iHeartMedia has flipped LGBTQ Dance “97.5 Pride Radio” K248CU/KASE-HD2 Austin TX to Alternative “Alt 97.5“.
The station is debuting with 5000 songs commercial-free and will follow that up with the launch of the syndicated Woody Show on Monday, February 12. The station will also feature a voicetracked lineup of Wendy Rollins in middays, Klinger afternoons, and Mike Jones at night.
The new format places the translator in direct competition with Emmis’ “101X” 101.5 KROX.
iHeartMedia Austin announced today the debut of ALT 97.5, The New Alternative, effective immediately.
ALT 97.5 will launch with 5,000 songs commercial free, and broadcast music from a variety of Alternative artists, including The Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Weezer, Muse and more.
The station will also feature the “The Woody Show” on weekday and Saturday mornings.
“We’re thrilled to bring ALT 97.5 to the Austin airwaves!” said Brian Gann, Regional Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Austin/San Antonio. “We know this format will resonate with our listeners, and we are beyond happy to show Austin the New Alternative, ALT 97.5.”
Full Programming Lineup:
“The Woody Show” 6:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Wendy Rollins 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Klinger 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Mike Jones 7:00 p.m. – 12 midnight
Steve Varholy 
Eric Jon Magnuson
They had iHeartAustin earlier that was Indie and did fairly well for a low powered translator. Then they decided to go after KROX and it tanked.
This time, though, I think that it’s largely to get yet another clearance for Woody. In iHeart’s eyes, he might be the Bobby Bones of 2018 (albeit for a less-mainstream format).
The funny thing is that iHeartAustin had a really decent audience for the signal and the fact that it was really, really indie. Once they went mainstream, the bottom went out.
Bobby Bones > Ryan Seacrest. But that is not saying much. One would think that after all these years in major markets Seacrest would learn how to properly work a microphone.
Per Mr. Dinges (at http://tvradio.blog.austin360.com/2018/01/26/pride-radio-austin-gone-from-97-5-fm-new-format-debuts), Pride is still carried on KPEZ 102.3’s HD-2 subchannel.