That being the case, here’s the baseline he inherits: As of Thursday, with the release of Arbitron’s June ratings report, KILT is tied for 18th in weekday morning drive; tied for 15th in weekday midday; tied for 18h in weekday afternoon drive; and tied for 21st in the 6 a.m.-midnight weeklong ratings.

Clearly, Spittle and KILT have miles to go before they sleep.

“I have full confidence that he will work with our team and get us there,” Purdy said. “He’s an excellent talent coach, he has a way of leading groups into a station brand like nobody I’ve been around and his relationships (with team rights-holders) are fantastic.”

Spittle, who did not return telephone calls seeking comment this week, arrives from CBS Radio Dallas, where the company had a wealth of sports programmers with the presence of radio veteran Tom Bigby, who will oversee KRLD-FM in its first season as the Cowboys’ flagship station.

“We had two of our best people at one station,” Purdy said. “Gavin came to Houston and spent a couple of days and loved the people and liked what we were trying to do and said he wanted the job. It was a no-brainer, although we had a couple of other great candidates who were finalists.”

Spittle’s arrival also coincides with this week’s announcement by CBS Radio that it will launch sports on FM stations in Boston and Washington, D.C., joining FM sports signals in Dallas, Detroit and Baltimore. Clearly, CBS Radio has plans for its sports group, and more changes could be on the way.

While Spittle formulates his plans, Purdy said the station hopes to add more play-by-play affiliations and will “do some interesting things overnight” with the pending departure of Sporting News Radio for KGOW (1560 AM).

“We’re the biggest brand in the market, and we need to be live and local outside of (Jim) Rome,” Purdy said. “We’re No. 1 (among sports stations), but we’re going to spread the gap between No. 1 and No. 2.”