Genuine Austin Radio’s three stations are currently unable to originate local programming as a rent dispute has locked them out of their studios.
Texas Country “98.5/99.3 KOKE-FM” KOKE-FM Thorndale/K253AN Sunset Valley/KTXX-HD3, Sports “104.9 The Horn” KTXX-FM Bee Cave/1260 KTAE Elgin/101.9 K270CO Round Rock, and Classic Hits “105.3 The Bat” K287FG Austin/KTXX-HD4 were off the air last weekend before being able to to resume automation on Monday.
Genuine Austin Radio Managing Partner Jason Nassour told KVUE-TV the group is in a dispute over paying rent after the company “was supposed to be given tens of thousands of dollars to fix the place up in April of 2020” by the previous landlord, but after a sale of the building is trying to collect the money back by increasing the rent. That led to the power at the studios being turned off and staff locked out. The building owner told KVUE-TV, “The landlord is actively working toward a solution with the tenant and is optimistic that the matter will be resolved amicably.”
After spending Monday posting podcasts and videos online and running SportsMap network programming on the air, the Sports brand returned to local programming this morning. Both music stations are still running jockless.
Stay tuned for updates, We look forward to resuming normal programming. Thank you to our fans and our advertising partners for your patience. pic.twitter.com/w91tgyDJP3
— KOKE FM (@KOKEFMAUSTIN) May 8, 2023
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com