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Signing off on Dallas radio
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By Brian McLean |
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| While Harder Beat was growing and expanding as a hard-rock music magazine in Dallas, many things were changing in the DFW radio market. Thrashin’ Alan (from KNON’s Hard Time Radio) was one of those who witnessed first hand and actually closed a vital chapter of metal radio in Dallas. Alan, who’s been spinning metal on the airwaves for well over a decade, has a resume fitting for the title Prime Minister of DFW Metal. Alan was working that Tuesday night when Z-Rock signed off for the final time. “I personally faded the station to black with the only appropriate song, Metallica’s “Fade to Black.” That was a terrible time in radio,” Alan said recently. It was the first time he experienced what he called a hostile radio takeover from another company. “They did every dirty, underhanded trick they could come up with to get Z-Rock’s high-powered frequency, and unfortunately, they succeeded,” says Alan of the 99.1 FM hard rock frequency. Several years later, deregulation changed the face of radio. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed large conglomerates to buy up numerous stations —previously illegal to do. “It was believed deregulation would greatly help musicians and the listening public. Studies years later, though, proved that to be wrong on both counts. Instead, deregulation led to loss of localism and created less competition and less programming diversity,” states Alan. “It’s been a terrible thing for radio.”
Within four years, late in the summer of 1998, another station would see its final days but, unlike Z-Rock, KTXQ had been around since the late 70’s, was known “Texas’ Best Rock” and had long-time, popular D.J., Red Beard — who interviewed every rock star playing the Metroplex. For aging rockers, the loss of Q-102 just didn’t seem real, especially when it was replaced by an oldies R & B station — that didn’t last very long at all. Eventually, that frequency went to Clear Channel station KDGE, The Edge at 102.1, where it’s stable with a strong listener base. Z-Rock’s demise hit rock and metal fans the hardest. Their popular D.J.s were well known on and off the air, often visible at Dallas City Limits and The Basement. The revolving door of DFW radio rock was still spinning. This time KEGL fell victim to a lighter format under the Sunny FM banner in 2004 — but the new station didn’t make it past toddler stage. Enter La Preciosa, a short-lived Tejano formatted station. In December 2007, Clear Channel announced that KEGL would return to the rock format. Ironically, the first song to air upon their rebirth was Ozzy Osbourne’s “Flyin’ High Again” on December 18, 2007. Reportedly, the 2004 removal of The Eagle from the DFW airwaves was a planned move, the more proper way for corporate games. “Friends of mine at Clear Channel told me the day it went off of the air,” Alan explains, “that they already had plans to bring it back after a year or two. That gave listeners a while to consider what they’d taken for granted.” As KEGL switched back, KZPS strapped on the roper boots and chaps, greeting new listeners with a “Howdy Partner” for Lone Star 92.5. Luckily they’ve strayed a tad away from the country bumpkin format by having a dose of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and The Outlaws tossed in here and there. Radio in the Metroplex currently appears to be stable but, as history shows, a station’s format can change overnight, leaving listeners to ponder what’s next. |
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