Houston News Radio Station Converts To All Beyoncé Format To Become B92 FM

Beyoncé is obviously the reigning queen of pop music, but does she deserve her very own radio station? Well 92.1FM in Houston certainly seems to think so. After spending the last few years struggling to win over listeners with a news radio format they have decided to become B92 FM with the catch phrase, All Beyoncé, All The time. According to station execs 47 journalists were fired in the format change and it was a move dictated by poor Nielsen/Arbitron ratings.

According to Doug Abernethy, Regional Vice President of Radio One, the decision was a rough one. "We're proud of the work we did with News 92. We hired established and trusted Houstonian journalists from the radio, print and television news industries. We also invested in community relations, infrastructure, marketing, promotions and sales. Unfortunately after three years of a valiant effort, the difficult decision had to be made."

Yashima Azilove, also of Radio One added in the official press release, "We set out three years ago to make history. There was a void in the marketplace, so we launched the first FM all-news station in the market. We invested significant dollars as well as human capital to make it work, but after three years, the marketplace has spoken. We have had continued poor ratings and significant financial losses. It was an unfortunate but necessary decision to transition our format."

While this is great news for Beyoncé fans in the Houston area, it's sad that good old school radio seems to be a dying breed. Radio One claims that it is going to help those who have lost their jobs in the search for new employment but with more channels switching to satellite programing or unique format, jobs for news radio talkers are far and few between.

Would you tune into an all Beyoncé format if it was offered in your local area? Do you think that featuring just one artist is the way to go or will listeners always ultimately want more of a variety? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Tags

Beyonce, Radio, Fired, Playlist