Houston
Hot 97.1 KTHT Becomes Country Legends
Previous Format: Urban “Hot 97.1” New Format: Classic Country “Country Legends 97.1” Date & Time Of Change: January 2, 2003 at 12:00pm More Info: Wikipedia
“The House Party” relaunches as “Party 104.9”
Originally a CHR/Rhythmic specialty show on Tejano station “Puro Tejano 100.7”, “The House Party” became the fulltime format at 100.7 FM on March 1, 1999. Through a deal with El Dorado Communications, HBC moved the Spanish AC format of “K-Love 93.3 Y 104.9 FM” to the newly acquired city grade 106.5 FM in August of 2001. 104.9 FM (which was scheduled to upgrade to cover all Houston within a year) then became the home of “The House Party”. On February 21, 2002 Houston radio history was made as the 104.9 FM KPTY launched it’s new signal and new moniker “Party 104-9”.
Power 97.5 KRWP Launches
Previous Format: Country “KD 97.5” KAYD (Serving Beaumont market, format moved to 101.7 when 97.5 moved to Houston) New Format: Urban “Power 97.5” KRWP Date & Time Of Change: January 3, 2002 at 12:00pm More Info: Wikipedia Aircheck Contributed by John Fernandez
KKTL Becomes Hot 97.1
Historically, Rhythmic CHRs hadn’t performed very well in the Houston market (see 98.5 KHYS) but Cox had confidence with the sign on of “Hot 97-1”. After breaking it’s simulcast with sister “Oldies 107.5”, an electronic voice countdown began. The countdown didn’t reach 1 until the following day and “Hot 97-1, Houston’s Hottest Hit Music” was born. The KKTL-FM calls were later replaced with KTHT. The first song on “Hot 97-1” was “Party Up” by DMX
106.9 KKHT becomes 80’s “The Point” KHPT
Previous Format: Christian “106.9 The Word” KHHT New Format: 80s Hits “106.9 The Point” KHPT (Stunted for week as KZJZ) Date & Time Of Change: September 28, 2000 More Info: Wikipedia fter weeks of redirecting listeners to 1070 AM, Alan Lee signed 106.9 The Word off the air at 12 midnight with a couple verses from the Bible. Serving as Houston’s commercial FM religious talk outlet, the station usually finished at the bottom of the ratings despite it’s decent signal. Cox acquired the station through a trade with Salem who acquired Atlanta properties in exchange for the 106.9 station. After a week of stunting as “MP3 Radio” and “Radio Free Houston” under the KZJZ call letters, an electronic voice countdown reached 1 and the new ...
98.5 KHYS/103.3 KJOJ become “Kiss 98.5 & Kiss Again 103.3”
Over the years, for whatever reason, it seems like “pure” Rhythmic CHR has failed in Houston. The two most recent attempts to make the format work have been on limited signals. One of these attempts was “Kiss 98-5, Kiss Again 103-3” (KHYS/KJOJ), which replaced the previous NAC/Jazz format, on February 24, 1997. Kiss offered a Dance-oriented approach targetted at Latinos, similar to Power 96 in Miami. Styles of music heard on the station included house, freestyle, bass, tropical, and R&B. While the station seemed to be making some progress in the ratings early, it never got to the next level. During the Spring of 1998, KHYS/KJOJ shifted to a more Mainstream format — essentially a more Rhythmic version of the heritage Mainstream CHR in the market, KRBE. The...
“93Q” KKBQ becomes “92.9 Easy Country”
KKBQ stopped playing CHR/Rock at midnight September 19, 1991 and stunted with the sound of the ocean for 6 hours straight with a time check to “Houston’s newest radio station” every 15 minutes. (actually a few minutes after the ocean sounds began it appears that maybe the board operator rebeled against the flip because the music starts again, he manages to play about 4 songs before the sound of the ocean returns… I’ll send this one later) This file picks up on the minute before the launch. Then at 6am in a live remote from The River Oaks Country Club, the general manager says a few words (the same old spiel about “doing months of market research” and “this is what you asked for”) then does a countdown thats followed by a montage of coun...
96.5 KNRJ becomes “Mix” KHMX
When Nationwide Communications acquired 96.5 KNRJ Houston from Emmis Broadcasting in late 1989, it knew it had its work cut out. Energy 96.5 was at the bottom of the ratings pack as the third CHR behind heavyweights 93Q and KRBE. Nationwide put Guy Zapolean, its corporate programming head to oversee the construction of a new format for the station. While conducting the market research, KNRJ flipped to a smokescreen Alternative Rock format in April 1990. Finally on July 20, 1990, the finished product, KHMX “Mix 96.5” was launched. While nowadays a station debuting a Hot AC named “Mix” would draw a ho-hum response, KHMX was the prototype. The first AC station to focus on a rock based pop variety of songs from the 70’s and 80’s along with currents, “M...
Energy 96.5 KNRJ Becomes The Alternative
Previous Format: Dance CHR “Energy 96.5” New Format: Alternative “96.5 The Alternative” // 5 weeks later became Hot AC “Mix 96.5” KHMX Date & Time Of Change: June 15, 1990 at 7:15am More Info: Wikipedia
