KKBQ-FM
Encyclopedia
KKBQ-FM, "The New 93Q", is a Houston-based Radio
station with a country music
format. Its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas
. The station is owned by Cox Radio
and is part of the Houston Radio cluster including KGLK, KHPT & KTHT
. KKBQ has been nominated twice for Country Music Association
awards for Best Radio Station in a Large Market, winning once. The station has also won the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards award for Best Country Station three times. It is headquartered out of Suite 2300 at 3 Post Oak Central in the Uptown
district in Houston, Texas
, United States
.
On July 2, 1982 The New 79Q was launched on 790AM KULF
with a Top 40 format. The morning show was composed of John Lander and the Q-Morning Zoo
and proved to be an instant success. The station acquired the KKBQ callsign on August 13, 1982.
The station's owners decided to move the format to KYND (92.5 FM). The beautiful music format on 92.5 was beginning to flounder as many baby boomers who were eventually being phased into the workforce could not tolerate "elevator music
" while they worked.
On December 29, 1982, at 6:00 A.M. CST, "Houston's Stereo Combination" (a term coined by morning host John Lander) was born as KYND became "The New 93KBQ", simulcast
ing on KKBQ-AM. The first song played was Eye of the Tiger
by Survivor
, same as the first song played in New York, WHTZ
(Z100) on August 2, 1983.
The FM acquired the KKBQ-FM call letters two months later in February 1983 and, in October, was moved to 92.9 FM, to make room for a new station signing on at 92.1 FM
.
For a time the AM station ran the morning show live from the FM. The rest of the dayparts ran the same playlist slightly delayed and ran identical IDs, promos, jock announcements customized for the AM. This continued until the late 1980s when it became a full-time simulcast.
's inflight music channels. In fall 1985, the Arbitron
ratings listed KKBQ as the number two station in the Houston market.
The following year radio personality John Carrillo (known on-air as John Rio), left the Q Morning Zoo and moved to Houston station KSRR. KKBQ sued Carrillo to prevent him from using his character, Mr. Leonard. Carrillo countersued the station, and the lawsuit ended in a settlement allowing Carrillo to use the character on air, and allowing KKBQ deejays to also use the character.
In 1987, KKBQ won the Houston Association of Radio Broadcasters' Award for Local/Retail Station Promotion.
In mid-1987, KRBE-FM took a lean towards dance and began weekend mixshows called "The Friday and Saturday Night Power Mix". To counter, KKBQ began its own weekend mixshow, Club 93Q. In January 1988, KRBE retaliated by going on location with The Saturday Night Power Mix to a nightclub with the house DJ mixing live on the air. KKBQ scrambled for the next five months to find a club to host a live mixshow. On May 29, 1988, KKBQ launched its first ever weekly live broadcast. It was called "93Q Live On the Cutting Edge from Club 6400." The music skewed towards an 18+ crowd and eschewed Top 40 hits; true to the show's name, it was a mix of industrial
, EBM
, new wave
, goth
, synth-pop and Hi-NRG
dance. Ironically, a good amount of the music on 93Q Live On The Cutting Edge had actually been heard previously on KRBE's Saturday Night Power Mix.
KKBQ beat KRBE at its own game, and the Club 6400 shows set the standard for future mixshows on radio stations throughout Houston. The Club 6400 shows became so popular among Houston's youthful set that the term "6400 music" became a collective reference for the types of music played at the club and the reference, to this day, is still understood by many Houstonians in their late 20's to early 40's.
and Bryan Adams
, the new format was designed to appeal to older listeners.
By this time, country music had become the most popular radio format in the United States, reaching almost 40% of the US adult population each week. Between 1990 and 1992, country record and concert revenues had doubled. To take advantage of the rising genre, KKBQ switched formats again one month later, introducing a new "easy country" format at 8:40 a.m. on September 19. The "easy country" format was a country music version of adult contemporary, aimed at an older audience. The first song played in its entirety on this new version of the station was George Strait
's "You Look So Good in Love". With the exception of Danny Garcia, all of the other deejays were let go, as the station though they were more "young, contemporary-hit type jocks".
The format change did not help their ratings, as KKBQ sank to 17th in the Houston market in 1992. Later that year, the station moved away from the easy country format to target a younger audience. Now known as 93Q Country, the station became "surprisingly successful playing youthful country acts and adopting an on-air personality that is up-tempo and more like Top 40 radio".
Despite the new format, 93Q recycled some of the jingles, laser sound effects, stingers, and music beds from the CHR days. The new morning show team was Dave E. Crockett (Steven Craig, formerly of Z95 (WYTZ-FM) Chicago) and Nancy Alexander, a hold-over from the CHR days. Harley Colt handled middays while afternoon drive time was taken over by "Cactus Jack" Tally (Formerly Jack Da-Wack of Z100 New York
). "Shotgun" Charlie Walker handled nights.
By 1994, the station had become the number one country station in Houston in the coveted 18–34 age group and was the number two station overall in the area. Later that year, they were named the Country Music Radio Station of the Year by Billboard Magazine and Airplay Monitor. In spring 1995, KKBQ pulled ahead of local rival KILT-FM
in the Arbitron ratings for the first time. That year, they were again named Country Station of the Year by Billboard Magazine, and their program director Dene Hallam was named program director of the year. The following year, the station was named Major Market Radio Station of the Year by the Country Music Association
, beating out KILT. They repeated their win as Best Station of the Year at the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards in 1997, again beating local rival KILT.
In 2006, KKBQ was nominated for a Country Music Association
Award for Station of the Year – Major Market.
purchased Chancellor (then known as AMFM, Inc.), thus gaining control of KKBQ. As part of a required divestiture to meet federal ownership regulations, Clear Channel sold KKBQ to Cox Radio
. Cox vowed to have KKBQ run fewer advertisements.
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station with a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format. Its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas
Missouri City, Texas
Missouri City is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County with a small portion within Harris County. As of the 2000 U.S...
. The station is owned by Cox Radio
Cox Radio
Cox Radio, Inc. is a division of Cox Enterprises that holds a number of radio stations. Cox Radio is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, Georgia....
and is part of the Houston Radio cluster including KGLK, KHPT & KTHT
KTHT
KTHT 97.1 "Country Legends 97.1" is a 100,000 watt FM station licensed to Cleveland, TX, that includes service to Houston and Beaumont TX with its Classic Country format. The station is owned by Cox Radio and is co-owned with KGLK, KHPT, and KKBQ...
. KKBQ has been nominated twice for Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
awards for Best Radio Station in a Large Market, winning once. The station has also won the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards award for Best Country Station three times. It is headquartered out of Suite 2300 at 3 Post Oak Central in the Uptown
Uptown Houston
The Uptown District of Houston is located 6.2 miles west of downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard, Westheimer Road , and the Galleria...
district in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Origination
The station signed on at 92.5 FM in the summer of 1962 as KLVL-FM, Houston's first Spanish language FM station, "La Voz Latina". The station was sold in 1969 and changed its format to beautiful music KYND, KIND 92.On July 2, 1982 The New 79Q was launched on 790AM KULF
KBME (AM)
KBME AM is a sports-talk radio station in the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. It is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station airs local sports-talk every weekday from 6am until 9pm and carries nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio programming.-History:The station first went...
with a Top 40 format. The morning show was composed of John Lander and the Q-Morning Zoo
Morning zoo
Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the "wackiness and zaniness" of the activities, bits, and overall personality of the show and its hosts...
and proved to be an instant success. The station acquired the KKBQ callsign on August 13, 1982.
The station's owners decided to move the format to KYND (92.5 FM). The beautiful music format on 92.5 was beginning to flounder as many baby boomers who were eventually being phased into the workforce could not tolerate "elevator music
Elevator music
Elevator music refers to instrumental arrangements of popular music designed for playing in shopping malls, grocery stores, department stores, telephone systems , cruise ships, airports, doctors' and dentists' offices, and elevators...
" while they worked.
On December 29, 1982, at 6:00 A.M. CST, "Houston's Stereo Combination" (a term coined by morning host John Lander) was born as KYND became "The New 93KBQ", simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ing on KKBQ-AM. The first song played was Eye of the Tiger
Eye of the Tiger
"Eye of the Tiger" is a single by American rock band Survivor, from their third album Eye of the Tiger. It was released as a single on May 29, 1982, the same year as the album. It was written at the request of actor Sylvester Stallone, who was unable to get permission for Queen's "Another One Bites...
by Survivor
Survivor (band)
Survivor is an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1978. The band achieved its greatest success in the 1980s with its AOR sound, which garnered many charting singles, especially in the United States. The band is best known for its double platinum-certified 1982 hit "Eye of the Tiger", the theme...
, same as the first song played in New York, WHTZ
WHTZ
WHTZ — branded Z100 — is a commercial pop/contemporary hit radio radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications...
(Z100) on August 2, 1983.
The FM acquired the KKBQ-FM call letters two months later in February 1983 and, in October, was moved to 92.9 FM, to make room for a new station signing on at 92.1 FM
KROI
KROI is a radio station licensed to Seabrook, Texas and broadcasting from studios in Greenway Plaza in Houston, covering the Greater Houston area. The station is owned by Radio One and airs an all-news format.-History:...
.
For a time the AM station ran the morning show live from the FM. The rest of the dayparts ran the same playlist slightly delayed and ran identical IDs, promos, jock announcements customized for the AM. This continued until the late 1980s when it became a full-time simulcast.
Growth
The Q Morning Zoo gained increased exposure in 1985. The show incorporated comedy bits with a Top-40 playlist. On October 5, 1985, John Lander and the Morning Zoo began broadcasting a syndicated weekend show on 100 radio stations around the country. The show was also selected as one of Continental AirlinesContinental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
's inflight music channels. In fall 1985, the Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
ratings listed KKBQ as the number two station in the Houston market.
The following year radio personality John Carrillo (known on-air as John Rio), left the Q Morning Zoo and moved to Houston station KSRR. KKBQ sued Carrillo to prevent him from using his character, Mr. Leonard. Carrillo countersued the station, and the lawsuit ended in a settlement allowing Carrillo to use the character on air, and allowing KKBQ deejays to also use the character.
In 1987, KKBQ won the Houston Association of Radio Broadcasters' Award for Local/Retail Station Promotion.
Rivalry with KRBE
In mid 1985, 104.1 KRBE dropped its Adult Contemporary format and flipped back to top 40/CHR as "Hot Hits 104 KRBE" then soon after morphed to "Power 104" and went head to head with KKBQ throughout the remainder of the 1980s.In mid-1987, KRBE-FM took a lean towards dance and began weekend mixshows called "The Friday and Saturday Night Power Mix". To counter, KKBQ began its own weekend mixshow, Club 93Q. In January 1988, KRBE retaliated by going on location with The Saturday Night Power Mix to a nightclub with the house DJ mixing live on the air. KKBQ scrambled for the next five months to find a club to host a live mixshow. On May 29, 1988, KKBQ launched its first ever weekly live broadcast. It was called "93Q Live On the Cutting Edge from Club 6400." The music skewed towards an 18+ crowd and eschewed Top 40 hits; true to the show's name, it was a mix of industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, EBM
Electronic body music
Electronic body music or industrial dance is a music genre that combines elements of industrial music and electronic dance music...
, new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, goth
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, synth-pop and Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
dance. Ironically, a good amount of the music on 93Q Live On The Cutting Edge had actually been heard previously on KRBE's Saturday Night Power Mix.
KKBQ beat KRBE at its own game, and the Club 6400 shows set the standard for future mixshows on radio stations throughout Houston. The Club 6400 shows became so popular among Houston's youthful set that the term "6400 music" became a collective reference for the types of music played at the club and the reference, to this day, is still understood by many Houstonians in their late 20's to early 40's.
Country Music
By the winter of 1990, Arbitron ratings showed that KKBQ had lost market share in Houston, falling to ninth (from second in fall 1988). The drop continued, as in spring 1991, the station was 13th in the Arbitron ratings. In an attempt to stem the ratings drop, the station declined to renew John Lander's contract as lead morning show personality. On March 11, 1991, KKBQ introduced its new Morning Zoo, starring veteran deejay Cleveland Wheeler, who had pioneered the Zoo format while working for WRBQ-FM in Tampa Bay, Florida. Along with his cohosts Nancy Alexander and T.R. Benker, Wheeler planned to introduce a more positive and energetic show, focusing on local comedy routines rather than nationally syndicated comedy, and he vowed to stop playing rap music. The Morning Zoo was cancelled on August 17, 1991, KKBQ quietly dropped its nine-year old format and replaced it with a rock-only lineup. Featuring music by artists such as Tom PettyTom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
and Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
, the new format was designed to appeal to older listeners.
By this time, country music had become the most popular radio format in the United States, reaching almost 40% of the US adult population each week. Between 1990 and 1992, country record and concert revenues had doubled. To take advantage of the rising genre, KKBQ switched formats again one month later, introducing a new "easy country" format at 8:40 a.m. on September 19. The "easy country" format was a country music version of adult contemporary, aimed at an older audience. The first song played in its entirety on this new version of the station was George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
's "You Look So Good in Love". With the exception of Danny Garcia, all of the other deejays were let go, as the station though they were more "young, contemporary-hit type jocks".
The format change did not help their ratings, as KKBQ sank to 17th in the Houston market in 1992. Later that year, the station moved away from the easy country format to target a younger audience. Now known as 93Q Country, the station became "surprisingly successful playing youthful country acts and adopting an on-air personality that is up-tempo and more like Top 40 radio".
Despite the new format, 93Q recycled some of the jingles, laser sound effects, stingers, and music beds from the CHR days. The new morning show team was Dave E. Crockett (Steven Craig, formerly of Z95 (WYTZ-FM) Chicago) and Nancy Alexander, a hold-over from the CHR days. Harley Colt handled middays while afternoon drive time was taken over by "Cactus Jack" Tally (Formerly Jack Da-Wack of Z100 New York
WHTZ
WHTZ — branded Z100 — is a commercial pop/contemporary hit radio radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications...
). "Shotgun" Charlie Walker handled nights.
By 1994, the station had become the number one country station in Houston in the coveted 18–34 age group and was the number two station overall in the area. Later that year, they were named the Country Music Radio Station of the Year by Billboard Magazine and Airplay Monitor. In spring 1995, KKBQ pulled ahead of local rival KILT-FM
KILT-FM
KILT-FM is a Houston, Texas-based radio station with a country music format. It is owned by CBS Radio. Its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas. The station's callsign is a tribute to the station's former owner, Gordon McClendon, who was known as the "Old Scotchman". It is a sister...
in the Arbitron ratings for the first time. That year, they were again named Country Station of the Year by Billboard Magazine, and their program director Dene Hallam was named program director of the year. The following year, the station was named Major Market Radio Station of the Year by the Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
, beating out KILT. They repeated their win as Best Station of the Year at the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards in 1997, again beating local rival KILT.
In 2006, KKBQ was nominated for a Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
Award for Station of the Year – Major Market.
Ownership changes
Evergreen Media Corporation purchased KKBQ from the Pacific and Southern Company (a subsidiary of Gannett Corporation) in 1997, as Gannett was divesting itself of all of its radio stations. At that time, Arbitron ranked KKBQ as the seventh most popular station in Houston. It was estimated that KKBQ was priced around $100 million, making it the single highest-priced radio station sold in Houston to that point. Shortly after the acquisition, Evergreen merged with Chancellor Broadcasting to become Chancellor Media Corporation. In 1999, Clear Channel CommunicationsClear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
purchased Chancellor (then known as AMFM, Inc.), thus gaining control of KKBQ. As part of a required divestiture to meet federal ownership regulations, Clear Channel sold KKBQ to Cox Radio
Cox Radio
Cox Radio, Inc. is a division of Cox Enterprises that holds a number of radio stations. Cox Radio is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, Georgia....
. Cox vowed to have KKBQ run fewer advertisements.
Moniker History
- 93KBQ (1982-1983)
- 93FM (1983-1985)
- Hot Hits 93Q (1985-1987)
- Hot 93Q (1987-1988)
- 93Q (1988-1991)
- Houston's Rock Hits 93Q (stunt) (August 1991-September 1991)
- 92.9 Easy Country (September 1991-September 1992)
- 93Q Country (September 1992-2000) Fresh Country Hits
- The New 93Q (2000-present) 52 Minutes of Q-Country Every Hour