KFNC-FM
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| City | Mont Belvieu, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Houston/Golden Triangle |
| Branding | ESPN Houston 97.5 |
| Frequency | 97.5 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | 1948 (as KRIC @ 99.5MHz) |
| Format | Sports |
| Language(s) | English |
| Audience share | 0.6  (March 2017, Nielsen Audio[1]) |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 596 m (1,955 ft) |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 52407 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 29°41′52″N 94°24′9″W / 29.69778°N 94.40250°W |
| Callsign meaning | K FM News Channel (previous format) |
| Former callsigns | See below |
| Affiliations |
ESPN Radio Texas A&M Sports Network |
| Owner | GOW Media (GOW Communications L.L.C.) |
| Sister stations | KGOW |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | espn975.com |
KFNC (97.5 FM, "ESPN Houston") is a sports radio station in Houston, Texas. Owned by GOW Media, it is an affiliate of ESPN Radio. The station's transmitter facility is located east of Houston in an area of Chambers County south of Winnie, Texas, and studios are located in Uptown Houston one block from The Galleria.
KFNC began broadcasting March 1, 1948, on 99.5 MHz as KRIC and continued on that frequency in the 1950s until interference to viewers trying to watch KGUL (now KHOU) TV 11 in Galveston caused the FCC to swap frequencies with Lake Charles, Louisiana, and change KRIC's frequency to 97.5 FM to alleviate the interference. Lake Charles 99.5 is currently country KNGT. The KRIC callsign was changed to KAYD to match its AM counterpart 1450 KAYC. A new 2,000-foot tower was built near Winnie, Texas so it could target the Houston market in December 2001.
The station signed onto the new Devers transmit site with an Urban Contemporary format as Power 97.5 under the temporary calls KKTT but IDed as KRPW (the station was unable to get the callsign in time for sign on and acquired the KRWP sign weeks later) and also continued to serve the Beaumont area. (KAYD has since moved to a different frequency.) The station, renamed KRWP (PoWeR spelled backwards) had modest success in the early months of 2002. However, KRWP faced stiff competition from longtime Houston hip-hop stations KBXX and KPTY-FM as well as rhythmic CHR station KTHT (which was also somehow competing with sister urban station KTCX in Beaumont).
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