Courtesy Houston Chronicle

(October 2, 2009) At least for the foreseeable future, meanwhile, Houston doesn’t appear to be on track for the significant changes that have hit other markets where CBS has opted to emphasize sport on the FM side of the dial.

Over the last two years, CBS has launched sports on FMs in Detroit, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Boston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Purdy said KRLD-FM, in fact, led KTCK, D-FW’s all-powerful Ticket, in the adults 18-34 demo during the last Arbitron ratings book.

Purdy, however, is committed to the AM dial in Houston for the time being.

“We love our FM positions in the market now,” he said. “If we were fortunate enough to have another FM station, that might be an option. But we like where we are, and we think 610 AM has a great signal.”

CBS executive Tom Bigby in an interview with Inside Radio describes the sports FM model as “a new style of sports radio that speaks to younger people. It’s not stats and interviews. We do a lot of telephone talk and texting.”

That sounds similar to program director Gavin Spittle’s blueprint for 610 AM, which is leaning heavier on callers than in the past. Spittle, however, said he isn’t trying to reinvent KILT along corporate lines being used elsewhere.

“We’re trying to give people what they want. I don’t think you can take a cookie-cutter approach when it comes to sports,” he said. “The FM dial usually brings in a younger crowd. Historically, AM brings in more of the upper end (of the 25-54 demo). But good radio will bring in listeners anywhere.”

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