New station owners with a bottom-line philosophy have canceled public-affairs programming, dismantled news departments and replaced local DJs with broadcasts of prefabricated material to cut costs.
Case in point: When KRBE’s Sam Malone and Maria Todd first went on the air in 1993, most radio stations in Houston had a flashy, larger-than-life morning show. Now they’re among the dwindling number of megawatt morning personalities.
Malone and Todd consider themselves lucky to work for a relatively small company — Susquehanna Radio Corp. — that runs its 29 stations the old-fashioned way, with on-air personalities around the clock and a full-time production, marketing and promotion staff that concentrates on only one station and touts its program at every opportunity.
“The tables have turned in 10 years,” Malone said. “(Back then) people were saying, ‘Don’t go to KRBE in Houston, because they’re a mom-and-pop operation.’ Now everybody wants to work for a mom-and-pop operation.”
“Instead of an evil empire,” Todd added.
I used to listen to KLOL when the Stevens and Pruett morning show was worth listening to. S&P were typically raunchy Howard Stern clones, but hey, I was a male in the 25 to 34 age group, so of course they appealed to me. They pushed a lot of boundaries, and eventually station management (which is now the evil Clear Channel empire, though I don’t know exactly when CC bought them) forced them to scale back on the racier stuff. They became more political instead, which I found unappealing since they still weren’t exactly highbrow. Eventually, Clear Channel fired Stevens, replacing him with a late-night DJ named Greggo, whom I really disliked, and promoting sideman Eddie “The Boner” Sanchez. That lasted about a year, then the whole crew was fired and replaced by a no-talent morning crew called Walton and Johnson, whose only notable acheivement so far has been to annoy a local woman with a billboard that read “Hey, all you virgins – thanks for nothing.”
Now, I listen to all-80s station KHPT in the morning. They play music instead of DJs. Sometimes I listen to KKRW’s Dean and Rog show, which has been around for awhile and which is usually pretty funny. If KLOL started rerunning old Stevens and Pruett shows from about 10 years ago, I’d listen to that.
I’m moderately surprised that this article didn’t touch on the Stevens and Pruett saga at all, since they were a highly rated morning show and their dismissals were sudden and unannounced. It does include this bit of unintentional comedy from a Clear Channel spokesdrone:
Clear Channel spokeswoman Pam Taylor argues that consolidation has led to more diversity in formats rather than less.
“If you own the No. 1 and No. 2 stations in the market, you’re not going to compete against yourself. You’re going to position yourself in some other niche,” she said.
Yeah, it sure would suck to have actual competition among radio stations, wouldn’t it? How much worse it was in the old days when radio stations competed for listeners instead of divvying up market niches. Thank God Clear Channel has saved us from that.
I agree a lot with this article. Since S & P KLOL mornig show was taken off the air I have stopped listening to just about all radio in the morning. Before 500 I listen to “Coast to Coast” on KTRH and then after that I listen to CDs. I listen to S&P for over 10 years just about every morning. In college I scheduled me class to start at 1000 so I would not miss the show. Even after Mark was removed I still listened but it was not the same but with Boner and Jim it was still better than anything on the radio.
Micahel
Sweeny, TX
Cleerchannnel is trying to become a radio monopoly
and is accomplishing it. Houston radio has always
sucked in my opinion (compared to San Antonio and
Corpus). Now it’s gotten even worse since Cleerchannnel came to town. They moved all the
stations into one building so they could crack
their whip easier. Now they are filling the FM dial
with all these Spanish language stations (like 100
of them on AM wasn’t enough). I find myself
listening to the radio less and less now. I think
I’ll look into the satellite radio systems.
maybe I can find a REAL rock station on there!
I agree. I hope they are feeling the pai (bad ratings) with these guys, Walton and Johnson. What can we do to stop clearchannel???
In my opinion, the only way to slow the growth of mass-broadcast consolidation, would be for the FCC to re-regulate the ownership requirements it once had. Let me explain. Until the Reagan Administration allowed for de-regulation of the FCC; in hopes of keeping up with the ever-changing needs of the broadcast industry. Most broadcasters were restricted to no more than two facilities in the same market. This usually consisted of an FM facility and it’s original AM station, or as we saw come about in the eighties, two FM’s owned by the same company in the same market, and under the same roof! Due to the tight restraints of the FCC; in regards to the number of stations a broadcaster could own in a single market, stations could develop distinct identities through fierce competition. This in turn led to a higher quality broadcast product. When broadcasters cannot own the entire market, the market will flourish with creativity. But, put all the facilities under one roof, with a few people running them, and you get a bland product that can make alot of money. This will have to be solved by the FCC. The only thing they can do is re-regulate the requirements for ownership in markets. Radio is a Federally Regulated Business. Take the restrictions away, and hurt the quality. But, with the changes in technology and society. The restrictions of the past, might actually do more harm than good. Under the current regulations. I feel that the big owners, such as ClearChannel, Cumulus, etc…. will either combine into one huge company, be sold to another enterprise of some sort…ex. “CNN going to AOL Time Warner,” sell off their properites to individual owners. or, like Microsoft, be split by the government. Yet, as I made mention to above. Technology is changing, as well as the place of radio in society, and we are probably witnessing the last decades of radio. The thing that saddens me most about the current situation, is that there is hardly anything worth listening to on the radio anymore. The only way to stop mass-conglomeration of radio, is to write Congress and request legislation to re-regulate the industry. You can own most of the radio stations in the country, but The FCC still tells you what to do with them.
Clear Channel Sucks!!! I want my Stevens and Pruett back!!! Rich Bastards!!!
You guys all suck. Stop your f’ing whining. Walton and Johnson are awesome and they top the ratings in Houston.
well it is whinning a bit, but most of what is being said is true. I live in the BAY AREA and there are many good bands, artists, and groups that would like to get on the radio. But they cant since it seems like most of the good ones are broke……heh….Im one of them. These radio stations don’t even attempt to play some of the local artists here and its a damn shame you have to pay to get played. It wasn’t like this 10 years ago when the stations actually seemed to care and used to have “play-offs” for the local artists quite frequently. It just seemed to dry up almost overnight. Something need to be done
Does anyone know where s&p are now? What are they doing? Are they on the air anywhere?
Stevens and Pruett have been hired to take the place of the recently fired 94.5 morning dj’s. Call them and ask, they will verify it.
KLOL’s Walton & Johnson can only aspire to suck. And that would be a major improvment. No wonder KLOL’s ratings are at the bottom of the Houston pile.
These guys are pathetic old Limbaugh lemmings. No wonder they killed 101’s ratings.
Come on, Walton and Johnson’s only crime is that they are not Stevens and Pruett. They acknowledge their own faults/imperfections and they joke about how CC has forced them to be corporate shills from time to time. They aren’t mindless clones, they aren’t pulling mindlessly unfunny birthday scams, and they aren’t afraid to tell you the stories that most newspapers won’t print. Call me a sheep, or a wannabe, but I have grown to really enjoy the Walton and Johnson show and I have listened to EVERY morning show currently offered in the Gulf Coast area and they are head and shoulders the most intelligent, original, thought-provoking, and entertaining show on the air today. In my twenties I listened to Howard Stern, in my thirties, I am an ongawa-saying radio gawd listener. Please don’t send me any hate mail for expressing my opinion.
Thanks,
Steve
I really like this show, aside from the perverdedness its great, unfortunatley because of the perverdedness i cant listen very often because my kids are usually with me. You guys do now in almost every subject except for religion take the words right out of my head because what your saying im always thinkin!
The good ol days a real rock station with a voice that was not afraid 2 speak.2 b able 2 say
this is fuck up(exspecialy if it is!!!!!kill em all bring back the rock!!!!
Walton & Johnson = Stale, corporate, whineing, uninspiring airwave drool. The radio equivolent of watching grass grow. Worse yet, now they appear to be paid shills for the Bush campaign.
No wonder Rula and Ryan at 96.5 are killing them in the ratings.
Even at their bickering worst, Stevens and Pruett were 10X the talents.
Well, 101 is gone to a Latino station, so I guess we don’t have to fight about 101’s morning show any longer! What is this city coming to, there are already like 10 spanish stations. Clear channel has killed radio in Houston, officially now. Congrats.
Noooooooo!!! Another damn spanish radio station. How many of them do there have to be. Do we english speaking citizins not drive around in our cars anymore. Oh well 101 was the last radio station I actully listined to on a regular basis. Now it is dead to. And with almost no warning. Just went off in the middle of a a song. Sad day for Houston really. Fuck Clear Channel. I’ve already sent them a message telling them so. Like anyone will read it.
I think Walton & Johnson is a great show. Sometimes I have to turn it off but 99.9% of the time it’s what I listen to in the morning. However, Clear Channel fucking sucks. Houston FM radio is dead. Not that it had much life in it before today but now it officially has died. All clear channel stations play the same 10 songs of their genre and nothing else. When was the last time you heard a station taking requests??? Now I listen to Country Legends 97.1 and enjoy that too. Hopefully corporate greed won’t kill it.
I cannot believe 101.1 is Spanish. A Houston mainstay is gone!! Walton & Johnson told it like it was….All you mainstream media shepeople could not stand it becasue the truth hurt. I never heard Walton & Johnson have a disgusting segment called guess my weight by sitting on the telephone like S&P. It was fair and balence but I assuming Clear Channel is owned by the Kerry campaign so its gone to with the other two losers!! I am done with Clear Channel and their antics!! Too bad 94.5 is a clear channel station!! I hate Sam Malone and that crap but I am boycotting Clear Channel all together. I never thought Jessica Simpson and Usher would sound so good!! Fck Clear Channel!!!!!!!!!!!
KLOL is a freaking Spanish station now? It was like getting kicked in the nuts when I heard that. What the hell is Latino and proud crap doing on Rock101? Makes me sad to be Latin. That new Clear Channel progam director for this region should get his ass beat down. Walton And Johnson you build it we will come. XM Satellite radio maybe? Hmmmmm………..
Even though Walton & Johnson had sh*t political views, they were bloody magic. What the hell is going on that this show can be cancelled at two days notice. Get something back on the airwaves to stimulate the senses – even though one of these senses may be anger some of the time. Fantastic, funny and intellectual views even though you hoped (for the fate of the world) that the participants were not always talking the truth.
How much more original material can you come with ? These guys are doing f##king great. If clearchannel are the company that dissed them, Piss off Clearchannel. Bring back W&J.
Bri from Scotland.
Clear channel has in fact ruined Radio I would also feel sad to be Latin. That is the weekest thing that anyone could say to promote a radiostation I mean rock 101 never said we are white and proud. this was a sorry day in radio I already too have contacted Clear channel. True no one will read it but everyone who is pissed off about this too needs to fill thier inboxes with pissed off emails. I will not listen to my radio anymore. S&P were better than W$J. This Sucks
I can’t believe it!! I’m as conservative as they come, this is a damn shame. Last time I checked we weren’t in Mexico. How many channels have to be Mexican? Who has the money anyways, last time I checked it wasn’t the damn illegals. I’ll never listen to another C.C. Station, they are on the same list as the cnn.
amen Mat
I can’t believe it!! I’m as conservative as they come, this is a damn shame. Last time I checked we weren’t in Mexico. How many channels have to be Mexican? Who has the money anyways, last time I checked it wasn’t the damn illegals. I’ll never listen to another C.C. Station, they are on the same list as the cnn.
A sad day for houston radio,30+ years means nothing next corporate greed.I hope the Clear Channel pigs enjoy a market with no more listeners.xm radio!!!!………..FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clear Channel
Anybody got an address we can bombard with e-mails about this terrible situation ? Just post it.
I really miss KLOL. I listened to them when S&P were on there and I really liked Walton and Johnson. We don’t have any rock stations in Houston…94.5 SUX!!!!!!!!!!! and 93.7 is pretty good now and then. I really liked the pit on KLOL on Sunday nights, cuz it would come on when I was getting off work and they played stuff that rocked!! I hate the fact that KLOL was taken off the air, cuz now I’m forced to listen to a sucky radio station (94.5) who plays only alternative b.s. and not rock and roll. Who the hell listens to Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte? Those bands aren’t rock….Metallica, Godsmack, Mudvayne, etc….those are rock!! 94.5 only plays stupid stuff and they dare call themselves a rock and roll station?! Give me a break!!! I agree with Mat….we have too many f**king latino stations here and only 1 good hard rock station, and that had to be all f**ked up by taking them off the air. That f**king blows monster f**king cock!!!
I think clear channel has made a grave mistake as far as thier marketing is concerned. It seems to me that CC may not care what it’s listeners want. They must have thier heads up thier asses and not realize that every other station is either playing faggy rap or unintelligable shit from south of the border. Clear channel has definately lost my business and my patience……. I hope someone can spam thier comp networks into oblivion. CC can kiss my ass!!!!!!!!!
I think clear channel has made a grave mistake as far as thier marketing is concerned. It seems to me that CC may not care what it’s listeners want. They must have thier heads up thier asses and not realize that every other station is either playing faggy rap or unintelligable shit from south of the border. Clear channel has definately lost my business and my patience……. I hope someone can spam thier comp networks into oblivion. CC can kiss my ass!!!!!!!!!
You all seem fairly confident what is and what is not CLEARCHANNEL. Please give me some pointers. I f##king loved 101.1, W&J and all the good stuff but what do I have to boycott now ?
Bri from Scotland.
i go from listening to metallica, ac/dc, and led zeppelin on my ride to school to latin music????? why was no one warned of this? 101 ia a great source of rock and one of only two stations that I ever listen to. where can we complain about this. i want my rock!
MAN WHAT THE HELL…….. I was listening to walton and johnson this FUCKING MORNING for gods sake!!!! I went to lunch and instead of rock I got blasted by some fucking trumpets and macorenas!!!! Im Mexican but I gotta admit that spanish shit sounds like fucking noise, it sounds like when i pick my kid up from daycare and theres 30 hysterical screamin kids running around banging on shit!!!! After I finish this message Im headed to the xm website to check their shit out. FUCK HOUSTON RADIO!
Where can we find W&J now? Did they go back to New Orleans….
I was listening this morning and knew it was a repeat and thought they took the day off…by was I wrong…..
http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/contactus.aspx
or http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/Email.aspx
will get you to some kinda email contact give em hell
When I was at work tonight, the night shift supervisor came in and said “the morning show guys were called last night and told not to come in”. I dunno where she heard that from, but I didn’t hear anything last night when I left work (I get off at 10) so I was surprised to see on my truck radio Mega 101 when I was going to work this afternoon. I thought it was a joke so I turned on a cd and when I put the radio back on and heard people singing in spanish, I knew it wasn’t a joke. Everyone I know called me at work tonight and asked if I heard, and the general consensus was: WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO KLOL?!?!?!?!
I heard that W&J were called last night and told not to show up this morning because their format was being changed and they wouldn’t have their jobs anymore. I’d like to see walton and johnson get a show on another station and burn clear channel on the air!
This shit fucking sucks. I enjoyed listening to Rock 101 KLOL. And the new show The Pit was freaking awesome. I can’t believe that the only 2 choices of rock stations in Houston is 94.5(sucks) and 93.7(decent). Who the fuck cares about a “Latino” station when there is already one to many. Indeed as said before a sad day Houston. I hope CC burns in hell for this.
This is the biggest bad thing since The Bush Administation, and that’s BAD. Houstonians will band together and bouycot this Clear Channel BLUNDER, just another in a long line from what I’m hearing from accross the nation. so we all stand up and never listen to there stations again.They fired our favorite DJ’s and even the hispanics I know, and thats a bunch think this programing SUCKS.
THIS BETTER BE A BAD JOKE!!!!! They have lost the old listeners, advertisers, Hispanics. Total FUBAR
You have lost listeners from all over the world.
We as the people that loved this station would like to buy it back, how much? We will combine our money and own this great icon of HOUSTON. Soon I think the price will be reasonable because they won’t have any listeners or advertisers, any advertiser will get a negative reponse we all promise. Not even hispanic’s like myself can tolorate this crap.
Manditory metallic ’til the troops come home…. you comm’y basterds. A slap in the face to the troops fighting for whaaat?
Hey you know what? 101 has sucked for a long time due to Clear Channel. Walton and Johnson always sucked. Walton and Johnson always was broadcast out of Baton Rouge. The Walton and Johnson show was always just 2 guys. The redneck, black man, and gay man voices was only 1 person.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
P.S. ALL CORPORATIONS SUCK!
I thought W&J were quite humerious and if anyone took them seriously must have an IQ of an amoeba. It was just stupid humor to start your day. Now that 101 is all Latino music, I listen to 89.7 the Alvin Comunity College Station. I hope Clear Channel does’t decide to get in the education business.
ok ok ok check this out. I am just as pissed off about this as anybody else here in Houston. I have been trying to find information about what has happened and I found some interesting things.
KLOL’s format change is part of a bigger picture – a conspiracy some might say. Here are some facts.
Radio in Houston has changed for the worse causing people to abandon radio all together. I know this because of forums like this where everyone is like “This sucks” “Radio in Houston is dead” “F Clear Channel” “I’m moving to XM”
Well, the truth is, this is exactly the response that Clear Channel wants. Think about it. If changing KLOL’s format was a positive thing and everyone was going to love it, they would have told people about it. A few DJ’s joked about needing to learn Spanish but no official word. This is because they know people would hate the change and protest it – there would be “save the station” rallies. So, they get everything set up and then flip the switch.
Also, I’ve tried to search for information about this on Clear Channel’s web site but found they have completely removed all evidence that Rock 101 ever existed. In fact, if you use the search on their site for “Houston rock 101” or similar searches, it returns 0 results – not even an unrelated article about Houston or rock or 101 Dalmatians.
Ok, so why is Clear Channel doing this? Why do they want to kill radio in Houston? Why do they want people to say “Radio in Houston is dead – I’m moving to XM!”?
Well, according to this:
http://www.xmradio.com/newsroom/screen/press_release_1999_06_08.html
Clear Channel, in part, owns XM Radio. This has been a project that has happening for years to make the radio that people listen to for free so crappy that people are forced to sign up for their special radio service that you have to pay for.
So I say to all of you who say “F Clear Channel” – join me in boycotting everything that Clear Channel touches. Don’t play their game and pay for XM service.
I would like to start my own station where we can have the good old days back. We’ll get S&P back in the morning and Dave & Lock in the afternoon. Save The Ranch rallies. You name it. Who’s with me? I’ve got the means to start a station – I just need some people willing to help put it together. Anyone willing to work with me to build the baddest rock station ever should e-mail me at “harold@stormsoft.com”. Oh, and put “Rock Station” in the subject and I’ll tell my spam filter to let it through.
This is bs, klol rocked, it was the only station that played Led Zeppelin religiously. They had mandatory METALLICA every night at 9. The pit was great, they played all the good heavy stuff, it was starting to get even better, now they tell us that a hispanic pop radio station is taking over. Why couldn’t it have been a different station, I’m hispanic and i gotta say that there is already too many hispanic radio stations in houston. 101 has been my number 1 preset station since i could remember, to find out last night when i was taking an mri, and they asked me what station i wanted to hear, i said Rock 101 klol, and all i hear is some Enrique Iglesias bullshit, i then yelled out “WTF?” If there is any way to put Rock 101 back on the air, i’ll pitch in anyway i can, and i’m sure there are some crazy mofo’s out there that will back me up.
I think i speak for most fans out there when i say.
HAIL NASTY!!!!!!!
I cannot believe this shit! Harry is right. Clear Channel owns XM Radio. They announced a major change in radio nationwide about a month ago. By converting several key radio stations to latino/hispanish in major market areas they will drive people to XM radio and make us pay for good radio instead of making advertisers pay for it. This is a PRIME example of why monopolies should NOT exist in this country. The only way to boycott these assholes is to burn CDs man, they own everything! FUCKING COCKSUCKERS! KLOL was a part of Houston. Whats happened to our country? Can we stop this invasion please???
F U C K Clear Channel Communications !!! I can’t believe they have killed KLOL. I’ve listened to KLOL almost exclusively since I moved to Houston in 1979. (KILT when it was album rock until a similar unannounced format change in the early 80’s). I’ve seen all the other stations change formats every decade or so and never believed it would happen to KLOL. I urge everyone to BOYCOTT any and everything Clear Channel has anything to do with. Call friends and relatives in other cities and tell them what has happened here in Houston. Tell them Clear Channel is going to do the same thing to their favorite stations eventually. Tell them to go ahead and call their local radio stations and dare them to put on the air what it is that Clear Channel is doing. I believe Outlaw Dave would would have Gone the Fuck Off on the Air if he known what was about to happen during what turned out to be his last show on Thursday afternoon. They didn’t even tell W & J until late Thursday evening. The format changeover wasn’t scheduled until after their morning show on Friday. The show that was aired was a rerun. I don’t know if it happened this way or not, but I’d really like to think that when W & J were given the news, they told the execs to go Fuck themselves and that they wouldn’t be their the next day. Kinda doubt it, but I can at least hope they did. I won’t even listen to 93.7 now because they are a Clear Channel station also. Keep Rockin everyone, just don’t do it with Clear Channel Stations. Time to get a large capacity CD changer for my Jeep.
OH.. I’ll bet outlaw dave would have plastered this shit all over the air if given the chance! I was driving from Katy to Richmond tonight and I saw “clear channel” on the bottom of several billboards…….. Those bastards even own billboards, You can’t just seem to get away from those cocksucking asslicking unclef**kers.
this is a clip taken from the CC website… check this crap out.
————————————————————————
We believe we have an obligation for the well-being of the communities in which we live. We further believe the future success of our communities and the industries where we do business is dependent upon the responsibility we feel, the high standards we set and the positive impact our actions have.
We believe excellence is the standard and we seek to achieve excellence by encouraging and nourishing these core values:
Respect for the individual.
Honest, open communication.
Individual development and satisfaction.
A sense of ownership in Clear Channel’s success.
Participation, cooperation and teamwork.
Creativity, innovation and initiative.
Prudent risk-taking.
Recognition and rewards for achievement
We believe the ultimate measure of our success is to provide a superior value to our stockholder
—————————————————————-
Am I not mistaken, or are they talking about being truthful and having integrity? In my opinion, they don’t seem to have very much integrity because sneaking up on everyone isn’t a sign of integrity, but a sign of lack of character and backbone!
This is an outrage!!! Another mexican channel. That makes number 16 in Houston. KLOL has been here for 34 years. most of us grew up with them. Clear channel is ridiculous!!!! I agree boycott clear channel!
This is an outrage!!! Another mexican channel. That makes number 16 in Houston. KLOL has been here for 34 years. most of us grew up with them. Clear channel is ridiculous!!!! I agree boycott clear channel!