Why News 92 is taking over Praise 92.1 + backlash

I've been talking a lot about the new News 92 taking over Praise 92.1 KROI. Maybe some would say I've been giving too much coverage to the all news station.

But I wanted to share with you the reason owner Radio One is saying it is moving Praise to HD radio and going with the all news format. As you might have figured, it was all about money.

"What we did when we launched Praise was shifted Majic's (KMJQ 102.1) audience over to Praise, so you had a lot of duplication between the two," general manager of Radio One Houston Doug Abernethy told The Defender. "So you compress the ratings on Majic to grow the Praise station and for the past five years, its not really generated any kind of revenue. With Praise going away, Majic's audience will grow, leading to more ratings dominance, which leads to financial growth."

Abernethy says the company saw ratings declines for some of its stations after the Personal People Meter (PPM) was adopted as a method of tracking radio ratings too.

The Defender article also has interviews with Houston activist Quanell X and Rev. William A. Lawson (KTRK 13 anchor Melanie Lawson's father by the way) about what they think of the change. Here's a hint, they are not terribly happy.

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