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KROI (92.1 FM), the all-news station owned by Radio One, said today it has ceased news operations and the station's 47 employees have been laid off. The station, which launched an all-news format three years ago, is now airing music by Beyonce as it transitions toward an as-yet-unannounced format. Yashima Azilove, vice president of corporate communications for Radio One, cited poor Nielsen Audio/Arbitron ratings in the decision to shut down the all-news format.
"We set out three years ago to make history," she said. "There was a void in the marketplace, so we launched the first FM all-news station in the market. We invested significant dollars as well as human capital to make it work, but after three years, the marketplace has spoken. "We have had continued poor ratings and significant financial losses. It was an unfortunate but necessary decision to transition our format." KROI's staff included some of Houston's best-known and most experienced newscasters, including longtime KTRH (740 AM) morning anchors JP Pritchard and Lana Hughes, former KRIV (Channel 26) anchor Mike Barajas, veteran traffic reporter Lanny Griffith and sportcasters Craig Roberts and Jorge Vargas.
The Nielsen Audio ratings book for September showed that KROI, which was known as News 92.1, ranked 26th among all Houston stations with a 0.9 percent audience share among listeners 12 years old and older for the weeklong 6 a.m.-to-midnight ratings period. In morning drive time, KROI had a 1.3 percent share, ranking 23rd among all stations. KTRH, which has a morning talk/commentary block to go with its daylong talk radio format, ranked third in that time slot with a 6.5 percent audience share.
I like Beyonce. I guess instead of tuning into Beyonce's station on Pandora I can just change it to 92.1 when I want to hear her music. It's short lived though. Maybe the next station will be something everyone can enjoy.
Media Mobster
Before passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, a company could not own more than 40 radio stations in the entire country. With the Act’s sweeping relaxation of ownership limits, Clear Channel now owns approximately 1225 radio stations in 300 cities and dominates the audience share in 100 of 112 major markets. Its closest competitors — CBS and ABC, media giants in their own right — own only one-fifth as many stations.
Accusations abound that Clear Channel illegally uses its dominance in radio to help secure control of the nation’s live entertainment business. Several cities, including Denver and Cincinnati, have charged radio station managers with threatening to withdraw certain music from rotation if the artists do not perform at a Clear Channel venue. This tactic, known as “negative synergy,” has allegedly been used to pressure record companies into buying radio-advertising spots in cities where they want to book concert venues.
With this anti-competitive tactic of leveraging airplay against concert performances, Clear Channel has firmly solidified its hold in both areas. As a result, Clear Channel now owns, operates, or exclusively books the vast majority of amphitheaters, arenas, and clubs in the country. It also controls the most powerful promoters, who last year sold 27 million concert tickets. That is 23 million more than the closest competitor. While this may be good for Clear Channel owners and investors, a lot more is at stake here than the buying and selling of stocks.
“Profit maximization has never been the sole point of U.S. communications policy,” writes Douglas Gomery in a March 2002 white paper for the Economic Policy Institute. “Under the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is charged with allocating spectrum space to maximize ‘the public interest’…and to encourage a diversity of voices so as to promote a vibrant democracy.”
I like Beyonce. I guess instead of tuning into Beyonce's station on Pandora I can just change it to 92.1 when I want to hear her music. It's short lived though. Maybe the next station will be something everyone can enjoy.
Old Beyonce was pretty good. The raunchy trashy she puts out now though? Drunk in Love sounds ridiculous on the radio and just in general. I miss old Beyonce
she was more of a singer then....now it's autotune, a catchy slogan and loop
but news 92.1 whatever never was going to work anyway....not in this market as Houston media outlets keep running into the same brick walls by covering the SAME THING....so if you have no market share to begin with why are you trying to compete with folks who already have that market covered?
Old Beyonce was pretty good. The raunchy trashy she puts out now though? Drunk in Love sounds ridiculous on the radio and just in general. I miss old Beyonce
She still has a few good ones like Blow and Partition. Those songs may be raunchy but she does raunchy really well. Plus the videos for those two songs are incredible.
A little surprised they would only play her songs. Does she really have that big of a catalogue?
If I was going to try a stunt like this I'd probably go with The Beatles, Michael Jackson, or Madonna.
She still has a few good ones like Blow and Partition. Those songs may be raunchy but she does raunchy really well. Plus the videos for those two songs are incredible.
A little surprised they would only play her songs. Does she really have that big of a catalogue?
If I was going to try a stunt like this I'd probably go with The Beatles, Michael Jackson, or Madonna.
Probably because she's a native. All Michael Jackson is only on August 29th. Best day of music on Magic 102 all year. Almost no commercial interrupt
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Drunk in Love sounds ridiculous on the radio and just in general. I miss old Beyonce
