT when he WAS actually the "Fly Jock". He got hooked up with Tavis Smiley and a few other biggots when he became syndicated, and now that way, too.

In The Bible it says "Love Has No Color". What he does now, is no better than what others did in the past. <P ID="signature">______________
"I Believe In The Power Of Love."
Luther Vandross 1951-2005</P>

 

[CW]

> He used to be GREAT when he WAS actually the "Fly Jock". He
> got hooked up with Tavis Smiley and a few other biggots
> when he became syndicated, and now that way, too.

Yep...when he WAS the Fly Jock, he put life into the show and did it well...once syndicated, he became one who sat around b*&^ing and moaning...
I thought his new younger wife might change that...but evidently hasnt (and she was very nice in person...as well as good looking)
>
> In The Bible it says "Love Has No Color". What he does now,
> is no better than what others did in the past.

You're so right!!!

 

[valkyrie777]

Re: Houston Radio

Your 1st error was in even putting the words "thought" and "Houston radio" in the same sentence; those of us who labor in this swamp know that the words are not necessarily co-existant.

Secondly, the call-letters KTRH stand for "Keep The Resume Handy"; Dan Rather can tell you stories about there from "back in the day" that will make your hair frizz even more than an August morning! The old "Garden Line" shows were a hoot with Randy and his side-kick John. (Or, was John the star and Randy his side-kick? Hmmm)

Third, you MUST get to "Know The Neighborhoods" of H-Town; here's a primer:

River Oaks=pretentious big-haired wimmen and the beer-bellied bankers who keep them in bar-be-que.

The Montrose=Boys will be boys...and, on some Saturday nights, will be the wimmen, too.

The Galleria=Post Oak to San Felipe, bring the platinum AmEx card. Westheimer to Richmond, bring your homies and your ride with the spinners on it.

Outside The Loop=you might as well live on the dark side of the Moon.

Inside The Loop=Hey, if living there is good enough for Ken Lay of "Enron"...

Rice Village=an excuse to charge $5.00 for a dollar coffee.

Katy=NObody knows anybody who actually lives in Katy. Katy is a made-up place for people who actually live past the 10,000 block of Westheimer. Book.

Hobby Airport Area=Better than Six-Flags because you can sit in your own living-room and shout "GOOD GOD! THAT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES 737 IS ABOUT TO COME THROUGH THE FRONT WINDOW!!"

Bush/Intercontinental Airport Area=Mostly referred to as Western Louisiana.

Sugar Land=It's two words. Never mind that it should be one word. If you write it as "Sugarland", someone with a straw hat and big hooters will inevitably say to you "y'all are a yankee, aren't you"?

The Medical Center Area=MPPSM/More Porsches Per Square Mile than anywhere else in Houston. Doctor's parking spaces can be discovered by noting the number of references to The Almighty on the "reserved" plates: "Doctor Mulhaffey, God of Obstetrics. Doctor Wheelangiz, God of Neurology." You get the picture.


Welcome to Houston! We always like to introduce new blood and a new genetic source into our lovely >>coff, coff<< city...where the mosquitos are bigger than hawks, the roaches are bigger than alligators and women's hairstyles are bigger than Buicks!

Sam Houston would be so >>sniff<< proud!

 

[thebroker]

Re: Houston Radio

That's exactly what I was looking for!

I'm planning to move to Kingwood, but I noticed you left that area out! Any thoughts? My girlfriend has lived there most of her life...

I've already discovered The Galleria, mostly because of said Girlfriend from Kingwood. I learned the hard way not to take the AmEx or any other plastic for that matter, lest my accountant slap me around at the end of the month. Four hundred dollars for a pair of shoes!?!

Luckily, I won't have to be looking for a radio gig in Houston...I'm just opening another office there. I admire you folks who still work at the station level more than you'll ever know, because I don't know if I could handle it these days!

I think the thing I'm looking forward to most is the food! I come down about once a month and always manage to gain weight. I told my girlfriend that once I move down there, she'll probably leave me because I'll get fat. But I just can't say no to Pappasito's, and Taste of Texas has to be the best steak on earth.

Thanks for the welcome...I really can't wait to get settled in!