THREE RADIO STATIONS: KILT, KBME, KGOW - LM

8-3-2011

It's been a long time since I heard all three stations I monitor come with the thunder.   I thought it would be nice to give a quick write up on what's going on with KBME, KGOW and KILT.  Let me be frank, it's football season so you would have to be a dweeb of a station not to have come with it.  I first like give props to all of the sports stations in Houston for surviving the Lockout and entertaining us diehards and welcome them to Football Season.

KILT (610)

First up, 610 AM with their second annual Swap draft.  They are calling it a Swap Draft but in theory it's nothing more of Gavin capitalizing on their day to day functions.  Just about every week can be considered a Swap at 610 because the host pairings are never the same and yes I am talking about the Weekends.  Of course i am being funny because I actually thought last year's Swap Draft of hosts was awesome.  The Draft occurs on the 5th and the actual show will debut on the 12th.

Marc and JLo has discovered a little fire again as they are broadcasting at Texans Training camp.

Gavin and crew is still kicking major ass on the weekends.  Hands down best programming in the city on weekends.  Have to show the After Show some love because they are increasingly pushing the envelope to the edge.  Greg Koch is showing, "no Brien? no big deal".

Plain and simple, the 610 family is getting in Football mode and I hope the competition is ready.  Just in, 610 is conducting a top blogger contest with multiple categories.  They are asking the fans to nominate their favorite blogs similar what Fred Fauor (97.5) does annually.

KBME 790

What can I say?  They are kicking ass and taking names.  Now I will not front, I am a little skeptical of all of these promos and accolades given to 790 being Number 1 as I am still hearing the same rhetoric on 610.  I am not the smartest cookie in the jar but how in the hell can two stations boast a top rating for the exact same time slots.  I am not accusing 790 of telling a big fat lie in fact I want to say congrats however Team HMW will get to the bottom of this.

With that being said, 790 arguably has the best promos on the air.  They are not holding back.  From hitting 610 with the BIAS BLAST to chuckling at 1560 for talking everything but Houston (National).  According to the promos, the only prime time show that's not number 1 is the Morning Show (Matt and Adam) but at the way things are going these days, I wouldn't be surprise to see them creep in.

If there is a reason to be mad at 1560, it would be the fact they took Raheel and David from evenings.  They were in direct competition with Barry and Shaun.  Newsflash, Barry's style of radio is like a freaking anvil, it weighs on you hard and some times you need a hiatus from the man's rhetoric which is why I am happy 790 picked up the slack with Craig Roberts.  I have only heard 2 or 3 shows in its 2 week infancy and I am not hear to announce it's world class radio but it's a change of pace.  I am not saying I will no longer listen to Barry and Shaun but that "I'm smart and you dumb" persona of Barry's has gotten old.   Welcome to the evenings Craig.

KGOW 1560

Craig freaking Lawson is acting a fool at 1560.  Between wacking talent adding more national shows and giving away $156 an hour, you would think this dude was running that station in the ground.  The jury is still out.  Honestly, I thought I would never listen to Sean again because it was National but I'm still in and Gamers who were once very upset has come back .

The Game has added Ken Hoffman back to the roster paired with Richard Justice on Wednesdays.  I make no bones about it, Richard and I got into it before and he tried to scream at me so I give it to him raw more than I should.  The show is informative and truly feels as if you have to have an advance degree to listen to it.  In other words, Ken and Richard are pure journalist and all class and they feed off of each other.  It's almost like waking up one Sunday morning and watching Meet the Press.  With all of that being said, I can't listen for the duration of the show because Aww hell, forget it, it becomes dull.  I have an hour tolerance of all of that educated sports guy talk.

KGOW and company went out and partnered up with Yahoo Sports.  Rewind!  I said 1560 AM is the Flagship Station for the Yahoo Sports Radio Network.  Some out there probably don't even understand the ramifications of what this could mean.  Yahoo is one of the leading online publications of investigative sports reporting in addition to damn good general sports too.  Chances are, if a huge story breaks that's worth a damn, Yahoo Sports is breaking it.  Although this number seems astronomical but I am hearing they average multi million hits daily.  So now the smartest man in the room is wondering, what the eff that has to do with 1560 The Game?  

Well if you visit Yahoo Sports, now in the top right corner is a listen live and that's routed right back to 1560 AM.  I won't even pretend to act like I know what the implications are in terms of new revenues, sponsorships or ratings but I can say this is good for the personalities on a professional level with exposure.  OK forget all of the national exposure crap, lets keep it local and show you how this works.  Below is a realistic skit

610/790 Host:  My Butt Crack itches which happens to be an excellent segway to our next segment.  We have Gludius Maximus on with us from Yahoo Sports talking about the Longhorns business dealings.  Gludius, can you tell our audience why you feel Texas will cause the the Big 12 to implode.

Yahoo Gludius: Thanks for having me on .............

610/790 Host:  Thanks alot Gludius, and you have brought light to a situation many were avoiding.  I am telling you, once I read your article, I was baffled.  Audience, you can catch Gludius Maximus article on Yahoo Sports.

Ok that was the simple version but other stations will virtually be pushing their listeners to 1560 and I am not saying everyone that visits Yahoo's website will suppress the "listen now" button but if only a fraction hits the button that's gonna be wicked MAN.  I mean what will the competition do, stop bringing on Yahoo writers?  In all truthfulness they could but wow that would be a hell of a resource to lose.  This is truly a strategic catch 22.

Outside of the slick move of David Gow and company to partner with Yahoo, the team at 1560 seems happy and optimistic again.  It's been a long time since I heard everyone at the station happy concurrently.  Everyone and their mother is excited about this new venture which is a formula for high octane performances.

Although I am highlighting how this benefits 1560 I think the biggest benefactor is Yahoo Sports.  Yahoo Sports have a direct line to get whatever they want out.  Sure they can still conduct interviews with others but they have basically assured themselves an avenue for dissemination.  Ironically, Yahoo Sports writer Jason Cole had an interview with Rich Lord and Mike Meltser Tuesday 8-2-2011 in which he responded to a question asked by Rich "left field" and departed the interview with a questionable reason.  Rich in true Rich fashion took the liberty to blast him, of course Rich did this when the guy was gone an unable to defend himself but the conspiracy theorist in me wonder if this Rich blast had anything to do with 1560/Yahoo. I admit, I think Rich was right and the guy could have handled the interview better but I don't like the talking about a person when you had the opportunity to address it in their presence.

WRAP IT UP

The last week of local radio has been one for the ages with the culprit being Free Agency.  I think all of the stations have done an awesome job and I hope this is the beginning of a competitive football season for all.

OUT

LM

HMW
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