KRBE

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KRBE
City of license Houston, Texas
Broadcast area Greater Houston
Branding 104.1 KRBE
Slogan "Houston's #1 Hit Music Station!"
Frequency 104.1 MHz (also on HD Radio)
104.1 HD-2 The True Oldies Channel
First air date November 8, 1959
Format Top 40 (CHR)
ERP 92,180 watts
HAAT 585 meters
Class C
Facility ID 35524
Transmitter coordinates 29°34′34″N 95°30′36″W / 29.57611°N 95.51000°W / 29.57611; -95.51000
Callsign meaning Kirby (in reference to studios formerly located on Kirby Drive), Keys to Radio Broadcast Excellence (backronym)
Owner Cumulus Media
(Susquehanna Radio Corp.)
Webcast Listen Live
Website KRBE-FM

KRBE (104.1 KRBE), is a Top 40 (CHR) radio station based in Houston, Texas, United States. The studios located in Suite 700 of the Chase building at 9801 Westheimer Road in the Westchase District in western Houston.[1][2] The transmitter facilities located in Missouri City. The call letters are a reference to the station's former studio location on Kirby Drive, but were at one point expanded to mean "the Keys to Radio Broadcast Excellence." KRBE is owned and operated by Cumulus Media.

History

Early days

At 6 pm on November 8, 1959, KRBE signed on at 104.1 FM as a classical station, and continued as such into the late 1960s, when it flipped for the first time to top 40. The station was simply branded as "104 KRBE."

KRBE beats KILT & flips Houston to FM

In the mid-1970s, KRBE took on the moniker of "Bump & Boogie" and developed a danceable "Rock 40" format. The studios were located on Kirby Lane above the ACCA recording studios. At this time, it was owned by General Cinema Corporation. Bob Fauser (Sales Manager at WNBC) became the General Manager. Clay Gish (now known as Gishele Gish) became the program director in 1974 and launched a legendary run that lasted until 1980. Mike Krehel (of KSAQ/San Antonio and KBEQ/Kansas City fame) became the Chief Engineer during that time and gave KRBE its "Flame Thrower" signature sound. KRBE DJ's during the mid to late 1970's included Kenny Miles hosting "Miles in the Morning", Matt "The Man the Mighty" Quinn (of KILT and KCBQ), Roger W.W.W. Garrett, Dwight "Shotgun" Cook (now at Soundworks.com), The Original Rock 'n' Roll Wizard (Ron Haney, now in El Paso), and Tom "Rivers" Yarbrough (deceased as of September 29, 2011). During this period, KRBE became the first American FM top-40 station in a large market to flip the market from "AM" to "FM", beating the legendary KILT in Arbitron ratings for the Houston market. In 1975, KRBE moved from Kirby Lane to showcase state-of-the-art studios in the Caldwell Banker Building overlooking Interstate 610 at Westheimer Road across from The Galleria. Around this time, KRBE was purchased by Lake Huron Broadcasting.

KRBE was ranked "Station of the Year" by Bobby Poe magazine, and in 1979, was named "Major Market Rock Station of the Year", and Clay Gish was named "Major Market Rock Program Director of the Year" by Billboard Magazine.

In the late 1970s, KRBE billed itself under one of two nicknames, "Super Rock 104 KRBE" or "Houston's Super Rock", playing a mixture of top 40 and rock hits. DJ's included Barry Kaye (formerly of KILT and KHJ), CC McCartney (formerly of KILT, KKBQ and KIMN/Denver; moved into the country arena in Nashville at WSIX where he was nominated 4 times by the Country Music Association as "Radio Personality of the Year" in 1989, 1996, 1997 and 1998. Inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2008. Now owns CC McCartney Voice Imaging in Nashville.), Roger W.W.W. Garrett, Matt "The Man the Mighty" Quinn, The Catfish (formerly of XEROK and KILT), Jon Kelly (Jeff Low, now a paramedic in Katy), Dayna Steele (now a speaker and author) and Bunny Taylor (KRBE's first female DJ, who is now an artist in Pasadena, California using her real name, Faith Taylor). In 1981, KRBE flipped to an Adult Contemporary format as "FM 104 KRBE".

Rivalry with KKBQ

In late 1982, top 40 KKBQ-AM (which had signed on in July of that year) moved to FM with great success. To counter them, KRBE relaunched as "Hottest Hits 104 KRBE" with a CHR format in the mid-summer of 1985. Not too long after, KRBE dropped the "Hot Hits" slogan to become "Power 104". Both stations remained head to head throughout the remainder of the 1980s. In November 1986, Dallas-based Susquehanna Radio purchased KRBE and KENR, now known as KNTH.

In 1987, KRBE took a lean towards a dance-friendly top 40 format with evening weekend studio mixshows, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m, known as "The Friday & Saturday Night Power Mix". KKBQ matched it with its own mixshows, aptly titled "Club 93Q". By the end of 1987, Scott Sparks had been hired from Y-95 in Dallas to prop up the night show with a Dance-heavy sound. The new dance lean had built so much momentum that KRBE had to top KKBQ again, and it did on the night of January 9, 1988, when it launched "The Saturday Night Power Mix Live from The Ocean Club", which was billed as Houston's first live four-hour (and later, six-hour) mixshow from a nightclub. On Sunday, May 29, 1988, KKBQ launched its first live nightclub broadcast, "93Q Live On The Cutting Edge" from Club 6400, a club that played a mix of industrial, new wave and goth music; no top 40 was allowed. While KRBE's show was a little more radio friendly, it was first to play some of the music 6400 was spinning, and turned out to be an instant success.

KRBE responded to KKBQ's 6400 Sunday nights with an in-studio mixshow called "Sunday Night Power Tracks" that specialized in "rare and obscure" imported dance music, mixed by the Ocean Club's Tim Flanigan.

"Hits Without the Hype"

KRBE and KKBQ continued their top 40 rivalry (including mix-shows from various Houston nightclubs) until 1991, when the top 40 format was showing signs of wear due to the rise of popularity of grunge rock and hip hop. Under Program Director Steve Wyrostok, who was recruited from sister station WAPW in Atlanta, KRBE stripped to a generic "no frills" top 40 format, in which the station dropped "lazer FX" sound effects, and did away with voice announcers. In addition, DJs were asked to stop screaming and rap was pulled from its playlists. Even the "Power" moniker of the 1980s was gone.

KRBE was rebranded as "104 KRBE", "Hits Without the Hype", using liners like "No Rap, No Screaming DJs". KKBQ remained on its same course for a short time after, but eventually flipped to an "easy country" format on September 19, 1991, after a brief period in which it programmed a rock-oriented top 40 mix as a stunt.

"the Beat"

Despite its new "no frills" approach, KRBE continued to offer dance music through its live club mixshows with the launch of "The Beat", which aired from 1994–2002, and was mixed by some of the top local DJs in the Houston area, such as DJ Rich (now DJ RIDDLER), and DJ Mark D (Delange). The mixshows were broadcast from premier nightclub venues in Houston such as "Shelter" from 1994 to 1995, "Kaboom" from 1995 to 1996, and "The Roxy" from 1996 until its last broadcast in 2002. "The Beat" enabled KRBE to gain a worldwide audience when the station began streaming the on-air audio through its website in the late 1990s, thus billing itself "The World Famous 104 KRBE". The name "The Beat" was chosen to derail KQQK's widely-speculated plans to change format from Regional Mexican to Top 40 as "106.5 the Beat", which would have put them in direct competition with KRBE. (It is also speculated KRBE used the "Wild" and "Channel" monikers on its Friday night mixshows for the same reason.)

"The New Music Zone"

From 1992-1994, the station aired "The New Music Zone", an alternative music show that typically aired weeknights from 7 p.m. to midnight. From 1995 to 1996, the station's playlist as a whole had a pronounced alternative lean. In 1996, program director Tom Poleman and air talents Paul "Cubby" Bryant and Ryan Chase left KRBE for similar positions with WHTZ/New York City, which had also leaned in an alternative direction for a time. Ryan Chase would eventually return to KRBE ten years later.

"Wire In"

In late 1996, KRBE evolved back into a mainstream direction that also featured a significant amount of 1980s pop, presented during the week as "Retro Cuts" and highlighted with "Retro Weekends" roughly once a month. The re-emergence of pop music in the late 1990s, along with the success of Sam Malone's morning show (which, from 1997-2000, was syndicated to Beaumont and Kansas City), brought KRBE success in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s.

KRBE today

On October 31, 2005, Susquehanna announced it had reached an agreement to sell its radio assets, including KRBE, to a partnership including Cumulus Media (which also owned Houston radio stations KIOL-FM (103.7) and KFNC-FM (97.5)) as well as Bain Capital, Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The deal was completed in the first half of 2006. After the purchase, KRBE quietly changed its moniker from the long-time "104 KRBE" to "104.1 KRBE", a technically more accurate description of the station.

KRBE has evolved to an adult-oriented Top 40 format (similar to co-owned station WWWQ in Atlanta) under Cumulus ownership. In late January 2006, KRBE launched its digital HD signal. Its HD2 signal, from late 2007 until June 2012, simulcasted KHJK. After KHJK's sale to EMF Broadcasting in June 2012, KRBE's HD2 signal changed to Oldies music from the True Oldies Channel.[3]

Morning show shake-up

On March 4, 2005, long time morning show host Sam Malone announced that he was leaving the station for a position at KTRH. Malone was replaced by afternoon host Atom Smasher, while Maria Todd remained as co-host. On July 7, 2006, Smasher and Todd were let go immediately following that day's show. Cumulus said it was taking the morning show (as well as the station) in a new direction and needed a show that widely appealed to the entire Houston market and a team that knew the city and its people. The same day, longtime DJ Scott Sparks exited KRBE after nearly 20 years to begin mornings at classic hits station KLDE (now KGLK), reuniting Sparks with former KRBE program director and morning show DJ Paul Christy.

Malone added morning show duties at KHMX in 2006 (alongside former KRBE DJ Michele Fisher), but was let go in 2009. In early 2010, he became a morning show host at KSEV, until he was released in May 2012. Malone is hosting a conservative talk show titled "The Sam Malone Show", which is airing on KNTH. Atom Smasher is hosting mornings at KHMX. Maria Todd later became morning show co-host (along with Balthazar (of WQHT/New York and WJMN/Boston fame) at KMVQ in San Francisco. On February 22, 2010, Todd moved back to Houston for a morning show on KHMX with KKHH's Brad Booker, who had been been doing the morning show at KKHH. Todd was moved to afternoons following the announcement of Kidd Kraddick's syndicated morning show to KHMX, while Booker was let go. Todd later left the station; she is now a weekend anchor at KROI.

On July 13, 2006, it was announced that "The Roula and Ryan Show", which had aired on KHMX, would return to Houston airwaves on KRBE. The team, which relaunched their show on July 24, 2006, consists of Roula Christie and Ryan Chase, real name Ryan Berrigan,[4] the latter of whom returned to KRBE after a ten-year absence, along with Eric Rowe, who goes by the name "Producer Eric". Ironically, Christie also returned to KRBE after a six-year absence. She was paired with the aforementioned Atom Smasher from 1998-2000 on the 6-10 PM shift.

Competitors

KRBE has spawned numerous competitors over the years. Its main competitors are CBS Radio's rhythmic-leaning Top 40 (CHR) KKHH HOT 95-7 and Hot AC KHMX Mix 96.5. KRBE's other competitors are Urban KBXX 97-9 The Box, KQBT 93.7 The Beat, and Modern Rock KTBZ 94.5 The Buzz to a lesser extent.

Moniker history

  • The New FM 104 KRBE (mid 1970s)
  • Super Rock FM 104 KRBE (late 1970s)
  • KRBE 104 FM (1980–1985)
  • Hot Hits KRBE 104 (1985)
  • Power 104 KRBE (1986–1991)
  • Club 104 KRBE (1991)
  • 104 KRBE (1991–1999)
  • Station 104 KRBE (1999–2001)
  • 104 KRBE (2001–2006)
  • 104.1 KRBE (2006–present)

Current airstaff

Monday-Thursday:

  • 5:30 am-10 am: Roula & Ryan
  • 10 am-1 pm: Freddy Cruz
  • 1 pm-3 pm: Leslie B.
  • 3 pm-7 pm: Kevin Quinn
  • 7 pm-11 pm: Nights Live w/ Adam Bomb
  • 11 pm-5:30 am: Mary Kennedy

Friday:

  • 5:30 am-10 am: Roula & Ryan
  • 10 am-1 pm: Freddy Cruz
  • 1 pm-3 pm: Leslie B.
  • 3 pm-7 pm: Kevin Quinn
  • 7 pm-10 pm: Nights Live w/ Adam Bomb
  • 10 pm-2 am: Tony Styles

Saturday:

  • 2 am-10 pm: No DJ
  • 10 pm-2 am: Dave Styles

Sunday:

  • 2 am-Midnight: No DJ

Former airstaff & DJs

  • Mornings
    • Kenny Miles (Miles in the Morning)
    • Weaver Morrow (died September 28, 2011)
    • Roger W. W. W. Garrett (now Program Director at KORA/Bryan, Texas)
    • Tom Rivers (died September 29, 2011)
    • Paul Christy (previously at KRBE-AM, later KHMX, KLDE/KHTC, now at Retro Top40 networks) - (1987-1988)
    • Ted Carson (previously at KRBE-AM, later KZFX-FM, KHYS-FM, now a REALTOR in Austin, TX)
    • Grethia Hightower (1984-1989) MORNING SHOW Co-Host/Producer w/ Paul Christy and the Critters!!
    • Debbie Somers (co-host 1987-1988)
    • Glenn Beck and Clydie Clyde (1988–1990)
    • Chris Kelley (1984–1988) Nights, Mid Days, Mornings
    • Gene Elston (co-host 1988), previously play by play announcer for Houston Astros
    • Mark Waldi (1985–1991) nights, afternoons, mornings.
    • The Barsky Show, with Paul Barsky - September 23, 1991 - March 15, 1993
    • Sam Malone and the Morning Show, with Maria Todd and Psycho Robbie - March 31, 1993 - September 8, 2004
    • Sam Malone and the Morning Show, with Maria Todd and Johnny Bravo - September 9, 2004 - March 4, 2005
    • Atom Smasher and Maria Todd in the Morning, with Johnny Bravo and Josh Reno - March 28, 2005 - July 7, 2006
  • Middays
    • Mark Waldi (now at KRSP)
    • Chris Kelley
    • Matt "The Mighty" Quinn
    • Jon Kelly
    • Ernie Brown (now with America's Radio News Network)
    • Eric Leikam (now at KGSR/Austin)
    • Lori Bradley (now at KJR-FM/Seattle)
    • Michele Fisher (now at Cox Radio Houston, on KKBQ & KHPT) September 2, 1992 - June 21, 2005
    • Scott Sparks (now on KGLK) October 4, 1987 - July 7, 2006
    • Mat Mitchell (now at KZZP) July 10, 2006 – May 22, 2013
  • Nights
    • Shotgun Cook (now at Soundworks, Houston) (1970–1977)
    • CC McCartney (now at CC McCartney Voice Imaging - Nashville, TN. 2008 Texas Radio Hall of Fame inductee)
    • The Catfish
    • Dayna Steele (1979–1981)
    • Bunny Taylor (now artist "Faith Taylor" living in Pasadena, CA)
    • Keith Jacobs (1983)
    • Mark Waldi (1985–1986)
    • Kimberly Fullilove aka "Kasi Love" (1986- d.1988) Murdered by fiance' 1988
    • Carvel Jay - Carvel "The PowerMixer"& morning show w/Paul Christy (1986-1988)
    • Dwayne "B' Cookin" Cook (1986-1989)
    • Elvis Duran (1986–1988)(now at WHTZ/Newark)
    • Joel Davis (1989–1993)
    • Robert O'Quinn
    • Craig Chambers
    • Chuck Contreras
    • Susie Wad (1989–1990)
    • Adam Cook (New Music Zone)
    • Ryan Chase (New Music Zone)
    • Paul "Cubby" Bryant (1990–1996) (now at WKTU/New York)
    • Larry Davis (1995–1996) (now at Studio Center and KBIG, Los Angeles)
    • Dino (1996-1998)
    • Atom Smasher (now mornings at KHMX) and Roula Christie - November 18, 1998 - October 24, 2003
  • Overnights
    • Steve Vidal
    • Ed Stevens (weekends/relief/assistant engineer), 1977-1979
    • Jennifer Wyld
    • Dave Andrews (1988–1989) now known as Outlaw Dave (recently of KLOL & KIOL, now at KPRC)
    • Rosie Chance (previously at KKBQ, later at KHMX)
    • John Leach (later at KTBZ)
    • Brian Christopher (national voiceover talent BC Audioboy Soundworks / BC KRBE Legal ID)
    • Dave Summers (1999-2002) (previously at KKBQ; KHMX; KTBZ; KKPN)
    • Louis Cruise (formerly of KHMX)
  • Past Mixshow DJs
    • Carvel "The PowerMixer" (Carvel Jay) KRBE-POWER 104's Pioneer Music Mixologist. "BillBoard & Jamz Magazine #1 CHR Music Mixer (1986-1988)"
    • Tim Flanigan (former Ocean Club DJ, in Mount Isa, Australia)
    • DJ Rich (now DJ Riddler now producing mixshows for KKHH and at Sirius Satellite Radio)
    • Mark D (now spinning at Rich's nightclub and produces mixes for XM Satellite Radio's BPM Channel 81
    • DJ Penetrate (2006–2010, now spinning for KKHH)

References

Further reading

External links

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