KGLK (107.5 FM) and KHPT (106.9 FM, "Houston's Eagle") is a pair of simulcast classic rock formatted radio stations licensed to serve the communities of Lake Jackson, Texas, and Conroe, Texas, United States, respectively. Both facilities are owned by Cox Media Group, and are part of a four station cluster that includes KTHT and KKBQ, in the surveyed Houston metropolitan area. "The Eagle" is headquartered in Suite 2300 at 1990 Post Oak Blvd in the Uptown district in Houston, Texas, United States. KGLK's main transmitter facilities are located near Liverpool, TX with a backup transmitter site co-located at the KKBQ backup site. KHPT's main transmitter site is located in Splendora, Texas, and is shared with KSBJ.
Between the two frequencies, the Eagle covers more square miles than any station in southeast Texas.
Video KGLK
KGLK History
Originally KGOL, the station began broadcasting to the Lake Jackson area at 107.3 FM as a Gospel station in the early 1980s.
Move to 107.5; Z 107 Debuts
The station moved north to include service to Houston and signed on at 107.5 FM on August 5, 1986, as classic rock-formatted KZFX "Z107". Z 107 competed primarily with KSRR and KLOL, having won the battle against KSRR who flipped to Top 40 (CHR), yet losing the rock war to KLOL, having been outlasted by it for another decade.
Rocket 107.5/The Buzz
On October 31, 1994, at 11 a.m., the station flipped to alternative rock as KRQT, "Rocket 107.5". Under direction of new General Manager, Pat Fant (formerly of KLOL), the station re-launched the format in late May 1995 under the new callsign KTBZ and "107-5 The Buzz" moniker.
The Buzz Relocates; Cox Acquisition
Due to the 2000 merger of Clear Channel Communications and AMFM, Inc., and the need to stay within the FCC's station ownership cap, Cox Radio acquired the intellectual property of "Oldies 94.5 KLDE", as well as 107.5 FM and simulcast partner 97.1 FM, but did not include the intellectual properties of "The Buzz". Shortly after that, KTBZ announced that "The Buzz" would cease operations at 107.5 on July 18 and began a "Save the Buzz" campaign, sending Buzz listeners into a frenzy for information on the station's "impending demise".
When the actual purpose of the campaign was discovered, an online forum maintained by KTBZ was shut down in order to try to keep the word from getting out as listeners began to post their findings. Still, this did not prevent listeners from distributing banners throughout Houston and painting "Save The Buzz" on their car windows. KTBZ staged a public rally, at which a representative from parent company Clear Channel Radio came to read a statement. The statement read, in part, that in response to public comments, The Buzz would be saved and moved to 94.5 FM, a much stronger signal, resulting in a "Bigger, Better Buzz".
Oldies 107.5
Just before 8:00 p.m. on July 18, 2000, KTBZ and KLDE each played a pre-recorded lead-in to the station switch. KTBZ led a one-minute countdown as they "faded" off of the 107.5 frequency, while KLDE had their air staff riding in a transporter across the dial to 107.5 FM. At exactly 8:00 p.m., the stations simultaneously exchanged frequencies. KTBZ's montage led in with "Turn on the Juice!", while KLDE's air staff "crash-landed" on 107.5. Both stations celebrated the move with their own "Switch Parties"; The Buzz presented a free concert starring Stone Temple Pilots that was broadcast live from The Aerial Theater in downtown Houston on "94.5 The Buzz". The remaining new station, "Oldies 107.5", marked the transition by playing 48 hours of non-stop music. This officially completed the "trade" in ownership. 97.1 FM continued to simulcast 107.5 FM until November 2000, when it flipped to Rhythmic CHR (it is now a classic country station).
In 2004, afternoon "boss jock" Barry Kaye left the station. The following year, in 2005, KLDE dropped any link to "Oldies" whatsoever, playing a mix of classic Top 40 known as classic hits, under the moniker "Houston's 107-5 KLDE", adopting the slogan "The Greatest Hits of the 60's & 70's." The station was also the first to launch HD digital radio in the Houston market in January 2005, and the HD-2 channel was a mix of pre-1964 oldies. Most recently, the station's HD2 sub-channel, using the "Oldies 107.5" intellectual property since its 2006 sign-on, has been airing a playlist consisting of 1950s, 1960s and 1970s oldies, with 1960s music being the most prominent.
K-Hits
On July 10, 2006, the station changed branding to "107-5 The New K-Hits, Houston's home for the Greatest Hits of the 60's and 70's". While it did not flip formats or fire all the DJs, it did fire the morning team, to be replaced by longtime KRBE APD/afternoon DJ Scott Sparks. The KLDE calls remained in place until December 14, 2006, when the station changed its call letters to KHTC.
The Eagle
On January 27, 2009, the station announced the addition of Dean and Rog from KKRW effective June 1, 2009. Following this announcement, on May 17, 2009, the station changed its call letters, initially without explanation, to KGLK. On June 1, 2009, the station changed its branding to "107.5 The Eagle", and adopted a Classic Rock-leaning approach, but officially remained a Classic Hits station.
106.9 Simulcast Begins
In June 2011, after years of low ratings, Cox announced that sister station 106.9 KHPT would begin simulcasting KGLK's programming effective June 20. KHPT previously ran an Alternative format branded as "The Zone", which, in turn, was a replacement for the previous all-80s format known as "The Point".
When KKRW changed its format to Urban Contemporary on December 31, 2013, KGLK, in response, officially reclaimed itself as a Classic Rock station later that day and changed its slogan to "Houston's Only Classic Rock."
Maps KGLK
KHPT History
Beginnings as FM 107 KNRO
The station signed on to service Conroe on February 14, 1965, with the call letters KNRO. Over time, the call letters have been changed 6 times.
Houston's Joy of Jesus
KNRO, as KJOJ-FM, became a religious station for many years, having been owned by Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, with a 600-foot tower in Grangerland.
The slogan for KJOJ-FM was "Houston's Joy of Jesus." During the 1980s, the on-air personalities included Bert Salas, Keith Cramer, Keith Eckhardt, Minnie Francis, and Lyle Countryman. In early 1980s, the station's morning show "Lamb and Lion" was a Christian comedy radio morning show hosted by Salas.
The callsign KJOJ-FM moved from 106.9 to present day 103.3 (located in Sargent) in December 1990.
US Radio Years; YOU 106.9, Z Rock
It was sold in the early 1990s after the fall of Jimmy Swaggart in a sex scandal. US Radio, a company owned by Philadelphia lawyer Ragan Henry, owned 106.9 until 1995, when the financing balloon bank note for US Radio's 49 stations across the country became due and Henry was forced to sell his empire with 106.9 being sold to Salem Communications in 1995. During this time, 106.9 (under the KJZS and KKHU callsigns) moved to a 1200-foot tower west of Cleveland, just north of state highway 105, with plans to build a 2000-foot tower near Splendora to cover more of the Houston market.
The station acquired new calls KJZS and a smooth jazz format; that format lasted until February 1992, when the station changed its calls to KKHU and became "The New YOU 106.9" as a hot talk/oldies hybrid, and later to Classic Rock (dropping "The New YOU" moniker) right after KFMK's demise.
In September 1992, KKHU changed both call letters and format, this time to KKZR as "Z-Rock 106.9", airing the ABC Radio Networks satellite-fed Z-Rock network from Dallas.
Sale to Salem; Z Rock Flips to Christian
KKZR became KKHT "106.9 The Word" on March 10, 1995. Salem Communications, a company that specializes in Christian radio stations, bought the station the same year. Under Salem, the new 2000 foot tower site at Splendora was completed.
Cox Radio Acquisition; Houston Gets "The Point"
In 2000, Salem sold the station to Cox Radio, who, in return, received Atlanta, GA properties from Cox (the tower sites, however, remained in the original owners hands). "The Word" signed off at Midnight on September 28, 2000, and moved to 1070 AM (The Word now resides on 100.7 FM). 106.9 then began stunting with a countdown and with monikers saying "MP3 Radio" and "Radio Free Houston". In addition, the station also filed for the KZJZ call letters, which led to rumors stating that the station may return to its former smooth jazz format. At 5 PM on October 4, 2000, KKHT's callsign was officially changed to KZJZ and "Jazzy 106.9" signed on with Kenny G's "Songbird". However, just seconds into "Songbird", the male and female voice overs revealed this was only a ruse ("You really didn't think we were going jazz, did you?"). Followed by a montage of station promos, the 1980s music station, "106-9 The Point," signed on with Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)". The call letters changed to KHPT on October 17, 2000.
The station withstood the erosion of 1980s-music stations during 2003, and maintained its format. Over the years, the Point's music library gradually expanded to include some late 1970s songs, as well as early 1990s material, but even added songs as late as 1998 and 1999, but never played any current material, making it a 1980s-oriented adult hits station. For a long time, ratings were high for the station. However, ratings started to drop gradually over time, most likely due to the burnout factor of the music, with the station reaching a 1.8 share in its last book with a 1980s-hits format.
The Zone
At 6 a.m. on November 8, 2010, KHPT changed its format to classic alternative rock (with 1980s and more 1990s material) as "106-9 The Zone". The Point's final song was Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive", while The Zone's first song was Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly". On January 26, 2011, most likely due to low ratings, the station relaunched with a purely 1990s rock format, dropping 1980s material. On April 1, 2011, The Zone began adding alternative songs from the 2000-2007 period to its playlist, and with that change, the station formally changed to a Modern Rock format, similar to KTBZ. This still did not help the station's ratings.
107.5 Simulcast
On June 20, 2011, at 5:25 a.m., after playing "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence and Third Eye Blind's "Jumper", KHPT began simulcasting sister station 107.5 KGLK, making "The Eagle" one of the largest overall coverage areas for one specific station brand in the United States.
Not long afterwards, the previous 1980s-shifted adult hits format, along with "The Point" branding, was revived on the HD2 sub-channel, replacing "Pat FM", a jockless 1980s and 1990s-shifted alternative format not unlike the franchised Bob FM format.
K291CE
K291CE (106.1 FM, Hum FM Radio) is a South Asian format that is broadcast on KGLK-HD3 and a 190 watt relay translator at 106.1. K291CE is owned by a Hispanic church and leased to Hum Tum Radio, who also leases out KGLK HD-3. Hum Tum Radio/Hum FM is owned by Rehan Siddiqi, a South Asian concert promoter who previously ran the format on several brokered AM stations in Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. The 106.1 signal is strong in Southwest Houston, Sugar Land, and Missouri City, areas with a large and growing South Asian population.
Current jocks
The Morning Show with Dean and Rog is hosted by Dean and Rog w/Suzi Hanks who originated at 93.7 The Arrow (now KQBT). The mid-day host is Jennifer Tyler (formerly The Fabulous Jennifer Tyler) also from the former Arrow KQBT. Scott Sparks former APD of KRBE on afternoons, Maureen Cooper on evenings, and the station is fully automated overnight. Weekend hosts include Kelly Ryan (From the former Arrow), John Davis, Dan Cryer,and Mark Douglas(He has been with KLDE/KGLK since 1995)
Former jocks
Former on-air personalities on KGLK include Susie "Carr" Loucks, Paul Christy, Ted Carson, Joe Ford, Barry Kaye, Michael "Vee" Valdez, Joe Martelle, Linda Cruz, Eddie Cruz, Mike McCarthy, Kevin Charles, Janice Dean, RC Rogers, J.D.Houston, Sheree Bernardi, Sean O'Neel, Col. St. James, Jerry Pelletier, Mark Megason, Bill Campbell, Dave E. Crockett, Ron Parker, Jackie Robbins, Kenny Miles, Ron Leonard, Bob Ford, Donna McKenzie, Chuck Contreras, The Catfish, Sheri Evans, Ken Sasso, Bob Edwards, and
KGLK callsign and moniker history
- KGOL - 10 November 1980 (Christian "107 KGOL")
- KZFX - 5 August 1986 (Z107)
- KRQT - 31 October 1994 (Rocket 107.5)
- KTBZ - 12 May 1995 (107-5 The Buzz)
- KLDE - 18 July 2000 (Oldies 107.5, Houston's 107-5 KLDE)
- KHTC - 14 December 2006 (107-5 The New K-Hits)
- KGLK - 17 May 2009 (The Eagle - Houston's Classic Hits Station)
- KGLK - 31 December 2013 (The Eagle - Houston's Only Classic Rock Station)
KHPT callsign and moniker history
- KNRO - 14 February 1965
- KJOJ - 1980s - 1990
- KJZS - 1990 - 6 March 1992 (Smooth Jazz 106.9)
- KKHU - 6 March 1992 (You 106.9)
- KKZR - 4 September 1992 (Z Rock)
- KKHT - 7 March 1995 (106.9 The Word)
- KZJZ - 4 October 2000 (temporary call set)
- KHPT - 17 October 2000 (The Point, The Zone, The Eagle)
KGLK Previous Logo
(KGLK's logo under previous classic hits format)
KHPT Previous Logo
References
External links
- Query the FCC's FM station database for KGLK
- Radio-Locator information on KGLK
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for KGLK
- Query the FCC's FM station database for K291CE
Source of article : Wikipedia
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