Urban music replaces Houston's classical station
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With sale to chain, classical station to switch formats
By DAVID KAPLAN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Houston's only commercial classical music radio station may soon be playing
a different tune.
Radio One, the biggest U.S. radio broadcaster focusing on black and urban
listeners, agreed to buy Houston's KRTS-FM, a classical music station, for
$72.5 million.
The sale would give Radio One its third station in the city.
Radio One said it plans to change the call letters and format of KRTS, and
the acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter, Radio One said in
a prepared statement.
Radio One's other two other Houston stations are KBXX-FM, which has an urban
format, and KMJQ-FM, which plays urban adult contemporary music.
The new format for the station has not yet been determined, said Linda
Vilardo, general counsel at Lanham, Md.-based Radio One.
Radio One, which owns 68 stations in 22 markets, is trying to expand in
areas with a large number of black listeners.
With 494,496 black residents in 2000, Houston ranked fifth among U.S.
cities, census data shows.
KRTS is owned by Mike Stude, who bought the station in 1987. He was not
available for comment. In a prepared statement, he noted how dramatically
the business has changed, with classical music available online and via
satellite.
The University of Houston's KUHF-FM also broadcasts classical music, along
with news from National Public Radio.
KLEF-FM, founded in 1964, was Houston's premier classical station until
1986, when the station's second owner, Entercom, changed the call letters to
KJYY-FM and began to play light rock.
KLEF listeners were outraged, according to an article in the Houston Post.
The station donated its record library to KUHF, which changed its format
from jazz to classical to fill the void.
KLEF's call letters were acquired by a 3,000-watt Seabrook station that went
classical. Stude, chairman of the Houston Symphony Society, bought KLEF,
changed its call letters to KRTS, moved it to Houston and boosted its power
to 100,000 watts.
KRTS noted that a portion of the proceeds of the sale will be used to
establish a foundation supporting arts and music education for Houston
children.
Bloomberg News and Chronicle classical music critic Charles Ward contributed
to this article.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2589916
* - Houston has a not-for-profit classical station as well, KUHT, on 88.7 FM
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