| City of license | Beaumont, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Houston/Golden Triangle |
| Branding | ESPN 97.5 |
| Frequency | 97.5 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) |
| Format | Sports/Talk |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 596 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 52407 |
| Callsign meaning | K-FMNewsChannel (previous format) |
| Former callsigns | See below |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Owner | Cumulus Media (CMP KC Licensing, LLC) |
| Sister stations | KHJK, KRBE |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | espn975.com |
KFNC (97.5 FM, "ESPN 97.5 The Ticket") is a sports radio station in Houston, Texas, under ownership of Cumulus Media. The station's transmitter facility is located east of Houston in an area of Chambers County south of Winnie, Texas.
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The 97.5 frequency was originally marketed to the Golden Triangle area, which consists of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, Texas, as country music station KAYD (known on-air as KD-97.5).
In December 2001, Cumulus entered the Houston market by purchasing the station and later relocating the station's transmitter from the Beaumont area to Devers, TX to include service into the Houston area. The station signed on with an Urban Contemporary format as Power 97.5 under the temporary calls KKTT but IDed as KRPW (the station was unable to get the callsign in time for sign on and acquired the KRWP sign weeks later) and also continued to serve Beaumont area. (KAYD has since moved to a different frequency.) The station, renamed KRWP (PoWeR spelled backwards) had modest success in the early months of 2002. However, KRWP faced stiff competition from longtime Houston hip-hop stations KBXX and KPTY-FM as well as rhythmic CHR station KTHT (which was also somehow competing with sister urban station KTCX in Beaumont).
KRWP later skewed to an Urban Adult Contemporary format with the intent of challenging the market's heritage R&B station, KMJQ. However, KRWP never challenged KMJQ in the ratings due to the location of the transmitter, which resulted in a lack of decent coverage for the market. KRWP was transmitting from a site 50 miles east of Houston in Chambers County, whereas the transmitter for KMJQ and almost every radio and television station serving Houston was based in northeast Fort Bend County east of Missouri City. The station was home to Doug Banks in the Mornings, even through the format altering in 2003.
In late 2004, there were plans for KRWP to switch frequencies from 97.5 to 103.7 or otherwise have a simulcast with the objective of providing better coverage in Houston. At the same time, Houston's heritage rock station, KLOL, dumped its rock format after 34 years in favor of a Hurban (Hispanic Urban) format. In January 2005, under new management, KRWP inherited the former KLOL format of AOR rock and flipped to KIOL as Rock 97.5. The format change was headed by former KLOL personality Jim Pruett and program director/jock Pat Fant (who assumed market manager for Cumulus Houston as a result) in response to heavy outcry from misplaced KLOL listeners. When the 103.7 signal signed on in May 2005, Cumulus moved KIOL to the new frequency and simulcast on 97.5 under the new calls KFNC for the next few weeks.
On May 24, 2005, at 6am, 97.5 broke the simulcast and launched Houston's third attempt at an FM news station, KFNC FM News Channel 97-5 (102.1 KLYX—now KMJQ—was the first in 1975 as an affiliate of NBC Radio's now-defunct 24 hour News & Information Service. 97.1 was the second FM News/Talk station, and is now classic country.) Adopting a News/Talk radio format, the station consisted of former KLOL morning personalities Jim Pruett and Brian Shannon (the voice of Eddie "The Boner" Sanchez), who reunited to host the afternoon talk show "Back Talk", which was later moved to mornings. Other KLOL alumni on board for the station's news department were Laurie Kendrick and Martha Martinez. Non-KLOL personalities included former KILT newsman Jim Carolla, former KRBE and "NewsRadio 740" staffer Michael Shiloh as morning host/anchor. Former "Newsradio 740" reporter and editor Belinda Babinec, and former KPRC-TV sports director Craig Roberts.
KFNC went through format tweaks and house cleaning, and the FM News Channel moniker was dropped around spring of 2006 for Supertalk 97.5. However, the station's ratings failed to keep the talk format afloat, and on the morning of December 22, 2006, after tearful goodbyes from Pruett and Shannon along with Kendrick, Martinez and news/traffic/producer Julie Takahashi, the talk format left the airwaves for its current sports format that officially launched in mid-January 2007. KFNC's on-air branding, ESPN 97.5 The Ticket, is similar to that of its sister AM sports station in Dallas, KTCK. It has become the Greater Houston FM radio affiliate for ESPN, which began moving its programming from Clear Channel's KBME-AM.
In 2007, Cumulus Media moved KFNC, along with KIOL, to its new Houston headquarters with sister station KRBE in the Chase Building at 9801 Westheimer Road in Houston, home to KRBE since the mid-80s.
KFNC serves as the Houston affiliate for ESPN, which has been looking to add FM radio affiliates to its nationwide radio network. Various ESPN Radio programs, most notably Mike & Mike in the Morning and The Herd with Colin Cowherd, air on KFNC's schedule.
To compete with KBME and the market's long-time leading sports station, KILT-AM, KFNC brought on long-time Houston sports guru, Carl Dukes, to host "Put Up Your Dukes" on weekday mid-afternoons. Dukes' role expanded to drive-time (The Drive 5-7pm) with program director Dave Tepper and assistant program director Julie Takahashi.
KFNC also brought in a mid-day show, "The Blitz" (Weekdays 12-2pm), with Fred Faour, Matt Dean and Jong Lee in October 2009. In May 2010, Dean left for business school and was replaced by AJ Hoffman, from Austin's 1300 The Zone.
Houston Rockets hall of famer Calvin Murphy used to host a two-hour sports talk show that aired weekday evenings. This is Murphy's first broadcasting job in Houston since his unceremonious departure in 2004 from his position as the Rockets' television analyst alongside longtime Rockets play-by-play announcer Bill Worrell. Saturday mornings are filled with the extreme automobile ramblings of John Clay Wolfe.
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