Just a rant about No Rock stations in Atlanta....

I'm not ordinary but I'm not alone, traveling makes me realize how much Atlanta radio sucks, how every station is almost the same playing the same type of songs....I'm still angry about project 96.1 leaving and no body really filling this void. No active rock....Some places I travel too have actual two Active rock stations (I'm not talking about the "alternative" genre either, I do not remotely identify this type of music to the Rock I call Rock...) 96.1 did have its flaws leaving to its demise, but man this radio market beyond sucks...

100.5 tried but they failed, #1 they have too many freaking commercials, #2 TRG need to go, I get sick of listing to the same clip every 10 minutes...fine keep it in the morning but quit advertising it. The whole format of the same commercials all the time and TRG endorsements is why that station will never grow, we all don't care for them 24/7. 98.9 the bone was horrid reception wise but I think that format worked well...all of a sudden they dropped it when they couldn't get things to work, well thats my opinion on why, change how many commercials come on....It wasn't the type of music

A lot of the bands I once enjoyed they don't tour here anymore because of this

Maybe I should start a petition...I guess traveling to other radio markets made me jealous. If I could figure out where to start I would.

Minus my active rock rant, there are other gerenes I notice that we no longer have....this is just the one I miss the most

Thanks for listing to my rant..

I understand your pain. Markets are not static entities and Atlanta is no exception. Demographics will dictate what you will hear. It should be no surprise that 98.9 (an LPFM) is sandwiched in between its target audience- Buckhead and Dunwoody.
As for the spots you hear on any station, be happy they are there. The other alternative is "pay radio" where you pay a fee to listen. Somebody has to pay the electric bill.
While the spots might be repetitive, that is simply the result of a soft market. There are only a handful of clients who are still buying radio (compared to maybe 15 years ago when the economy was good).
Another effect of the soft ad market is that this drives the spot rate down. The electric bill still has to be paid and that leaves less money for raises for the employees. Salesmen are begging clients to buy ads.
And then there is the problem of more stations in a market that it can support. Increased competition drives prices down.
My guess is that a shakeout will occur and some stations will dissappear from the dial as they are unprofitable to operate.

This Isn't Some Hick Town In 1987

Let me guess you took a road trip through some small market cities and while scanning the dial you heard music that was stuck in time. You know why you heard this music? Those cities are stuck in time and still think it's 1975 or 1985 or 1995. When I travel through small places I feel bad for the people there because all they get is old and tired worn out rock. Small markets aren't cutting edge so if you want to hear Poison, Warrant or Ozzy then play your cassettes or move to Dothan, Alabama.
Atlanta is a major market with a young and educated demographic. Programming like it is 1987 isn't going to fly here.

Keep in mind that both Rock100.5 and TRG perform very well in-demo. Otherwise, I would question why Cumulus keeps making classic rock kamikaze runs against the River while leaving active untouched. But the money explains it even if it doesn't show in the 6+ numbers. Rock100.5 has a very heavy spot load, which means something's working. Also, they are the ONLY station in the market (except possibly the sportstalkers) that will carry certain well-paying advertisers (nekkid bars, head shops, DUI lawyers, etc.). You don't hear ads for the Cheetah III, Starship, or George Stein on The River.

Not sure why alt suddenly got hot with 2 stations and active rock got cold...

Well...

You never know how much those spots are going for. Most likely the salesman gave them a really good deal. So they could maybe selling a lot of cheap spots. And, of course, the more you buy, the cheaper the per spot rate is. Have you ever heard of " a dollar a holler?"
Don't know what its like now, but at one time, local spots were cheap compared to agency (national products) rates.
So national spots like Coke would sell for double what local spots would.
But yes, I like to hear the Pink Pony spots on there. But some stations (B98.5 etc.) would probably turn them down.

jabba17 said:

Keep in mind that both Rock100.5 and TRG perform very well in-demo. Otherwise, I would question why Cumulus keeps making classic rock kamikaze runs against the River while leaving active untouched.

Not sure why alt suddenly got hot with 2 stations and active rock got cold...

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Makes no sense to me, either. However, from what I've heard of active rock and classic rock, it takes a very perceptive and discriminating trained ear to distinguish between a modern, "active rock" song and a "classic rock song" if you have never heard either of them before. I've heard some outstanding active rock songs lately, but I couldn't distinguish them from classic rock deep cuts I had never heard before. Both sounded great to my ears.

I think this is an example of radio programmers who're stuck in the past, and can't accept that times have changed. Interestingly, that's what those same suits say about those of us who still like rock music. I've posted quite often that people in the younger demographics like the sound of classic rock. Why wouldn't they? It's almost indistinguishable from good active rock. Granted, 90% of everything is crap, but when you're talking "classic" anything, usually only the 10% still survives. And modern radio only plays 1% on their tight little playlists, but that's another rant. So, there will be complaints that "active rock" isn't as good, because it takes time to filter out the 90%.

Maybe the classic rock stations (which we also don't have one of in Atlanta) should expand their playlists in two directions. Deeper cuts from the archives, plus the best of the new active rock from today. I mean, if an elevator music station can play an old Tony Bennett song and then a new Michael Buble song, why shouldn't a classic rock station play a Pat Benatar song followed by Grace Potter?

Avid Listener said:

I think this is an example of radio programmers who're stuck in the past, and can't accept that times have changed. Interestingly, that's what those same suits say about those of us who still like rock music.

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The radio programmers I know around the country aren't interested in what worked in the past, and spend all day picking current apart audience trends to see if there's a format they can go to that might attract more people than the one they're currently using. In my world, everything is in flux, and everyone has an open mind. Yes we know younger people like the sound of classic rock. Depending on the station, we can tell you exactly how many listen to it, and for how long. We know more about them than they might know about themselves. What we also see is that fans of rock music are more focused on particular bands or particular sounds than fans of other musical genres. So to create a rock format that would attract a consensus audience is hard to do. Go too far one way or another, and you alienate someone. You don't have that problem in country or urban.

Rant could almost apply to all formats in Atlanta. Radiowise we're living in Knoxville, not Atlanta.

gregg75 said:

Rant could almost apply to all formats in Atlanta. Radiowise we're living in Knoxville, not Atlanta.

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If you are into Urban Radio Atlanta might have the most competitive and best 6+ rating(s) stations of any top 10 market.

But IMHO gregg 75 is correct for the rest of the market.

secondchoice said:

If you are into Urban Radio Atlanta might have the most competitive and best 6+ rating(s) stations of any top 10 market.

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Or country. Or local talk.

There is this misconception that Active Rock belongs in big cities and should never be heard in small towns. This may have been true 15 years ago but today, some of the best active rock stations I have listened to are in those small town blue collar areas. The imaging is half naked girls dancing on a pole with the audience being the fat belly beer drinking rednecks screaming at the top of their lungs.. "Play us some Crazy Bi*ch by that - uh - there Buckcherry".

Active Rock and Alternative were sorta the same thing in the 90s and then in the 2ks, they had to define each other. Right now, active rock is doing horribly ratings wise. Think about it - Only bands people are requesting are Pop Evil, Skillet, Five Finger Death Punch and Avenged Sevenfold. That's all you hear. Go to facebook pages and those four bands are always the ones being requested. Not a good sign.

Now, I personally like alternative and active rock. X107 is not Alternative - It's called Alt40 which means they are playing the top 40 hits in Alternative which goes against the definition of Alternative. Radio 105.7 is not doing that much better either. Neither are what I consider a 99x which played the alternative stuff like REM but wasn't afraid to do Godsmack either. Hell, I don't even think a modern day alternative station would even touch Nine Inch Nails or Tool if they came out with a new album because Alternative has went more in the pop direction.

To the original poster - Go to a "last songs played list" for an alternative radio station. 80% of the songs are pre 2005. There is simply not much new rock coming out right now - Not that radio stations are playing. Even the active rock stations are about 30% pre 1985 in the music. No, I can't and won't give any names but I've talked to a very popular dj who is local but does voice track for active rock station and that DJ questions the existence of active rock in a year from now. It's not just Atlanta but it's nationwide.

My prediction? Active is not dead. It will lean alternative to attract the alternative folks and then active/alternative hybrids will popular until active rock picks up more popularity. I don't see that for at least another 7 years though. I'm basing this on history of Active and Alternative radio.

Thanks for the clarification, Cowboy.

I can't see alt ever catching on here. Maybe in CA. but not GA. Yeah, many programmers are stuck in a rut. They would rather the market change rather than they change their programming.
Of course every station is trying to carve out a slice of the pie. Atlanta is a great urban market. Even 1010 has managed to survive. Surprised they can't sell more spots.
I can see still another Hispanic station popping up though.

Radio 105.7 in the demos are doing great. I say alternative has caught on in Atlanta as it is in Jacksonville Florida, Myrtle Beach, SC, Raleigh NC, St. Louis MO, and Montgomery, AL - All cities east of the Mississippi (well St. Louis is on the Mississippi).

kf4rca said:

I can't see alt ever catching on here. Maybe in CA. but not GA. Yeah, many programmers are stuck in a rut. They would rather the market change rather than they change their programming.
Of course every station is trying to carve out a slice of the pie. Atlanta is a great urban market. Even 1010 has managed to survive. Surprised they can't sell more spots.
I can see still another Hispanic station popping up though.

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acheron82 said:

To the original poster - Go to a "last songs played list" for an alternative radio station. 80% of the songs are pre 2005. There is simply not much new rock coming out right now - Not that radio stations are playing.

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There is a huge amount of new rock being recorded. There is no shortage of excellent content that could be put on the radio. But there is a total lack of new rock being played on the radio. If the only source one had for new rock music was OTA radio, one would assume it didn't exist.

Avid Listener said:

There is a huge amount of new rock being recorded. There is no shortage of excellent content that could be put on the radio. But there is a total lack of new rock being played on the radio. If the only source one had for new rock music was OTA radio, one would assume it didn't exist.

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We've talked about this before in other places. New rock acts have done a great job cultivating their individual fan bases, with small groups of extremely dedicated fans who support their favorite artists at live shows and buying recorded music. That's been their strategy in making a living with their music. What's missing is a loyalty to a genre, as there is with country, urban, and pop. That makes it hard to program a single radio station that is built around a genre, with hundreds of songs that have to attract a consensus listenership.

kf4rca said:

I can't see alt ever catching on here. Maybe in CA. but not GA.

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I suspect the problem is that alternative is (or was) nothing more than one of the periodic varieties of the overall rock genre that blossoms and then withers, while the genre itself marches on. There are more sub-genres of rock than almost any other genre, and alternative rock was just one of many. Alt had its day, just like prog rock, punk rock, hair metal rock, etc.