Winners and losers in Atlanta radio with all the changes
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Phew!
It’s been a whirlwind month in Atlanta radio for rock and pop radio listeners, unprecedented in the amount of change in such a short time.
Lets’ review:
- Hard rock station Project 9-6-1 last week became top 40 station Power 96.1 on one of the most powerful FM signals in metro Atlanta. (Clear Channel today announced it is making a Project station available on its phone app “I Heart Radio.”)
- Alternative rock station 99X at 98.9 on Saturday turned into a hard rock station 98.9/The Bone on a signal that doesn’t reach much beyond the Perimeter.
- Journey 97.9 on Tuesday transformed itself into a Q100 “spinoff” featuring the top 20 songs from that station on a signal comparable to that of 98.9.
- In a few weeks, adult rock station 92.9/Dave FM will switch format into a sports talk station on one of the stronger signals in the area.
- And back in May, the oldies station Atlanta’s Greatest Hits dropped its format to be All News 106.7.
So who are winners and losers if things don’t change yet again?
WINNERS
- Fans of top 40 radio. Clearly, the options to hear Flo Rida, Rihanna and Karmin have gone up since two more top 40 stations have appeared on the dial. We now have at least five stations playing a variation of current pop music, some with more of a rock/pop lean, some with a hip-hop feel: B98.5, Star 94 and Q100 plus newbies Power 96.1 and Q100’s 20 at 97.9. Wild 105.7/96.7 has started to veer more hip hop but still plays some top 40 songs. It’s fair to say Atlanta has never had this many choices on the top 40 front.
- Sports talk fans. There’s a reasonable debate about whether Atlanta is a good sports town outside of football. But for more than a decade, it has successfully sustained two AM sports talk stations – one which added a modest FM signal in 2010. But can Atlanta sustain three sports talk stations? Folks who love to listen to guys (and the occasional woman) gab about the Hawks, Falcons and Dawgs now have more options than ever thanks to CBS Radio and 92.9.
- Elvis Duran and Ryan Seacrest. Elvis Duran, the syndicated New York talk show host, had been on the weaker Wild 105.7/96.7 signal and gradually building a faithful audience seeking an alternative to the Bert Show on Q100. Now he’s been placed on the more powerful Power 96.1 signal and will face Bert on an even playing field. Seacrest, the ubiquitous media mogul and “Idol” host who began his career as a teen-ager at Star 94 in the 1980s, joins the mid-day slot in syndicated form, a place he held briefly a couple years ago on Star.
- Rock 100.5 and 97.1/The River. Fewer options for rock fans has to help the two remaining big-signal rock stations. It certainly can’t hurt them. Ratings-challenged Rock 100.5 could especially use the boost.
- The Regular Guys. With Project’s year-old Kidd Chris gone, the male-leaning veteran Regular Guys show on Rock 100.5 may be able to draw back some of its listeners who have left the past couple of years.
- Spotify, Pandora, Slacker, Sirius XM, your iPod. Alienated FM radio listeners are going to other options. And there are plenty, especially on your smartphone. Arguably, the fact so many rock fans were already going in this direction may have hastened the demise of stations such as Dave.
LOSERS
- Rock radio fans, especially those in their 30s and 40s. While classic rock fans can still enjoy the River and Rock 100.5, if you’re into acts such as Mumford & Sons, Avett Brothers, Cake, the Talking Heads, Jack Johnson, INXS, Dave Matthews Band, and Weezer, your options are or will soon be virtually gone from the FM dial in Atlanta.
- Pop fans who like songs from the 1980s and 1990s. Lovers of pop songs from the 1960s and 1970s are already bereft of FM options since Atlanta’s Greatest Hits went away in May. No Beatles. No James Taylor. No Bee Gees. B98.5 plays a few 1980s and 1990s cuts. Star will throw in an occasional nugget from the 1990s. But if you just want to listen to songs from those decades alone, Journey was it.
- Kidd Chris. After 15 months in Atlanta, he was starting to build momentum for younger males. New morning shows typically take two or three years to really get going so he was well on his way. The death of Project cut him off at a key moment.
- Most of the staff at Dave FM. With fewer rock options in this market, this makes it just much harder for on-air staff such as Steve Craig, Margot Smith and Rich Sullivan to find another job in Atlanta. Mara Davis, given her heritage in town, may have the easiest time landing somewhere else.
- Wild 105.7/96.7. The station was doing very well on a medium-sized signal, a top 5 station among 18 to 34 year olds. Even though Wild has gone more hip-hop in the past week to try to take away listeners from surging Hot 107.9, Clear Channel has turned Wild into a “flanker” to Power rather than its primary focus. That means resources that might have gone to Wild in terms of marketing and sales will likely be diverted to Power.
- Q100 (potentially). Q100 is a dominant top 40 station in town and has been for years. Power’s music mix is clearly targeting that station, even more so than B98.5 and Star 94, which skew older.
- 790 the Zone. This station does not have an FM signal and its night signal is tepid. It’s already at a disadvantage with 680/The Fan, which also airs on 93.7 and has a stronger night signal. So with 92.9 coming aboard, the Zone is immediately in trouble. (The Zone is available on the Star 94 HD-2 channel if you happen to have HD Radio.)
- FM radio in general. These changes in general result in fewer options on the FM dial. There’s no doubt many peeved listeners are going to seek friendlier climes and spend less time with old-fashioned free radio.
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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244 comments Add your comment
Splavistic
September 5th, 2012
9:25 pm
Ha, and I just got an email for a focus group regarding local radio. I should go, tell them exactly what I did 10 years ago (i.e. internet radio is the better choice), then collect my $100. Sorry, but FM is just another URL and it has a really sorry format. I feel for the advertisers who have been clinging on to it for so long. Wake up.
dave
September 5th, 2012
9:30 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.
Rc
September 5th, 2012
9:32 pm
What does Fat Face Steak Shapiro say about it?
Steve
September 5th, 2012
9:45 pm
Atlanta radio stations SUCK.
What are there, 7 or 8 pop/top-40/r&b crossover stations, 6-7 latino, 4-5 ‘current’ country.
Basically if you like hard rock, southern rock, classic rock, or classic country you have ZILCH. And please don’t tell me 97.1. The only people listening to that are the ones that can stand a Fleetwood Mac song one out of every four tunes.
XM is nearly as bad. Pandora for the win.
p
September 5th, 2012
9:46 pm
thank god for college radio stations and satellite radio, Atlanta radio has sucked for years
Donald Baxter
September 5th, 2012
9:47 pm
Do people really listen to music on radio anymore?
Cloudodust
September 5th, 2012
9:56 pm
I too am a 92.9 listener. When they make the switch, I’ll figure it out just like every other time formats have been reformatted over the course of my decades listening but one things for sure, I ain’t paying for radio. ‘Course, my current commute is 3 and 1/2 miles, so…
Ween
September 5th, 2012
9:57 pm
It’s 12 dollars a month, that’s like a drink. Xm is only way to go. I heard local radio in a shop last were and asked the owner how he listened to the annoying talk and commercials all day. Fm died in the 90s.
Shadyr
September 5th, 2012
10:01 pm
I was so happy when the brought 99X back, even if I am at the edge of the range and apparently one of like 10 people that still like alternative best. Guess this means I will be looking into getting XM for my car. *sigh*
Ryan Klesko
September 5th, 2012
10:03 pm
Tyrone, you can hear the Braves on 101.1 outside Atlanta up in Canton & North….
Cloudodust
September 5th, 2012
10:04 pm
Ween : Pennies make dollars. Toss in the monthly cost of every gizmo gadget known to mankind and I’m drinking the cheap stuff…Water.
Donald Baxter : Really. I do listen to some music and prefer the 92.9 format as it is today but in all truthfulness, 90% on my ear time goes to Talk Radio these days. Guess at 58, I’m livng up to the sterotype.
bmore chuck
September 5th, 2012
10:05 pm
91.9 WCLK Thank you for providing quality music and wonderful personalities. I love my Jazz in the city.
Ryan Klesko
September 5th, 2012
10:05 pm
Let’s face it… Pandora and others are driving this…. People want to hear the music they want to hear, when they want to… I have an older car and can pipe my I-phone right into the speakers now….
John Mc
September 5th, 2012
10:13 pm
More top 40 garbage and estrogen filled “male” radio hosts? Thank God for 790theZone.
Mike
September 5th, 2012
10:32 pm
So….if I were to work ITP and don’t want B 98.5 or Pitbull/Call me Maybe…my option are?
TheLazyComic
September 5th, 2012
10:42 pm
How about they all go off the air and do us a favor.
jeff
September 5th, 2012
10:44 pm
I miss the classic rock. I also wish someone would play some of the newer songs by artists who have provided great tunes over the years. I have the new cd by Clapton and Gregg Allman. Both are not the songs we are used to from the past but they are still good. I have been listening to more country since z 93 and 96 rock went away. All the best rock songs came from my generation 60’s- 80’s. Unless some decent musicians make it to the airwaves, radio as we know it is dead.
Way Downsouth
September 5th, 2012
11:01 pm
Atlanta has the most blues programming in the country on 89.3 WRFG. M-F 6-10am.
. The name of their Friday nite classic rock show is StonedHenge.
WRFG’s Sunday zydeco show is changing the format slightly, broadening the scope to be a “music of New Orleans”. It’s from 1-3pm.
Atlanta has the lamest NPR station around. Most offer a variety of interesting programming, ours only selects the classical & boring News.
You want new music, listen to WREK 91.1.
Jrp
September 5th, 2012
11:33 pm
Ah the old 96 Rock! I do miss it.
PMC
September 6th, 2012
12:03 am
WABE has some excellent bumper music during their news portions of the day.
Wish I could get past Lois Reitzes voice. I just can’t do it.
Chuck
September 6th, 2012
12:31 am
I like WABE’s classical programming, and I am not all that old nor very rich. Late night classical listening is the absolute best. If they take it away, I won’t listen to FM at all.
nCNhonky tonk man
September 6th, 2012
12:43 am
Ok Harry sacs heres the deal, Journey 97.9 was a good station for us eighties teens.Good fomat played retro music xgeneraters remembers .To much PoP music now yall 5 stations competiing for less than a piece of the pie leaves someone out of luck. So V103 will finally fall,hahah just kiddih.No 96.whatever will be off the airwaves by christmas. Also star94 can sing cece penistons”finally” ,because they finally finished(should pf ran steve and vicky off when the goings get or got tough thanks Billy Ocean.
Now Sports talk Booooo t chattr .First Sports talk how to get the Axe wont be newcomer Dave SportsFm,its going be Steakyyyyyystation790 the clowns,oops 790 the zone. Why? Well the demise of tye show is the midday doufusss who pretend to knows.Not Mike Bell and Dave Archer. They will assume morning showpositions on Dave respectively! The low ratings are result pf the dynamic doe doe birds Two lame crew.One only ,andmi mean only knows Georgia Tech football,while the other Doug “i have aphd in ghetto slang,repetitive talk about cha know cha know ,and its bootlegs like use of words sealed the doomed network fate. Bye 790 ,hello Dave
John
September 6th, 2012
1:26 am
This should be a no brainer for Atlanta radio, just bring in JackFM like they have in Nashville, I’ve listened to many times and its perfect fit for this city…103.7 ChuckFM is the closet thing to 80’s type or 90’s music…Satellite radio has its moments, its all rotated but who cares. They took Project 961 away they took Journey away, they took 92.9 Dave…away…I mean C’MON already
Who Cares?
September 6th, 2012
1:36 am
It’s Atlanta radio, so there are no winners, only losers!
Shieldy67
September 6th, 2012
3:17 am
I must be out there because I never vote for winning party & must not like winning stations. I think Steak makes the AM show, can Dimino EVER shutup or even hear other opinions!?! I like Bell & Archer more than goofy arse Belue. Demographics make me an ’80’s person but hell, we’re not cool any more, just ask our kids!
Eric
September 6th, 2012
3:56 am
Atlanta radio gave listeners very fond memories in the old days.
- 92.9 used to be good as Z-93, before the name change to Dave FM. The change-over to sports-talk could and might seal the fate of either 680 The Fan… or 790 The Zone.
- I wasn’t old enough to remember 94.1 was as 94-Q. Star-94 was good back in the early days… and really hasn’t been the same for quite some time.
- 94.9 used to be good as Peach and Lite FM… and we can thank Clear Channel for ruining a perfectly good station, when they switched it to country music station The Bull.
- 96.1 used to be good as 96-Rock. Wasn’t too crazy about Project-9-6-1. Clear Channel ruins this station with new Top 40 station Power 96.1.
- 97.1 used to be good as Fox-97. Wasn’t too crazy about the short-lived 97.1 Jamz. 97.1 The River is very good, even though it’s not Fox.
- 98.5 used to be good as “soft rock”… and these days, it seems that B-98 is wanting to become another Top 40 station. In a way, I can see why Kelly McCoy left after 27 years.
- 99.7 used to be good as 99-X. Cumulus moved Q-100 to the frequency… resulting in us getting Rock 100.5.
- 101.5 still has Kicks… 103.3 with Atlanta’s longest-running V-103 name/format… we’ve got Kiss on 104.1 and The Fish on 104.7.
- It’s unclear if Clear Channel is considering overhauling 105.7, dropping Top 40 station Wild, and rolling out something different.
- 106.7 used to be good as country music stations Y and Eagle… Rhubarb Jones was very good radio personality. True Oldies and Greatest Hits took over, and were said to be good. We’ve now got the All News.
We’ve had great and talented radio personalities come and go. Steve & Vikki were on Star, and then B-98… and got disbanded. Cindy & Ray were good as an afternoon show, before moving to mornings… and got disbanded. Kelly & Alpha were good… their show also disbanded. Randy & Spiff have jumped from one Atlanta station to another (Fox, Cool 105.7, Lite FM, and True Oldies)… and no disbanding them. I remember Grease-Man, Moby, Gary McKee, and several others.
I guess Atlanta radio is becoming a joke… and has been for quite some time.
Carpetbagger
September 6th, 2012
5:28 am
Put a fork in Steak at 790. They are done. Hopefully, so is he.
Falcon60
September 6th, 2012
6:19 am
Thank God for my iPod. Atlanta radio on the whole sucks. If it weren’t for 97.1 the River and Rock 100.5 and country every now and then I wouldn’t turn my radio on at all. We need a true classic rock/oldies station. A good one to model here would be KZRO 100.1 in Mt. Shasta, Ca. It’s not owned by ANY of the conglomerates and plays oldies from 6:00am until 6:00pm and classic rock from 6:00pm until 6:00am. Music that is NEVER heard here. Wake up all you idiots running the airwaves into the ground! We don’t need multiple Lation stations, “urban” stations, and “talk” stations!!!
Falcon60
September 6th, 2012
6:20 am
That should be Latino stations…………..
steve
September 6th, 2012
7:02 am
I cancelled my Sirius subscription about a year ago and have been surviving listening to the radio. I am now calling them back. Dave FM was the only decent FM station.
The BEST music station in Atlanta is by far and away 1690 AM.
Jbone
September 6th, 2012
7:17 am
Atl/clear channel sux!
T
September 6th, 2012
7:19 am
“hawks, falcons & dawgs…” typical ajc….forgetting to mention the team that IS in the city of atlanta…typical. (go jackets!)
Atlradiosucks
September 6th, 2012
7:24 am
I have been listening to Dave for years and it is the only station we have for alternative. I can not stand hearing the stupid chit chat on the other stations, the stupid games. I want to hear music on my long drive to work and not the urban hip-hopp, ghetto crap and the same top 40 songs or country. I don’t want to hear people call in about their dating problems. They can’t come up with one station, that plays alternative? For God’s sake, Atl is a big city and our stations are a joke. Screw it all, I will not be listening.
hikerguy
September 6th, 2012
7:39 am
I work in radio. Here’s the deal – terrestrial radio (the kind with a tower that broadcasts signals) is dying. My prediction is that the radio world as we know it will be dead in 5 years – you’ll have a few centralized content providers that push a syndicated broadcast to the stations. What you hear in chicago will be what you hear in denver will be what you hear in atlanta. The listeners are all going digital.
The secret is this – Pandora is the number 1 station in all major markets. All of them. It’s why iHeartRadio exits. It’s why Entercom is going to launch a new player soon. New cars (where people listen) mostly have USB jacks that allow streaming from your phone. I just saw a Lexus commercial where Pandora is embedded into the onboard dash.
Get used to changes like this – they will continue and they will be fast.
Mal Murray
September 6th, 2012
7:39 am
Go “left of the dial” to WRAS, WREK and WRFG.
Vince
September 6th, 2012
7:42 am
Ha ha…HD Radio. That certainly brought back the listeners in droves.
Vince
September 6th, 2012
7:48 am
Oh, and TuneIn radio also has a lot of the Atlanta stuff, plus Adam Carolla, Kevin Smith, etc.
jebbery
September 6th, 2012
7:54 am
Just when you thought Atlanta radio couldn’t suck any worse…
JJ
September 6th, 2012
7:58 am
Jeez, the radio stations in Atlanta s**k. Even the rock stations stink. I thought the Philly area was bad but this is just awful.
Mike
September 6th, 2012
8:02 am
I’m not very loyal to any one station – I put the first preset on Star 94 and hit “seek” until I find a song I want to listen to.
I like the new 106.7 news station. Sometimes I listen to the syndicated shows on WSB, but when I want news (or traffic at an odd time) I go to 106.7.
But I’ll change the station immediately if I hear an awful commercial come on. Are there any reported cases of road rage caused by that Kars-4-Kids song?
Chris White
September 6th, 2012
8:03 am
So what about the 30 something to 40 somethings? I do not listen to top 40, I do not enjoy college football enough to listen to it on talk radio, and I want to rock…
Senor Coughee
September 6th, 2012
8:04 am
Atlanta radio sucks. Make that corporate radio sucks. You can hear much better music, AND a much wider variety of artists while driving through parts of rural Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Clear Channel has clearly ruined Atlanta radio.
Jason
September 6th, 2012
8:04 am
The amount of top 40 wouldnt be bad if modern Top 40 wasn’t so awful… I remember Z93 , 94Q and yes my favorite 96 Rock!! It’s bad, I liked the Journey a lot, when I heard Nicky Minaj on it yesterday I was very dissapointed. But the 35 and up demographic is going more and more to app’s and satellite radio, so the companies that own these stations dont feel the need to keep the 70’s, 80’s and old rock formats… Which is a shame because it is much better music than today’s stuff.
JC
September 6th, 2012
8:11 am
Great reporting, sir and excellent analysis of the radio situation!
4DaBirds
September 6th, 2012
8:13 am
I haven’t listened to Atlanta radio since getting Sirius Satellite radio back in 2008. The quality and choices were diminishing long before then. Atlanta radio hasn’t been relevant since the 90’s IMO. My subscription cost is well worth not having to listen to the cheesy crap you have here. Every day I hear great music, comedy and sports from hundreds of channels.
Mateo
September 6th, 2012
8:17 am
106.7 was a great station! Good variety of oldies and I would always hear something “new” on there. I’ve listened to 92.9 off and on since I was a kid and am sorry to see such an eclectic station go to talk.
All of the rest had lost me a long time ago but I basically listen to WABE all day now. The commercial free classical makes work a lot less stressful and the news coverage can’t be beat.
Musically, left of the dial is the way to go. 88.5, 91.1, and 91.9 are still good if you can block out the blathering college student DJs. AM1690 is the best music station in Atlanta regardless.
former RegularGuy listener
September 6th, 2012
8:24 am
The real losers are the fans of the RegularGuys. What was once fresh and exciting even after many years has became tired, boring but even worse, it has become predictable. W.A.C.H.S. will make some homo-erotic remark and then for the next 10 minutes you will hear W.A.C.H.S., SouthSideSteve and SeaBass slobbering all over each other. Tim and Eric are frigging awesome!!! I guess W.A.C.H.S. runs the show but it is obvious that he is the butt pirate captain of a sinking radio program. I had rather hear a chess match on the radio. It is too bad they do not listen and respond to what their listeners want. LONG LIVE THE INTERNET!!!
LJ
September 6th, 2012
8:39 am
I was so excited when 99X made its return a few years ago. Its the only station that I ever really made a connection with. Can’t stand Top 40, “talk” shows, or sports. I, and anyone else with similar tastes, have literally nothing to listen to in the morning. Not a fan of “hard” rock either. How did we lose ALL of the stations that played NEW alt/rock music?
I guess they rebranded 99X to the “The Bone” since all the fans got boned…
Guess I’ll pay for XM now.
peaches
September 6th, 2012
8:53 am
As long as their not messing with WCLK 91.9 and 97.5. I’m OK
Jo
September 6th, 2012
9:02 am
Five stations that play the same 15 songs every hour of every day. Joy!