Final Listen: KKHH (The Spot) Houston

One of the most distressing aspects of the industry’s layoffs and station contraction is that sometimes winning doesn’t ensure longevity. That’s true for programmers and morning shows. Win for 10 years but lose for five months before the next round of consolidation, and those 10 years’ worth of raises make you extra-vulnerable. 

It’s also true for radio stations. Adult Hits KKHH (The Spot) Houston was fifth in the market 25-54 when its frequency was commandeered for the upcoming move of KILT-AM’s sports format to FM on August 13. The Spot’s 4.7 share in demo under Bruce Logan and Chris Huff put it ahead of three other Audacy FMs: AC KHMX, Spanish Contemporary KLOL (Mega 101), and Country KILT-FM (The Bull).

The Spot was one of two major-market format changes driven by FM music-radio consolidation last week, as Classic Hits KUFX San Jose, Calif., gave way to Country KBAY, following the sale of that station’s frequency to KLOVE. Not all of the recently displaced stations are Classic Rock/Hits outlets, as Beasley’s sales of Charlotte and Las Vegas show this week, but recent weeks have also seen the loss of Classic Rock WZBA (The Bay) Baltimore and Classic Hits WWIZ Youngstown, Ohio.

The Spot launched in 2016 in a market with a longstanding hole for Classic Hits as well. Like Adult Hits stations in Baltimore and Nashville, it has become effectively Houston’s Classic Hits outlet, particularly as the two formats move closer to each other. 

Houston has been a challenging market for the Classic Hits format. It has a strong history of local hits, especially in the Alternative-driven late ’80s/early ’90s, but also an ongoing population influx that obscures its history. When The Spot leaves, the market’s two biggest clusters will include Urban One’s Classic Hits KGLK (The Eagle) and iHeart’s AC KODA (Sunny 99.1), neither of which has the impetus to launch a potential rival. Cumulus owns CHR KRBE, but not a second FM.

The Spot’s library size (about 385 songs 2x a week or more) and power rotation (10-12x a week) would have been more typical of Classic Hits, at least until other Classic Hits stations went much tighter and went to 25x a week or more.

The Spot does recall early Adult Hits stations in its emphasis on “all kinds of music” and “songs that aren’t supposed to play together.” “Sometimes it might sound like we don’t know what we’re doing … That’s accurate,” says one sweeper. But there’s also one that declares the station “proud to be the soundtrack of the city and the people who make it great.”

Here are some more Spot sweepers, provided by Huff (also known in these pages for his ratings-history contributions).

• Houston’s source of musical randomness … 95-7 The Spot.
• We’re still holding on to our Astroworld season pass, too … 95-7 The Spot.
• That shaker thing they put your paint can in at the hardware store? We pretty much do the same thing with our playlist … 95-7 The Spot.”
• The perfect soundtrack for sitting on Loop 610 … 95-7 The Spot.
• 95-7 The Spot, where we treat our playlist like TEX-D.O.T. treats I-45. We never stop working on it.
• A playlist as random as Houston’s zoning, 95-7 The Spot.
• 95-7 The Spot … Our next nominee for song you least expected to hear today is …  

Here’s The Spot just before 4 p.m., July 21:

• Run-D.M.C., “Walk This Way”
• Pat Benatar, “Heartbreaker”
• Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’”
• Donna Lewis, “I Love You Always Forever”
• Roxette, “The Look”
• Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight”
• ’Til Tuesday, “Voices Carry”
• Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust”
• Beck, “Loser”
• Michael Jackson, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
• Vertical Horizon, “Everything You Want”
• Joan Jett & Blackhearts, “I Hate Myself for Loving You”
• Elton John, “Bennie and the Jets”
• Bon Jovi, “Wanted Dead or Alive”
• George Michael, “Faith”

And here’s the station just before 2 p.m., August 4:

• R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”
• Prince, “Purple Rain”
• Creed, “Higher”
• Police, “Every Breath You Take”
• Commodores, “Brick House”
• Matchbox Twenty, “3 AM”
• Michael Sembello, “Maniac”
• Michael Jackson, “The Way You Make Me Feel”
• Collective Soul, “Shine”
• Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”
• Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping”
• Kenny Loggins, “Footloose”
• New Order, “Blue Monday”
• Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got to Do With It”
• Foreigner, “Cold as Ice”