KTHT


KTHT is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Cleveland, Texas, and serves the northern section of Greater Houston. The station airs a classic country radio format and is owned by Cox Radio, along with 107.5 KGLK, 106.9 KHPT and 92.9 KKBQ. The studios and offices are in 3 Post Oak Central in the Uptown Houston district.
KTHT has an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts, the maximum permitted for non-grandfathered FM station. The transmitter site is off Route 222 at Bob McGowan Road in Shepherd, Texas, near Sam Houston National Forest. That puts it about halfway between Houston and Lufkin, Texas. KTHT programming is simulcast in HD radio on sister station 92.9 KKBQ's HD-2 subchannel.

Station history

Classical KRTK

On January 17, 1993, the station signed on as KRTK. It was owned by Texas Classical Radio, Inc.
KRTK originally simulcast the classical music programming on 92.1 KRTS Seabrook, to increase that station's coverage in northern sections of the Houston radio market. It was sold four years later after KRTS' request to increase power was approved by the Federal Communications Commission.

Regional Mexican KEYH-FM

In September 1995, 97.1 began simulcasting Regional Mexican-formatted KEYH 850 AM as KEYH-FM. The simulcast ended a short time later, as 97.1 began to air its own Regional Mexican format as "Estereo 97", which later became "Que Onda 97" in March 1996.
In January 1997, the station was bought for $10 million by the broadcasting company AMFM.

Talk, Alternative and Oldies

The call sign switched to KKTL as "Houston's Talk FM, 97 Talk," in September 1997. KKTL changed hands again in 1998. It was bought by Jacor for $14.7 million.
In March 1999, after the talk format floundered, the station switched to a simulcast of Alternative Rock KTBZ-FM "107-5 The Buzz". It continued simulcasting 107.5 after KTBZ and KLDE "Oldies 94.5" swapped frequencies in July 2000, making 97.1 an oldies outlet. The swap was the result of an ownership trade-off in the AMFM/Jacor/Clear Channel merger.

Hot 97.1

In August 2000, Cox acquired KKTL. On November 4, 2000, at Noon, KKTL split from the simulcast and flipped to Rhythmic Contemporary as KTHT "Hot 97.1".
The first song on "Hot" was "Party Up" by DMX. The Rhythmic format lasted a little over two years.

Country Legends

On January 2, 2003, at Noon, after playing "Back That Thang Up" by Juvenile, 97.1 flipped to a classic country format as "Country Legends 97.1". The first song on Country Legends was "You Never Even Called Me by My Name" by David Allan Coe.
Core artists include Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Ronnie Milsap.

Station Personalities

Dan Gallo and Chuck Akers host the weekday morning show.
Jake Stewart, weekday middays.
Christi Brooks, weekdays afternoons

Call Sign History