Journey 97.9 is dead, replaced by Q100 ’spinoff’
Another day, another format flip.
This afternoon, Atlanta-based Cumulus has ended Journey 97.9, which played an eclectic mix of 1980s and 1990s pop music for just over a year, in favor of some sort of Q100 “spinoff” station. Songs the new “Q100″ station has played so far include “As Long As You Love Me’ by Justin Bieber, “Hello” by Karmin, “Whistle” by Flo Rida and “Let Me Love You” by Ne Yo.
In a press release, John Dickey, co-COO of Atlanta-based Cumulus, said the company has decided to create a Q100 “brand extension,” so to speak on 97.9. “With so much hit music, we needed to add on,” he said. “Q-100’s 20 at 97.9 will give us the room we need to continue to serve up more hit music than any other station/brand in Atlanta. While Atlanta wakes up to Q-100’s The Bert Show on 99.7, kids can get their hit music fix on Q-100’s 20 at 97.9.”
This is partially a response to Clear Channel’s new Power 96.1, which flipped from hard rock Project 9-6-1 last Wednesday. That new top 40 station is gunning directly after Q100’s big numbers. On Friday, Cumulus dumped alternative 99X at 98.9 in favor of hard rock 98.9/The Bone to pick up disaffected Project listeners.
Notably, neither 97.9 nor 98.9 are on terribly strong signals.
Dave FM, the adult rock station in town since 2004, is going away in favor of sports talk in a few weeks. Atlanta’s Greatest Hits at 106.7 died in May in favor of news talk.
That’s five format changes this year. The moves have been bad news for rock fans and fans of somewhat older pop music. For those folks, it’s a good excuse to go to Spotify, Pandora and Sirius/XM. But it’s been great news for top 40 fans and news/talk folks.
Cumulus operates Kicks 101.5, All News 106.7, Q100, Rock 100.5, 98.9/The Bone and now this Q100’s 20 at 97.9. Clear Channel operates 94.9/The Bull, Power 96.1, Wild 105.7/96.7 (which is skewing more hip hop now), news/talk 640/WGST-AM and 105.3/El Patron.
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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98 comments Add your comment
jordan dubrof
September 5th, 2012
12:50 am
does the new station have a website yet?
Joe
September 5th, 2012
12:50 am
Cumulous is ruining atl radio they own everything…they are cheap and would rather go to rotation or news. it’s cheaper than paying dj’s and royalties. With news they gt a national feed, with top 40 they get to play new stuff that costs nothing compared to cllassic.
David Briel
September 5th, 2012
3:08 am
I feel that ATLANTA needs a radio station that plays a variety of 1970’s and 1980’s music by itself, similar to what 106.7 was before it became an ALL NEWS station. Most of TODAY’S MUSIC AIN’T GOT THE SAME SOUL and even B98.5 is different that is was in the 1980’s since they DISCONTINUED playing 1970’s music. Also GOOD OLDER MUSIC CAN BE SO HARD TO FIND ON ATLANTA RADIO TODAY.
Richard Bagge
September 5th, 2012
4:20 am
You know, everybody, 88.5 is ready for your ears when you are ready to turn to the left of the dial.
Ghoti
September 5th, 2012
4:58 am
I’m running out of stations to listen to in the car. I hate pop & refuse to listen to it. Why can’t we have rock for grownups? People over 25 need a station too!
TT
September 5th, 2012
7:28 am
Great. More stations playing all Rihanna all the time. I can’t figure radio execs out – do they really think the only audience out there consists of teens and tweens? That demographic doesn’t know what a radio station is, much less listen to one. The Atlanta radio scene is crashing quicker than shares of Facebook.
Mike
September 5th, 2012
8:25 am
Thank God we’ll get to hear more Katy Perry!
Nicole
September 5th, 2012
8:34 am
suck
Melis
September 5th, 2012
8:34 am
Wake up loosers!!!! It’s time to start paying for radio.:-)
Curious
September 5th, 2012
8:51 am
Disclaimer first – Sirius and iPod listener, and WSB for the news..
Do these guys (Cumulus??) actually make money on these stations? Are advertisers so stupid they just place ads with no hope of getting a return? Bottom line is you need ratings to generate a decent book, so you can command a decent figure for running the ads. How can having 5 – 6 stations with the same format generate any ratings numbers in the same diluted market?
Allison Wonderland
September 5th, 2012
8:52 am
My Sirius Radio in 2 of my cars is well worth the $25 a month!! I hope the Clear Channel and Cumulus Execs are reading this and also your advertisers! You are driving us all away from Atlanta local radio!!!
ThirdWheel
September 5th, 2012
9:00 am
Yay Rodney!!! I cherish my Sirius radio….. Atlanta radio sucks!!
MC
September 5th, 2012
9:06 am
Interesting that disloyal subject mentioned the Illuminati. Theories abound that this cabal not only exists, but is hard at work to dumb down the general populace as efficaciously as possible, thereby covertly gaining power of some sort.
It seems like a sound idea: weaken rational minds by exposing them to 4/4 music with a narrow BPM range, simple electronic tones and hypersexual subject matter. Societal disintegration ensues, and nobody notices the rapidly-assembling autocracy. I can’t imagine that a pure profit motive is behind having six top 40 stations in a single market, unless these successful and wealthy radio executives really are a few bricks short of a load. Illuminati brainwashing actually makes more sense; there are enough people in this city with, in my opinion, such marginal intelligence that a few fly beats would place them in a functional trance.
it's business
September 5th, 2012
9:08 am
I completely agree with many of the commentors but hey, these “execs” are business men, if they could make money playing 1940’s indo asian pop, it would be on the airways. They can’t…. other business folks want the top 40 demographic. Face it you are advertising irrelevant.
Carole
September 5th, 2012
9:13 am
I have never considered paying for radio before. Until now.
I listened to Q100 for a while then I realized the Bert Show is juvenile and pop music nowadays sucks. So I switched to Dave FM a few years ago. Right when I got used to Jimmy & Yvonne, they yanked them off the air. It took me a while to warm up to Steve Craig, but now I like him. When Dave is playing something I don’t like, I would turn to 99X or 97.9. So now poof! Literally every single station I listen to is gone in a matter of weeks. I actually have nothing to listen to now. I don’t like pop music or country at all, which means all I am left with is 70’s rock and the idiotic Regular Guys on 100.5. No thanks. Guess I’ll be listening to the news on my way to work and my iPhone on the way home, and asking for satellite radio for Christmas. Good work, radio idiots. I am right in your “key demographic” too.You have completely alienated an entire section of the population.
BravesDawg
September 5th, 2012
9:20 am
Makes me sick! I have Sirius xm and an ipod thank goodness! But sometimes it is nice to here a local voice to listen too. Sometimes I need to get away from news talk and even sports talk, and just here some good rock & roll or heavy metal. Guess us 50 plus do not count anymore? Anybody listening? WE ARE STILL HERE! Yes older guys have ipods too.
Jennifer
September 5th, 2012
11:43 am
I get into my car and go to my fav station Journey 97.9 just to hear awful pop music! I wanted my 80’s and 90’s music but NOOOOOOO! You have to have a gazillion pop stations that play the same thing over and over and over again! BORING! I am so pissed! Bring back my Journey 97.9! Y’all suck u know that! We don’t need top 40 on every single dial….come on give the people what they want! Guess I’m gonna have to hook up my iTunes or get satellite radio! You are a disgrace to Atlanta music execs! Good job for pissing off most of the state!
Winners and losers in Atlanta radio with all the changes | Radio & TV Talk
September 5th, 2012
12:24 pm
[...] Journey 98.9 on Tuesday transformed itself into a Q100 “spinoff” featuring the top 20 songs from that station on a signal comparable to that of [...]
JJ
September 5th, 2012
2:01 pm
Three of my preset stations are gone, two just within the last week…
Scholar
September 5th, 2012
2:09 pm
Wow. I am already mourning the imminent demise of Dave FM. I thought at least we would have something in Journey 97. How wrong I was. I will have to find an alternative to Atlanta radio that can introduce me to new groups like Broken Bells, Death Cab for Cutie, etc. Dave filled that role for me.
Patrick
September 5th, 2012
6:10 pm
@Lisa – The River has broadened their playlist. I don’t listen to them all the time, except when I’m driving just to and from wherever I decide to grab a bite to eat, or if I’m going to be driving a short distance to and from work, if I had to run a work-related errand.
Yesterday I had to take some mail to the post office for work. On the way back to work, The River played some Matchbox 20 song, and as I was pulling into the parking lot, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge”. There may be hope yet.
I still prefer my mp3 player for longer trips (from home to work, or when traveling down to Florida), and only switch over to the FM to hear the FM feed of WSB.
The dark days of Atlanta radio have been going on for a few years. I think it really started when 94.9 changed from Lite FM (which I was OK with, changing from Peach…at least they kept the call letters, WPCH) to the Bull(****). We already had Kicks 101.5. I think 106.7 was still a Country station at the time. Why did we need a third one? Or for people in west Georgia, a fourth one? There’s a station on the AM band based in Tallapoosa, GA called King Country on AM 1060. Call letters are WKNG. They play the more classic Country: Hank Williams, Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, and others.
John
September 5th, 2012
8:07 pm
While driving through Florida last week I realized how pathetic the radio scene in Atlanta has become, it is so very sad. This last weeks news has really confirmed it. I wonder what will happen to the HD station on 92.9, Dave roots?
So Sad
September 5th, 2012
9:21 pm
Guess ITunes will get another dedicated listener/purchaser. Where else can I find 70’s/80’s music? hated to see 106.7 go in the spring and now 97.9 is gone. At least we still have 97.1!
dave
September 5th, 2012
9:31 pm
Absolutely disgraceful local radio changes. Do these idiot radio executives at Clear Channel think we’re all tweens who do nothing but listen to Bieber? Clear Channel has to be the worst company in this country. Journey 97.9 was the only station I listened to. 5 Top 40 radio stations? You have got to be kidding me. This is the worst radio market in the country by far. I’m so desperate, I stream radio stations on my computer from around the country when I get up for 2 hours before I go to work so I can listen to what real radio should sound like. Atlanta sucks and this is just more evidence of that.
BehindEnemyLines
September 5th, 2012
9:47 pm
And for all the hoohah on the internet, the reality is that every station flipped had diddly squat for ratings. Don’t get me wrong here folks, I’m a 45 yr old guy who has lost the only station in the market that could keep him listening for more than 10 minutes without punching furiously at the buttons to avoid some awful dreck … but I also understand why the changes were made.
Such is life as part of what is, in this day & age, a niche format fan.
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
September 5th, 2012
9:56 pm
And so the cluster#!@% that is Atlanta radio continues…..
Noneya
September 5th, 2012
10:01 pm
The radio is pure crap with these changes…if you don’t want
greedy apple to benefit from your radio boycott, Sansa has an excellent mp3 player cheao
TheLazyComic
September 5th, 2012
10:51 pm
I wonder how much scrap metal from old radio towers is worth on the black market?
Leapy60
September 5th, 2012
11:04 pm
This stinks! All the music for the generations of the 60’s through the 90’s is just turned off for all this Top 40’s crap, which for the most part isn’t even music!! I’m so happy I have a phone that I can get free Pandora, TunedIn and the new IHeart Radio where I can listen to my type of music anytime I want!
Let's Laugh
September 5th, 2012
11:42 pm
Steve and Icky. The prank she played spoke volumes of her.
PMC
September 5th, 2012
11:50 pm
It would be interesting to see what the background demographics behind the ratings are on this. We basically have every strong FM station playing country or top 40 which is essentially the same exact product give or take a little twang and some drum processing.
These kinds of stations aren’t going to last either. I’m guessing the flip flop phenomenon is going to go on for a while.
PMC
September 5th, 2012
11:51 pm
Well I should say Urban too, but V103 is so much more profitable than any other station in this market it’s above the fray really.
PMC
September 5th, 2012
11:53 pm
If you’re a top 40 listener I find it hard to believe any of them would have any loyalty to a particular station as they are spinning exactly the same music. Then again, top 40 fans, don’t get tired of hearing the same song 400 times a day either so…. let the record skip I guess.
PMC
September 5th, 2012
11:55 pm
It will be interesting to see if any music radio stations other than top 40 are even around in a couple of years. Unless it’s live and local talk where the listener can interact, there are 100 better ways to listen to music.
roger
September 6th, 2012
12:04 am
96 rock gone glad i got sirius at least i can here great music what is going on in atlanta
GTStudent
September 6th, 2012
12:36 am
I only like a few top 40 songs and I dont like the bert show or the star 94 equivalent or the ads, so I already listen to only CDs in my car and to my computer at home and I know a lot of other people that are doing the same
the day music died
September 6th, 2012
5:33 am
First MTV went potty and has Justin Bieber daily now you want to kill FM with him and Lady GaGa n 3time flush…blaah Just go and retool a station to what was Music from 50’s to 60’s and 70’s thru now with folks who knew what radio n Music was and let them do it there way and Rateings would fly sky high as…a Freebird in the sky with diamonds for lucy and …a little Pepper in your food…followed by steak n potatos Music from steppenwolf the doors the archies and buddy holly to now….Just do not have Justin Bieber n Lady GaGa n his loon girl friend on show!
chanceman4
September 6th, 2012
7:17 am
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved 97.9!!! Guess it’s Pandora all the time!!! Radio execs think they know it all…they don’t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HRPufnstuf
September 6th, 2012
8:23 am
Atlanta radio has sucked for a long time. All they do is change up the format, but whatever the music, it still is the same playlist BS that is tired and not in the least bit creative. I am always surprised when I travel out of this area that radio stations actually play music I haven’t heard in a long time and it is refreshing.
Diana
September 6th, 2012
8:33 am
I stopped listening to Atlanta radio stations 7 years ago. There isn’t one station in this area that plays the music I want to hear and to me it seems that as soon as one starts to play such music, it becomes sports/news talk or spanish. I therefore support Pandora and Sirius/XM radio or make my own playlists and hook up the ol’ mp3 player and away we go. Like all things entertainment in Atlanta there is a serious blight here. Time to wake up and fight back. Tell those in charge what you really want to hear/see and do entertainment wise and stop supporting the mediocre outlets being presented.
Billy
September 6th, 2012
10:54 am
The powers that be have been messing with rock since the early 80s, when they stopped asking us what we liked, and based the radio play on something else. When grunge came along, I thought we’d lost rock for good. Then there was a period in the late 90s, early 2000s when it sprang back for a while, Now it’s dead as a doornail. Plus, what little we had left on the dial is gone here in Atlanta. Thankfully most of us can make CDs. I can’t wait to get my Dodge Charger with the SD chip plug-in so that I can make a new collection of songs at will, taking less than a minute on the laptop. We had Z93, Q94, and 96Rock back in the day. I bet that predates RH’s birthday. Now, it’s a ghost town, with tasteless music for teens who probably don’t even listent to the radio; it’s more of a “fireplace” than something focused on. The record execs are mostly to blame for ruining the quality of the music in the last 2-3 decades. Now, another batch of rich kids with power has made worse, not better, the Atlanta rock radio dial. Wonders never cease. Doobie Brothers, call your office…
cybrhippy
September 6th, 2012
12:33 pm
I already had been constantly changing stations just to find songs I like. W/ DAVE and 96.1 changes I finally broke down and ordered the replacement part so I can hook my phone up to my car stereo again. Atlanta Radio is a waste of spectrum.
Michele
September 6th, 2012
2:14 pm
I listen online to knrk. It’s alternative from Portland and pretty good. I prefer listening to a local station but that’s not an option anymore. I tried The Bone, but not enough of what 99x played. I’ll listen to it in the car if a good song comes on – I’m a channel flipper anyway. What am I going to fill my 12 presets with now?
woody
September 6th, 2012
2:34 pm
Not happy about 97.9 changing format. Will take them off my presets now. Will probably start using my CDs more.
Fed Up
September 6th, 2012
2:51 pm
Z93 – Gone, 96Rock – Gone, Y106 – Gone,
Glad we have The River and there is Pandora Radio!
steve bakatsas
September 6th, 2012
11:38 pm
The Journey 97.9 FM was nice while it lasted, but I knew it would never last. I really enjoyed the 80’s sound effects and Rick Dees. Same ole stuff in Afro American country. It’s a shame I can’t pick up Chattanooga stations. I’d be listening to 98.1 or KZ 106. I listen to the Duck 93.9 FM over the internet. That station has some great oldies from the 1970’s and 80’s from Tallahoma TN. It lasted about 80 miles coming back from Nashville. I guess it’s back to my IPOD in Atlanta. I know now how I can make some big money in Atlanta area especially on the North end of Atlanta.
BringTheThrashersBack
September 7th, 2012
7:06 pm
Top-40 to me died when I first heard that awful “Hollaback Girl” song. It had been going downhill for several years before but that song really nailed the coffin shut. I take a look at the Billboard Hot 100 every once in a while and I see the same artists every time; Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and the occasional one-hit wonder Rapper featuring some well known rapper. One would think it gets old hearing the same repetitive generic songs every day, but I guess not.
Jodi
September 10th, 2012
9:40 pm
This is a freakin nightmare. Atlanta radio has officially hit an all-time low. I’m so sick of hearing the same Pop songs over and over again on every freakin station. Just an FYI to the radio execs…Atlanta is not made up of tweens. We’re adults and deserve better music on the radio. This is horrible.