Many of us who are Americana/Texas country music fans remember well KPFT-90.1’s heyday in the late 1990s, when its “Sound of Texas” format made the station a big player on the Texas music scene, even as its fringe-left political programming was still represented prominently.
Several years ago, however, the fringe-left true believers forced out Garland Ganter (whom they thought dulled the station’s mission with the music programming), de-emphasized the music programming that had brought mainstream listeners to the station, and swung harder towards fringe political programming.
Now, the Chronicle‘s Allan Turner reports that KPFT is experiencing declining listenership and donations:
Faced with a “stupendous drop” in listenership and a troubling inability to meet fund-raising goals, Houston’s listener-supported KPFT-FM (90.1) — long an iconoclastic voice in a radio market dominated by corporate giants — is planning a series of programming and scheduling changes that could dramatically reshape its offerings.
“There’s a possibility we could shake this whole thing up,” General Manager Duane Bradley said this week. “I think that right now all programming considerations are on the table. I don’t think we have any options that we’re not willing to discuss.”
Is anyone discussing bringing back Ganter or the music programming that would be even more appealing in the country music radio wasteland that is Houston at the moment? No, anything but that.
Turner quotes a UH professor (and sometime KPFT contributor) on KPFT’s programming:
Despite the setbacks, University of Houston communications professor Fred Schiff argued that KPFT fills a vital role in the Houston radio world. No other station, he said, provides similar views on news issues or is so finely attuned to Houston culture. He predicted that the station is “on the cusp of gaining a whole new audience.”
The ratings suggest that the station isn’t particularly attuned to the interests of a broad group of Houstonians. Indeed, even the current program director suggests the station is most attuned to the interests of aging liberals:
Despite the Pacifica goal to engage young and ethnically diverse listeners, the typical KPFT fan is a 51-year-old, college-educated white male, Bradley said.
“This was a youth-oriented station that every young person in Houston knew about,” Bradley said. “Asked about KPFT now, most kids don’t know who we are. We have this generation gap. It’s very disconcerting. It does not bode well for the future.”
In the “Sound of Texas” days, the station did appeal to a broader listenership. But the true believers on the fringe left wanted ideological purity at the expense of attracting listeners with broader interests. They seem to have succeeded.
