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KUHA off the air

M

Mediafrog+

Walk of Fame Participant
KUHA must be having major transmitter problems; it appears they've been off the air all day. The website for Houston Public Media has a banner: "Classical 91.7 is currently running at reduced power and may need to be taken down for emergency maintenance. We are working to get it back on air as soon as possible. Classical 91.7 is available on KUHF 88.7 HD-2, TV channel 8.5, and online."

I did hear the 91.3 translator while driving in the Midtown/Montrose area this afternoon, so that is still on the air. Of course that is really a translator for KUHF 88.7 HD2 and not the 91.7 signal.

Wonder if KUHA is still using the old KTRU transmitter from 1990 (the original one at the NE Harris County site?) Or had they installed a new one since the 2011 sale?
 
KUHA made it back on the air during the day on Wednesday 7/22, but at reduced power. I noticed today (7/25) that the signal seems stronger than it was on Wednesday, but is still not at full power.

The Houston Public Media Facebook page has this update: "Thank you for your patience this week as we installed a temporary antenna to replace damaged equipment. The temporary antenna doesn’t reach the entire service area. Our old antenna is not salvageable. A new antenna is now being built, and we hope to have it delivered and installed by the end of August."

Sounds like they experienced the dreaded fried antenna/feedline. That will cost some $$$.
 
Other than installing new processing, I haven't heard anything about any changes made to the 91.7 site up until this.

The 91.3 translator is hard to catch unless you're in the Medical Center. Often when I tune to 91.3 I get Beaumont. No wonder they never mention it.
 
Wow...another huge loss for classical after the Miami stations were sold to EMF. If non-com radio can't make money with classical, no one can.
 
Well, phooey. KUHA is a station I enjoy and listen to a lot, especially while reading, surfing the internet, or doing various things around the house.

The station has been running on reduced power for a few weeks (after the antenna apparently fried; new one is being shipped and installed) and I had noticed they were heavily promoting the 88.7 HD2, as well as online streaming, and just a couple of weeks ago added the KUHT 8.5 option to their TOH ID. I had actually asked myself "would they consider changing the format on 91.7 (perhaps to something like KKXT in DFW) while keeping the Classical on those alternative outlets?" I sure didn't see UofH dumping the station outright after only four years.

It is a fairly safe bet that the pledge drives and other donation sources didn't bring in anywhere near enough money to justify keeping the Classical format going, despite some reasonably respectable ratings numbers for KUHA. Guess the firing of most of KUHA's on-air staff in November 2013 didn't solve the money problems, either. The above-mentioned demise of Classical in South Florida is a reminder that the format may be reaching the end of its viability on mainstream FM radio as the demographics are simply too old, or have literally died off.

Should be noted that replacing the antenna is probably costing a big chunk of money.

Lisa Shumate has been very tough about cutting expenses at all the Houston Public Media outlets. The purchase of the old KTRU was done before she took the reigns of HPR.

Sure will be interesting to see who winds up with 91.7. KSBJ for its NGEN format? Joel Osteen? EMF? American Family Radio? Someone totally out of the blue? However, I do not believe any speculation that Rice University will repurchase the station, in light of the impending launch of that school's LPFM on 96.1.

Wonder what happens to the 91.3 translator in the Medical Center area? (Technically rebroadcasting KUHF 88.7 HD2.)

It's getting to the point for me where there is almost nothing worth listening to on the Houston radio landscape any more. Thank goodness for streaming options and Music Choice.
 
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Obviously compared to KUHF, KUHA is not the superior signal. Second add a change to a new frequency and fundraiser so quickly after the move should have demonstrated to the University of Houston, those two strikes would lead to lower overall dollars until everything catches on and new habits are developed. The third strike was not meeting the goal of the fundraiser, dropping live and local for a satellite delivered format.

So: Did classical get a fair chance on
1) lesser signal
2) recent move to new dial position
3) fundraiser soon after the move (that doesn't meet goal)
4) releasing on air staff for satellite delivered format

I have to question if classical failed or if the decision makers at KUHA failed. Let's turn that around: why not take that major market FM so finely researched and toss on the same music format via satellite. Now, for fun let's move it to a new dial position and see how it looks in the ratings. Would the sales staff be pulling their hair out?

Anyone want to speculate who might be trying to get a deal? I really doubt they'll get 9.5 million. I can't think off a likely candidate, not even KSBJ. I doubt they'd have the cash flow to acquire it. Sure Air 1 might like a better signal (which would help but not that much) and so might American Family Radio but that's a bunch of money for both entities to shell out.

Reading the colorful press release, it appears U of H is looking for a gracious way to bow out of classical music by letting it die a slow death. I cannot see how they can keep their employees and garner enough audience online to make ends meet. It sort of reminds me of KQUE FM moving to 1230, then dropping everyone and going satellite with the format on 790 for a while until going Sports Talk.
 
b-turner said:
Anyone want to speculate who might be trying to get a deal? I really doubt they'll get 9.5 million. I can't think off a likely candidate, not even KSBJ. I doubt they'd have the cash flow to acquire it. Sure Air 1 might like a better signal (which would help but not that much) and so might American Family Radio but that's a bunch of money for both entities to shell out.
Click to expand...

Maybe Daij Media/Radio Aleluya? They've been buying up stations recently.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
It is a fairly safe bet that the pledge drives and other donation sources didn't bring in anywhere near enough money to justify keeping the Classical format going, despite some reasonably respectable ratings numbers for KUHA. Guess the firing of most of KUHA's on-air staff in November 2013 didn't solve the money problems, either.
Click to expand...

I guess this is due in large part to the lower oil prices that are hurting Houston's economy.
 
TheBigA said:
If that's the reason, why isn't it also having an effect on KUHF?
Click to expand...
It's not, and he has no earthly idea what he's talking about as he obviously doesn't live here. Houston is still growing, new construction is still booming, and our economy no longer solely relies on the oil and gas industry like it once did.
 
Anonymouse said:
Maybe Daij Media/Radio Aleluya? They've been buying up stations recently.
Click to expand...

That was my first thought too, Mouse.

Lord, please let it be KSBJ that picks up that license. This is a tremendous facility to have for NGEN. EMF I doubt, because they can not bring K-Love here. American Family might be a possibility, but then wouldn't we be speculating on who picks up 88-3? AFR wouldn't maintain both, would they?
 
One more off my presets, unless KSBJ gets it for NGEN. That will leave Air-1 as the ONLY non-HD-2 signal on my presets! Houston radio - anything creative, everything good - only on HD-2.
 
I didn't think of Lakewood Church as a possibility, but they might be interested. I wonder if Radio Aleluya could pull it off. They have spent a bunch of cash on signals and there has to be a cap on potential income. Then again, the have some assets they could put on the market if they bought 91.7. What might happen to that translator is another question entirely.
 
Hector Guevara's Radio Vida would not have the cash to do the deal. Hector and Roberto do a lot with a little, opting to build versus buy stations unless the price is low enough to pay cash. They are careful about working within the financial realm they are in, not jumping beyond in hopes it might work. They build slowly versus going all out. When you're talking 9.5 million that is a huge monthly payment before you even think about all the other costs. If the price was a million, maybe.
 
The remaining service on HD2/online/8.5 will have to be renamed, as the Classical 91-7 moniker will no longer apply. My guess is HPM Classical. I would also think that a call letter change for 91.7 would be a stipulation of the sale.

I'm curious about how much of the locally produced and syndicated programming will remain on the station. On weekdays the Classical 24 satellite service is run 19 hours per day, with the remaining hours filled by Performance Today 10am-Noon, Exploring Music 7-8pm, and various symphony concerts 8-10pm. Weekends are currently a hodgepodge of local/syndicated/Classical 24 programming. Wonder if they now will just carry Classical 24 around the clock?

The more I think of it, I doubt EMF would want 91.7, as it doesn't really add anything not already covered by the current 103.7 signal.

I'm not a Joel Osteen fan, but would be interested to see what kind of station he would have. I doubt it would be a clone of his current Sirius/XM outlet, though his preaching would still be a significant part of the programming.

DAIJ Media is a commercial operation, so not a buyer candidate. Radio Aleluya itself is the non-profit.

Wonder if KJIC would be able to raise the money to get 91.7 as a northside simulcast? The 90.5 signal doesn't really reach the northern half of the market. KJIC's Southern Gospel format has been around for many years, so there must be a sufficient audience to keep it going.

Apparently UofH expects the sale to take about six months, so KUHA will be around for a bit longer.
 
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