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 Added on June 4, 2024  Guest Author   , ,
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Where is Houston’s Indie Radio Station?

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I noticed it while driving to my first day of work in Houston. As someone who just moved here, I was looking for a good radio station that could fill my car with noise in the mornings.

You can imagine my disappointment when I couldn’t find a single alternative station after flipping through the dial twice. Where is Houston’s indie radio station?

Back Home

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. It’s not the most exciting of towns. We don’t have a lot there outside of Ohio State. We do, however, have a good indie station.

CD102.5 plays alternative and local bands. It does an amazing job of giving airtime to artists from the Columbus area. It also brings in tons of great bands that would normally skip Columbus because, honestly, it’s Columbus, Ohio.

The station is a huge part of the local music community. You can imagine my surprise when I moved here and found that Houston doesn’t have anything like that.

What We’ve Got Here

Here’s a list of every radio station in Houston. We have stations for hip hop, Christian, country, jazz, talk radio, and tejano.

There is exactly one station listed under “Alternative,” 94.5 The BUZZ. The BUZZ is a decent station. The Rod Ryan Show is amusing without being tasteless, a rare quality in a morning show.

But anybody who’s ever listened to The BUZZ knows that it’s not incredibly alternative and barely local. Decade-old Breaking Benjamin songs, Linkin Park and ads for Panic at the Disco don’t count as indie.

The BUZZ isn’t bad, but it’s not the local-first indie station that Houston so desperately needs.

We Need This

Trust me, Houston needs a good alternative radio station. I saw how much good a single station could do back home in Columbus. It helped the music scene so much by giving local bands a platform to stand on and reach music lovers all over the city.

Plus, a good indie station would give us something else to listen to while we drive to work. I’m tired of flipping between The BUZZ and NPR.

by Guest Author

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  • Patricia

    90.1 !!! I love Generasian Radio

  • B.

    The Alvin Community College station has a great mix of music, and is student-run. Not sure how much is “local” but you’ll hear music there that you can’t hear anywhere else on the radio. Enjoy their student-produced PSAs, too. 89.7 FM.

  • Dudley

    There hasn’t been an actual Tejano station in Houston since KQQK went out. It’s true that we don’t have a station that focuses some of its time on local talent since KTRU was sold off, but I’m not really worried about getting a station that plays a bunch of boring tired “Indie” all the time like you’d find in Portland or Seattle. It gets old quick. I’d like to see large student run time slots for the stations that U of H occupies, something very similar to what KTRU was. I do think that Houston has some pretty cool radio stations, given that the listeners try and spend sometime out of their comfort zones. At least we still have KPFT.

  • kathee

    I could not agree more with this article. It would give local bands (which I know there’s a lot here) a chance for people to listen and grow on. I also just moved to Houston.

  • Abhi

    And a comedy station.

  • M.

    It’s called KTRU, Rice radio. It was sold by the university make way for an NPR-affiliate classical station on 91.7fm. You can listen to it on 90.1HD2 or online.

  • bobbo

    KPFT’s shows are the best you’re gonna find since KTRU went down….