all hail the king!

'King of Country' George Strait returns to close out RodeoHouston 2022

The king of country will close out next year's rodeo.

Photo courtesy of RodeoHouston

Houston, it’s time to rally all those exes who live in Texas and mark those calendars. In celebration of RodeoHouston’s 90th anniversary, the King of Country, George Strait, will close out the event’s run on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

Country’s reigning monarch’s full-length evening concert will be held in NRG Stadium on the final night of the 2022 Rodeo, which runs for 21 days Monday, February 28 through Sunday, March 20, 2022, the rodeo announced on March 18.

Fans, take note: Individual tickets for Strait’s concert-only performance go on sale to the public Thursday, June 24. (Tix are limited to four per person). The rodeo promises a full entertainer lineup announcement once available.

“What better way to celebrate the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s 90th anniversary than with a special, concert-only performance by the ‘King of Country’ music himself,” rodeo president and CEO Chris Boleman noted in a statement. “After a couple of particularly challenging years, our thousands of dedicated volunteers simply can’t wait to welcome everyone back to the Rodeo grounds for a Texas-sized celebration of Western heritage that will be well worth the wait.”

Next year’s performance marks Strait’s 31st rodeo performance; his first was in 1983. Those lucky enough to catch the king in 2019 with special guests Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen will recall that the show shattered NRG Stadium attendance records with some 80,108 fans. (Read the CultureMap review here.)

Notably, that NRG Stadium record is separate from the paid rodeo/concert attendance records, as this was a concert-only performance with additional seats on the floor of the stadium.

By the numbers, Strait has entertained more than 1.7 million rodeo fans through the years.

Strait and RodeoHouston are inexorably intertwined. He was inducted into the RodeoHouston Star Trail of Fame in 1996, and in 2013, the first four-year Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo George Strait Scholarship was awarded through the rodeo’s scholarship program.

To date, Strait boasts 33 platinum or multi-platinum-selling albums and 60 No. 1 singles — the most of any artist of any music genre in history — plus, a Grammy for his album, Troubadour. Not surprisingly, he is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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welcome back, frank!

Broadcaster Frank Billingsley finds second act at Houston radio station

Al Torres Photography

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When he announced his retirement from KPRC, Frank Billingsley told the late Ken Hoffman that he probably wasn’t done with media.

“I love all forms of communication so I'm sure I'll gravitate toward that either as a hobby or a second act. I'll weigh options and go from there,” he said in May.

Turn out that second act will be at one of Houston’s most prestigious radio stations. Billingsley has joined Houston Public Media as an executive producer and meteorologist.

"Frank Billingsley’s reputation as a Houston legend precedes him,” station manager Josh Adams said in a statement. “His experience and connection to our community align perfectly with Houston Public Media’s mission to inform and inspire. We are thrilled to welcome him to the team and look forward to the impact his presence will have."

Beginning in early 2025, Billingsley will serve as one of the hosts for a new talk show called Hello, Houston!. Led by Billingsley, veteran HPM host Ernie Manouse, and producer Celeste Schurman. Hello, Houston! will tell stories about a wide range of Houston happenings.

“Of course, I'll still get to talk about the weather, but Celeste, Ernie, and I will have fun and fascinating discussions about politics, arts, concerts, restaurants, clubs, people: everything that makes this city so great,” Billingsley said. “We have a great team behind us and I'm really looking forward to the challenge!”

Frank Billingsley worked at KPRC for 30 years. Prior to that, he worked at ABC13 for six years. He has earned multiple honors from the Associated Press, Houston Press Club, Houston Press Newspaper, and Dallas Press Club.

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