Houston's mics are open Houstonist's AM radio dial has been missing something ever since KBME (The Best Music Ever) went syndicated Animal on us. K-Hits is great if you consider Rod Stewart's music to be "oldies" but for a few years now we've longed for the sounds of Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole. And we've never been happy about the homogenization of our airwaves thanks to Clear Channel's omnipresence.

Today, long-time Houston radio disc jockey Ronnie Renfrow will save the day, just in time for your drive home, by launching Classic Cool Radio, 650 AM. The station will go live today at 4 p.m. and will initially brodcast only during the afternoon drive time, Monday through Friday.

The station will feature both old crooners and the new artists who follow in their footsteps, including Diana Krall and Harry Connick, Jr., according to a press release:

"This is by far the biggest programming void in radio. The artists of Classic Cool are selling millions of CD's annually, but listeners have had nowhere to go on the dial — until now," Renfrow said. "This is definitely not a nostalgia format. Classic Cool is far removed from that approach in that we will feature new music from contemporary artists who are all over the Billboard charts."

Classic Cool will present a blend of singers, classic jazz, Latin, and blues. Stars of the show include Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Connick Jr., Gloria Estefan, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, and B.B. King, to name a few.

Photo: flickr user fensterbme

For Monday, January 5th-7th, 2009 Happy New Year from H-Town Rock! We hope that everyone found an exciting and eventful way to ring in 2009 - ours involved slobbering drunks at 11pm, broken lawn chairs, and a visit from the two constables regarding issues they had with some slightly charred carpet. As we promised at the end of 2008, we are going to begin supplementing our usual list of shows for the upcoming weekend with a rundown of what happens in the first part of the week. It seems that when our eleven readers make......

Downtown Houston by Notsuoh Photography The Preston Street bridge provides this fantastic view of downtown with the Wortham Center in the foreground. ________________________________________________________________ If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining a whole bunch of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr Photo Group. Each day, Houstonist chooses a Photo of the Day and if Houstonist uses your photo, submit it here. For more great Houston photography, check out the ...

Daily-ist: Monday

A One-Man Army: The Art of Arthur Szyk Despite the warm fuzzies following last fall's election, 2009 is off to a frightening start, what with the Israel-Gaza metdown, a dire outlook for this year's economy and 13 tropical storms predicted for our next hurricane season. Now is a time for hope, and artist Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) had hope in spades. A native of Poland who immigrated to the United States at the beginning......

Two ex-Harris County deputies are suing new Sheriff Adrian Garcia, claiming unfair treatment Relatives say they believe LaQuanda D. Williams kidnapped her two children during a visit at their grandfather's Missouri City home Texas gas prices are now half of what they were at this time last year, according to AAA Texas; the average price statewide is $1.47 a gallon for regular unleaded A Houston man has been charged with endangering a child after leaving his 5-month-old grandson alone in a park Friday; his daughter says he had been drinking......

Photograph of Times Square during the first moments of 2009 by Neil Epstein/Gothamist Gothamist said good-bye to 2008 by looking back at the year and rang in 2009 in Times Square. (God bless YouTube for capturing Kathy Griffin's salty New Year's comments to a heckler.)Phillyist interviewed Robert Bielski, whose father will be played by Daniel Craig in the upcoming film, Defiance.Seattlest entered 2009 shaking off some bad pizza recommendations and debating whether or not the New Year's Eve police shooting of a......

This one was an easy choice. Andre Johnson was without a doubt one of the best players in the NFL this year. Johnson led all NFL receivers with 115 receptions and 1,575 yards and he was voted to his third Pro Bowl last month, his second as a starter. He had eight games with 100 or more receiving yards and he is the only player in NFL history have 10 or more catches in seven games in a season. Johnson's finest game......

Houston Texans running back Steve Slaton was the pick for this award. Slaton, a third round pick (89th overall) wasn't even slated to be the Texans' starting running back but the rookie took advantage of injuries to Ahman Green and Chris Taylor to lead the Texans and all NFL rookie running backs with 1,282 rushing yards which is also a new Texans single season record. Slaton was awarded NFLPlayers.com Rookie of the Week award after his Oct. 5 preformance against the Indianapolis......

IMG_5963 by Donald Kilgore IMG_6138 by Donald Kilgore IMG_6108 by Donald Kilgore Hats off to Donald Kilgore for his street scene submissions to the Houstonist Flickr Group. These are wonderful shots and look great in a wide screen (1.78:1) format. ________________________________________________________________ If you have a passion for Houston and......

There were many candidates for this award but Rice All-American wide receiver Jarrett Dillard just stood out above the pack. Dillard finished the 2008 campaign with 87 receptions for 1,310 yards and 20 touchdowns, which lead the nation. Dillard also helped lead Rice to a 38-14 Texas Bowl win; the school's first bowl win since the 1954 Cotton Bowl. Dillard's best game of the year came against North Texas when he caught four touchdown passes to go along with his eight catches......

It's been a long drought since UH's last bowl win; 28 years to be exact but now the Houston team can get that monkey off their back as they enjoyed a 34-28 win over Air Force Wednesday afternoon at the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth, TX. Freshman running back Bryce Beall had 227 total yards and a touchdown to capture the MVP award and sophomore quarterback Case Keenum threw for 252 yards to go along with three touchdowns (1 pass, 2 rush). Keenum finishes the season as the nation's leading passer with......

Fogbound by OneEighteen This wonderful solitary shot starts things off for us as we head into unchartered waters this new year. Happy New Year and welcome to 2009! ________________________________________________________________ If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining a whole bunch of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr Photo Group. Each day, Houstonist chooses a Photo of the Day and if we use your photo, submit it here. For more great Houston photography, check......

Rice Stomps Western Michigan at Texas Bowl

"Rice University" and "athletic success" are not words that often go together, at least outside of baseball season. Apparently no one passed this message on to Chase Clement. The Rice QB threw, ran and caught touchdowns on Tuesday night as the Owls destroyed Western Michigan University in the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium. The rumbling Rice offense put up 455 yards of offense, forever banishing memories of the wishbone and that time we thought that Chase Clement was a......

The -ist List: Best Albums of 2008

Every year, Houstonist staff members get together and discuss our favorite albums. Even though we have many different opinions, we always find a handful of albums that stand above the rest. Here are our favorites for the year -- our top ten, and several honorable mentions. We think you need to check them out, too. 1. Nada Surf - Lucky Nada Surf barely beat out the Foxes for our favorite album of the year. The NYC-based band has......

On Top of Houston by telwink It's good to be on top as we close out 2008! ________________________________________________________________ If you have a passion for Houston and photography, consider joining a whole bunch of Houston's best photographers in the Houstonist Flickr Photo Group. Each day, Houstonist chooses a Photo of the Day and if Houstonist uses your photo, submit it here. For more great Houston photography, check out the Houston Photobloggers....

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