Which is the biggest format war in Houston now?

[HoustonListener]

Is is the battle between KRBE and Hot 95.7 (I heard 104 saying that they always play the hottest hits, and of course everyone has heard the mock phone operator saying that the number 104 has been connected and the new number is 9 5 7). I think the biggest loser actually will be Party 93.3 in this war, particularly with their downgraded signal, it seems that 95.7 will take away more of their listeners (or at least that 104 has plenty of listeners so losing a few to 95.7 won't affect them as greatly)?

Or is the the sports/talk battle between 610, 790, 1560 and 97.5. There just doesn't seem to be enough quality programming or listeners to support this many stations with the same format, particularly factoring in that some of the biggest sports programming (such as sports itself, like the Astros) is on KTRH. I guess Clear channel doesn't want to kill the golden goose, and needs to keep the Astros on the station with the best signal, but it seems that directing the sports programming to the sports station (790) and running more news on the news station (740) would make more sense (although, wait a minute, there isn't much news left on KTRH anymore).

Or maybe it is the Spanish language battle... with 101.1, 104.9 and 107.0 XO now becoming nearly indistinguishable in their music formats..while also competing with the other Spanish formats.

I predict that the next station to change formats won't be a casualty of the format wars at all, but a casualty of a stale format that plays very little variety given the fact that they have an entire decade to cover. 106.9 The Point.

 

[downthedial]

The format war between 95.7 and KRBE is the biggest I see, currently. Of course, KILT and 93Q still spar with each other, albeit mostly one sided with the latter jabbing the former. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that The Point is still in town!

In some ways, I had hoped that 95.7 would flip to something that would have given Sunny some direct competition. With all of the competing going on between the various stations, Sunny is hanging out there, doing their own thing, and can pretty much toot their own horn with no direct competition to keep the heat on them. In some ways, I'll say, good for them; in others, I'll say it's a shame. Of late, I've been listening to quite a bit of KACC and K-Hits; the rest of the time, my CDs. Houston radio has saddened me for quite some time.

In my humble opinion, four AM sports stations in one market is far too many, but unlike many people who like to bash 1560, I'd keep them ahead of a few of the others.

 

[Mediafrog+]

I'll vote for the overall battle between Univision and Liberman, with Mega thrown in the mix. Like it or not that is where the market growth is.

In some ways, I had hoped that 95.7 would flip to something that would have given Sunny some direct competition.

That would have been the "Fresh" format, al la WWFS in NYC (check out their webstream.) Might still happen if CBS gets another signal in the market.

 

[jras20]

KKBQ and KILT has been at it for years. I would half to say them before KRBE and KKHH.

 

[CW]

The format war between 95.7 and KRBE is the biggest I see, currently. Of course, KILT and 93Q still spar with each other, albeit mostly one sided with the latter jabbing the former. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that The Point is still in town!

In some ways, I had hoped that 95.7 would flip to something that would have given Sunny some direct competition. With all of the competing going on between the various stations, Sunny is hanging out there, doing their own thing, and can pretty much toot their own horn with no direct competition to keep the heat on them. In some ways, I'll say, good for them; in others, I'll say it's a shame. Of late, I've been listening to quite a bit of KACC and K-Hits; the rest of the time, my CDs. Houston radio has saddened me for quite some time.

In my humble opinion, four AM sports stations in one market is far too many, but unlike many people who like to bash 1560, I'd keep them ahead of a few of the others.

CBS screwed up and should have put JACK on 95.7 before Cumulus got the format....It works for CBS in Dallas....and would have here on a city grade signal....

(the folks in BPT would not have JACK on 103.7....even with Cumulus' Lake Charles 103.3 flipping to JACK, it can be heard anywhere in the Triangle BUT Beaumont itself because of that stupid CC "translator"...which it isnt! Ita a LPFM actually..on 103.3 at CC BMT studios with 104.5's format on it.....HELLO CC, if 104.5 dont make it into Beaumont that well, why not
1) Move 104.5 which is a C1 to the Ch 4 tower and combine it with 106.1...OR
2) build a taller tower for it OR
3) move it to the Church Rd tower where 95.1 and 92.5 are now....and combine...DUH...
4) maybe move the translator to 104.9 (which would make more sense)
but no, CC puts an illegal translator (well its licensed as one but is not one!) in BMT and thus BMT doesnt hear JACK on 103.3...oh well...

BUT I digress........I agree 93.3 will lose because of the freq/tower swap.....4 sports stations? Nope....aint gonna work in Houston (and with KTRH still carrying Astros, you could say 4.5) One sports station doesnt bring in that good of ratings...now you have 4 stations vying for that small slice of the pie?? YIKES!!!

Houston just doesnt have the AM signals it needs for sports and talk, etc....DFW has 570, 820 (which is omni), 1080 (only 2 tower array so BROAD pattern), 1160 (well their night site doesnt cover FTW well), 1190 (which cover DFW great int he day, loses N Dallas at night but still has Ft Worth) and 1310 which also has issues to the west at night...

Houston??? 740 and 950 are about it (and even 740 doesnt cover the north end well due to the null that way)...
ALL other AMs except 1560 go to the Gulf and only one other 50KW, 1180, SUCKS in their signal..(mainly because the application on the pattern was supposively falsified when it was drawn up decades ago over drinks in a hotel lounge...and there has been a lot of growth around the site since there...and I doubt the pattern is what its supposed to be...especially at night)...thus alienating the north end of Houston (especially the growing Woodlands, etc) and far west end (since the directionals are looking pretty much down I45 toward Galveston.