KFNC: Difference between revisions

| name = KFNC

| city = [[Mont Belvieu, Texas]]<br>[[Houston, Texas]] (FM booster)

| area = [[Houston|Greater Houston]]<br />[[Template:Beaumont-Port Arthur Radio|Golden Triangle]]

| branding = '''ESPN 97.5'/92.5''

| format language = [[SportsAmerican radioEnglish|SportsEnglish]]

| erp = main97.5: 100,000 [[watt]]s<br /> booster92.5: 2,00030 watts

| haat = main97.5: {{convert|596597.3|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}<br />booster92.5: {{convert|171304|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}

| class = main97.5: C <br />booster92.5: D

| facility_id = main: 52407<br>booster: 203402

| coordinates = main: {{coord|29|41|52|N| 94|24|9|W|region:US_type:landmark}}<br>booster: {{coord|29|46|6|N| 94|1|4|W|region:US_type:landmark}}

| callsign_meaning = '''F'''M '''N'''ews '''C'''hannel (previous format)

| former_callsigns = {{ubl|KRIC (1948-19811948–1981)<br /> KAYD (1981-19951981–1995)|KAYD-FM (October 6, 1995-January 1, 2002)|KKTT (January 1, 2002-January 18, 2002)|KRWP (January 18, 2002-January 26, 2005)|KIOL (January 26, 2005-May 23, 2005)}}

| affiliations = [[ESPN Radio]]<br />[[Houston =Dynamo {{ubl|FM/HD1:FC]]<br />[[ESPNSugar RadioLand Space Cowboys]]|<br />[[Texas A&M Aggies|Texas A&M Sports Network]]}}

| owner = David Gow

| licensee = Gow Media, LLC

| sister_stations = [[KGOW]]

| webcast = [http://player.listenlive.co/47161 Listen Live]

| website = [http://www.espn975.com/ espn975.com]

'''KFNC''' (97.5 [[HertzFM broadcasting|MHzFM]]; "ESPN Houston") is a [[commercial radio|commercial]] [[FM radio|FM]] [[radio station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Mont Belvieu, Texas]]. KFNC is paired with an on-channela [[broadcast relay station|FM boostertranslator]], '''KFNC-FM-1K223CW''', licensed to [[Houston]]. The facilities serve the [[Greater Houston]] and [[Golden Triangle (Texas)|Golden Triangle]] areas of southeast [[Texas]]. The station is owned by David Gow, through licensee Gow Media, LLC, with [[radio studio|studio]]s and offices in [[Uptown Houston]] one block from [[The Galleria (Houston)|The Galleria]]. KFNC is a [[network affiliate]] of [[ESPN Radio]], carried late nights and weekends. Local sports shows are heard weekdays from 7 a.m. to midnight and on weekend mornings.

KFNC has an [[effective radiated power]] (ERP) of 100,000 [[watt]]s, the highest permitted for non-[[grandfather clause|grandfathered]] FM stations. The [[transmitter]] is off Route 124 in [[Anahuac, Texas]].<ref>[https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=Kfnc&nav= Radio-Locator.com/KFNC]</ref> A 2,000 watt [[broadcast relay station|booster]], KFNC-FM-1, hashad its transmitter off West Baker Road in [[Baytown, Texas|Baytown]], but has since been powered down, its license returned, and subsequently deleted.<ref>[https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KFNC&fileno=&state=&city=&freq=0.0&fre2=107.9&serv=&status=&facid=&asrn=&class=&list=0&ThisTab=Results+to+This+Page%2FTab&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9 FCC.gov/KFNC]</ref>

On March 1, 1948, the station began broadcasting on 99.5&nbsp;MHz as '''KRIC''' and continued on that frequency through the early 1950s.

Interference to [[Beaumont, Texas|Beaumont]] viewers trying to watch KGUL-TV in [[Galveston]] (now [[KHOU|KHOU-TV]] in Houston), since its March 22, 1953 sign-on, caused the FCC to swap frequencies with this facility and one allocated to [[Lake Charles, Louisiana]]. That changed KRIC's operating frequency to 97.5 FM in order to alleviate the interference to KGUL-TV's signal. The Lake Charles 99.5 station continues to operate as well, and is currently [[Country music|country]] [[KNGT]], having first signed on in November 1965 as KPLC.

In December 2001, a new 2,000-foot tower was built near [[Winnie, Texas]] so that the station could target the more lucrative Houston [[media market|radio market]].

On January 3, 2002, the station officially began targeting the Houston market by flipping to an [[Urban Contemporary]] format as '''Power 97.5''' under the temporary call letters '''KKTT''' but gave '''KRPW''' as its on-air identification. (The station was unable to get the call sign in time for the [[sign on]] and acquired the KRWP call letters several weeks later.) KRPWKRWP also continued to serve the Beaumont area, while primarily targeting Houston.<ref>http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2002/RR-2002-01-11.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>

The station, renamed KRWP ('''P'''o'''W'''e'''R''' spelled backwards) had modest success in the early months of 2002. However, it faced stiff competition from longtime Houston [[hip-hop music]] stations 97.9 [[KBXX]] and 104.9 [[KAMA-FM|KPTY-FM]] as well as [[Rhythmic Contemporary]] station [[KLVH (FM)|KTHT]].

KRWP later skewed to an [[Urban Adult Contemporary]] format with the intent of challenging the market's heritage R&B station, [[KMJQ|Majic 102.1 [[KMJQ]]. However, KRWP never came close to KMJQ in the ratings due to the location of the transmitter, which resulted in a lack of decent coverage for the market. KRWP was transmitting from a site 50 miles east of Houston in [[Chambers County, Texas|Chambers County]]. KRWP was home to the [[radio syndication|syndicated]] [[Doug Banks]] in the Mornings, even through the format altering in 2003.

In late 2004, there were plans for KRWP to switch frequencies to 103.7 FM, or otherwise launch a simulcast with another station with the objective of providing better coverage in Houston. At the same time, Houston's heritage [[album-oriented rock]] (AOR) station, 101.1 [[KLOL]], dumped its rock format after 34 years, flipping to a [[Hurban]] (Hispanic Urban) format.<ref>http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2004/RR-2004-11-19.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>

On January 27, 2005, under new management, KRWP switched to an AOR format, switching its call sign to '''KIOL''' as "Rock 97.5." The format change was headed by former KLOL personality Jim Pruett and program director Pat Fant, in response to the outcry from misplaced KLOL listeners. The first song played on "Rock 97.5" was "[[For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)]]" by [[AC/DC (band)|AC/DC]].<ref>http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2005/RR-2005-02-04.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>

On May 31, 2005, at 6 a.m., 97.5 KIOL broke the simulcast and launched Houston's third attempt at an FM news/talk station, as '''KFNC''' "FM News Channel 97-5." (102.1 KLYX—now KMJQ—was the first in 1975 as an affiliate of [[NBC Radio]]'s now-defunct 24-hour [[NBC News Radio|NBC News and Information Service]]; 97.1 [[KTHTKLVH (FM)|KKTL]] was the second FM News/Talk station, and is now [[classic country]].) Adopting a [[News]]/[[Talk radio]] format, the station consisted of former KLOL morning personalities Jim Pruett and Brian Shannon (the voice of Eddie "The Boner" Sanchez), who reunited to host the afternoon talk show "Back Talk", which was later moved to mornings. Other KLOL alumni on board for the station's news department were Laurie Kendrick and Martha Martinez. Non-KLOL personalities included former KILT newsman Jim Carolla, former KRBE and "NewsRadio 740" staffer Michael Shiloh as morning host/anchor, former "Newsradio 740" reporter and editor Belinda Babinec, former [[KPRC-TV]] sports director Craig Roberts, A.W. Pantoja, [[Clark Howard]], [[Phil Hendrie]], and Charles McPhee.<ref>http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2005/RR-2005-06-03.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> Despite the station's call letters suggesting an affiliation with [[Fox News|Fox News Channel]], the station has never been an affiliate of the network's related [[Fox News Radio]] service ([[KPRC (AM)]] serves as the network's Houston affiliate; that service by coincidence launched a day after KFNC's launch).

As part of a prepackaged bankruptcy filing, the lenders took over the license of four Cumulus Media Partners stations; two in the Kansas City metro area ([[KCHZ]] and [[KMJK]]) and the two rimshot signals in the Houston metro, KHJK and KFNC, in November 2011. Station broker Larry Patrick emerged as the majority owner of the stations and set out to sell the stations to recover the value for the lenders. While Cumulus lost the licenses in bankruptcy, it continued to program the stations under a [[Local marketing agreement]] (LMA).

On October 1, 2017, relay translator K231CN Houston, Texas, allegedly moved from KODA's HD-3 subchannel to the new KFNC HD-2, though there has never been any evidence that KFNC has actually operated an HD2 signal. With the change, the former "SB Nation" format of 1560 KGOW also moved from the AM facility to 97.5 HD-2 & 94.1, and re-imaged as "SportsMap 94.1". Sports Map 94.1 is currently owned by Gow Media, LLC, a company named after and controlled by David Gow. K231CN iswas the [[flagship station]] of [[SB Nation RadioSportsMap]], which is likewise owned by David Gow, and is a national sports network which competes with ESPN and Fox Sports.

On June 22, 2018, Gow Media was granted an on-channel FM booster for KFNC, assigned the call letters KFNC-FM-1, powered at 2,000 watts, elevated at 171 meters [[height above average terrain]], and located near [[Texas State Highway 330]] and West Baker Road in [[Baytown, Texas]].

{{FM station data|52407|KFNC}}

{{SB NationSportsMap Radio stations}}