Dish-Houston

The day after the big Clear Channel Summit where they announced HUGE layoffs of live radio talent nation-wide Radio One comes in with a new FM news station announcement for the Houston air waves.

Radio One Regional Vice-President Doug Abernethy announced that KROI-FM/Houston (92.1 FM) will begin its programming as a fullservice news station the week of November 14, 2011.  Using the on air moniker “News 92 FM,” this 24 hour news and information station will be ABC News Radio and Associated Press Platinum information based and the voices will be OH so familiar! Some of Houston’s most well known and award-winning radio and television personalities and FINALLY back on air and the best part is that they are all together in one space!

There has never been a better line up of folks and DISH Publisher Lori Freese was honored to be asked to be among them.

The morning news will be anchored by Texas Radio Hall of Fame honorees J.P. Pritchard and Lana Hughes, who served the Houston market as a broadcast duo for over 27 years.  In addition to those(alphabetically) Mike Barajas, Scott Braddock, Carolyn Campbell, Kevin Charles, Lanny Griffith, Laurie Kendrick, Martha Martinez, Bonnie Petrie, Matt Sampsell, Pattie Shieh, Meteorologist Dr. Joe Sobel, Craig Roberts, and Jorge Vargas round out the stellar crew! You can't have a great team without a great leader...this amazing team is headed up by veteran news director Denise Bishop!

“Our review of Houston’s broadcast landscape told us that those listeners interested in local news as well as national news were being poorly served,” says Abernethy, “so we decided to make a commitment to delivering the news in a dependable fashion. People want to hear about news as it happens, and they shouldn’t have to wait until their radio station ‘catches up’.  We’ll deliver the news as it unfolds.”

Ed Shane, founder and president of the Houston-based Shane Media Services who is serving as Project Manager on the format flip from gospel music to all news predicts that Houstonians will flock to News 92 FM because of the way they are choosing to deliver the news.

“We’re going to give people the facts without the biased opinions that dominate so-called news stations,” offers Shane.  “We’ve assembled an A-list of broadcast journalists whose mission is to report the news and let people make up their own minds.” 

Also owned by Radio One are market leaders Majic 102 (KMJQ-FM) and 97.9 The Box (KBXX-FM). KROI-FM’s current programming, Praise 92.1 will moved to Majic 102′s HDchannel and will stream online at www.PraiseHouston.com.

Congratulations Group!! You're going to take Houston News by STORM!!

Military commanders, enlisted men, President Obama and others converged on the largest military base in the free world today to pay tribute to the 13 troops killed in last week's massacre at Fort Hood.

AP Photo Credit

Soldiers standing in the Texas sun during the roughly hour-long ceremony wore their black berets and dark sunglasses, which could not conceal the occasional tear that would roll down their cheeks. 

The President assured the crowd that the lives lost in the attack were not in vain.  "Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town, every dawn that a flag is unfurled, every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ...that is their legacy," he said.  President Obama also said the accused shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, will face justice.  "We are a nation of laws whose commitment to justice is so enduring that we would treat a gunman and give him due process just as surely as we will see he pays for his crimes," Mr. Obama said.

Addressing concerns that those of the Islamic faith should not be in the military, Obama said no faith "justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor."

Army Chief of Staff General George Casey quoted from the bible and said the soldiers killed in the massacre lived up to the ideals that mean so much to the United States Armed Forces.  Gen. Casey has said it would be a "bigger tragedy" if the diversity of the Army was hurt by last week's attack.

In the last 6 years, Fort Hood has held memorial services for 545 young men and women who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.  President Obama is poised to send as many as nearly 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. 

- Story by DISH contributer Scott Braddock

AP Photo Credit