Country Legends 97.1 Houston KTHT flipped to K-LOVE KLVH on Halloween night, and no, it wasn't a trick much to the chagrin of country radio listeners contacting me.
Here is more from the Country Legends 97.1 Facebook page:
"Due to the sale of the frequency at 97.1FM, Country Legends has moved.
This amazing station and ALL of [your] favorite Classic Country songs and legendary artists are still alive on the radio but can now be exclusively found at 92.9 HD2, online at countrylegends971.com and on your Country Legends App.
Same station just a few new ways to hear it."
The station ended during the shift of Country Legends 97.1/93Q KKBQ DJ Corey Dillon, but then a special twist happened right before K-Love took over.
Tom "Tubby" Lawler, the first DJ/assistant program director/music director for Country Legends 97.1, was the last voice heard on the station before it flipped on October 31, 2023 at 6pm.
In a recorded clip from many years ago, Lawler introduced Marty Robbins' "Some Memories Just Won't Die" as the very last song heard on KTHT before static and K-LOVE made its Houston debut in the middle of a song. Lawler died in 2016 which makes it all even more sentimental.
Country Legends 97.1 KTHT and Lawler debuted in January 2003 after the station flipped from "Hot 97.1."
Lawler will be a familiar name to Rock 101 KLOL Houston fans who heard him on the Stevens and Pruett morning show.
The Houston radio format flip happened due to a couple of recent happenings.
In April of 2023, KTHT owner Cox Media Group sold its Houston stations to Urban One Inc. Those stations are 93Q Country KKBQ-FM, classic rock station The Eagle 106.9 & 107.5 KHPT-FM and KGLK-FM, and Country Legends 97.1 KTHT-FM.
The following July, Country Legends 97.1 was sold to Educational Media Foundation (EMF) which owns the nationwide contemporary Christian music radio network K-LOVE. K-LOVE could be considered a competitor to Hope Media Group's longtime Houston contemporary Christian station 89.3 KSBJ.
Also sold before KTHT was Praise 92.1 KROI, a station Urban One had to sell due to Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) local ownership limits. After purchasing all of the Cox stations, Urban One had to sell both KTHR and KROI to be under the ownership cap.
At the time of this post's publish date, Praise 92.1 is still on the Houston FM dial.
Right as Country Legends was flipping formats, Rowdy Yates, a famous Houston country radio name, posted two interviews with former KTHT mornings/KILT DJ Dan Gallo which you can hear below.
