KIRP

Has a construction permit to change from 98.3 fm to 96.1 FM.

Why? Does the construction permit from K227bd have anything to do with it?

They will also be made to change their call letters as well. Vulgarity isn't allowed.

Mrtejano said:

Has a construction permit to change from 98.3 fm to 96.1 FM.

Why? Does the construction permit from K227bd have anything to do with it?

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I'm pretty sure the impending translator on 98.3 would cause a lot of grief to KIRP, despite the highly directional signal (Radio-Locator): https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=K227BD-FX&s=C

The move to 96.1 makes sense, as it gets it away from the new translator as well as 1st adjacent KTJM. The new frequency is also nicely clear of co-channel KBLT (which pretty much dies at the West Belt) plus the KTEK translator on the south side as well as the very limited coverage of the KSHJ translator in Jersey Village.

I have to wonder about the overall viability of KIRP with the move to "leasing" air time. Not a good sign.

Mediafrog+ said:

I'm pretty sure the impending translator on 98.3 would cause a lot of grief to KIRP, despite the highly directional signal (Radio-Locator): https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=K227BD-FX&s=C

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If KIRP surrenders their 98.3 channel it will remove all roadblocks for the folks at Allah-luia. K227BD won't have to be directional anymore. They'll be able to raise their antenna much higher on the tower, perhaps even duplex with 95.1. Another super translator coming soon.

N5TZQ said:

If KIRP surrenders their 98.3 channel it will remove all roadblocks for the folks at Allah-luia. K227BD won't have to be directional anymore. They'll be able to raise their antenna much higher on the tower, perhaps even duplex with 95.1. Another super translator coming soon.

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Might be the plan all along

Looks like KIRP has made the move to 96.1. Unable to confirm that at my location, however. Their website has been updated as "96 Oldies."

Confirmed on the air as 96.1 oldies Sugarland. But I don't recognize the songs - it was a WTF is this moment. I know a lot of songs. Never heard the two they were playing. One sounded like an 80'ish pop song, the other IDK, sounded like "Shout" (Lulu version) but it wasn't. Signal weak at I-10 and BW-8.

There's your oldies music, Houston. Part of it anyway.

AnyHuman said:

There's your oldies music, Houston. Part of it anyway.

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Just because it is old - it doesn't make it an oldie. Has anybody bothered to ask why oldies failed on KGBC? It is simple - 50's through 80's is too broad of a timespan. To do oldies right, you have to know the music, not simply string together obscure songs from old charts. And you should focus on one or two decades and do them very well. Otherwise, this is bound to be another failed attempt. The original 107.5 oldies didn't fail because it was oldies, it failed because they didn't know how to do oldies. That is why KONO and KLUV continue to do well in other cities, and 107.5 failed here. Not even I would listen - coming from Dallas where we had KLUV, it was apparent that 107.5 down here was a terrible oldies station by comparison.

KIRP is now causing some interference to KBLT along I-10 inside the Loop. Along 290 it is a battle between the two, throwing in the KSHJ translator as you approach Jersey Village. At some points it is a four way battle with KAGG audible at times.

Had a chance to listen to about 10 songs in 45 minutes. My analysis of the format - for anybody who cares.

I heard three songs that could legitimately belong in the "oldies" format - "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", "Sugar Sugar", and "Backstabbers"

I heard one Contemporary Christian song from the praise and worship era. The station is also billing itself as "positive", so inclusion of CCM is not unexpected - but - aside from people who are members of churches, nobody listens to the praise and worship era of CCM, which in my opinion virtually destroyed the format. The songs would have a great deal of meaning in a worship service or home Bible study setting, but come off as ponderous, repetitive, and long on the radio. In other words, this was NOT a radio cut, unless you are on a praise and worship CCM station with an audience that likes it.

The rest of the time, I didn't recognize the cuts. In the past, I did a lot more radio listening. If it charted in the 60's, 70's, or 80's, and even if it didn't - I will know it. From the general style I would date most of them to the 80's, which is appropriate for a "classic hits" format, but not deep, unknown tracks like these. Because music videos kind of dominated the music scene, there are a lot of really bad 80's tracks that had great videos. But without the video on the radio, they are still just bad music. There is a reason why some of these never charted.

They played a teaser spot with two songs I recognized from the 90's. Somewhere along the line, I got this idea that 28 years is the cutoff for oldies, so 90's are a little young for an oldies / classic hits format.

Another teaser spot said that if you want to host your own radio show, contact them. That is bad news for oldies fans - look for this frequency to be jammed with more foreign language stuff soon.

I still don't think a three to four decade range will work. If you grew up with Elvis, you aren't going to like 80's. If you grew up with the Beatles, you probably hate rap. I think about a twenty year period is about the limit because you will hit a generation that way. A little 50's, lot of 60's and a few 70's works well for Cousin Brucie, for example. But playing a doo-wop fifties followed by Baby Got Back is not going to work - two different generations.

The station has a bad technical problem. It is mono, with only one channel in the audio. Reception roughly across the West Little York area from BW8 to Fry is terrible, and I, too, got interference from other stations.

Sounds like a good idea for an LPFM, random music with no structure whatsoever. LOL they should call it "Mix 96.1" like KXXM in SA used to!

Actually it's a bad idea. The more eclectic you get the worse you do. Logic will show this. If you have a 100,000 watt FM you can make it on 1 or 2% of, say 5 million and have a decent audience. Do the same format that might reach 50 to 100 thousand and you're not going to make it. Even with a concentrated coverage, you'll never get enough listeners to either provide listener support, get enough people to respond to an Underwriter or you'll be hard pressed convincing that grant provider to choose you because you reach so few. In fact, odd formats is one of the reasons about 1/3rd of LPFMs go under. The fewer people you reach, the greater percentage you need to listen just to make it.

Eclectic = Pandora. Its already been done. And it is personalized to the listener. I have songs from the 50's through the present on my iPhone, thousands of them. I have my favorites playlist that has songs from every decade on it. But I wouldn't even think of inflicting that playlist on others. If I programmed a radio station, I'd focus on a decade or two and stick with it. The point is probably your go-to 80's station. The Eagle is late 60's through early 80's album rock. Everybody else I can think of is focused on a decade or two, most of them the current decade no matter what the style of music. Format hole wise, we have nobody doing late 50's through early 70's top-40. It is debatable whether the market would support it with advertising dollars. But I don't know of a single successful station anywhere that does 50's through 90's. Or even 50's through 80's. Maybe some of you industry experts know of one somewhere. I know the local 88.7 does eclectic on HD-3, but that is effectively Pandora for people without a Pandora account. I think some of these LPFM's try to be too much to too many people, rather than focus on that niche that isn't filled. Whatever decades you want to cover, put away your CD collection, forget the songs you personally like - look up the charts from each week in that decade or two, play heaviest rotation on whatever was in the top ten, and you will have hundreds of popular songs on your station's playlist, you could almost randomize it and have the format right. It is better if you actually know and love the music and know the dynamics of playing songs together. Like real DJ's of the era you are targeting.

You should really check out 97.9 No Hit Radio over in San Antonio, Texas. It is what I call Album Oldies. All they play is oldies that were not hits.
http://nohitnetwork.com/

Good station 97.9 is!