The New 93Q wins prestigious Marconi Award for 2016 Country Station of the Year

This is 3rd time The New 93Q KKBQ has received an award as significant as this

HOUSTON – September 23, 2016 – Cox Media Group Houston’s station: KKBQ-FM/The New 93Q was named 2016 Country Station of the Year at the 2016 National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Radio Awards. This is 3rd time The New 93Q has received an award as significant as this. The awards were announced Thursday night at the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show held during the Radio Show in Nashville, TN.

"Accepting the Marconi on behalf of Cox Media Group and the entire team of KKBQ is truly an honor and privilege," said CMG Houston VP and Market Manager Mark Krieschen. "The nomination and the win are true reflections of the kind of ‘radio’ KKBQ does each day: super-serving our audience, our advertisers, and the local community."

Established in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi, the NAB Marconi Radio Awards are given to radio stations and outstanding on-air personalities to recognize excellence in radio.

"This incredible honor is a reflection of the fantastic team we have at The New 93Q and the wonderful listeners who support us every single day,” said CMG Houston Operations Manager Johnny Chiang. “I could not be more proud of the passion our folks have for country music, radio, and our community makes The New 93Q a very special radio station and an incredibly rewarding place to work."

The passion KKBQ has for its listeners, talent, community and advertisers is the direct result of The New 93Q reining as Houston’s country music leader and the 1.1M Houstonians who tune in weekly.

(The following post was taken from a release sent to me by Cox Media Group)

Telemundo Houston 10pm news most watched in market September 2016

KTMD also returns as most-watched Spanish-language station in the market during Primetime for third consecutive month


HOUSTON, TX – (September 22, 2016) – Telemundo Houston / KTMD closed out the September 2016 survey period as the most-watched station in the market, regardless of language at 10 PM among Adults 18 to 34.

The station also tied for the top spot in the market among Adults 18 to 49. Additionally, KTMD’s late newscast, Noticiero Telemundo Houston a las 10 PM, delivered the largest local late news audience for the third quarter of 2016 (July, August and September) among Adults 18 to 34 and Adults 18 to 49. Telemundo Houston ranks as the #1 Spanish-language television station in the market, during the late news time period among Adults 18 to 34, Adults 18 to 49, and Adults 25 to 54 for the third quarter of 2016.

In Primetime (Monday to Friday from 7 PM to 11 PM), KTMD was the most-watched Spanish-language station in the market among Adults 18 to 34, Adults 18 to 49, and Adults 25 to 54 during September 2016. This is the third consecutive month that Telemundo Houston ranks as the #1 Spanish-language television station in the market, during the time period among all three demographic groups. Additionally, Telemundo’s super series Señora Acero 3 La Coyote at 9 PM was the most-watched program in the time period, regardless of language,
among Adults 18 to 34 and Adults 18 to 49.

Source: Nielsen (NSI) Houston; September 2016, Q3 AVG (6/30-9/21); Preliminary Live +SD; Arianna Reports; Daypart AQH Impressions M-F 7p-10p (KTMD, KXLN, KFTH, KZJL, KYAZ, KTBU, KHLM, KUVM, KTRK, KHOU, KPRC, KRIV, KIAH, KTXH, KUBE); News Program Average Ratings M-F 9p-1030p (KTMD, KXLN, KFTH, KTRK, KHOU, KPRC, KRIV, KIAH)

(This post was taken from a release sent to me by Telemundo)

GM Roger Bare to leave KIAH CW39

After 12 years, Roger Bare stepping down from GM at KIAH 39

Roger Bare

Roger Bare, longtime vice president and general manager of KIAH CW 39, is stepping down from his job after 12 years but looking to stay in Houston.

"It's time for me to challenge myself in a new way," Bare told mikemcguff.com. "I plan to explore sales and marketing opportunities in cycling, running and related businesses that promote a healthy lifestyle; and also opportunities in the local media/advertising community."

Not only has Bare sat in the top chair at channel 39 since 2004, but he's been with the Tribune owned station long before. Prior to the GM position, Bare was the station's general sales manager for six years.

Before that, he worked in the sales department at 104.1 KRBE.

Lots happened at channel 39 during Bare's tenure. Here are some highlights.

Under his leadership, 39 changed call letters from KHWB to KHCW and then to KIAH. Before Bare, the station's calls were KHTV.

The anchorless newscast NewsFix launched in 2011. According to Bare's LinkedIn page, NewsFix improved its time slot ratings, and delivered a 34% margin in less than two years. NewsFix was later expanded into the 10pm slot.

Bare also managed the launch of Tribune morning show Eye Opener in multiple markets. He took a slow day part for the Tribune stations and according to his LinkedIn page, created new demographics, gained market share, increased revenue and profitability.

For a while, Bare took over duties as Senior Vice President/General Manager of the company’s Dallas television station, KDAF, in addition to his Houston duties.

In 2015, Bare was awarded the 2015 Silver Star of Excellence Award by The Media Alliance of Houston (MAH), an affiliate of the Alliance of Women in Media (AWM). Why that's almost 39 Gold (you had to be in Houston in the 1980s to get this one)!

[Thanks Thanks to PR Fairy @farbulous]

Got a hot new podcast? Then you could win with Radio Brave

Radio Brave Launches North American Search for the Next Podcast Sensation with $5,000 Cash Prize - Podcast Development and Marketing Firm Hunts for Promising New Talent


HOUSTON, TX—September 19, 2016—Radio Brave, the digital broadcast platform launched in May 2016 by broadcast marketing innovator Doug Harris, is on the lookout for rising stars in the podcast world to support the public’s explosive interest in the platform.

“Radio Brave’s purpose is to bring new content, from new people, to new audiences,” explains Harris. “We began with weekly, one hour shows but since our studios and crew are perfectly suited to produce and distribute shorter formats, we’re making podcasts, podcasting, and podcasters our focus. We are all about ‘the P word’”.

Radio Brave’s Master ‘Caster Talent Search will begin accepting entries on October 3, 2016 at Slam@RadioBrave.com. Submissions must be in English, no longer than four minutes and presented as audio files. Official rules are posted at the bottom of the home page at RadioBrave.com or http://www.radiobrave.com/master-caster/. One grand prize winner will receive $5,000 and a one year development, distribution and promotion contract with Radio Brave. The winning podcast must conform to iTunes and Google Play Music’s terms of service before its worldwide launch by the Radio Brave team.

“The man or woman we select will get the best that Radio Brave has to offer,” says Harris.” If their talent is raw, they’ll get coaching as needed. If their production is amateurish and that’s not part of its appeal, we’ll clean it up. And if they don’t have a name, or an audience, or a sponsor, we’ll make that happen, too. We have the best team and the best studios available to podcasters and our doors are open to established content generators as well as the podcast-curious.”

Doug Harris

Radio Brave’s portfolio of podcasting-related services will be overseen by respected programmer and talent developer Bobby “Slam” Duncan, and will include not only the recording and production of audio episodes, but also the marketing and promotion of the podcast and the pursuit of revenue for its creator.

“America’s podcast superstars are putting out great product, attracting large audiences, and generating advertiser revenue,” Duncan observes. “But most people don’t start out at that level. Unless they already have a national presence or an established brand, they’re going to have to earn their way to popularity and profitability. And we’re here to help them.”

Radio Brave’s current long form broadcasts will continue but each show is also offered as an individual podcast, available for download on iTunes and Google Play Music. In addition, hosts of new podcasts will have their installments placed in rotation on RadioBrave.com’s 24 hour platform, available online and via TuneIn.

“People can tune in to Radio Brave like they would any talk station,” suggests Harris. “If they hear something they like, and want more of it, they can search iTunes and Google Play Music by program name. Podcasters get a one-two punch of exposure.”

Radio Brave’s programming content has been retrofitted to include podcasts, along with the existing longer form broadcasts. “Healthy Kids, Happy Kids” with concierge pediatrician Dr. Barbara Taylor-Cox, “Joy Ride” with the Metaphysical Moms, “Sip, Smoke and Savor” (spirits and cigars show), “Energy Recon with Alan Lammey”, and “The Critics Circle” from the Houston Film Critics Society are all currently offered as podcasts and on Radio Brave’s 24 hour digital platform.

For additional information on podcasting services from Radio Brave contact Bobby Duncan at Slam@RadioBrave.com or (901) 825-0731.

(This post was taken from a press release sent to me by Radio Brave)

News 88.7 KUHF’s Laura Isensee reporting from Pakistan

Houston Public Media’s Laura Isensee selected for fellowship in Pakistan

HOUSTON – (Sept. 16, 2016) – Houston Public Media’s News 88.7 education reporter Laura Isensee is traveling to Pakistan this week for a fellowship with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) as part of their U.S.-Pakistan Professional Partnership in Journalism program. Over the next two-weeks, Isensee will share interesting aspects of her journey online at www.houstonpublicmedia.org/pakistan.

As part of the fellowship, Isensee will learn the realities of Pakistani journalism and life in Pakistan through site visits and interviews and she will also have the opportunity to interact with journalists, officials and locals. She is then extending her stay to work on a reporting project for News 88.7 focused on education.

"I'm very excited about the ICFJ fellowship to learn more about Pakistan and appreciate the opportunity,” said Isensee. “There are so many ties between Houston and Pakistan -- I think it will be fascinating to bring that story home to Houston."

Eight U.S. journalists from a wide variety of news organizations across the U.S. were selected to participate in this year’s fellowship program.

As the education reporter for News 88.7, Isensee covers K-12 and higher education in Greater Houston. Isensee joined Houston Public Media in 2013. Prior to returning to her hometown of Houston to work at Houston Public Media, she was a staff reporter at the Miami Herald and contributed to South Florida’s NPR affiliate. Isensee has won awards for her work in print and radio, including best specialty/beat reporting from the Texas AP Broadcasters Association in 2015 and best talk show from the Lone Star Awards for a collaboration with KERA in Dallas.

“This is a great opportunity for Laura to not only experience the rich culture and world of reporting in another country, but to bring our listeners along on this exciting journey,” said Jose Jimenez, interim news director of Houston Public Media.

ICFJ is a non-profit, professional organization located in Washington, D.C. that promotes journalism worldwide. Their U.S.-Pakistan Professional Partnership in Journalist program is a multi-year program funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that aims to bring 230 Pakistani media professionals to the U.S. and send 70 U.S. journalists to Pakistan.

HEAR THE REPORTS

(This post was taken from a release sent to me by Houston Public Media)

Andrea Watkins to leave FOX 26 KRIV

Reporter Andrea Watkins calls it a career at FOX 26 KRIV after 26 years

Andrea Watkins

It looks like FOX 26 reporter Andrea Watkins picked the perfect number of years to close her chapter at KRIV...26 years years, just like her channel's number.

Watkins is a no-nonsense reporter who could easily handle the hard news all the way to stories on how to save consumers money.

The channel 26 staple posted the following message on her Facebook page.

Just letting you know that today is my last day at Fox26. I've enjoyed 26 great years at the station but it's time to relax a bit, enjoy more time with my family, and look for new adventures down the road.
It's been a great pleasure and privilege to tell the stories I have told over the years. Thank you to all for allowing me to share your information, concerns, and experiences with the people in the Houston area and beyond!
I wish all the best to the wonderful friends I've met in my journey. I'm sure we will find ways to stay in touch.

"I have never seen anyone attack a subject like Andrea Watkins," Lanny Griffith, a former co-worker of Watkins at FOX 26 for 15 years, told mikemcguff.com. "Her interviews were piercing and relentless especially when it came to elected officials. She kept the flames turned up under their feet. They don't make 'em like her anymore."

Watkins arrived at KRIV in 1990 as a weekend anchor and producer. She came to Houston from KFDA Amarillo where she reported for four years. It was in her home state where she started her TV career at WVIT in Hartford, CT. She attended the University of Connecticut.

You might remember that in 2011, Watkins battled breast cancer and was working part-time.

VIDEO: Cringe News TV news Bloopers Part 2

Lauren Tostenson leaves KHOU 11

Looks like reporter Lauren Tostenson has left KHOU 11. Her bio has been wiped from the channel 11 website sometime in the last week.

Tostenson joined KHOU in November of 2015 from CW39 KIAH's NewsFix where she was a multimedia sports journalist.

Central Texas TV viewers will know Tostenson as Mickler (maiden name) where she spent two years as a Time Warner Cable News MMJ in Austin.

Prior to Texas, Tostenson worked two years at KEZI 9 News Eugene, Oregon. She moved to Eugene from her hometown of San Diego where she worked at NBC 7 San Diego KNSD.

She graduated from journalism powerhouse the University of Missouri where she put in time at KOMU.

I contacted both KHOU and Tostenson last week for this post but never heard back from either party. If I do, the update will be posted here.

Dayna Steele and Earl Slick Collaborate on Sets, Frets & Cigarettes

Talk, music presentation by two rock luminaries debuts October 2nd in Houston from Ovation Speakers and Talent


HOUSTON, TEXAS (September 7, 2016) – Dayna Steele, the award-winning broadcast personality, entrepreneur, author and professional speaker, will unveil the latest expression of her “find your inner rock star” mantra next month in a live stage production with David Bowie sideman Earl Slick.

The two-person show, which pairs this seasoned interviewer and presenter with the guitarist recruited by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and David Bowie, will include Slick’s music and musings infused with Steele’s inspirational messaging.

The world premiere of this first episode of Dayna Steele’s Rock Talk Series will be presented to audiences on Sunday evening, October 2, 2016, in the historic surroundings of Houston’s Majestic Metro Theatre. The production, orchestrated by Doug Harris through Ovation Speakers and Talent, will benefit TexasMusicHistory.org and its efforts to establish the Texas Music Hall of Fame program in Houston.

For several years, Steele and Harris had flirted with the notion of seasoning her speaking engagements with live music for the entertainment and motivation of business conference, convention, and college audiences. Steele’s longtime friendship with Slick made him the logical first choice and the two began working with Harris in the summer of 2016 to bring the concept to life.

“Some bands play together for years and some implode on their first tour,” observes Steele. “Talent is a factor, but understanding your role and what is expected of you is just as important. That’s a message that business and student audiences can understand. Success takes more than talent. Slick’s going to help me share that wisdom.”

The inaugural installment of Dayna Steele’s Rock Talk Series has been titled “Sets, Frets & Cigarettes”, although its title and content will likely be customized for future audiences.

Harris, whose professional speaking career has taken him to 26 countries on five continents, believes the concept will be well received and will deliver the impact that meeting and convention planners demand.

“There are hundreds of talented speakers with solid material and beautiful PowerPoints who can do a great job for you,” says Harris. “Or, you can hear stories and life lessons from the guy that held his own with the most controversial Beatle, his infamous wife, and Ziggy Stardust, moderated by one of the country’s best motivational business speakers. Which presentation do you think people will be talking about a year later?”

Tickets for Sets, Frets & Cigarettes are available at EventBrite.com for $75, plus fees.

A limited number of VIP seats, which include a post-performance reception with Earl Slick and Dayna Steele, are offered at $125. All tickets include complimentary beverages. The October 2nd event will include a silent auction benefiting TexasMusicHistory.org.

The Dayna Steele Rock Talk Series is available exclusively through Ovation Speakers and Talent. Visit OvationSpeakersandTalent.com.

ABOUT EARL SLICK

From the spacey sounds of seventies David Bowie and the seminal work of John Lennon, to the gritty resurgence of punk pioneers the New York Dolls, Earl Slick has had two hands in shaping the sounds that have come to define legends. Slick got his start in the club scene of his hometown New York City, where he quickly gained a reputation as a unique and talented guitarist. In 1974, friend and film composer Michael Kamen recommended Slick to David Bowie as Mick Ronson’s replacement in the Diamond Dogs tour. Although Bowie supplied most of the guitar work on Diamond Dogs, Slick managed to duplicate and expand on the tracks while injecting his own style into the live show, resulting in one of the greatest live rock guitar albums of all time, David Live. Subsequently, Slick was introduced to John Lennon, contributing guitar work to Double Fantasy, Lennon’s final studio album. Slick also launched a solo career, which included the albums Razor Sharp and The Earl Slick Band. Subsequent Bowie tours brought Earl Slick additional acclaim and sustained his reputation as a world-class musician. In April of 2016, Slick was joined by Rolling Stones backup vocalist Bernard Fowler for the Station to Station Revisited tour in Japan and the UK. Visit EarlSlick.com for additional information.

ABOUT DAYNA STEELE

Dayna Steele has been on a microphone and a stage for the majority of her life. She has worked with the world’s greatest rock stars as a Hall of Fame rock radio personality and has interviewed everyone from Mick Jagger and Jon Bon Jovi to presidential candidates, astronauts and more. Dayna brings the true stories and entertaining success strategies she picked up along the way to business audiences across the country. She is a successful entrepreneur, an author of eight books (including Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars) and is the lead success strategist for the consulting firm Daily Success LLC.

ABOUT OVATION SPEAKERS AND TALENT

Ovation Speakers and Talent is a dependable resource for professional speakers, trainers, coaches and entertainers in service to meeting and convention planners. Presenters represented by Ovation may also be of interest to those who source and direct employee training and continuing education. Ovation Speakers and Talent maintains a stable of speakers from an assortment of professional backgrounds, with expertise in a variety of disciplines. Visit OvationSpeakersandTalent.com for their current roster.

ABOUT TEXASMUSICHISTORY.ORG

The Texas Music Library and Research Center (TMLRC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) music heritage and library services organization dedicated to the research, education, preservation, and exhibition of Texas music history. TMLRC has been qualified as a State official “Texas Museum of Music History” by the Texas State Legislature, Texas Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration. The US Senate, the Federal Highway Administration, Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Historical Commission, Museum of American Music History/Texas Music Hall of FameTM, Western Heritage Historical Society, Hispanic Entertainment Archives, Texas Jazz Archives @ Houston Public Library, several distinguished universities, other regional, national and international entities have served in the development of the TMLRC program.

As a coalition of music families, private collectors and organizations with exquisite collections of Texas music, art, artifacts, recordings, photographs, film and music memorabilia, the museum program combines with other institutions dedicated to education and historical interpretations of Texas’ indelible cultural assets. TMLRC has developed several options to coordinate the State’s music history community into a hub-and-spoke network, a heritage trails program and visitor center. With the international tourist destination option, a hub facility would offer approximately 300,000 sq. ft. of educational, exhibition, performing arts, merchandising, and food and beverage space.

This master plan has the scope, definition and purpose to make Texas the Southwest component of a national chain of music museums. In an official “Texas Museum of Music History” program, the hub would serve as the state’s heritage trails gateway to over 20 music museums, 50 historic dance halls, over 120 music heritage historical markers and more. For more information, visit TexasMusicHistory.org.

Mike McGuff profiled in Health Fitness Revolution

"The joke among TV employees and some viewers is that all the stations are number one in the ratings now"

I know, I know, you don't care what I think. You just come here to read about Houston media news - usually before it is posted anywhere else. I know my strengths.

However, I wanted to thank Health Fitness Revolution's Samir Becic for a nice profile on your humble blogger.

Read my thoughts on Houston media, the new KPRC 2 Houston Life show, all the way to best places to take kids in Houston. The only addition I have to make to this article is that when I was interviewed, Houston was market 10. Days after it was published, Houston moved up to the 8th Nielsen Designated Market Area (DMA).

And based on the title of Becic's site, naturally the state of Houston's fitness comes up.

READ IT HERE

Notice I am still flying the 101 KLOL flag in the photo! Hail to the Runaway Radio. This is actually the photo my 7 year old son took of me! This article was published prior to the death of Jim Pruett.