KILT-FM (100.3 FM) is a Houston, Texas-based radio station with a country music format. It is owned by Entercom, and its studios are in Greenway Plaza. Its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas. It is a sister station of KILT, which is located at 610 kHz, also in Houston.
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History
McLendon Origins
Gordon McLendon signed on 100.3 in 1961 as the sister station to KILT 610. The station originally had the call letters KOST and carried an easy listening format.
The call letters were changed to KZAP in November 1967, shortly before McLendon sold his Houston properties to LIN Broadcasting (McLendon moved the KOST call letters to his property in Los Angeles.)
"FM 100 KILT" is Born
Upon assuming control of KZAP in 1968, LIN quickly changed the call letters to KILT-FM. In the early 1970s, KILT-FM adopted a free-form progressive rock format (while "The Big 610" KILT continued with its long-running Top 40 format), and went by the slogan "Radio Montrose", named for the neighborhood in which the station's studios were located. By 1974, the station evolved to a more structured album rock format as "FM 100".
FM 100 KILT Flips to Country
KILT-FM changed to country on February 16, 1981. When 610 KILT switched to country as well on June 1, 1981, its long-running Hudson and Harrigan morning show remained and began to be simulcast on KILT-FM.
From its debut in 1967 through 1995, the Hudson and Harrigan morning show had eleven different sets of personalities occupying the personas of Mac Hudson and Irv Harrigan. Ken Hoffmann of the Houston Chronicle described Hudson and Harrigan as "the longest-running, most successful morning team anywhere in America". However, that run finally ended when KILT announced the show's termination on March 23, 2010. Fred Olson and Randy Hames, who hosted as Hudson and Harrigan for the last 28 years, were released, and the airstaff show assignments readjusted with longtime KILT afternoon personality Rowdy Yates, Erin Austin, and Cowboy Dave stepping in to fill the morning slots.
After switching to the country music format, KILT-FM competed directly against KIKK, the only other country music station in the Houston Area. According to the Houston Chronicle, "after initial success, KILT-FM struggled through an aborted change of call letters [KXAS-FM in 1984] and the lack of a strong identity with listeners". In the spring of 1989, KILT finally pulled ahead of KIKK in the Arbitron ratings. They maintained their lead position for the next two seasons, and at the end of the year Radio and Records rated KILT as the second most-listened-to country radio station in the United States, with an estimated 542,600 listeners tuned in for at least 15 minutes each week. KIKK was fourth on the nationwide list, with an estimated 508,700 listeners. KILT-FM serves as a co-flagship radio station of the Houston Texans, along with their AM sister station.
100.3 KILT Becomes "The Bull"
On January 10, 2013, at 5 PM, the station relaunched as "The Bull @ 100.3". The station shifted its playlist to include more current and recurrent music. The final song on "100.3 KILT" was "Give It All We Got Tonight" by George Strait, while the first song on "The Bull" was "Drink in My Hand" by Eric Church.
Ownership changes
KILT had been owned by LIN Broadcasting Corporation since 1968. In an effort to divest itself of all of its radio stations, in late 1986, LIN Broadcasting Corporation sold KILT and KILT-FM to Legacy Broadcasting Inc. for $36.75 million. Less than three years later, KILT-FM was sold, along with seven other radio stations, by Metropolitan-Legacy to Westinghouse Broadcasting. At the time, the $360 million deal was considered the largest ever in radio. To meet federal regulations on radio ownership, Westinghouse sold their Houston station KODA.
In 1993, Westinghouse (which would change their name to CBS Corporation and reorganize their broadcast properties under the Infinity Broadcasting name four years later, and would be renamed CBS Radio in 2005) purchased KILT-FM's rival, KIKK-FM. At the time, KILT-FM was first in the Arbitron ratings, with KIKK-FM second in the Houston market. A single general manager was assigned to run both stations. According to Dan Mason, president of Westinghouse Radio Broadcasting, "'As they have been fierce competitors in the past, our two Houston radio properties will now join hands to create one of Houston's most unique country music powerhouses, each with its own programming and sales team.'" On November 4, 2002, KIKK-FM stopped playing country music and switched to a Smooth Jazz format. This left KILT-FM as again one of only two Houston country stations (competing against KKBQ-FM). Some of the KIKK-FM promotions, including the 10 Man Jam concerts, were moved to KILT-FM.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.
KILT-FM was the last Houston radio station to maintain a full-service news department. The department was disbanded in 2004 when KILT-FM decided to drop its afternoon newscasts in the hopes of improving its ratings in the Houston market.
Country Houston Radio Video
Award nominations
In 1996, KILT-FM was nominated by the Country Music Association for the award for Major Market Radio Station of the Year. They were beaten out by local rival KKBQ-FM. A similar scenario occurred the following year, when KILT was nominated for Best Station of the Year at the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Awards, but again lost to KKBQ-FM. In 1999, the morning show Hudson and Harrigan was nominated for Country Music Association Major Market Broadcast Personality of the Year.
In 1996, after two prior nominations for the award, KILT-FM's Hudson and Harrigan morning show (featuring Olson and Hames) won the Marconi Award for Major Market Radio Personalities of the Year.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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