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KRBE
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| KRBE-FM | |
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| City of license | Houston, Texas |
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| Broadcast area | Greater Houston |
| Frequency | 104.1 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 104.1 HD-2 for Classic Alternative |
| First air date | September 11, 1958 |
| Format | Top 40/CHR |
| ERP | 92,180 watts |
| HAAT | 585 m |
| Class | C |
| Owner | Cumulus Media (KRBE LICO, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | KFNC, KHJK |
| Website | www.104krbe.com |
KRBE-FM (104.1 KRBE), is a contemporary hit (top 40) radio station based in Houston, Texas with studios located in the Chase building at 9801 Westheimer Road, Suite 700 in the Westchase District in West Houston, with transmitter facilities located in Missouri City. KRBE is currently owned and operated by Cumulus Media and is the only CHR/pop format station serving the Greater Houston area. 76% of Houstonians claim they listen to KRBE. However, their target audience is teens and young adults, spanning between the ages of 13 and 25. It is the most listened to Top 40 Station in Texas.
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KRBE signed on September 11, 1958 as a classical station and continued as such into the late 1960s when it flipped for the first time to top 40. In the late 1970s, KRBE billed itself under one of two nicknames, "Super Rock 104 KRBE" or "Houston's Super Rock", playing a mixture of top 40 and rock hits. In 1981, KRBE flipped to an Adult Contemporary format as "FM 104 KRBE".
KRBE's disc jockeys during the late 1970s included, amongst others, "Shotgun" Cook, Barry Kaye, CC McCartney, Kenny Miles, The Catfish, Bunny Taylor (KRBE's first female DJ), and Roger W. Garrett, who sometimes repeated his middle initial numerous times when saying his name. Mike Krehel was the Chief Engineer during that time and gave KRBE its "Flame Thrower" Signature Sound.
In late 1982 top 40/KKBQ AM (which had signed on in July of that year) moved to FM with great success. To counter KKBQ in the Arbitron ratings books, KRBE relaunched as "Power 104 KRBE" with a contemporary hits radio (CHR) format in the mid-summer of 1984. Both stations remained head to head throughout the remainder of the 1980s. In November 1986, Dallas-based Susquehanna Radio purchased KRBE as well as another Houston station broadcasting at 1070 AM, now known as KNTH.
In 1987, KRBE took a lean towards a dance friendly/top 40 format with evening weekend studio mixshows airing from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and known as "The Friday & Saturday Night Power Mix". KKBQ matched it with its own mixshows aptly titled "Club 93Q". By the end of 1987, DJ Scott Sparks had been hired from Y-95 in Dallas to prop up the night show with a Dance/Pop heavy sound. The new dance lean had built so much momentum that KRBE had to top 93Q again and it did on the night of January 9, 1988 when it launched "The Saturday Night Power Mix Live from The Ocean Club , which was billed as Houston's first live four-hour (and later, six-hour) mixshow from a nightclub. On May 29, 1988, KKBQ launched its first live nightclub broadcast "93Q Live On The Cutting Edge" from Club 6400, a club that played a mix of industrial, new wave and goth music; no top 40 was allowed. While KRBE's show was a little more radio friendly, it was first to play some of the music 6400 was spinning, and turned out to be an instant success.
KRBE and KKBQ continued their top 40 rivalry (including mixshows from various Houston nightclubs) until 1991 when the top 40 format was showing signs of wear. Under Program Director Steve Wyrostok, who was recruited from Susquehanna Radio sister station WAPW "Power 99" in Atlanta, KRBE stripped to a generic "no frills" top 40 format, in which the station dropped "lazer fx" sound effects, and did away with voice announcers. In addition, DJ's were asked to stop screaming and rap was pulled from its playlists. Even the "POWER" moniker of the 1980s era was gone.
KRBE was rebranded as 104 KRBE "Hits Without the Hype", using liners like "No Rap, No Screaming DJs". KKBQ remained on its same course for a short time after but eventually flipped to an "easy country" format on September 19, 1991, after a brief period in which it programmed a rock-oriented top 40 mix as a stunt.
Despite its new "no frills" approach, KRBE continued to offer the hottest dance music the world had to offer through its live club mixshows with the launch of "the Beat", which aired from 1994-2002 and was mixed by some of the top local DJs in the Houston area, such as DJ Rich (now the Riddler), and DJ Mark Delange. The mixshows were broadcast from premier nightclub venues in Houston such as Shelter from 1994 to 1995, Kaboom from 1995 to 1996, and The Roxy from 1996 until its last broadcast in 2002. "the Beat" enabled KRBE to gain a worldwide audience when the station began streaming the on-air audio through its website in the late 1990s, thus billing itself "The World Famous 104 KRBE". The name "the Beat" was chosen to derail 106.5 KQQK's widely-speculated plans to change format from Regional Mexican to Top 40 as "106.5 the Beat", which would have put them in direct competition with KRBE. (It is also speculated KRBE used the "Wild" and "Channel" monikers on its Friday night mixshows for the same reason)
From 1992-1994, the station aired "The New Music Zone", an alternative music show that typically aired weeknights from 7 p.m. to midnight. In the mid-1990s, around 1995-1996, the station's playlist as a whole had a pronounced alternative lean, but it eventually drifted back towards mainstream CHR. In 1996, program director Tom Poleman and air talents Paul "Cubby" Bryant and Ryan Chase left KRBE for similar positions with CHR/pop Z100 WHTZ New York, which had also leaned in an alternative direction for a time. Ryan Chase would eventually come back to KRBE ten years later.
On October 31, 2005, Susquehanna announced it had reached an agreement to sell its radio assets, including KRBE, to a partnership including Cumulus Media (which also owns Houston radio stations KIOL-FM (103.7) and KFNC-FM (97.5)) as well as Bain Capital, Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The deal was expected to be completed sometime during the first half of 2006. Sometime after the purchase, KRBE quietly changed their logo from "104 KRBE" to "104.1 KRBE", a technically more accurate description of the station.
In late January 2006, KRBE launched its digital HD signal. Its HD2 and HD3 signals have not been launched and formats are yet to be determined.
On July 7th, 2006, morning radio show personalities Atom Smasher and Maria Todd were let go immediately following the Friday show. Cumulus Media cited they were taking the morning show (as well as the station) in a new direction and needed a show that widely appealed to the entire Houston market and a team that knew the city and its people. That same day, longtime DJ Scott Sparks exited KRBE after nearly 20 years to begin mornings at classic hits station KLDE (now KHTC) (107.5 FM), reuniting Sparks with former KRBE program director and morning show DJ Paul Christy. Atom Smasher eventually wound up at KHKS in Dallas, which, like KRBE, is a CHR/pop station. Maria Todd moved to do the morning show, 5-9:30am, at KMVQ in San Francisco.
On July 13, 2006, it was announced that "The Roula and Ryan Show", which previously aired on hot adult contemporary rival KHMX, would return to Houston airwaves on KRBE. The team, which relaunched their show on July 24, 2006, is comprised of Roula Christie and Ryan Chase, the latter of which returned to KRBE after a ten-year absence, along with Eric Rowe, who goes by the name "Producer Eric".
KRBE has spawned numerous competitors over the years. Currently, its main competitor is KHMX Mix 96.5, which broadcasts a Hot AC format and has a playlist similar to KRBE, except it does not contain any rap, dance or other rhythmic songs. Additionally, KHMX's HD-2 signal also broadcasts Top 40 music. Other major competitors include hip-hop stations KPTY Party 93.3 and KBXX 97.9 The Box, and alternative rock station KTBZ 94.5 The Buzz, which also broadcasts indie rock (or "Liquid Buzz") on a second HD signal.
- Super Rock 104 KRBE (mid 70's)
- 104 KRBE (Late 70s)
- FM 104 KRBE (1980-1985)
- Power 104 KRBE (1985-1991)
- 104 KRBE (1991-1999)
- Station 104 KRBE (1999-2001)
- 104 KRBE (2001-2006)
- 104.1 KRBE (2006-current)
- The Roula and Ryan Show (formerly of KHMX)
- Middays
- Leslie B. (M-F; 1pm - 3pm)
- Afternoons
- Mat Mitchell (M-F; 3pm - 7pm, Central)
- Nights
- Carson (M-F; 7pm - 12m, Central)
- Overnights
- Meera (M-F 12m - 5am, Central)
- Weekend DJs
- Ayana Mack
- Tony Styles
- Freddy Cruz
- The Morning Show
- Paul Christy (Previously hosted mornings at classic rock/KRBE-AM) (Dates unknown - 1987-1988)
- Debbie Somers (co-host 1987-1988)
- The Barsky Show, with Paul Barsky - September 23, 1991 - March 15, 1993
- Sam Malone and the Morning Show, with Maria Todd and Psycho Robbie - March 31, 1993 - September 8, 2004
- Sam Malone and the Morning Show, with Maria Todd and Johnny Bravo - September 9, 2004 - March 4, 2005
- Atom Smasher and Maria Todd in the Morning, with Johnny Bravo and Josh Reno - March 28, 2005 - July 7, 2006
- The Midday Show
- Mark Waldi (currently at KRSP)
- Chris Kelly
- Eric Chase (now of Eric Chase Creative Services)
- Eric Leikam
- Lori Bradley (currently at WMVX/Cleveland)
- Michele Fisher (currently on KHMX) September 2, 1992 - June 21, 2005
- Scott Sparks (currently on KHTC) October 4, 1987 - July 7, 2006
- The Night Show
- Shotgun Cook (currently at Soundworks, Houston) (1970-1977)
- Kasi Love (1986- d.1988)
- Elvis Duran (1986-1988)(currently at WHTZ/Newark)
- Robert O'Quinn
- Craig Chambers
- Susie Wad (1989-1990)
- Adam Cook (New Music Zone)
- Ryan Chase (New Music Zone)
- Paul "Cubby" Bryant (1990-1996)
- Atom Smasher (currently on KHKS) and Roula Christie - November 18, 1998 - October 24, 2003
- Overnights
- Steve Vidal
- Jennifer Wyld
- Dave Andrews (1988-1989) now known as Outlaw Dave (recently of KLOL & KIOL)
- John Leach
- Brian Christopher
- 104 KRBE
- Roula and Ryan website
- Query the FCC's FM station database for KRBE
- Radio Locator information on KRBE
- Listen to a KRBE legal ID from 1987
- KRBE legal ID from 2006
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