KLOL still in the news

The local ABC affiliate did a story on the KLOL format change, with an emphasis on the online reaction to it all.

Christopher Jones was one of the impassioned Rock 101 listeners. After the change, the Kingwood College student jumped on the internet looking for answers but found little out there. So he decided to create a website to help himself and others cope with the situation. The following Monday, bringbackklol.com was born, a site that tried to provide answers to puzzled KLOL listeners and with an online petition, maybe bring the station back.

"I had only told one person the first day and I had signatures from people that I work with that I hadn't even told about it yet," Jones told abc13.com. "Word has spread like wildfire."

Jones was a big fan of the former station. He listened to the long time rocker every day as he ran errands. While he knew that radio stations go through changes for business reasons, he was surprised that Rock 101 disappeared with no explanation.

"Rock 101 KLOL had been on the air for 34 years with the same format," Jones said. "Some families had two or three generations of KLOL listeners. It is hard to believe a company would end that overnight."

Brandon Goetz had the same feelings. Wasting no time, Goetz created rock101.info hours after the station flipped formats. The site lets fans talk, sign a different online petition and mobilize. A post on the site claims it organized a group that passed out 10,000 flyers demanding rock radio's return to Houston during the recent Metallica concert at the Toyota Center.

"I have my doubts about Clear Channel Communications bringing back Rock 101 based on their past dealings in Houston and around the state," Goetz said. "But if you can make enough noise, somebody will have to listen."

And this group of displaced Rock 101 listeners is making plenty of noise. So far these two petitions are nearing 20,000 signatures. Message boards from radio-info.com to our own abc13.com message boards have been full of chatter too.

Blogs like OfftheKuff.com and blogHOUSTON.net started to speculate the demise of the station immediately. Some posts even pondered if the switch was a big publicity stunt.

Ah, fame. Based on the number of comments I've gotten - I lost count after 200 or so - I can totally believe that those sites have had heavy traffic on this. I'm still getting Google referrals by the boatload.

Not that any of this will matter, of course.

Ken Charles, Vice President of Programming for Clear Channel's Houston stations, says he's noticed the web uproar and is not surprised by it.

"KLOL has been around for 34 years. It has great heritage and is a piece of history," Charles told abc13.com. "When a piece of history changes, it's going to get a reaction. We respect that, but its time had come."

I suppose it did, but as we well know, it didn't have to be that way. More's the pity.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 20, 2004 to Music | TrackBack