KCOH (1430 AM) sold, will flip to religious format in February
Texas' Oldest African-American-owned
Radio Station sold to Guadalupe Radio Network
November 13, 2012
by David Barron
KCOH (1430 AM), which bills itself as the state’s oldest African-American-owned, urban-formatted radio station, has been sold for $2.1 million to a Midland-based foundation that will re-launch it next year as part of the Catholic-oriented Guadalupe Radio Network, two longtime station employees said Tuesday.
The format change means longtime talk show hosts Michael Harris, Ralph Cooper, Don Samuel, Wash Allen and others will no longer appear on the station.
“They want to go in a different direction, and from what I am told, all of us are out,” Cooper said.
In a message on its website, Guadalupe Radio Network, owned by the La Promesa Foundation, said it will begin programming KCOH in February 2013. The network, which broadcasts in English and Spanish, says its purpose is “to lead souls back to Jesus Christ through His holy Catholic Church, through the use of the powerful medium of radio.”
KCOH, which signed on in 1953 and moved its studios to the Third Ward in 1963, has been for sale for several years, and its longtime general manager, Michael Petrizzo, died in January.
The station for decades has billed itself as the city’s only talk station focusing on issues of interest to African-Americans. With its disappearance, Cooper said, “You lose a piece of this city that helped make Houston what it is.”
Harris, who has worked for the station since 1975, said he hoped KCOH could be sold to a buyer that would continue the current format, but none stepped forward after a 2009 bid by Paraclete Church Ministries to buy the station for $8.75 million did not close.
“I thought we were a valuable asset and could be more valuable,” Harris said. “I thought we over the years had done a lot of wonderful things in trying to educate, inform and enlighten our community.”
Cooper said he had been told the asking price for KCOH was $3.8 million and that he was surprised and disappointed he was not given a chance to submit a lower bid similar to the one that was accepted.
“This station played a part in the diversity of the city and growth of the city, and that is where the loss is,” Cooper said. “We need a black voice, and somebody needs to step up and keep that voice available, not only for black people but for everybody.”
Harris was more downbeat about the format’s pending demise and the possibility it could be replicated elsewhere on the dial.
“So you lose the voice, but if people wouldn’t step up to keep it going, have you lost anything?” he said. “The common man may value it, but common people did not have the ability to purchase the station.”
Texas' Oldest African-American-owned
Radio Station sold to Guadalupe Radio Network
November 13, 2012
by David Barron
KCOH (1430 AM), which bills itself as the state’s oldest African-American-owned, urban-formatted radio station, has been sold for $2.1 million to a Midland-based foundation that will re-launch it next year as part of the Catholic-oriented Guadalupe Radio Network, two longtime station employees said Tuesday.
The format change means longtime talk show hosts Michael Harris, Ralph Cooper, Don Samuel, Wash Allen and others will no longer appear on the station.
“They want to go in a different direction, and from what I am told, all of us are out,” Cooper said.
In a message on its website, Guadalupe Radio Network, owned by the La Promesa Foundation, said it will begin programming KCOH in February 2013. The network, which broadcasts in English and Spanish, says its purpose is “to lead souls back to Jesus Christ through His holy Catholic Church, through the use of the powerful medium of radio.”
KCOH, which signed on in 1953 and moved its studios to the Third Ward in 1963, has been for sale for several years, and its longtime general manager, Michael Petrizzo, died in January.
The station for decades has billed itself as the city’s only talk station focusing on issues of interest to African-Americans. With its disappearance, Cooper said, “You lose a piece of this city that helped make Houston what it is.”
Harris, who has worked for the station since 1975, said he hoped KCOH could be sold to a buyer that would continue the current format, but none stepped forward after a 2009 bid by Paraclete Church Ministries to buy the station for $8.75 million did not close.
“I thought we were a valuable asset and could be more valuable,” Harris said. “I thought we over the years had done a lot of wonderful things in trying to educate, inform and enlighten our community.”
Cooper said he had been told the asking price for KCOH was $3.8 million and that he was surprised and disappointed he was not given a chance to submit a lower bid similar to the one that was accepted.
“This station played a part in the diversity of the city and growth of the city, and that is where the loss is,” Cooper said. “We need a black voice, and somebody needs to step up and keep that voice available, not only for black people but for everybody.”
Harris was more downbeat about the format’s pending demise and the possibility it could be replicated elsewhere on the dial.
“So you lose the voice, but if people wouldn’t step up to keep it going, have you lost anything?” he said. “The common man may value it, but common people did not have the ability to purchase the station.”
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