KBME (AM)

KBME
City of license Houston, Texas
Broadcast area Greater Houston
Branding Sportstalk 790
Slogan Your Home for Houston Sports
Frequency 790 kHz
First air date 1944
Format Sports Talk
Power 5,000 watts
Class B
Facility ID 23082
Transmitter coordinates 29°54′54″N 95°27′42″W / 29.91500°N 95.46167°WCoordinates: 29°54′54″N 95°27′42″W / 29.91500°N 95.46167°W
Callsign meaning The Best Music Ever made (the station's slogan during its adult standards period)
Former callsigns KBME 1998-04-24
KKBQ 1982-08-13
KULF 1970s
KTHT 1944
Former frequencies 1230 kHz (1944-1948)
Affiliations Fox Sports Radio
Houston Astros (MLB)
Houston Cougars (NCAA)
Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Houston Rockets (NBA)
Texas A&M Aggies (NCAA)
Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.
(AMFM Texas Licenses, LP)
Sister stations KQBT, KODA, KPRC (AM), KTBZ, KTRH
Webcast Listen Live
Website sports790.com

KBME (branded as Sportstalk 790) AM is a sports-talk radio station in the Houston, Texas metropolitan area. It is currently owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. The station airs local sports-talk every weekday from 6am until 9pm and carries nationally syndicated Fox Sports Radio programming. KBME is also the flagship radio station for the Houston Rockets & Houston Astros. The station's studios are located along the West Loop Freeway in the city's Uptown district, and the transmitter site is in the city's northwest side.

History

The station first went on the air as KTHT in 1944. It moved from the Class C channel (1,000 watts) 1230 kHz to the current Class B (5,000 watts) frequency of 790 kHz in 1948. During the 1960s, KTHT was known as "Demand Radio 79", playing pop music. In the early 1970s, it became adult contemporary KULF, hosting some great radio personalities like Stevens and Pruett in the early 1980s. Stevens and Pruett had formerly been on KILT 610AM as the last Hudson and Harrigan team before KILT's switch to country. S&P brought to KULF their "Not ready for Drive time Players" and their daily short production of "Star Trots" (modeled after Star Trek: The Motion Picture) with Captain James T. Shmirk, his trusted Lt. Bones, and their weird little robot, ACDC. In late 1982, Gannet Publishing (USA Today), through its broadcast subsidiary, bought the station, announced to the employees that were left (S&P had left for KEGL in the Dallas-Fort Worth market before the sale), on what was called Black Friday, that everyone was fired as of the following Monday and relaunched it as top 40 station KKBQ (79Q). Program director John Lander hosted the morning show, called the Q-Zoo, and took the station to the top of the Houston ratings after one rating period - a feat unheard of for an AM music station in the 1980s. KKBQ was among the first AM stations in the city to broadcast in AM stereo, originally using the KAHN system and then later switching to the Motorola CQUAM system. Programming on KKBQ and KKBQ-FM (93Q) simulcast until April 1998, when the AM station became the adult standards-formatted "Star 790 KBME" (for "Best Music Ever", although a joke among employees was "Keep Bringing Me Exlax").

KMBE's logo as "ESPN 790, The Sports Animal"

In 2004, the station flipped to an all sports station, as "790 ESPN Radio, the Sports Animal." The ESPN affiliation lasted until January 2007, when the network moved its programming to Cumulus Media-owned KFNC (97.5FM) At that point, KBME's sports talk programming shifted to a mix of local shows and programs from Fox Sports Radio, including the launch in late 2009 of "Matt & Adam in the Morning," a morning show hosted by Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler, who both moved over from KILT.[1] "Matt & Adam" became "The Big Show" in fall 2011, when Lance Zierlein joined Jackson and Wexler. Previous hosts on KBME include Brad Davies, Carl Dukes, Ted Deluca, John Lopez, David Dalati, Tom Franklin.

Daily Programming Schedule

KBME airs "The Proper Gentlemen" with Lance Zierlein and Adam Clanton daily from 6-9am. Following them is "In the Trenches" with former NFL players N.D. Kalu and Greg Koch from 9am-11am. "The Matt Thomas Show" with Matt Thomas runs from 11am-2pm, followed by "The Drive Home" with longtime Houston personality Charlie Pallilo from 2pm-6pm. KBME then switches to national syndication, airing "Jay Mohr Sports" hosted by Jay Mohr, on tape delay from 6pm-9pm.

Live Sports Programming

Play-by-play coverage on KBME includes Houston Rockets basketball, Houston Astros baseball, Houston Cougars football and basketball, Texas A&M Aggies football, basketball. KBME also features live national sports broadcasts from Dial Global and Sports USA Radio Network.


Beginning with the 2012-2013 season, KBME became flagship station to the NBA's Houston Rockets, with Clear Channel acquiring the team's radio rights from CBS Radio-owned KILT.[2] In April 2013, KBME became the flagship station to Major League Baseball's Houston Astros, with broadcasts moving from sister station KTRH;[3] prior to this, KBME aired select Astros spring training games.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Rockets shift radio allegiance from KILT to KBME," from Houston Chronicle, 6/27/2012
  3. ↑ "Astros switch radio flagship to KBME," from Houston Chronicle, 2/5/2013

External links