Wow, 1992/93 4 full market 100kw Country Stations

Just noticed this from the country craze of that time, after reading the kiss thread below, it was interesting to look back to see that after 4 county stations someone finally gave the market a chr to listen to lol(eagle was always aor chr).

I can't imagine many major markets ever having 4 stations (5 if you count am) all the same format on full market sticks. 949 963 995 1053

Any insight from back then would be interesting, this is a cool place to dig deeper than the numbers of the time and wik info, thanks.

The early 90's was a good time for Country Music as a new generation of artists was making its mark, led by Garth Brooks. This also helped to create sub-formats such as "Young Country" which I thoroughly enjoyed, even though I had never been much of a Country fan.

Presentation on Country FM's also became a lot slicker in the 90's.

At one point in the early 90's Houston had four full-power Country FM's (KIKK, KILT, KKBQ, and rimshot KYKR.)

Around that same time, Grand Rapids, MI had four country music stations (93.7, 96.1, 101.3, 106.9 [rimshot]). Ironically, all four of these are now owned by Clear Channel.

Charleston has three right now (92.5, 96.9, 103.5). A fourth can be heard (106.9) on most radios. But most markets don't have four stations, let alone a major one like Dallas.

http://www.dfwradioarchives.info/1992.htm

Long story short: for most of the 80s there was just KSCS and KPLX. In the fall of '91, KSCS and KPLX were #1 and #2 in the market, with 18.5 total shares - so there was plenty of room for a 3rd station to come in and go after those country listeners. Alliance Broadcasting bought 105.3 and flipped it to "Young Country" in January 1992 as the format started to explode nationally. (KYNG was the first station in the nation to adopt the "Young Country" moniker).

With KYNG doing well in younger demos, and KSCS still doing well by virtue of the gargantuan numbers it had to start with, this effectively put the squeeze on KPLX. Later in '92, Alliance was able to LMA 94.9, replacing its oldies format with classic country as "Sunny 95". This helped Alliance attack the older demos of KSCS that KYNG could not go after. It was a strategic one-two punch that helped bring KSCS down from double-digit shares to 7s, 6s and 5s. If it weren't for Alliance's LMA, there probably would not have been a 4th full-market country, it just provided the best strategic move for them in trying make KYNG to top country station. (Of course, everything changed when the tower that held KYNG's antenna collapsed in October 1996, putting a major hurt on the station's momentum.)

Traverse City, MI has three country stations that cover most of the market:
101.9 WLDR Traverse City with satellite 750 WARD Petoskey
102.9 WMKC Indian River
103.5 WTCM Traverse City with satellite 93.5 WBCM Boyne City (103.5 also covers Big Rapids, Cadillac, Ludington, and Manistee, none of which are within the TC radio market)

Due to the length of the market, a few other country stations can be heard in parts of the market:
94.9 WKZC Scottville (far southwest market; TCM beats them in their home market)
95.3 WWSS Tuscorora Township (north/northeast market)
102.5 WCMM Gulliver (Leelanau Peninsula)
104.3 CJQM Sault Ste. Marie, ON (far northern market)
105.5 WMKD Pickford (far northern market)

Thanks for the info, the big deal is that it was 4 full market 100kw stations airing the country format, sure we radio geeks will listen through static and pull far away stations but no one else does so the other markets don't count, but thanks for the info. If there are any other examples where 4 full market signals ran the same format I would be interested in knowing.
I do think that in the 80s you had some markets with 4 beautiful music stations or whatever you call it, at that time the ac station were different from them so they can't be said to be the same, even a soft ac was harder than those stations were.
So I wonder what would have happened without that tower mishap, it seemed that by looking at the ratings this kyng was quite a success, even tying kscs at one point. KYNG left the format then KPLX took over the young country hole and now they rule Dallas, I wonder if it would be kyng had that tower incident not went down.

The current situation in Houston is 2 full power country stations from Senior Rd. (KKBQ & KILT-FM), and two rimshots (KVST & KTHT). Three if you count KYKR as Frog mentioned. While it's not 4 full power stations, it's certainly a strong representation of the genre down here.

We have always had an abundance of country music stations, both on AM in the day, and now FM.

As Domingo mentioned, KYNG took over KODZ "Oldies 94.9" in an LMA and immediately flipped it to country as "Sunny 95." I've always heard Scott Ginsburg really regretted that deal because the paperwork for the LMA was signed before the book came out, and Oldies 94.9 was up big and within striking distance of KLUV when it was released. However, the deal was done and the format was gone before anybody knew the results. Sunny 95 ran various versions of country, all of which usually skewed older and/or softer until Infinity bought Alliance in '96. KSNN "Sunny 95" became KEWS "All News 94.9" in March '96. Although Sunny 95 never really caught on, Domingo's probably right that it did take KSCS and KPLX down a notch. Plus, it likely drove WBAP, which had been slowly adding talk shows over the previous few years, completely out of the format.

Country was really big in the early 90's, and Dallas/Ft. Worth was hardly unique in having a glut of country stations. Kansas City, for example, had three country stations (1 AM and 2 FM) in January 1991. By December 1993, it had five (2 AM and 3 FM). Tulsa also had country on 1170, 95.5, 98.5 and 99.5 by March 1993. Plus, about half the market could get country KMMY 97.1 out of Muskogee, which flipped to country from AC in '91. San Antonio had country on 680, 97.3, 100.3 and 106.7, and everybody in the market also had access to at least KBOP-FM/KBUC 98.3 and/or KNBT 92.1.

Even today, country seems have caught fire again in at least some areas. Four full-market country stations is anything but rare. As recently as 10 years ago, Oklahoma City had country on 93.3, 96.1, 96.9, and 101.9. Tulsa has four FM country stations that cover the entire market in 95.5, 98.5, 99.5 and 106.1. Wichita has 92.3, 100.5, 101.3 and 102.1 as well as a rimshot country station on 107.9 going after it. Even the last frontier of Anchorage, AK has country on 96.3, 100.9, 104.1, and 107.5.

purpledevil said:

The current situation in Houston is 2 full power country stations from Senior Rd. (KKBQ & KILT-FM), and two rimshots (KVST & KTHT). Three if you count KYKR as Frog mentioned.

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Frog meant KYKR when it was on 93.3 and had moved to the 2000 ft Devers tower before Steve Hicks sold the station to Univision's predecessor...now KYKR is 100KW on a 500ft tower south of Vidor on 95.1; not a rimshot for Houston at all....KTHT is a 2000 ft rimshot from Shepherd and covers most of the area...KVST gets down to N Houston....but once past Beltway 8, KVST is not much of a signal (not a 100KW/2000ft rimshot)....when it moves north, it will no longer count at all in Harris County..

purpledevil said:

The current situation in Houston is 2 full power country stations from Senior Rd. (KKBQ & KILT-FM), and two rimshots (KVST & KTHT). Three if you count KYKR as Frog mentioned.

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KVST is really a suburban/exurban signal focused on Montgomery and Walker Counties. The signal is poor/unusable south of I-10.

KYKR only targeted Houston 1990-92, when it was on the original tall Devers stick. In 1992 the 93.3 frequency was LMA'd to become the original incarnation of KLTN Estereo Latino. At that time KYKR moved back to Beaumont/Port Arthur by taking over the 95.1 transmitter formerly used by KZZB-FM.

KTHT Country Legends does quite well for a rimshot. The format is perfect for the areas where the signal is strongest.

One other Country station, KTWL "Texas Mix 105.3" is a non-factor outside of the far northwestern suburbs/exurbs.

Kent said:

Even today, country seems have caught fire again in at least some areas.

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I brought this up in another thread, but much of Country's popularity is due to the lack of musical formats for males over 35, particularly white males. In Houston for example, you have one Classic Rock option (The Eagle)...or you have Country. Every other available music format is aimed at younger females. Whatever you thought of the old KKRW and the AAA incarnation of KHJK, they were male friendly.

And, as I said elsewhere, most of this is due to the state of the music industry these days, as well as advertiser preference for female demographics.

I'm inclined to agree with you, though I'd also assert that there's not much for the female demographic above 35 either, though there's usually more than there is for males. Country's audience is still pretty evenly divided among males and females, and I suspect AC's evolution has driven more older females to country as well. It's less obvious in Houston, where KODA has maintained more of its traditional sound than KVIL has. Most CBS and Cumulus AC's have started skewing hot, and I can't imagine the older female audience listening to those stations, or at least not at the level they did a few years ago. Of course, advertisers prefer female demographic as you mention, and they also seem to prefer a younger demographic as 18-49 is rapidly becoming the new 25-54.

Ah yes, I had forgotten that KYKR actually tried to abandon the Triangle at one point, you are sure right.

KODA hasn't changed its traditional sound? You mean besides the fact it became "Mix" version 2.0 when Clear Channel spun KHMX off to CBS? It's hardly the KODA of old, Kent. Heck, it doesn't even resemble the "Sunny" that it started off as. Once a very soft AC station, now has a lot of the same music as Mix, Hot, and 104.

Btw, where did I take the wrong turn? Thought I was in the Dallas board, and just look at all the Houston talk.

No wonder our board is dead!

I said "more" of its traditional sound. Granted, KODA isn't easy listening with news at the top of the hour like it was 30 years ago, but it still plays a fair amount of older songs (as in 80's music), which KVIL and most of the other CBS AC's have gotten rid of entirely (except, maybe, for the occasional weekend specialty show). Of course, any AC is expected to add new music as time goes on, hence the contemporary part of the format. However, KODA is one of the few AC's where you can still hear Cyndi Lauper, a core artist just a few years ago, in regular rotation.

True. You can expect to hear Madonna on Sunny daily too. Then again, before CBS took the reigns at Mix, you could hear both of them at any given point on 96-5, which is very much the reason I jokingly call KODA "Mix V2.0".

There is quite a bit of difference in what Sunny sounds like now, as opposed to what it did when Mix was its sister, just a couple of years ago. Of course, that has a lot to do with the evolution of adult contemporary as a format too, as you referred to. Haha, yeah KODA (coma) definitely is a far cry from the 99-1 of 30 years ago.

Way off topic now, but what the hey. The D/FW hijack presses on. CW, could you PM me over at Insight? I can't access what you sent me over here for some odd reason. Your message is blank when I click on it. Gracias, amigo.

purpledevil said:

Ah yes, I had forgotten that KYKR actually tried to abandon the Triangle at one point, you are sure right.

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Actually KYKR on 93.3 did not try to abandon the Triangle...Steve Hicks (of Capstar) owned it and wanted more cash...so he bought 95.1 which has gone dark, moved 93.3 to the then CC Devers stick and simulcasted for a few months and then 93.3 went to its new owners...and 95.1 was KYKR (and now moved back to the original 93.3 tower) and Steve pocketed a bunch of cash...


(Devil, will do.....)