KFNC

KFNC (97.5 FM, "ESPN 97.5 The Ticket") is a sports radio station in Houston, Texas. The station's transmitter facility is located east of Houston in an area of Chambers County south of Winnie, Texas, and studios are located in Uptown Houston one block from The Galleria.

History

The 97.5 frequency was originally marketed to the Golden Triangle area, which consists of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, Texas, as country music station KAYD (known on-air as KD-97.5).

As KRWP

In December 2001, Cumulus entered the Houston market by purchasing the station and later relocating the station's transmitter from the Beaumont area to Devers, TX to include service into the Houston area. The station signed on with an Urban Contemporary format as Power 97.5 under the temporary calls KKTT but IDed as KRPW (the station was unable to get the callsign in time for sign on and acquired the KRWP sign weeks later) and also continued to serve the Beaumont area. (KAYD has since moved to a different frequency.) The station, renamed KRWP (PoWeR spelled backwards) had modest success in the early months of 2002. However, KRWP faced stiff competition from longtime Houston hip-hop stations KBXX and KPTY-FM as well as rhythmic CHR station KTHT (which was also somehow competing with sister urban station KTCX in Beaumont).