KLOL’s format change was front page news today.
In a clear signal of the growing media clout of Houston-area Hispanics, radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications has yanked legendary rock station KLOL-FM (101.1) off the air and replaced it with a format that radio insiders call “Spanglish Top 40.”
The switch took place Friday morning when the new station — now called Mega 101 FM (with the tag line “Latino and Proud”) — began playing 10,101 songs in a row.
The new format is a mixture of Spanish hip-hop, reggaeton and pop/dance music aimed at listeners between 18 and 34 years old. Music in Spanish by artists ranging from the rapper Pitbull to pop star Shakira will be accompanied by DJs using a combination of English and Spanish.
Clear Channel officials said Houston is the first city in the nation to get the new format.
With the format change, the station is targeting young second- and third-generation Latinos, said Adam Jacobson, editor of industry trade publication Radio and Records.
“There are many Hispanics in the United States who grew up speaking English but are very proud to be called Latino,” Jacobson said. “That’s what Clear Channel wants to go after.”
But he cautioned it would take time for the new format to take hold.
With the format change, Houston now has 16 stations that appeal to a Spanish-speaking audience.
I suppose with so many Latino-oriented stations, this move may cause one of the lower-rated ones to switch formats in order to fill in the niche that KLOL has left open. Maybe. I hope.
Clear Channel’s pitch for Spanish-speaking listeners is the latest sign that large corporations are recognizing the importance of the growing Hispanic market.
Such heavyweights as NBC and Viacom are among the media giants that have bought communications companies that appeal to a predominantly Hispanic audience. Univision Communications, the largest U.S. Spanish-language television and radio broadcaster, already owns 68 radio stations, including eight in Houston.
“Corporate America and the boardroom are staring to realize, ‘Wow, we’re really behind the curve. We’ve got to catch up,’ ” said Alex Lopez Negrete, president of Lopez Negrete, a Houston-based advertising agency.
Even so, Negrete is saddened by the loss of KLOL.
“On a personal basis, I am every bit a rocker as I am a salsero. Will I miss KLOL that I’ve listened to for 34 years? Absolutely.
“Will I switch to Mega? They’ll have to convince me like they have to convince the rest of the market, because we have our favorites.”
Somehow, I think Mega will succeed just fine. I’ve no doubt a lot of market research and focus-group testing went into this format, and I’m sure it will have a broad appeal. It’s just a question of how long it takes to build its audience.
This is TEXAS !!!!!!!! I grew up on this!!! Why take the most popular station( not to mention the most recognizable call letters..) and change? There is soooo many diffrent channels it could have taken over. I have nothing against this music…but come on…..K-1-0-1????? Remember Crash? His voice alone holds a special place in my heart!! SOOOOOO many memories go along with this Station. I’s an Icon….Leave it alone.( If Clear Channel was not such a chicken, they would have given us warning… but they knew that we would OBJECT, and fight for the right thing!!
Enogh will all of your whining!!If all of you, and your friends would have listened all the time(like you said you did) this would not have happened. It is a business decision. If KLOL had been making money it would have stayed Rock. I listened to Walton and Johnson also, but they will surface on another station at some point. By the way just so you know Hispanics are actually the majority in Houston and Texas so they are not giving in to the minority, they are actually giving in to the majority.
I can’t believe that this damned evil corporation did this to KLOL. They kept Howard Stern off their stations and now they’re coming for the smaller guys. It seems that their love for Bush never ceases.
“thouse bastards”
Bottom line is, KLOL’s radio audience has gone down over the years, that is why it was rated at number 18, out of 20 radio stations ranked. I loved Rock 101, but I believe Walton and Johnson, drove a lot of listeners away, KLOL has been declining in the ratings since the morning show change. Thier running joke was if you don’t get it don’t listen, most did not get or like thier humor and did not listen. I personally waited till after the morning show was over to listen to the station. all the bitching and complaining is NOT going to bring the radio station back. Unfortunately radio is a business and KLOL was not generating enough money for Clear Channel. Look at it this way, if you had a restaurant that served just hamburgers, but noone would come in and buy them, wouldn’t you try a new food to offer the public to try and generate new and better business? Just something to think about….
man what the…Walton and Johnson trocked that was what i woke up to they were like my morning coffe couldn’t start the day with out them….this is bulllshit……
enough of the bitchin, just f****ing grow up and enough with the politics and bring back Rock 101 KLOL, who gives a shit about the rest. Oh please we have more spanish radio stations then we know what to do with, get the fu** over it, my grandmother is spanish so it is not a matter of race, and do you even speak spanish, so please shut the fu** up and bring back 101 rock
I cannot beleive that KLOL is gone! You can call it “The day Rock died!” Does anyone know how to boycott Clear Channel and form a group to really do some damage to these thieves..I have never seen a bigger bunch of Ass wipes in my life! Certainly we can boycott the advertisers of CC, networks but I refuse to listen to find out who they are..If anyone can create a list of CC advertisers, we can call them and inundate them with BOYCOTT threats, if they do not bring back 101 immediately..This COULD work..It worked with Bill O’ Reilly and the Ludacris Pepsi commercial..The people spoke out to Pepsi and they cancelled his commercial..People WE have the power to change things if we do it in a collective, organized way..Rock will Live again and so will 101 if we take action..Please do all you can to research and help, and send me any info about how to start a SERIOUS protest and Boycott of ALL Clear Channels and their advertisers..Together WE WILL make a difference…CLEAR CHANNEL WILL SUFFER FOR THIS AND SO WILL ALL OF THEIR ADVERTISERS! Optimistic Paula in Texas
Please bring back 101 ASAP….This is the day Rock Died…
I don’t give a shit about cc wanting more money. There were already 15 spanish stations and only one rock station.SO how much more money could an extra spanish station actually generate. All mexicans can kiss my ass!!
When I moved to Houston in March 2000, I found Rock 101 KLOL on the radio dial. It became my favorite radio station to listen to for a couple of reasons. First, they played great music. Second, they had great DJs, especially the morning crew of Greggo, Pruitt, and The Boner, and Outlaw Dave along with Elaine Closure and Lock Siebenhausen in the evening (if I misspelled any names then sue me!). Then one day, lo and behold, the morning crew was replaced with Walton and Johnson, which was, and still is, absolute CRAP! Not too long after that, Uncle Nasty showed up to do the nighttime gig. Where the hell did they find this guy!? What nimrod at KLOL thought that he was even a DECENT DJ!? The only way he was able to make up for his complete LACK of TALENT was to bring strippers onto his program and chat with them about how big their boobs were, which strip joint they worked at, and how many girls they had kissed. Oh, and let’s not forget the CONSTANT references to smoking pot (oh, sure, doing drugs is an acceptable part of life, kids!…NOT!). I guess someone who can’t be an adequate DJ and just play some decent rock music has to resort to sex, right? And I’m sorry, the cigarette-smoking-lugie voice you always talked with was not cool, either, okay Nasty? HA! Nasty is RIGHT! By the time I moved out of Houston in July 2004 to beautiful Deep South Texas (20 miles west of South Padre Island, thank you), my radio dial was never set to 101.1, it was always on 94.5…a complete change of music genres, yes, but at least The Buzz played decent music without the strippers and constant references to pot smoking. Bottom line folks: I am not sorry to see Rock 101 leave the airwaves. They brought it upon themselves by resorting to redneck jokes in the morning and sex in the evening, while neglecting the MUSIC. I do feel sorry for all of the decent DJs (not you, Nasty) that will now have to relocate to other parts of the nation and work at new radio stations. Nobody should lose their job around the holidays. So enjoy your new radio station, Houston! Keep an open mind, and maybe a lot of you will learn to appreciate the Hispanic genre of music. Oh, and for the record, I’m your typical white, middle-class male.
I think that 101.1 is better than the station they had before. It was a good change. We as the Latino community need a good station that plays Latino pop. I think the reson that people are mad is because they dont want the hespnic population to grow. I am 13 years old and i love mega 101.1 and they should coutinue playing. The heak with the rest of the rejects.
All of yall are haters because us mexicans are taking over yall all of bunch of racist nobody is hearin rock is all about that LATINO AND PROUD
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH.
VIVA MEXICO!!!!
93.7 mike fm is still owned and operated by the same company that owned and operated Star 93.7
This will pretty much sum up what the greedy corporate fools that ran Star 93.7 did:
They saw Star as having a decent, yet small listening base. To them, it didn’t matter that there were a lot of us that liked the “dance friendly” oriented format or not. They see it in dollar signs.
They’re also scared to death about satellite radio moving in. This is why prior to the format change, you were hearing all those commercials about “you heard it here first”.
You may be saying to yourself, how could they have been hurting money wise if they had plently of commercials being aired and just about everyone you know listens to the station?
Well, that’s not how corporate sees it. They look at the arbitron ratings.
Putting that aside, let’s talk about us – the listeners. We’re all pissed off that our “little community” of disco/dance music lovers has once again been pushed aside. This same thing happened when Kiss 108 sold-out back in the mid 80s when they decided to start playing all that modern rock/alternative crap mixed in with whatever dance music they played.
We all bitched and moaned about that also… but it never got us anywhere.
Now, we have nothing (expect for satellite radio and streaming 103.5 ktu out of nyc).
I see 93.7 mike fm trying to stress the point that they “play everything”. Who gives a crap about hearing everything? We already have over a dozen rock stations on the fm dial already paying classic rock, modern rock, pop rock and oldies. What makes 93.7 mike fm unique? Nothing.
Yes, gone are the radio jocks we loved to hear (except for that annoying bitch Ann Duran – now that was a smart move getting rid of her. Someone actually called in one day to request Diamond Girl and she said “Were I come from, upstate Michigan, we never heard that song”. Ah, this isn’t upstate Michigan, this is Boston, you fool).
What about the mix shows (Star Sound Factory) on the weekends late at night? DJ Ricky, Massi, Danae Jacovidis & DJ Spinelli entertaining us after the clubs got out – all gone.
What about the noontime workout or the early evening mix shows? What about the Sunday night club classics? What about the new/breaking dance music coming out?
Hence, 93.7 mike fm says “give us a try”. Give you a try? What the FUCK could you possibly offer with this current format that could keep us former listeners happy with? Nothing.
Friends, let’s face it – disco/dance music apparently is not welcomed in Boston. There is no place for this music here. If there were enough demand for it, there would be a major station playing it. It belongs in NYC and other places.
There is however, a huge demand for rock n roll. What we need is MORE rock stations to be added to the dozen or more we already have! Why not? The demand is here for it!! In fact, what we should do is change every station on the fm dial to some form of rock music. We could even go out and spray paint “dance & disco sucks” and “rock n roll rules” to hype it up even more!
Maybe if we push for the opposite, one day, just maybe one day, something might change in “anti-dance/disco” Boston and we’ll soon be able to enjoy fm radio as we once did.
HEY