Since Cumulus took over KRBE and its Susquehanna siblings I knew things were about to change in an instant. KRBE is now trying to go up against Mix, instead of The Box & Party 105. 104 has added Hot AC acts like Rob Thomas, Jewel, and NickelBack, and wants to put more emphasis on Hot AC, Also I heard that 104 is also mixing things up as it plays more hits from the '90s and the double '00s. I have listened to this station when I was a kid, and this station has stuck on me like glue ever since. I don't think Cumulus won't hold to these stations much longer; They want to sell these Big-Market stations over to Cox, EnterComm, or even Emmis. Cumulus wants to focus more on small to middle markets.
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Has 104.1 KRBE lost its flipping mind???
- Thread starter TroyG
- Start date
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ShaneofTexas
Guest
I moved to Houston back in 1994 and KRBE was an awesome station up until a few years ago. They started playing alot of hiphop and rap. I quit listening to it when that started and took it off of my presets.
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a_and_m_king
Guest
I have noticed a lot of songs that should be golds for CHR making a serious comeback. Anna Nalick - 2am. I hear it on KRBE all the time. And I've been hearing a lot of songs lately that I hadn't heard in a long time. I'll have to pay closer attention next time so that I can give examples. My point is, I can hear the change.
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airwave999
Guest
I took KRBE off all my presets several years ago when they went more rap and hip-hop. Granted, that's what the 12-24's were listening to and probably still are. You have to give Susquehana credit for sticking to their root listening audience. I agree with everyone in this thread that says Cumulus will blow it. The playlist they seem to be going to will take them out of that pure 12-24 play and move them more toward 21-34 or even 18-30. That slight shift will put them in direct competion with Mix and any other stations wanting to play in the slightly older demos. By staying true to that pure 12-24 audience KRBE has maintained a miraculous 20+ year run at steady and rising revenue. Blowing out Marc Schecterle was the telling sign of how Cumulus will tear that station down in both programming and revenue generation. Schecterle was the catalyst for keeping KRBE the powerhouse is was for all those years. I hope Susquehana made out on the cash out and they probably did. As for Cumulus, good luck in ever trying to recover from the mess you are about to make. As for Houston, just another kick in the teeth for bad radio getting worse. What's getting better? XM & Sirius. I have my XM going about 90% of the time. I'll be out of touch with Houston radio (I'm a native by the way) soon.
There are 2 Cumulus operations, with overlapping management. One has the former Susquehanna staitons, and is in mostly larger markets like Dallas, SF, Houston, Indianapolis, etc. The other is the one that has been around a long time, in smaller markets. One is publicly traded, the other is private capital. In fact, the private one took the Cumulus Houston stations to create a cluster around KRBE, transferring frm the small market company to the new large market one in an exchange of equity.All that Mediabase indicates to me is that KRBE did a music test. Regular rebalancing of station playlists is normal.Troy Goodwin said:
I doubt Cumulus has any intention of getting rid of KRBE, or any of its Houston stations. Cumulus tends to prefer the adult CHR concept as its CHR brand manager used to run Star 94 in Atlanta, which has always been a heavily adult-skewing top-40. So, these changes at KRBE really come as no surprise. There are very few rhythmic or urban skewing CHR's in the company, though there are more than there were a couple or three years ago. Also, when I was competing against a Cumulus CHR, we were reminded repeatedly by our bosses that, of all its CHR's, Cumulus had TWO that were beating their direct competitors. I didn't go through the comparison myself to find out if that statistic was true, but it wouldn't surprise me. Of the Cumulus CHR's I know of that have competition, I can't think of any off the top of my head that are beating their competitors, except for one. One of the main reasons we kept getting reminded of how bad Cumulus was at programming CHR was because we were getting killed by their CHR!Troy Goodwin said:
It took more than 30 years to create KRBE as one of the top CHR, Top 40, stations in the country. It took Cumeless less than 3 weeks to change it. Keep it up, and they will tear down what all those good people at Susquehana (sp?) have accomplished over the years. It's becuase of one genuine southbound end of a donkey going north that KRBE is going down in flames. Good work, oh gurus of small markets.
Look on the dark side-Before Cumulus took over Susquehanna, Cumuluss dimissed some of the staffers here at 104. Among those: Andy Hudek, Mark Schecterle, and Scott Sparks, who recently lost his midday shift. Cumulus is still looking for some good people who can do the job at a first-class station, like 104. There's no other good station like it. To be frank, I don't like it if this station ends up playing Mexican like Mega 101. 104 has been playing the best top 40 since 1958. I don't think this isn't going anywhere-yet. If it does, I'd be pissed-off.
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bobbybooey
Guest
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!That's funny. Cuz KRBE was doing so horribly prior to the acquisition, that OBVIOUSLY big changes needed to be made and Cumulus/Atlanta is TOTALLY on top of things.(Explanation for the "mouth-breathing" radio-info readers, which seems to accurately depict an unusually large segment of this on-line community: the preceding commentary was sarcasm.)Troy Goodwin said:
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whatchadoin
Guest
yes they have lost their flipping mind....period!
If Cumulus wants to screw up KRBE, then we don't have no choice. KRBE happens to be Houston's ONLY Top 40 music station. I believe down the road, It might become Urban AC or Gospel (Like KHEV-Halleluliah (Sp.) 104.1in N.O.) If they do screw everything up (Like dismissing KRBE's current staffers), Then I have a strong premonition 93Q will come back to pick things up as it will become Top 40. But lately, I only hear music on my MP3 player, or I-pod-and I know what kind of music is very hot right now, and I listen to anything I really do like.
And really do you actually WANT a top-40 93Q if Cox owned it? I don't think so......
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a_and_m_king
Guest
I don't know that the changes are necessarily bad. Maybe revamping the music and jocks will do good things for the station.
There are a couple of things I sorely missed here on 104: "The Beat": An all-night dance party show every Saturday, and The top-30 countdown. Like to see KRBE get Seacrest's "AT40"-and run it between 7-10am Every Saturday. what I also like to see is the Top 8@8-A Daily Countdown. Right Now, they're doing H-Town's countdown of only 5 songs. I think Cumulus needs to think INSIDE the box. KRBE has been like a top-5 station, but KODA still rule Houston Radio-As they attract twice as more people at work over KHJZ (#6); While Univision's KLTN (#3) & KOVE (#5) has been making a splash with Hispanics, while Radio One's KBXX (#4) & KMJQ (#2)caters primarily to African-Americans. KRBE falls to (#7)-There are signs that this station needs to listen to its audience before Cumulus goes further. KRBE generally attracts listeners who goes out to fun-filled places (Like SplashTown, Kemah, The Woodlands, Galveston), Taking your kids out to the ball game and soccer matches, and letting everything all out on weekends. This IS the Summer music station. Unluckily, We already about Astroworld-It's gone right before our very eyes, but I have some good news for people who already missed it. The Astrodome will play host to the world's largest indoor theme park. If you build it.... They WILL come.
And did I hear a JINGLE on air today? What was that? Where is this all coming from?
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