What should CBS do about the poor ratings at Dave FM?
Mara Davis, whose mid-day show has been a bright spot on Dave for years, but even her ratings have suffered.
Eight-year-old 92.9/Dave FM has always fashioned itself as the adult rock station in town. Although ratings were usually modest at best for such a strong signal, it was able to sell its sophisticated, high-income listener profile.
A year ago, the station was riding a respectable 4 share in the Arbitrons. That made it top 10 overall and in the 25-54 demographic.
But the bottom has fallen out the past 12 months in a way seldom seen before in recent times in Atlanta radio. So far in 2012, it has averaged a mere 1.5 share, meaning a whopping 63 percent dropoff in listeners. You can argue methodology issues with Arbitron’s rating system (who doesn’t?) but no other station saw anything close to that level of loss this past year. [Program director Scott Jameson was let go Tuesday.]
So what’s wrong?
The most obvious place to go is the music, since the personalities, outside of mornings, have not changed.
The format in radio parlance has been called adult alternative. This means a loftier type of rock that doesn’t include the heavy metal and harder-edged stuff. U2, the Police and Dave Matthews have been core artists since day one. Sometimes, the station would play more currents, sometimes more from the 1970s. Right now, it’s one a 1980s kick, airing all-80s during the weekends.
I asked the radio geeks over at radio-info.com for their sage thoughts. Here’s a sampling:
From Atlradiofan:
From what I can tell with my resources, they lost a few heavy users…meaning there was a PPM panel change. [PPM means "portable people meter the item Arbitron users carry around to pick up radio signals.] It is truly amazing how losing just 2 or 3 meters can screw a station over.
With that said, why aren’t current panelists tuning in? The station is all over the place. I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable radio person, but I’m not sure how I would even define their format at this point. It is so all over the place. Also, while Steve Craig, Sully, Margot are above average jocks, they’re not “stars.” Mara is a star and compared to the rest of the station her ratings back that up. Steve & Sully would be better suited to middays or nights. Steve isn’t a morning show anchor and Sully isn’t a strong enough afternoon talent. So with the music being all over the place along with personalities that are just “above average”, there is no reason to tune in.
Flip it to classic hits….pattern it after CBS FM in NYC. Do what you can to grab Steve McCoy and Tripp West. Put Steve in mornings with a female news reader/sidekick. Mara in middays. Tripp West on PM drive. Oh and call it Z-93 once again.
From Kal3005:
I’m not a radio expert but as a casual listener, my opinion is that they haven’t tried anything long enough to see if it really works. Every time you start to think you know what they are, they change and completely alienate their audience.
Personally, I thought they were at their best when they were kind of a lighter alternative/indie station, playing more stuff like older Elvis Costello, Shins and Eels. Not so much that that music mix overly appealed to me but I thought they had a good niche and were playing a lot of stuff nobody else was playing.
Since then, they have seemed to alternate back and forth between playing more alternative (compete with 99X), and then classic rock (compete with River), and back to alternative and now back to classic rock. Now instead of having a unique niche, they are tweening between 99X and River. Every time they change, they alienate their audience and start from scratch.
From CRGuy
Niche format = Niche ratings = Niche revenues
The eight-year Dave experiement proves that theory.
Z93 as another CBS classic hits will be a wet dream come true for listeners and revenues
Leave the niche formats for the niche signals
And here’s Frkout:
I think it may have something to do with the very unstable morning spot, with drastic host changes over and over and the repetitive play of Adele. I liked Jimmy and Yvonne and while I like Steve too, typically there is a morning “team” that format seems to work the best. As for the music, they are still playing songs before the other stations start running them into the ground and that is what they are known for, but once the other stations start crashing and burning them, Dave needs to move on to something newer, examples Gotye, Pumped up Kicks, ANY Adele song. I like to hear the mix of old and new and when they do their theme weekends they are refreshing. I don’t know what the “fix” is for them. They have a good presence in the community and I really like Margot, she’s great. Just some observations, if they do a flip, having grown up in the 70’s and 80’s as a lot of their listeners, I feel that that era has some great songs that never get heard sadly, that would be a music well to draw from, just NOT Landslide and all the worn out tunes, some Guess Who would be great! Since they are on the low side of listeners any mix could be an upturn for them, they don’t have too much to lose.
Dave’s tenuous state and falling ratings have made it a tough sell. Change seems inevitable.
The station let go its program director Scott Jameson Tuesday. He lasted a little over three years.
In an interview earlier this month before he released Jameson, General Manager Rick Caffey acknowledged that the numbers don’t lie. “We’re not happy with the size of our audience. We’re happy that we have the best qualitative audience in the marketplace in terms of education and income. We just need more people.”
Caffey championed the Dave format when WZGC-FM switched from classic rock (Z93) to adult alternative in 2004. Though he’s known for shepherding V-103 as the top station in town, he told me at a lunch many years ago when Dave started that he was a big rock fan, too, citing U2 as one of his favorites. So he’s stuck with it through the years, through the ups and downs. One thing he hasn’t been able to do either: find a steady morning show. So far, the station has been through at least five different morning show iterations. The current host, Steve Craig, isn’t even full time.
Caffey didn’t deny a change could happen: “We’re always going to look at other opportunities. For right now, this is what we’re doing.”
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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99 comments Add your comment
Chong
June 27th, 2012
8:53 am
Dave’s not here, man. He said the music sucked.
Backwoods Hick
June 27th, 2012
8:55 am
Now would be a good time to bring back a GOOD oldies station.
☺☻Have A Smile!
June 27th, 2012
8:59 am
Who cares? “Regular radio” is a dying format and is just a bunch of computer-based playlists anyway.
I love my XM satellite radio and just ignore all of it. No longer have to deal with free radio garbage.
George P Burdell
June 27th, 2012
9:38 am
Steve Craig and Jimmy Barron are acceptable to a male audience; but I would guess that the fall in numbers would be female listeners. The morning humor from both guys tended to be “smart ass” type of humor. Women may be willing to put up with it from their male friends, but why would they also want to hear it on the the radio? Since Mara and Marogt do not have that problem, a few female listeners that want this music come back when a female dj is on.
Mr. Obvious
June 27th, 2012
9:41 am
CBS should adopt the same solution to the underwhelming performance of DAVE FM that I did:
Subscribe to XM.
Mr. Obvious
June 27th, 2012
9:43 am
Who the heck wants to listen to yet another lame D. Geller & Son radio commercial while sitting in traffic on I-285 behind a wreck caused by some booty-shaking simpleton who was playing with their iPhone instead of actually DRIVING ?!?!?!?!?!?
Phred
June 27th, 2012
9:45 am
I’ll take up Backwoods Hick’s call for a good Oldies format station. Allow me to recommend Scott Shannon’s True Oldies. That’s the best oldies format I have heard since Fox97. Probably better than Fox97 actually. Of course if they returned to being Z93 that would be a decent consolation prize as well.
World's Second Oldest teenager
June 27th, 2012
9:48 am
Dave should do either an oldies/classic hits station focusing on 1964-74, but with late 50’s/early ’60’s and some late’70’s thrown in (similar to the True Oldies format), or move DAVE to an alternative pop format mixing acts like Pink, Gaga, Katy Perry in with the more melodic alternative acts such as ’80’s actls like A-Ha, Depeche Mode, Human League, Motels, Blondie and find similar new alternative pop acts. Dave’s music isn’t terrible. It’s just not good; it’s not catchy enough for people who want to hear songs with great melodies that also have an edge to them.
Mike Stiles
June 27th, 2012
10:02 am
Here are the problems in easy, bite sized bullet points:
-No single, innovative vision
-No effective branding
-No entertainers
-No marketing
-No effective use of digital assets
ExNuYawker
June 27th, 2012
10:07 am
Oldies please just like WCBS FM in NY!!! The GOLDEN 101!!!!!!! Like the others, my sirius radio gets a huge workout these days. On another note, I have been listening to All News 106.7 a lot and love it!! Way to go Cumulus!!
Calling It Like It Is
June 27th, 2012
10:07 am
What needs to happen is it needs to go back to the old AOR format. If everything is cyclical, it’s time for this format to come back. Play a song by a current artist, but dig deeper into the CD. Some of the best songs on CD’s are the ones that don’t make it to radio. They need to keep Steve, permanently. The guy is a vault of music knowledge. If Mara is the “star”, put on on Mornings, move Steve to middays, Sully to afternoons. The crap of dropping the morning show at 8:30 for “the morning music marathon” give NO hope of retaining a morning show. One of the most successful one, on Q100, goes to 10:00.
Arguably, they need to pick a format and put all of the energy behind it to develop and promote it. The “rewind weekends” is a big play off Steve’s days at 99x aka “house of retro pleasure” I completely agree with too much Adele and some of the other artists on their playlist. They have the strength of their signal that they can use to introduce Atlanta to some music they normally wouldn’t hear elsewhere or deeper cuts off the CD.
For Atlanta to be a top 10 radio market, the radio really does suck. The answer isn’t satellite or HD. The majority of the people will not pay for radio. If that were the case, broadcasting companies would be closing up shop and going off air. Yes, you have to evolve with the times, but oldies format is not the answer to every problem in radio. Yes, there is a market for it, but does it need to be on a strong signal? Do they need to bring back the jocks from years ago? I don’t think so.
What can they do? Pick your format, stand behind it, don’t water it down, shift your talent, and play something other than the one single off a CD. There are much better deeper cuts that what you usually hear.
Just my two cents…
Maria
June 27th, 2012
10:29 am
As someone who’s been listening to Dave on and off since they began, I agree with the Radio Info poster who said that Dave never sticks with anything long enough to get the listeners to stick! Sometimes I’ll forget about radio for a month or so, then come back and find that Dave has changed its imaging and playlist once again. This latest 80s-focused thing doesn’t appeal to me at all. I heard one of the DJs describing the all-80s weekend as “the music you remember from college.” Way to push away your younger listeners, Dave! At this point, I think a mainstream indie rock-focused station would be no more “niche” than what they’ve got on the station now, music-wise. Act like Gaslight Anthem, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Santigold, Neko Case — artists that Dave has paid lip service to, but never regularly played. It wouldn’t ever get Q100-type ratings, but it’d be better than trying to position themselves as, umm, yet another place to hear Gotye, Fun., and Adele, some old U2 songs, whatever drab thing Coldplay has decided to release, and a bunch of 80s New Wave on the weekends.
Jimmy Crack Corn
June 27th, 2012
10:30 am
Their core audience has grown up and moved on to XM radio or MP3 in the car. No commercials and no retarded morning shows. I see here people still love that garbage, but the Dave FM fans of years ago never did and never will, and thus moved on to a more suitable medium. Before I moved to XM, I utilized my MP3 player. More and more cars are able to utilize that technology as well as Sirius/XM radio.
If they want to stay alive, then they need to copy the success of other radio stations that many still seem attracted to……You know, the 6 person morning show that play little to no music, delves in to the inane personal lives of each member of the show, People magazine type pop culture and filled out with way too many commercials.
They will lose what’s left of their core fans, but what is that….Maybe 17 people?
not good
June 27th, 2012
10:32 am
I am in their target audience (49 year old rock fan) and haven’t listened in months. Took it off my preselect stations. Their selection of music just sucks. There IS an audience in Atlanta for good classic rock but playing softer nonclassic oldies like they are just isn’t going to attract an audience. Play good classic rock with an edge and some newer stuff thrown in and guys like me will listen. Guitar oriented Led Zeppelin, some occassional Black Sabbath, Skynard and other southern rock, Clapton, etc. Lighten it up with an occassional b52s, REM, etc. The old junk they play won’t attract anyone but crickets chirping.
classic, but with a better playlist
June 27th, 2012
10:33 am
There is a station in Carrollton – 98.9 that plays classic hits but has a way better playlist than 97.1 or 106.7 (when it had music). Would love to have that here. 106.7 news – not a fan. The same stories you hear everywhere else, only repeated every hour. Ugh. I only tune in for the traffic.
Jimmy Crack Corn
June 27th, 2012
10:34 am
And why must people finish their input with “Just my 2 cents”…..
That sounds so dumb.
DOUGLISVILLE DAWG
June 27th, 2012
10:38 am
I QUIT LISSIN 2 THEM CUZ THEY DONE STOPED PLAYIN SKYNARD AS MUCH AS I LIKE.
FREEEE BIRD!!!!!
Marshall Stacks
June 27th, 2012
10:46 am
Thank heavens no-one has piped up with “Hire back the Greaseman!”
Atlanta is too fickle; there’s no use trying to create a station that people will tune in to in droves because there are too many formats now. I don’t think dumping the talent every few months is the answer; you can’t build brand loyalty when you aren’t sure who has the shift. Having said that, maybe they just need to take this to the other end of the spectrum and introduce “Running Man” style elimination; only the strongest survive with new blood being dumped into the arena each Monday morning. If their numbers are up, they keep their job.
Music-wise, I’m okay for the station to stick with the slightly unconventional play roster, but go for album cuts and more obscure tracks. If five stations on the dial are playing Gotye, I don’t need to hear it on Dave. For what it’s worth, I could go without hearing Adele ever again. And I’d pay a small fortune for them to, ahem, misplace/lose/burn all copies of “Closer To Fine” by the Indigo Girls. I swear, nearly every time I turn on Dave I usually hear it within 4 minutes….
OTP
June 27th, 2012
11:02 am
WTF is “Dave”, anyway? Make it Z93 again. Otherwise, it’s Pandora and CD’s for me.
Jere
June 27th, 2012
11:03 am
I may not be a radio expert but I listen to the radio (Dave or WABE) for two hours a day on my way back and forth from work. I enjoyed Jimmy and Yvonne and I enjoy Steve in the mornings. But what I don’t enjoy are the promotions that they try to disguise as entertainment (investments, tech repair, green guru, vacation express). The green guru guy is at least somewhat entertaining, the rest of it just blows and the station should be honest enough to say that these companies are paying for the air time.
I like the music they play now since they have finally injected a little variety in the format.
One thing I dont understand is how Mara is considered a star. I agree that the morning show should go beyond 8:30 — if it did I would be inclined to keep listening once I got in to work. However, the second I hear hear Mara’s annoying sing, songy voice, the radio gets turned to WABE or turned off.
FormerRockJock
June 27th, 2012
11:05 am
DUMP THE DAVE…BRING BACK Z-93. I’ve hated Dave since the change in 2004 and really haven’t listened since then. But then the only thing that anybody can count on at WZGC is change. They haven’t had a decent morning show since I came to Atlanta in 1984. Add the Greaseman experiment and see that 6-10 in the morning has consistently blown.
Dave-FM has been a total waste of bandwidth and a disappointment from the start. It’s too bad that only now are they seeing the real results in the book that should have been apparent all along. If they lost PPM people it must have been because the management couldn’t pay them enough to record their listening anymore. Or the PPM people got smart and demanded more $$$ to listen to the trash that was aired.
But then I’d rather listen to 1000HZ tone at 92.9 than their programming….
Lance
June 27th, 2012
11:09 am
Screw formats. I think they should play anything and everything. Play BonJovi followed by Beethoven’s 5th followed by Johnny Cash. Why not? At least you’ll be unique. I’d listen.
Everything in town is a copy of a copy. I can’t tell the difference between Star94, Journey and B98. The River and Rock100 are the same.
If Dave wants to turn things around, be different. Very different.
jv
June 27th, 2012
11:12 am
we need a great Oldies station, please use Randy and Spiff, and I like the idea of Tripp West too!
FM Fats
June 27th, 2012
11:15 am
They could change from DAVE-FM to JACK-FM.
Brent
June 27th, 2012
11:16 am
Hell Yes, Hopefully we can get a real classic HITS station. This station has had an 8 year hangover, terrible.
dre
June 27th, 2012
11:16 am
Ah, a radio blog. Can I start a “critique Steak Shapiro and 790 the Zone” thread here please? I am unable to listen to them anymore due to Steak’s on-air chewing and interrupting of others. And I used to like Mike Bell, but he needs to listen to a recording of himself laugh-talking through an entire show. Wow does that grate on my nerves, it is worse than ever. The stuff he is laugh-talking is not even particularly funny!!
Captain Herb
June 27th, 2012
11:28 am
The station has no identity. I love Mara, but you can’t play a current Jack White (amazing) song and talk about how great Jack White is and then follow that with Blues Traveller. Doesn’t work.
Balloon Lady
June 27th, 2012
11:35 am
I love Margot, Mara, Yvonne & Steve…get rid of the rest…loving the 80s rewind weekends…
tired of Adele…
Shannon
June 27th, 2012
11:37 am
Clean house – start with Rick Caffey and work your way down, program directors, talent…Change the name I guess “Dave” is supposed to be like your best musical Bud or something, but no one gets it.
There are nice people there, but they’re stale and have seen their best radio days, in Atlanta at least. Willard, Kaedy Lesley Framm – take your pick, they’re all outta here.
Format? Definately something to think about. There used to be a format called “MOR”, Middle of the Road”, thie shoud be “AOR” for All Over the Road. Makes no sence.
Oxwinkle
June 27th, 2012
11:41 am
All KIMMER all the time!!!
Billy Hix
June 27th, 2012
12:04 pm
The best thing Dave ever did was wise up and fire that irritating voice of Zak Tyler. He was a no talent hack whose voice sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. The problem with radio is that I am convinced the only new music is by Katy Perry and Adele and the occasional one hit wonder. There is so much more music out there and we don’t get to hear it. We don’t need another 80s and 90s station. We don’t need another classic rock station. And the “new rock” stations need to play new rock. Not new rock from 20 years ago.
Brent
June 27th, 2012
12:22 pm
Just talked to Mara Davis and she was very hushed on the situation, hmmmm
Net Radio Jock
June 27th, 2012
12:26 pm
First, I would get some new blood in the house starting with the Program Director. Then, I would pipe in a well-known morning show to attract the listenership. It showed that local talent in the morning did not work. I would recommend Bubba the Love Sponge out of Tampa. He would bring in listeners with the right advertisement campaigns. I would keep Mara Davis in the mid-days. Lastly, I would have a good afternoon drive show. I don’t know if I would have music/talk or just talk in the afternoon. After 7pm be all music with jocks getting personable with the listeners. That is what I would do. Make me the Program Director. I would turn the station around, GUARANTEED!
Brent
June 27th, 2012
12:38 pm
CBS has a golden opportunity to make this a legend, on the order of K EARTH 101, or their flagship CBS101 in NYC. Why can’t ATLANTA have a station this grand? And please don’t tell me no one wants to hear “that kind of music”- it works in market 1 and 2, why not here?
This is a quote from a reader on Radio-Info.com
ComeON
June 27th, 2012
12:44 pm
@Brent-
“Just talked to Mara Davis and she was very hushed on the situation, hmmmm”
– what did you expect her tell you? So you could report on this blog? Sounds like you’re a real genius.
Brent
June 27th, 2012
12:46 pm
ComeOn, what up your ass today???geesh..
World's Second Oldest teenager
June 27th, 2012
12:50 pm
I lived in L.A. for awhile in the ’80’s and K-EARTH played great oldies then, but their playlist is too tight now. It’s the same old small selection of songs over and over and what’s more, they don’t focus on the golden years of 1964-74 anymore, so I would prefer something more like Scott Shannon’s True Oldies format if they go the oldies/classic hits direction.
Nevernude
June 27th, 2012
12:51 pm
Net Radio Jock you must be part of “Bubba’s Army”. He isn’t doing well either, his show was dropped in Jacksonville. He is a decent morning guy. I agree The greaseman is awful! He just sounds like a horny old man.I think they should follow the format that is on Sirrus ch 28.
Brent
June 27th, 2012
12:56 pm
I would rather them do Classic Vinyl and blow the River and 100.5 away…..
Calling It Like It Is
June 27th, 2012
1:01 pm
AOR – Album Oriented Rock. You can’t change it back to Z93 without having the connotation of the Greaseman and others of the sort. Randy and Spiff didn’t work on how many stations? The River and Rock 100 have got the classic genre of rock. Go back to a station with call letters and rebrand it. If they went back to Z93, people would expect the old Z93.
The smartest thing that I think I’ve ever heard was when Dave debuted, 99x (while still kind of in their prime) decided to play against Dave with “we’ll play what you request” and someone requested to play the whole Disintegration CD by The Cure. I have never seen that happen on any station in any market.
Having the labels decide which songs they play is sheer stupidity. Yes, it will get the artist and single out there, but there is much better music on CD’s than the singles. The artists would actually get more airplay and more royalties due to more of their music getting played than just the one song that is the current single. That’s why AOR makes more sense.
Or how about a station that creates their playlist based on requests? That is where your variety comes in. Sure, you have to draw a line in the sand that says “No, we can’t play Adele or Katy Perry”, but you would build one immense playlist and the rotation could be quite varied. If you want to hear the same 4 or 5 songs every 2 hours, that’s called Top 40.
Everyone says satellite is the answer. The monthly price has increased and people listen to their MP3 players as well and new car makers are putting Pandora and other Internet based options in their cars.
The fact that Mara is considered a “star” is because she is one of the only ones that have lasted at the station throughout the transitions. She is involved in the community and basically is the person that most people think of when Dave is mentioned. But, by far, is not the best talent at that station.
Rockin Roll
June 27th, 2012
1:07 pm
Poorly written article if you ask me. The firing of the radio station’s program director is mentioned in the 4th to last paragraph of a 20 graph story? Seems to me you buried the lead Rodney. And your grammar is horrible. “The station let go its program director Scott Jameson Tuesday. He lasted a little over three years. In an interview earlier this month before he let go Jameson, General Manager Rick Caffey acknowledged…..” Where did you go to school Rodney?
Rodney Ho
June 27th, 2012
1:21 pm
Went to Princeton, Rockin Roll. Been writing for 20-plus years in this business. Sorry if my grammar isn’t up to par for you. The crux of the matter is Dave is in trouble. Jameson’s firing is just a symptom of the problem.
Eric
June 27th, 2012
1:24 pm
I like the idea that FM Fats suggested of CBS replacing Dave FM with Jack FM on 92.9. I’d also be open to CBS possibly bringing back Z-93. Personnel changes (with on-air talents) would be a different story.
Rodney Ho
June 27th, 2012
1:31 pm
But to make you happy, I pushed the PD firing up to the third graf.
Former radio guy
June 27th, 2012
1:49 pm
Rodney, you seem like a nice enough fellow, but over the years many in the radio industry cringed as we watched you consistently demonstrate your lack of understanding the Arbitron numbers and what they really mean. In your latest post, you refer to Dave-FM as having garnered a 4 rating, which would represent reaching 4% of the total Atlanta market population for whatever demo and daypart you’re referring to (by the wording of your article I’m assuming Adults 25-54 Mon-Sun 6a-12mid). Dave did not have a 4 rating last year, it had a .4 rating – that’s four tenths of a point, not 4 points. You may have that mixed up with a 4 share, which represents 4% of the total people who are listening to radio in the Atlanta market at a given time/daypart for a particular demo. Last year the station actually had a 3.9% share against Adults 25-54 Mon-Sun 6a-12midnight, which I’m assuming you possibly rounded to 4% to simplify for your readers. Regardless, there’s a huge difference in the number of people represented by a rating point versus a share point and that would have a huge bearing on the station’s ability to monetize their audience. If Dave-FM consistently delivered 4 ratings against a major demo they would certainly be in a much better revenue position, albeit from a rapidly shrinking pool of radio dollars. Your behind-the-scenes scoops and insight on Atlanta radio are fine, but you really should brush up on your Arbitron terminology.
Rodney Ho
June 27th, 2012
1:57 pm
You’re right @Former radio guy. I do mix up rating and share. The numbers I cite are almost always share, not rating.
commutergirl
June 27th, 2012
2:14 pm
For what it’s worth, since Steve started in the mornings and they’re playing more music, 92.9 is the only station I’ll listen to. I’ve tried them all…from country to hip-hop. Wanda and Frank and The Bert Show are the only ones with real chemistry and a sense of camaraderie but DERN are those folks self-satisfied (remind me of Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy right before The Fall).
Because I can’t stand one more big-headed personality in my life, I go where the music takes me. Hands down, Steve plays the most diverse, creative sets on mainstream radio (Adele and “Closer to Fine” aside). I wish 92.9 would take a stand and take more risks musically. Last weekend, I think I heard Etta James? Followed by an acoustic Pearl Jam followed by a Fleetwood Mac demo that rocked my world!
Over the last several months I’ve heard DAVE do what DAVE said they would to begin with–bring variety and quality to Atlanta radio. I hate to see him leave now that he’s finally grown himself a set of cajones.
Wink
June 27th, 2012
2:31 pm
Atlanta needs a soft rock station. B98 thinks it’s Star 94…it isn’t. Years ago both B and Peach divided the AC dollars quite nicely and shared pretty good ratings too. Woman 25-54 need a musical Prozac to get through their day. You can’t program radio for hipsters. They go elsewhere for their music.
C
June 27th, 2012
2:46 pm
As long as they don’t get rid of the internet only Dave Roots channel, I don’t care that much. Roots is a great great station.
johnjames
June 27th, 2012
2:54 pm
I hate to hear about anyone losing their job in this crappy economy. That said, it seems like the right start to turn Dave around. Steve has to be the next one to go. It was a bad hire, not the right fit to bring in ratings. The rest of the staff is good. They just need to be moved around a bit. Tweak the format and mirror XRT in Chicago. Most important thing is to stick to it. No more radical changes.
Joey J
June 27th, 2012
2:59 pm
I like DAVE and have to disagree with the one comment about the 8am segments DAVE has done this year. The money segment, the tech segment and the Green Guru break up the show a little and add something different. Steve is great interacting with these guests as he knows a little on every subject. We all have smartphones and that app of the week pic is always entertaining.
so what
June 27th, 2012
3:20 pm
Their deeper catalog of 80s hits is better than the 80s stuff other stations play. I mostly listen to WRFG’s Good Morning Blues morning show. Those people REALLY know their music and you can learn so much from them. Never hear the same thing twice. Plus, you NEVER hear Adele there.
Calling It Like It Is
June 27th, 2012
3:31 pm
@johnjames – Steve is one of the best jocks I’ve heard over many years in many markets. The guy is a fountain of knowledge. Yeah, he may not be a morning guy, but you have to give credit where credit is due. I think he is doing the best of what he has to at a station that doesn’t have a direction. And he has more personality than the person that follows him.
No matter who they put on the air at any given time with whatever format, there is always going to be someone who is going to be an armchair quarterback and not like the decisions they make and/or what song they play. But you have the option…if you don’t like what you hear, turn the station or turn on some other form of music. These guys can’t please everyone all the time.
Brent
June 27th, 2012
3:51 pm
Rodney you are a great writer, so many haters out there that have nothing better to do. What do you really think might happen to Dave? Of course I am an oldie fan….
Calling It Like It Is
June 27th, 2012
3:55 pm
Case in point for Classic Hits format….CBS (parent of Dave) is flipping a station in Boston from Classic Hits to Top 40 tomorrow…
Brent
June 27th, 2012
4:27 pm
We DO NOT NEED a TOP 40………………………
kneejockey
June 27th, 2012
4:29 pm
Bring back the queen. When he left 99x look what happened, then dave and look whats happening. Just saying.
Bill
June 27th, 2012
4:31 pm
Personality Classic Hits
Randy And Spiff
Tripp West
Steve McCoy and Alpha Stevens
Mara Davis
That’s what I want.
Wink
June 27th, 2012
4:32 pm
Who the heck is Alpha Stevens?
Bill
June 27th, 2012
4:38 pm
@wink Alpha Trivette, sorry. His partner for man years was “Alpha Stevens”.
Bill
June 27th, 2012
4:39 pm
@Wink- rather Kelly Stevens.
johnjames
June 27th, 2012
4:48 pm
@Calling It Like It Is, or should I say Steve? Or Steve from the Steve show starring Steve? Give me a break. Ratings don’t lie.
Kathryn
June 27th, 2012
4:53 pm
I agree with johnjames. Steve needs to go.
Brent
June 27th, 2012
5:25 pm
Now I hear the RIVER has a new PD, don’t even get me started on that mess of a station……………
Mary Lou Alto
June 27th, 2012
7:09 pm
When I moved here in 2007, I found DaveFM by some fluke channel surfing. I was on Project 961 but it was too much metal all of the time. Coming from the New York market I have very high standards for radio and DaveFM .has just the right amount of everything and.. the DJ’s are highly accessable to their public. Mara’s radio-free lunch is magnificent. Sully is hilarious. Maybe the dj’s should be able to play what they want to and what their fans want to hear, not management. i have xm too….i listen to both. But I love love love me some Mara Davis.
finally
June 27th, 2012
8:18 pm
Margot, Steve, Renee and Yvonne are all wonderful the station definately needs a “course” and not just kinda drift along from one good song to something very odd. Less Indigo Girls and recently within 24 hours l heard Creep 3 times, and l wasn’t listening straight through, every time l tuned in it was on I don’t know what that was all about. I, for one wouldn’t hate it if Lesley Framm had a hand in programming the station. She was stellar at 99x in it’s prime and yes, that style of music has ran into the ground, but she definitely had an ear for good ground breaking music. There is an audience in a city of 5 million plus that wants to hear better and more diverse music than Adele and Gotye repeated hourly. With their signal coverage to the remote parts and outskirts, l have heard them almost to Alabama, they could really be a big deal but they are kinda floundering around. I hope they get it right it is a shame for them to just kinda dissolve into bla randomness. I do miss Little Steven’s Underground Garage, they should look into bringing that back.
DD
June 27th, 2012
8:18 pm
929ampradioatlanta.com
Could be another top 40 move by CBS
Soft AC possibility as well, sorry brother Lew got all news on the air already
Nick Wright
June 28th, 2012
1:00 am
Glad to hear there will be some new blood in the program direction, but I hope they take this opportunity to embrace the indie rock they’ve been flirting with for years. They would be the only ones in town doing it.
TheLazyComic
June 28th, 2012
6:15 am
I think CBS should sell it to Cheap Channel. (From one creepy corporate to another).
Net Radio Jock
June 28th, 2012
8:47 am
@Nevernude…I like the show. He is funny and he is real. Actually, he is doing well 25-54 in the mornings in Tampa and Ft. Myers. I don’t know why Jacksonville dropped him after being 4th in the ratings. The Greaseman is so played out. We’ll just have to see.
Dave fan...for now
June 28th, 2012
9:06 am
If it’s going to stay with Adult Alternative, then stay true to the format and keep it fresh with the newer material and artists as well. When I lived in St. Louis, KCLC had the best Adult Alternative playlist I’ve ever heard. I love that they are trying the format in ATL but please stay true to what you what you are, or should be.
Calling It Like It Is
June 28th, 2012
9:27 am
Amp is a CBS branded station. Don’ t need another Top 40 station.
joemoedee
June 28th, 2012
10:02 am
“And I’d pay a small fortune for them to, ahem, misplace/lose/burn all copies of “Closer To Fine” by the Indigo Girls. I swear, nearly every time I turn on Dave I usually hear it within 4 minutes…”
I second that. Wholeheartedly.
AAA is a great format, but I don’t think they’re handling it well. They have the personalities to support the format, but I just think the music mix is a bit off. They seem to play it safe with breaking new artists, or even playing deeper cuts from heritage artists. (I’ll hear something 2-3 weeks earlier on Sirius XM’s “The Spectrum” which will be then advertised as “new” on Dave.)
AAA and Alternative thrive on new songs, new artists and deeper tracks, versus such a heavy dependance on heritage artists and overplayed songs. I believe if you look back at when Dave was pulling decent numbers, you’ll see there were a bunch of new artists and or songs they were playing.
I read a blog by Sean Demery a while back, (http://seandemery.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/hello-world/) and he was describing the music mix of 99x when it was a good station. At times it was almost 50% new music. As it declined, the new music dropped off significantly. And we all know what happened after that.
99x is an interesting comparison because a lot of its core audience at its peak would now be in Dave’s core audience. We left 99x because it got stale and repetitive. Dave is repeating those same failures.
If there’s one thing radio can do to differentiate itself from the iPod crowd is put new music on display.
I think if CBS wants to play the AAA game in Atlanta, they’ll have to do the same.
Val
June 28th, 2012
11:09 am
I am sorry but this is the worst radio station I have ever come across. The DJs are absolutely awful, unfunny but try to be and are uninteresting. I don’t need to hear Interstate Love Song three times a day. Add variety and not just some loop of ten songs.
Radio Listener
June 28th, 2012
12:03 pm
Dave has sunk themselves- and it goes back to bad management from the top. From the beginning they had a great following. The station was off to a great start. Then a couple of years in, they made dumb decisions to change things starting with Barnes & Firfer. That show was the most listenable morning show Dave had and seemed to be doing a decent job in the ratings (as good and mostly better than anything since) . They lost a lot of listeners when they dumped Barnes. And when they let Firfer walk out the door they lost a lot of the rest. Since then, the morning show has been marginal at best- which is not a great way to start your day grabbing listeners). The rest of the talent is fine. But fine does not garner you stellar ratings- it allows you to limp along and then peter out- which is what has happened. They need to wipe the entire slate clean (leaving only Mara & Margot) and start over. Barring a format change- it seems that is the only answer. I don’t envy anyone walking into that station today. It’s a helluvan up hill battle.
SWEEJIE
June 28th, 2012
12:29 pm
I am so sick of radio stations playing the same old worn out 80’s hits on their 80′S WEEKEND!! I have recently discovered 89.1 at midday and was shocked to hear obscure 80’s hits that haven’t been played anywhere else. Have listeners input their music choices for rotation. I do wish Dave FM would retain the indie/alternative format. I love knowing music the other stations are playing into the ground was first heard months before on Dave FM. I loathe The River. I want to remain current, not be sucked into the black hole of the 70’s. Lets throw out the OLDIES theme and replace with RE-PURPOSED.
jimbo
June 28th, 2012
12:58 pm
Mediocrity is born of complacency which comes from a lack of innovation and the tendency to maintaint the status quo. I believe that is true for most of the radio stations in the Atlanta market. Awhile back, DAVE had a promotion where in they asked the listeners to call in with the songs they would like to see played. The list was varied and quite diversified. For a short time, DAVE actually played some of the recommended songs (mostly on the weekends), but then reverted to the same old tired format and playlist. It was just easier to maintain what they had, rather than actually listen to their listeners. I pretty much stopped listening after that. The same is true for 106.7. They canned the Scott Shannon endorsed programming for a classic hits format, which stopped playing the 60’s and 70’s “oldies”. I stopped listening after that, as well. STAR 94 may be getting the message. They let Ray go and replaced him with Tim Orff who is certainly more upbeat and entertaining. Next, they should expand the playlist (if I hear one more Adelle song, I am going to scream). Their “all 90’s” weekend format is pretty good. They should try some of that during the week. I really miss the old WPCH. Great selection. Sometimes “elevator music” is not so bad.
GD
June 28th, 2012
1:55 pm
Several good points. To me the station plays an excellent mix and is one of the best in the country. However, it definitely appeals to a niche listener. Unfortunately for the station, other than Mara there are no personalities that are musts to tune in and listen to. The upwardly mobile niche they appeal to has the disposable income to grab other commercial free options such as XM or HD Radio, heck even Pandora. It will be a shame to lose the format. One suggestion might be to get an attention grabbing morning and afternoon crew. Put Sully on at night.
PS
June 28th, 2012
4:17 pm
Dave lost me as a regular listener when they decided to skew back into Z93 territory and refuse to play anything that came out after 1990.
MusicLover
June 28th, 2012
5:16 pm
Not really sure where to start…. I split my time between 88.5 and Dave when I listen to radio, problem is…..thats just not that often. Because I really like music, It’s hard for me to leave it up to a playlist thats just too repetitive. My advice would be a more eclectic mix…… more emphasis on new and less well-known acts….especially local acts. Stay true to the great scene that is here….Widespread Panic, Jerry Joseph, Perpetual Groove, etc….Honestly, there is some great music out there that the discriminating listener would love to hear on the radio. Don’t be afraid to dig deep.
Dan H.
June 28th, 2012
5:43 pm
Steve Craig is very entertaining. I like listening to a true music fan and expert. Most DJs don’t know a thing about music.
Allenman
June 28th, 2012
6:59 pm
Does anyone besides me really remember what FM radio used to be like? Intimate, unusual, deep tracks, personalities–but not so big that they overwhelmed the music. I guess those days will never return, no big network would put up with that. It just seems that you’d stand a better chance in the marketplace doing something just a bit different. The ratings can’t be much worse than this can they?
steve
June 28th, 2012
10:23 pm
Refuse to play anything that hit the top 40 charts. Play established artists, but songs that don’t get played on the radio. How many albums has Sting put out? But how many songs are played? A very small percentage. Same with Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, U2, Stones, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith. Doesn’t matter the band or the genre. If it was me , my slogan would be ” Dave FM-None of the hits, just the hit-makers, all of the time”
Tracy
June 29th, 2012
9:38 am
I’d be so bummed if Dave fm changed… although it could be tweaked. They definitely overplay certain songs/artists (REM, Adele, The Police) but otherwise it’s good. I love the DJ’s ~ especially Mara, Steve, Sully, Margot, Yvonne. RFL is my fave! 99x has a weak signal & sometimes Project 961 is a little hard core for me. And we already have a classic rock station… it’s called The River & I don’t like it at all. Keep Dave!!
DanferousDan88.5
June 29th, 2012
9:57 am
1st of all – play all the cuts off R.E.M.’s Murmer throughout the day and let me program the station. I would mix in 80’s and 90’s music that di not get airplay when it should have like Roxy Music, Talking Heads and more. Most people missed the good 80’s music and we got stuff like Afternoon Delight although that was 1976. It took 8.. YES EIGHT years for What I like about you to be a hit ny the ROMANTICS because of Budweiser. What else was misssed? ALOT
David Puddy
June 29th, 2012
10:12 am
Give it the final death blow buy bringing in Chuck and Turnoff.
Brent
June 29th, 2012
10:19 am
@Tracy this is the worst station I have ever heard, come on do you work for Dave???
Carole
June 29th, 2012
10:36 am
Playlist is beyond dull. I feel like I hear the same songs over and over and over again. Before I started listening to Dave I used to like REM and Dave Matthews and Adele. Now I am sick to death of all of their songs. I have to comment about Mara being “a star.” In what universe does being a star mean you say things like “LOL” and “JK” and have awkward pauses during unfunny jokes? She is annoying as hell. You’re a 40 something mother, what woman outside the age of 16 says “LOL” and “JK”? I like Radio Free Lunch but not because of her. I breathe a sigh of relief when Margot or Yvonne is doing it for her when she’s on vacation. They need to give Yvonne her own show, heck, give her Mara’s. I never liked Jimmy but I miss hearing Yvonne daily. Steve is ok in the morning but he’s rather pompous and he doesn’t hold my attention. At least he does know what he is talking about. Which is more than I can say for Sully. Before they passed the alcohol on Sundays bill, I wanted to scream every time he came on the radio and spewed his opinion that nobody asked for about why alcohol sales have to be on Sundays because it’s a human right. And all he talks about is what is on Twitter. Wow, Sully, you are so hip and cool to constantly talk about Twitter. He tries entirely too hard. Kick him off. I listen to another station on my way home from work because he makes my stomach turn. He belongs on Q100 with Bert, who could be his bosom buddy in the self-righteous, ego maniac, aren’t I so cool pool.
Brent
June 29th, 2012
11:22 am
I agree Carole. Yvonne Monet was so great on Power 99. Mara is obnoxious…
ComeON
June 29th, 2012
1:43 pm
@Carole you clearly listen ALLLLLLL the time.
Joann K
June 29th, 2012
4:02 pm
I love the variety and fact that I can hear Zeppelin and Avett Brothers on one station. I do think Police, Adele and REM are way over played! I’d love to see the DJ’s have more artistic license and talk time. Steve’s morning show is good, but there is too much sports,Green Guru, Tech Talk etc… Stick to the music! Mara is awesome, I’ll always be a big fan. I love Sully in the afternoon, he’s funny and very community oriented and generous to many local causes. I’d like to see him have more talk time. Margot is great and super knowledgable, love her variety, I always discover new music I like from her show. Please fine tune the station, but we need this format in Atlanta!
Joann K
June 29th, 2012
4:05 pm
@Brent, Tracy is not an employee, but a fan of the format as I am.
Brent
June 29th, 2012
9:14 pm
Both of you are from Mayberry or Hotter-ville then…BORING>>>>>>>>or you liking Maras puyss…
PosCynic
June 29th, 2012
10:54 pm
I like a station that actually has real intros before or after the song. Title & song with album sometimes for every single song either before or right after. I would like to even see more information about the song being played on the radio. DJ’s used to be music professionals that actively had some influence in their field. Those days are long gone, but I think many DJ’s are hired for their ability to BS rather than their knowledge of music.
For example of a DJ talk: “We just heard Fleetwood Mac’s song _____ from their 1977 Rumours album and next up were going to play the Kenny Loggins song _________ from his Celebrate Me Home album for the same year when he was the opening act for Fleetwood Mac.”
You would have buzz about the radio station partly because of those abstract facts about music. Some might have trouble thinking the guy known for “Footloose” and “Danger Zone” was an opening act for Fleetwood Mac and ask several people about what he heard on Z-93. The only way to save the stations is to give people a reason not to listen to their illegal downloaded music from their ipod plugged into their car or at work is to personalize everything. Give the audience something they cannot get anywhere else. BS DJ’s are a dime a dozen and most come across as cheap imitations of Howard Stern without his infatuation with sex, breast, and porn.
Play oldies to a target audience of an older crowd with real “DJ’s” providing info. Personalize the station for the audience by making it seem like it is not all done by computers. Heck, I like to see the station throw in some songs that area actually played from a turntable. It really is not that hard to create a profitable radio station in Atlanta when you have a huge void in the market
lkjlkj
June 30th, 2012
3:27 pm
I am that user you mention in the article: mid-40s, 6-figure income. I used to listen to Dave but I can’t stand it now. They play too much ‘classic rock’-type garbage like Tom Petty and too much 70s stuff.
I like 80s/90s/00s alternative/indie and I wish they’d go there. I think Project is awful with the butt-rock & that the ‘classic rock’ format is about the worst one in radio. At this point, I don’t Atlanta has a decent rock station at all, don’t like any of them. I’m now NPR/106.7/680/790 and that’s pretty much it. I also have taken to bringing my own music in the car, which I never did before.
RadioLover
July 1st, 2012
1:02 am
Keep the Dave name but make it like Cox Radio’s “Chuck-FM”. They play everything… Great mix.
Trey
July 1st, 2012
2:14 pm
The problem with Dave has always been the music. For a station that claims to be musically diverse they play too much of the same stuff. You can play Al Green, The Cars, The Pixies and A Tribe Called Quest in the same hour and not lose listeners. The audience that will listen to Dave wants a wider variety of music, but stick to the wider music and nothing radical. We also don’t need personalities, it’s the music we like, not the personalities.
Mr Rock
July 2nd, 2012
10:57 am
One common theme here.
We are all sick of having Adele crammed down our throats.
Like Steve
Mara, not so much
Kathryn
July 2nd, 2012
1:29 pm
Mr Rock,the only theme that’s correct is the Adele comment. Sounds to me like a lot of people also dislike Steve and love Mara.