October numbers are here

[Mediafrog+]

October numbers: Houston/Galveston - RadioInsight

Sunny close to a 10!

Several market leaders drop a bit.

The Box and The Beat both up.

93Q has a nice lead over The Bull.

Mega‘s drop raises an eyebrow.

Wondering about La Raza‘s future.

Country Legends also seems to be running out of gas. Skews too old?

Bottom feeders still in their usual places. Standard “fire” comments.

 

[jt99]

KBXX and KQBT are finally back to where we were used to seeing them pre-pandemic, the same could be said for KKBQ as well. I wonder if the panel performance and sample are closer to normal. Though I do wonder what's up with KKHH and KODA seemingly being stuck at around 1-1.1m and 1.5-1.6m in cume, respectively. I do recall KODA being at just over 2m and KKHH at around 1.3m in the months before the pandemic.

 

[victorres43]

KODA's ratings...more or less similar to the ratings of pre-Entercom WBEB in Philly. Wow. Really loyal listeners here. (And this is before the Holidays!)

Despite the upcoming midterms, KTRH is outside the Top 10. And less stellar ratings for KUHF.

KBME not having even average ratings, even with the Astros.

iHeartMedia has too many AM's for a major market, none of which have showstopping ratings. Three out of four AM's in fact, hover around a 1 share or lower.

Recoveries for KRBE, not so much for KHMX.

The state of Rhythmic/Urban [CHR] radio is solid in Houston, in a way that it isn't in even New York or Atlanta.

 

[jt99]

KBME not having even average ratings, even with the Astros.

Only Game 1 of the ALDS took place during the "October" survey period (September 15-October 12), so it will be the November book in which KBME sees any impact from the Astros postseason run.

 

[HTX]

I’m here before someone says “dumpster fire KROI”

 

[Ryan Williams]

Bottom feeders still in their usual places. Standard “fire” comments.

Spanish-sports KQBU-FM "TUDN" 93.3 has again fallen below the 0.1 threshold for measurement. What is less than a "dumpster fire"?

While it is a rimshot, the signal could be a lot more competitive with more compelling programming. 98.5 and 107.9 have roughly equivalent signals.

 

[jt99]

Spanish-sports KQBU-FM "TUDN" 93.3 has again fallen below the 0.1 threshold for measurement. What is less than a "dumpster fire"?

While it is a rimshot, the signal could be a lot more competitive with more compelling programming. 98.5 and 107.9 have roughly equivalent signals.

It must bill at least somewhat well, or else I imagine it would have been included as part of the Univision sale or flipped to something else already.

 

[stan]

It must bill at least somewhat well, or else I imagine it would have been included as part of the Univision sale or flipped to something else already.

KQBU doesn’t really cover Houston. Maybe it needs to target Beaumont / Port Arthur like it did in the past.

 

[Ryan Williams]

KQBU doesn’t really cover Houston. Maybe it needs to target Beaumont / Port Arthur like it did in the past.

None of those Houston rimshots are going to ever move back to focusing on BPA. It make absolutely no business sense.

True, it doesn't cover the entire Houston-Galveston market, but KQBU-FM (93.3 (along 98.5, and 107.9) covers most of the heaviest hispanic areas of the market with 65 dBu contour or greater. That's enough to be competitive. and put up decent numbers with compelling programming.

 

[DavidEduardo]

KQBU doesn’t really cover Houston. Maybe it needs to target Beaumont / Port Arthur like it did in the past.

Remember, in radio "Houston" is 11 counties, not just one city or one county.



Houston is a $250 million dollar radio market, while Beaumont-Pt. Arthur-Orange is a $6.5 million dollar market.

A Houston rimshot can bill more than all the Beaumont targeted stations combined.

 

[Engineering]

Spanish-sports KQBU-FM "TUDN" 93.3 has again fallen below the 0.1 threshold for measurement. What is less than a "dumpster fire"?

Not sure what the reasoning of Univision here is, but News/Talk and Sports programming are more appropriate for AM than FM. The great News 92 FM experiment should have shown this.

While it is a rimshot, the signal could be a lot more competitive with more compelling programming. 98.5 and 107.9 have roughly equivalent signals.

A rimshot of Houston. However, KQBU is licensed to Port Arthur and the transmitter is in Devers. This station does not serve Houston. It wasn't meant to serve Houston. The Golden Triangle is their market.

 

[Mediafrog+]

News/Talk and Sports programming are more appropriate for AM than FM.

Uh, then why have so many AM news/talk/sports stations launched FM simulcasts the past few years? WBBM, KNX, KCBS, WFAN, KNBR, KYW, WSB just to name a few. And others have moved to FM completely, abandoning AM altogether.

Might want to read the lengthy WINS thread on the NYC board.

AM is dying. It is a technologically inferior platform. And look at the geezer demographics.

This is why I constantly bang the drum for either iHeart or Audacy to buy KROI and move their SportsTalker there.

The great News 92 FM experiment should have shown this.

That format would have failed on AM as well. Way too expensive for Radio One, and All-News does poorly in sunbelt markets, with the exception of KNX.

A rimshot of Houston. However, KQBU is licensed to Port Arthur and the transmitter is in Devers.

Nobody cares about COL. The target market is what counts. KGLK is licensed to Lake Jackson. Simulcast partner KHPT is licensed to Conroe. They both target the Houston market, and do a very good job at it.

Yes, the Devers towers are rimshots, but they all target Houston, and you can hear them across the market unless you are still using a crummy clock radio from the 1970s.

This station does not serve Houston. It wasn't meant to serve Houston.

The 93.3 signal has targeted Houston ever since the big upgrade in 1990. Same thing for the other eastern rimshots since they hit the air. Silly statement.

The Golden Triangle is their market.

LOL. See David Eduardo’s comment above that compares market revenue between B/PA and Houston.

 

[Ryan Williams]

Not sure what the reasoning of Univision here is, but News/Talk and Sports programming are more appropriate for AM than FM. The great News 92 FM experiment should have shown this.

If you looked through my history of posting here, I have always been a big advocate of putting successful spoken word stations on FM, so they can shine to a larger audience and be ready for the next 20 years of broadcasting. News, News/Talk, Sports, and other spoken word formats are my primary focus and also where I believe much of radio's future lies in a world of on-demand music streaming.

The "News/Talk and Sports programming are more appropriate for AM" line of thinking may have been correct 30 years ago, but it is clearly misguided today. AM is in a death spiral and it is only going to get worse. (I say that as someone who has a lot of fondness for AM in general and just made the purchase decision to upgrade one of our AM audio processors).

There are more FM signals available in most markets than there was 30 years ago. On AM: Electrical noise is way up. Quality of receivers is way down. People's tolerance of AM's buzzing and noise in a digital world is much, much lower.

The reason I was bagging on KQBU is because the spanish-language sports format was not doing anything on AM to begin with and then they add a decent FM simulcast which feels like a total waste. And surprise surprise, just putting the same floundering programming on FM doesn't magically set the world on fire.

 

[BamaTX]

Not sure what the reasoning of Univision here is, but News/Talk and Sports programming are more appropriate for AM than FM. The great News 92 FM experiment should have shown this.

Not sure about that. The trend in other markets has shown this to be the opposite. iHeart recently flipped KEGL in Dallas from Rock to Hot Talk/Sports.

News 92 would have done worse had it been on AM.

A rimshot of Houston. However, KQBU is licensed to Port Arthur and the transmitter is in Devers. This station does not serve Houston. It wasn't meant to serve Houston. The Golden Triangle is their market.

Covering a fraction of the Houston market is much more lucrative than covering the entire Beaumont/Port Arthur market. KQQK has shown that rimshots can be successful and even outdraw some of the Senior Rd facilities. The ceiling is much higher in Houston for these rimshots than it is in B/PT.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Not sure what the reasoning of Univision here is, but News/Talk and Sports programming are more appropriate for AM than FM. The great News 92 FM experiment should have shown this.

That was "All News" and not talk with a bit of news or all sports. News 92 was an attempt to do all-news in a southern market where the format either does not work or works poorly.

A rimshot of Houston. However, KQBU is licensed to Port Arthur and the transmitter is in Devers. This station does not serve Houston. It wasn't meant to serve Houston. The Golden Triangle is their market.

It serves a considerable number of the 13 counties in the Houston metro quite well.

A single low rated and badly performing station in Houston bills more than all the Port Arthur stations combined.

 

[ThatVoice22]

I’m here before someone says “dumpster fire KROI”

It's getting old to pick on KROI coz there are 13 stations with worse ratings. Hey, it's #1 in Gospel Music!
ESPN KFNC and Pacifica KPFT (both stuck at 0.2) are the real Houston dumpster fires since KROI (0.8) has 4 times better ratings.

 

[DavidEduardo]

It's getting old to pick on KROI coz there are 13 stations with worse ratings. Hey, it's #1 in Gospel Music!
ESPN KFNC and Pacifica KPFT (both stuck at 0.2) are the real Houston dumpster fires since KROI (0.8) has 4 times better ratings.

There are 74 AM and FM stations in the MSA... 118 if you include translators... 151 with LPFMs included.-

 

[Mediafrog+]

It's getting old to pick on KROI coz there are 13 stations with worse ratings.

We pick on KROI because it is capable of doing much better. A few times in the past the station had numbers in the threes, and that was with the previous tower. The new transmitter facility, although not a Missouri City stick, nonetheless has made a noticeable improvement in the 92.1 signal.

KROI is a textbook example of a station that would be better off under different ownership, whether that be iHeart, Audacy, Cox, EMF, Hope Media Group or someone else desiring a Houston presence. Much of its current plight is that it is caught in a Radio One culture trap, where ownership doesn’t want to do anything that might hurt KMJQ or KBXX, while being unwilling to think outside their usual wheelhouse and develop a format that would be unique to the market and fill a musical hole or meet a demographic need, while drawing an advertiser friendly audience.

I will point to KQQK, while being a rimshot, manages decent ratings with a unique format that appears to resonate with a good number of Houston listeners.

The current Praise format is unique to the market on FM, but let us remember that it failed the first time around, with an audience that was too old and not saleable. Not sure what, if anything, has changed since then that would make the format succeed today.

 

[Engineering]

Remember, in radio "Houston" is 11 counties, not just one city or one county.

View attachment 3781

Houston is a $250 million dollar radio market, while Beaumont-Pt. Arthur-Orange is a $6.5 million dollar market.

A Houston rimshot can bill more than all the Beaumont targeted stations combined.

Actually, if you look at the plot from the Devers transmitter site, you will find that Beaumont is 25 miles away, yet Houston is 70 miles away. Which is why your graphic is unrealistic.

Why do crooks rob banks? Because that's where the money is. Therefore, it seems to me that Univision should hire a proficient engineer and look into moving the station into the Houston market. The question, of course, is there any money to be made, with the huge saturation of Spanish-language stations in Houston. Each time you slice the pie, the slices become smaller and smaller.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Actually, if you look at the plot from the Devers transmitter site, you will find that Beaumont is 25 miles away, yet Houston is 70 miles away. Which is why your graphic is unrealistic.

No, Devers County is in the Houston market, not the Beaumont market. Radio markets are not based on cities, they are based on one or more counties.

Why do crooks rob banks? Because that's where the money is. Therefore, it seems to me that Univision should hire a proficient engineer and look into moving the station into the Houston market.

That was examined and dismissed two decades ago.

The question, of course, is there any money to be made, with the huge saturation of Spanish-language stations in Houston. Each time you slice the pie, the slices become smaller and smaller.

And they make lots of money, all of them (not counting AMs of course). There are more Hispanics in the Houston metro than non-Hispanic whites... just under 40% of the market is Hispanic now.