KILT-FM
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| City | Houston, Texas |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Houston |
| Branding | 100.3 The Bull |
| Slogan | "Houston's New Country" |
| Frequency | 100.3 MHz (also on HD Radio) 100.3 HD-2-Sports Radio 610 simulcast 100.3 HD-3-KIKK Country (Texas country) |
| First air date | 1961 (as KOST-FM) |
| Format | Country |
| Language(s) | English |
| Audience share | 3.6  (February 2017, Nielsen Audio[1]) |
| ERP | 95,000 watts |
| HAAT | 585 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 25439 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 29°34′34″N 95°30′36″W / 29.57611°N 95.51000°W |
| Callsign meaning | Former branding (also named for former owner Gordon "Old Scotchman" McClendon) |
| Former callsigns | KOST (1961-1967) KZAP (1967-1968) KILT-FM (1967-1984) KXAS-FM (1984-1985) KILT-FM (1985-present) |
| Owner |
CBS Radio (sale to Entercom pending) (CBS Radio Texas) |
| Sister stations | KHMX, KIKK, KILT, KKHH, KLOL |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | thebull.cbslocal.com |
KILT-FM (100.3 FM) is a Houston, Texas-based radio station with a country music format. It is owned by CBS Radio, and its studios are in Greenway Plaza. Its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas. It is a sister station of KILT, which is located at 610 kHz, also in Houston.
Gordon McLendon signed on 100.3 in 1961 as the sister station to KILT 610. The station originally had the call letters KOST and carried an easy listening format.
The call letters were changed to KZAP in November 1967, shortly before McLendon sold his Houston properties to LIN Broadcasting (McLendon moved the KOST call letters to his property in Los Angeles.)
Upon assuming control of KZAP in 1968, LIN quickly changed the call letters to KILT-FM. In the early 1970s, KILT-FM adopted a free-form progressive rock format (while "The Big 610" KILT continued with its long-running Top 40 format), and went by the slogan "Radio Montrose", named for the neighborhood in which the station's studios were located. By 1974, the station evolved to a more structured album rock format as "FM 100".
KILT-FM changed to country on February 16, 1981. When 610 KILT switched to country as well on June 1, 1981, its long-running Hudson and Harrigan morning show remained and began to be simulcast on KILT-FM.
From its debut in 1967 through 1995, the Hudson and Harrigan morning show had eleven different sets of personalities occupying the personas of Mac Hudson and Irv Harrigan. Ken Hoffmann of the Houston Chronicle described Hudson and Harrigan as "the longest-running, most successful morning team anywhere in America". However, that run finally ended when KILT announced the show's termination on March 23, 2010. Fred Olson and Randy Hames, who hosted as Hudson and Harrigan for the last 28 years, were released, and the airstaff show assignments readjusted.
After switching to the country music format, KILT-FM competed directly against KIKK, the only other country music station in the Houston Area. According to the Houston Chronicle, "after initial success, KILT-FM struggled through an aborted change of call letters [KXAS-FM in 1984] and the lack of a strong identity with listeners". In the spring of 1989, KILT finally pulled ahead of KIKK in the Arbitron ratings. They maintained their lead position for the next two seasons, and at the end of the year Radio and Records rated KILT as the second most-listened-to country radio station in the United States, with an estimated 542,600 listeners tuned in for at least 15 minutes each week. KIKK was fourth on the nationwide list, with an estimated 508,700 listeners. KILT-FM serves as a co-flagship radio station of the Houston Texans, along with their AM sister station.
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Wikipedia