http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3071733 Isn't it amazing what competition can do for the quality of radio programming? Just under two years after Dick Harmon parted ways with KILT (610 AM) after the parties "failed to reach mutual agreeable terms," Harmon returns to KILT on Thursday morning to talk golf. And he'll have company. Harmon, the director of golf at Redstone Golf Club, will be joined weekly on KILT's morning show from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursdays by another familiar radio voice — the Golf Doctor, Charlie Epps, Redstone's director of golf marketing and the former longtime fixture of KTRH's (740 AM) weekly golf show. Harmon's departure from KILT in 2003 left Chronicle outdoors writer Doug Pike with the area's only weekly radio golf show, first on KTRH and now on KBME (790 AM) at 9 a.m. Saturdays. Bill Van Rysdam, KILT's program director, didn't exactly say that KBME's all-sports launch prompted the return of golf talk to KILT, but feel free to draw your own conclusions. "Now that (morning hosts Lance Zierlein and John Granato) have expanded hours, we thought this was a good time to bring it back," Van Rysdam said. "Our listeners will get news, course reviews, tips and stories that only Dick and Charlie can tell." Harmon said the Thursday show also will feature previews of the weekend's pro events. "We'll talk to players and have guys phone in each week," Harmon said. "I'll be with Charlie, so that will be different, but otherwise, I don't know that we'll change anything. The show was popular before, and I think there will be a lot of interest." More radio Ken Charles, Clear Channel Houston's regional vice president, has said from the outset that ratings would get worse on KBME before they get better. And he's right. According to the most recent trends report from Arbitron, KBME's persons aged 12 and above rating from 6 a.m. to midnight dropped from 1.0 for fall 2004, its last ratings period as a music station, to 0.8 for November through January, which includes its first two months as an all-sports outlet. The former ranked 25th in Houston, the latter 27th. KILT, meanwhile, dropped a tenth of a point from 1.7 for the fall book to 1.6 for the most recent three-month period. Both numbers rank 21st in the market and third among AM stations behind Clear Channel's KTRH and KPRC (950 AM).
Now if we could get an FM dial music station battle going, one that would result in a couple of good FM stations for Houston that don't follow formula or are owned by Clear Channel........ Well, I can dream, can't I?
I'm impressed that 610 has only lost a tenth of a point since 790 came on the air. I think 610 has done well to build up a pretty loyal audience, and their focus on local shows is a definite plus.
that's the problem, really. it's hardly competition. one station breaks up all-day programming of national radio shows with one local show...the other station breaks up all-day local programming for one national show. i like local sports better than hearing the same stories regurgitated over and over again on national sports radio shows...so to me, there's no contest.
Having a direct competitor is the best thing that could have happened for Houston sports radio. I hate to admit it but it is true. I know that I am always cognizant of what is going on over there and when they do things that are good or beat us breaking a story I get pissed and want to work harder to get the right assets in the right places. I listened to Dalati's Astros update this morning and recognized that I miss having him around but I have no complaints with the job that Dave H. has done. Ideally the Clear Chanimal will cross promote with other CC stations draggin people over to the AM side of the dial and when they start surfing around they will find us, the better and more established station.
agreed..and with me, there is a sense of brand loyalty, even if that is kinda silly. i listened to "Star610" in 1995 every afternoon on my way home from work at a summer internship. listened to it religiously whenever i came home from college. i remember john and lance's first day on "The Bench"...complete with Trash Time at the end. there's a sense of listening to the station grow...and familiarity with it. a slew of reporters talking about east coast sports in shows based out of Connecticut or New York won't change that.
I liked Harmon better when he used to actually give golf tips and before he started gravytraining off of the success of his brother, Butch, with Tiger. Once Tiger became huge Harmon would drop Tiger's name every chance he got. That said, the pairing of he and Epps should be great because they both have a lot of history and stories to tell.
Actually, with regard to music, having to radio stations competing in the same format (i.e. two rock station) tends to narrow a listeners choices with regard to the music. You get choices with regard to personalities (like we care) but the playlists actually tighten up. Radio (music radio) is really only concerned with keeping a listener for just over 15 minutes at a time (in their cars). Most research shows that people listen to radio primarily in their cars so it's a program directors job to keep you on that station the entire time you are driving. Playing weird (Innagoddadavida?) or obscure (deeper tracks) or polorizing (i.e. Rush) songs is a sure way to get people to check other stations. Now, if you are the ONLY rock station in town you can get away with playing weird, obscure or polorizing songs (kind of like that that new rock station is doing now and notice they still aren't playing anything too weird or obscure) and market it as variety, or whatever. But, while most people can agree on a certain pool of music (i.e. the hits - even though we may be tired of them) as soon as you play something that's totally cool for one person you've just played something unfamiliar to another and, for the most part, when something unfamiliar comes on the radio people change the station. Of course if you're the only game in town where are the die hards going to go? If there are two stations with similar formats in town, program directors can't afford to take the chance that you'll check the other station out. They can't help it if you change stations because of commercials but they will do their best to keep you listening for that 15+ minutes in your car and they do that by tightening up their playlists so they only play strong testing (i.e. very familiar) songs. I know that a lot of people here will argue that they want to hear unfamiliar stuff and there are plenty of people like that but the sad truth is that most music radio listeners want to hear the hits and nothing but and there's tons of research to back this up. I remember when I was in radio the program director was struggleing with whether or not to let his DJs comment on sports scores (i.e the Rockets are winning or the Oiler's just went ahead by a field goal). There were two schools of thought: One was that announcing what was happening in the game would keep those who were mildly interested in the game from checking the sports stations. The other was that you were simply reminding people that the game was on and that they would then turn on the TV or flip to a sports station. It's amazing how much debate when on about that subject. In the end the decision was to NOT talk about sports scores. Go figure.
I hate hate hate hate Harmon the radio. He DOESN'T talk golf--he just namedrops rich people he knows for a couple of hours.
Kind of like a basketball organization. Anyway, it was "garbage time," not "trash time." I guess Ed Fowler finally quit his golf show? Too bad. Even though I (obviously) never listened, it was kind of nice having him there...
Actually the whole fifteen minutes thing is a vestigal of Arbitronic radio programming. There are still elements of that all over the air but with the way radio ratings are being kept FINALLY catching up with technology it allows for more honest programming. We have taken steps towards taking advantage of the new ratings gathering methods out there and the end result will be better, less cluttered radio.
wouldn't the rush hour time slot be the one that both stations really care about? obviously 610 would have the morning since 790s morning stuff leaves a lot to be desired but the 4-8pm ratings would be the one they are both trying to go after right?
Actually, Both 790 and 610 could give a damn about Persons 12 plus numbers. We want high Men 25-54 numbers, an area that we do quite well in, and they will in time.
