On weekdays, KILT has local hosts from morning drive time through the evening, with CBS Sports Radiosyndicated national programming heard late nights and weekends. KILT is the flagship station of the NFL's Houston Texans and the MLS' Houston Dynamo. It has aired every Texans game since the team's inception into the league in 2002.
History
KLEE
610 AMsigned on the air on January 31, 1948. It was owned by W. Albert Lee. The station chose the call sign KLEE to reflect the owner's name. The studios were in the Milby Hotel, which Lee owned. The following year, Lee added a television station, Channel 2 KLEE-TV. It was Houston's first television station and the second one in Texas. Lee sold Channel 2 to the Hobby Family in 1950, owners of the Houston Post daily newspaper, but he kept his radio station since the Post already owned AM 950KPRC
In 1952, KLEE was sold to Gordon McLendon, who initially changed the call letters to KLBS, to represent his network, the "Liberty Broadcasting System." McLendon had great success programming Top 40 hits on KLIF 1190 in Dallas. That prompted McLendon to turn other stations in his chain into Top 40 outlets, including AM 610 in Houston, in 1957. The station took the call letters KILT as a nod to McLendon, who often called himself "The Old Scotsman" on the air. For 24 years, KILT was the leading Top 40 station in Houston, called "The Big 610 KILT". It used PAMS jingles that featured the call letters being sung out over the air. Notable personalities in the 1960s and 70s included Steve Lundy, Sheila Mayhew, Beau Weaver, Jay West, K.O. Bailey, Barry Kaye, Captain Jack and others.
Flip to Country
On February 16, 1981, sister station KILT-FM dropped album rock for country during the "Urban Cowboy" craze that swept through Houston, and the United States in general. The AM station continued with its adult Top 40 sound. But in the 1980s, young listeners were increasingly tuning in FM stations to hear their favorite hits. Competition from KRBE 104.1 FM and KRLY 93.7 FM prompted KILT to end its Top 40 format. On June 1, 1981, KILT AM 610 switched to country music, partially simulcasting KILT-FM, then known as "FM 100". Over time, KILT AM played more classic country titles among current and recent hits, while KILT-FM concentrated on current country music. KILT AM included more news and features while KILT-FM stressed its more-music approach. But the same morning show was heard on both stations. In 1989, KILT-AM-FM were acquired by Westinghouse Broadcasting. Westinghouse kept KILT as an AM country station for another five years. But as AM radio declined as a source for music, management decided to make a change.
SportsRadio 610
The current sports-talk format debuted in September 1994. The moniker for the new format was "Star 610 SportsRadio KILT." The initial hosts were Mike Edmonds & Ed Fowler in the afternoon from 4-7 p.m. and the Bob Stevenson Outdoors Show, airing Tuesday-Friday mornings 4am-5am and Saturdays & Sundays from 4am-7am. Prime Sports Radio, based in Dallas, aired for all other hours. In 1995, Edmonds & Fowler moved to the mornings 6am-9am and Rich Lord & Kenny Hand were paired together for "Section 610" from 4pm-7pm. Lord and Hand also alternated hosting the locally produced Astros 10th Inning Shows on 610 from 1995–97. KILT's main competition is 790 AMKBME which switched to Sports Talk programming in 2004. A rimshot FM station, 97.5 KFNC, licensed to Mont Belvieu, Texas, halfway between Houston and Beaumont, switched to ESPN Radio in 2007. Before KBME moved from Adult Standards, KILT was the only sports station in the Houston market and was the radio home for the Houston Rockets, Houston Texans, and Houston Comets franchises. In recent years, KILT lost the rights to air Houston Rockets basketball games to KBME, and the WNBA Comets folded.
Entercom ownership
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th. KILT has remained Houston's top rated sports station for most of its history. Co-owned 650 KIKK carries the CBS Sports Radio Network in the daytime, while 610 KILT runs local sports shows. Late nights and weekends, KILT carries CBS Sports Radio programming.
Controversy
In 2007, a lawsuit was filed by then morning show co-host John Granato against CBS. This ultimately led to Granato leaving 610 and starting a new station: KGOW "1560 The Game." Shortly thereafter, his co-host Lance Zierlein joined him at KGOW. In 2017 KGOW switched from Sports to Vietnamese language programming.
