KFAN Hill Country, Honky-Tonkin' Texas Rebel Radio

 

Basking in the splendor of the Texas Hill Country, just a tad Southwest of Austin, lives one of the few remaining bastions of radio done right. By that, of course, I mean radio done with the spirit and drive that comes equally form the heart and mind - and, being a business, naturally the wallet is always in the picture.

Broadcasting out of the gentle, tourist-friendly, old German town of Fredericksburg (home of the Chester Nimitz Oriental garden, immortalized in song by the Austin Lounge Lizards), KFAN has been doing its unique, eclectic, and regionally-based format since going on the air in 1990.

"We wanted to offer the Hill country something different," says program director J.D. Rose. Rose has been in the employ of KFAN owners Fritz Broadcasting for 17 years, dating back to his high school days when he started at their AM station KNAF which combines news, talk and country.

"At KFAN," he continues, "our foundation is Texas music and we branch out from that. That's our inspiration and philosophy: Texas Rebel Radio. That enables our format and library to be as diverse as it is."  

The looseness in KFAN's programming approach has a direct correlation to the station's audience and market. "We have a clock and programming guidelines," says Rose, "but we don't have an actual set playlist. It's not completely out-of-control freeform, but a loosely structured, sort of old-style radio approach that befits the music and turns on our listeners. We rely on their feedback immensely and can tell their perception of us by what they request. Everything they ask for is within the realm of the format.

"The Hill Country is also growing rapidly. While four stations have crept up in the market recently, we've found ourselves with the ability to lock in listeners, In this day and age of channel surfing, what KFAN offers is the surprise element of not knowing what you're gonna hear next. We've got their curiosity, and that keeps 'em listening. We're not playing homogenized music. People's tastes are divergent, and we're addressing that. It's also easier now to convey that message to our advertisers, as the listeners loyalty directly translates to our advertisers."

With the ongoing growth of the marketplace and the popularity of the music KFAN programs, the outlook for the future is looking better than ever. "When we first went on the air and started doing on-air giveaways and stuff, " says Rose, "you didn't dare take the 17th caller [because we had no guarantee that 17 people would call]. We can do that now. We're always doing the usual promotion stuff - live remotes and sponsoring events at live venues like the Luckenbach Dance Hall and Sibilo Creek."

According to station owner and General Manager Jayson Fritz, it's KFAN's locale that enables it to be the station it is. "Our proximity to Austin and Kerrville, where the Kerrville Folk Life Festival is entering its 26th year, is what really makes this format work for us. People in this area seem to be fairly musically sophisticated in their tastes. They strive for something beyond he same old country or oldies. KFAN offers the listener that kinship of radio of old. The DJ is your friend, turning you on to the music you can relate to."

Another factor that KFAN benefits from is the underlying Texas music scene, the one thing that has remained constant since its inception. "There's no doubt we love to rock it up." says Rose, "And twang is a positive sound for us. Sting and R.E.M. Don't work for us, whereas Steve Earle, John Hiatt, and Tom Petty are heroes here. We're also very into the regional blues thing. The late Albert Collins is still one of our most popular artists.

"We believe we are also starting to capture some of the listeners form our mainstream country competitors in the market. If they happen to be scanning the dial and land on us, and we're in a groove that revolves around Junior Brown, John Prine, Robert Earl Keen, and Roseanne Cash, well, they're gonna either stick around or come back again real soon."

Listening to KFAN gives you a contagious buzz. Just a taste will certainly have you coming back for more.