By LOUIS B. PARKS
Preteens are the audience and the stars on Houston's first kids-only network radio station, which goes on the air at 11:30 a.m. today.
KidStar Radio (KMPQ, 980 AM) will offer 24-hour entertainment, music and educational programming for kids ages 6-11.
Houston is the fourth city to get KidStar , a satellite-distributed network that originates out of Seattle and is also heard in San Francisco and San Diego.
Previously, KMPQ was an AM Spanish-language station.
Today, KidStar will host a switch-on celebration for members of the Girls Clubs and Boys Clubs of the Houston area at Six Flags AstroWorld. The party is also free to patrons at the amusement park.
On hand at the celebration, which is 11 a.m.-1 p.m., will be AstroWorld's Warner Bros. characters, KidStar on-air personalities from other cities and Houston City Council member Judson Robinson.
The radio station hopes to interact with kids through telephone and Internet links. KidStar PhoneZone allows listeners to have a voice in station formatting, leave messages for broadcast and access information.
Kids can also join the station's free club and receive a free quarterly magazine.
Starting Aug. 15, kids will be able to access the live radio signal of any KidStar station via Internet radio broadcasts on the World Wide Web (http://www.kidstar .com).
"In all our programming we want to put the kids in the foreground and have the grown-ups recede," said KidStar 's Julie Diamond, who is in Houston to get the station up and running. ""Of course, adults are supervising what they do."
For the immediate future, all programming will originate out of Seattle and transmit on the 980-AM radio band.
Eventually, about 30 percent of the station's programming, including promotions, sponsorships, weather and news, will be locally generated. The core format, on-air personalities and programming will be the same nationwide, with shows geared toward entertainment, information and advertising to reach young listeners.
"KidStar is committed to blending education within its programming throughout," said Diamond. ""For example, we have a number of shows that treat themes related to the environment and ecology."
"Waft in Space" is an interactive science adventure program. "Change Machine" focuses on social issues of interest to pre-teens. A show called "Way Back When" emphasizes history.
Other KidStar programs are "The Cool Show," with four kids who ""take over the station"; "Top Ten Countdown," with listeners voting for the day's top music by call-in; and a mystery and suspense show called "Friday Night Fright Night."
"We have "Ask Sylvia," which is an advice column," Diamond said. ""We also have community service messages."
In the evening, programming will emphasize stories and theater shows.
At midnight, a mostly music format takes over. The pre-teen market KidStar hopes to serve, according to Diamond, spends $120 billion and influences the spending of $180 billion annually.
Copyright by Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspapers Partnership, L.P.