11-5-14
Last night, at the CMA awards, Cox's KKBQ in Houston was announced as the winner of the 2014 major market station of the year. It's another piece of hardware for the country outlet in what's been an incredible year. The station also won a Marconi, its second in a row, but this one for major market station of the year. In 2013 KKBQ won for Country Station of the Year. Johnny Chiang was Radio Ink's top Country Programmer and Market Manager Mark Krieschen is one of Radio Ink's 2014 Best Managers. In The Houston Press yesterday Krieschen discusses why KKBQ has been on such an incredible run.
The station is successful, according to Krieschen, by emphasizing its on-air personalities' close ties to the
community. "The staff lives, works, goes to church, shops, has kids in school or kids in soccer in the Houston area, making them voices listeners come to respect and trust the same way they would their other friends and neighbors. You can tell stories on the air," he continues. "And when we tell stories on the air about our talent, our audience can relate to that. And Krieschen says there are now more ways than ever to communicate with listeners. "It used to be people would pick up the phone and get to our studio. Now you can reach our people on the air via Facebook and Twitter, [and] the open-mike feature on our Web site. So there are a lot more ways for us to have a relationship with our audience than there were before."
And speaking of relationships, just last month, Kacey Musgraves thanked 93Q from the stage for being the first country station in the city to take a chance on her. Operations Manager Johnny Chiang (pictured left with Keith Urban) tells the paper taking a chance on playing the new singer when she first came on the country scene was worth the risk. "Yes, 93Q was the first station in Houston, and one of the first in America, to play Kacey Musgraves' music. In fact, we've been the first in Houston to play every one of her singles. We like her! She represents the future of the Country format."
Krieschen looks at radio as a friend to the listener, a friend to the community. "We are a bond. Radio is such a personable medium; and whether you're having a good day, bad day, whatever, our talent [is] in a great mood, very uplifting, and we want to get you through your day. And I think we are a station they can count on to get them through the day."
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