Radio-One has pulled the plug on its All News “News 92” 92.1 KROI Seabrook/Houston.
In a statement on the station’s website the company stated,
News92, Houston’s first FM all-news radio station aired its last broadcast Wednesday, October 8, 2014.
We’d like to thank the News92 staff for their outstanding service, our advertisers and each of you our listeners and web visitors for your support. This difficult decision is a result of sustained poor ratings performance and significant financial losses over the past three years despite the substantial financial and human resources we invested. Unfortunately, the market hasn’t shown a sustainable appetite for news radio, but each of you motivated us daily to produce a high-quality news program. Together, we made history.
The Houston Chronicle confirms that all 47 employees of the station have been let go as KROI is now stunting with all Beyonce songs as “B92“.
KROI had launched its All-News format in November 2011 as part of a run of new FM band News stations including Merlin Media’s “FM News” in Chicago and New York, Cumulus’ “All News 106.7” WYAY Atlanta, and CBS’ 99.1 WNEW Washington DC. Of those WNEW is now the only one remaining. KROI struggled to gain a large audience as it remained under a 1.0 share for much of its run with the News format and registering a 0.9 in what will now be its final monthly.
Just way to many online resources for news & information. It’s funny how talk & news was supposed to be radio’s savior after the rise of Pandora & streaming. But both news & talk are falling off miserably with middle age & younger demos. Seems like sports is the only talk format with legs at the moment. Radio is gonna have to try harder to reinvent itself & stay relevant with younger listeners. And news that they already get instantly on their phones isn’t going to do it. Neither is right wing, blowhard talk that pushes a social agenda most everyone under 60 disagrees with.
Anyway, I’m not surprised at Radio One cutting it’s losses on this. A music “jukebox” even with the same low numbers is cheaper to operate & more profitable.
Might Radio One decide to do various stunts for the rest of this month, then go all-Christmas on November 1st (or even sooner), and finally unveil the new KROI-92.1 format after Christmas??
Given it’s ownership, the new format will likely be something to appeal to African-Americans.
The opposite is likely the case. Radio One probably wants the new format on the air as soon as possible.