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April Ratings- Atlanta

acheron82 said:
Oh and while I do think Atlanta needs a Classic Hits/Variety Hits station - Why Cumulus didn't make 106.7 alternative instead of all news is beyond me. Perfect location with a signal that gets both Atlanta and Athens. Athens is left out by both of the current alt stations we have right now.
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The Athens coverage is not something that can be monetized.

Local radio is bought based on the market the station considers "home". As Atlanta is market #8 and Athens is not even rated, it is obvious that the station is going after the Atlanta market. Atlanta is nearing 5.5 million in population, while the Athens MSA is about 160 thousand. There is no extra revenue to be gained by trying to overperform in Athens, and doing so would lessen the image of being an Atlanta service.

Atlanta already has an alternative stations, and it has a miserable 0.24 power ratio. Any operator will quickly see that there is neither a rainbow nor a pot of gold in that picture. More like a porta-potty.
 
What's really interesting is OG 97.9's awesome ratings for a translator. They are beating the other 2 Classic Hip Hop stations (BOOM 102.9 and OLD SCHOOL 99.3). What's sad is Cumulus won't put effort nor money into OG 97.9. They could really do some major competing in the Urban market. Also, OG 97.9 didn't and still doesn't have any type of promotions like the other 2 competing stations.
 
acheron82 said:
Cave Man may be correct but ratings wise, Radio 105.7 (iheart) is stomping all over X107. Of course, I honestly think signal has something to do with this.

Alex, I'm not saying Atlanta radio is not bad but many of those locations you gave (excluding Denver) is just as horrible. DC101 which is DC's alternative station is basically an active/alternative hybrid and very broad base (not adventurous). You want to see a market that "rocks", literally? Look at Kansas City. The city has a Classic Rock, Active Rock, and Alternative station and all three are amazing. Want to know the difference? With the exception of the classic rock station, both the active and alternative station is owned my Entercom. In terms of radio formats, iheartmedia is very hits based. So yes, iheart does a good job with CHR, Hot AC, Hip Hop, and even Classic Hits (though CBS is better for Classic Hits) - But when it comes to more less mainstream music you don't hear in every club or American Idol - Iheart sorta fails. So why does iheart do so well in Atlanta? Because Atlanta is a very hit based city. When I say 'hit', I'm not just talking CHR. The Bull, for example, is much more repetitive and restrictive than Kicks. Familiarity wins though. Power vs Q100 is another example - Both are turn and burn formats by design but Power is even more restrictive and familiar and it's also number one. Radio 105.7 is very hit based playing lots of recurrents and 90s alternative/rock music that everyone knows (including my mother) - Meanwhile, X107 is mainly new alternative music which is anything but mainstream. Guess which station is number one under alternative?

The problem could be Atlanta and the demographics or the iheart media. That is up for debate.
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I think Q100 is more restrictive than Power. Q100 may have a larger playlist, but that seems to only be due to the fact that they play more music that came out more than two or three years ago, but I rarely hear anything on that station that didn't reach the top 10 on the pop charts. Although Power is also really restrictive, I've heard stuff on that station that hasn't charted in the top 20. Beggin for Thread, Budapest, Stolen Dance and Pray to God being a few recent examples. Also I think its unfair to compare 105.7 and X107. Radio 105.7 playlist covers a much larger period of time than x107's so it should be expected that x107 dwells further from playing straight hits, because they have about half the amount of hits to cover.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Atlanta already has an alternative stations, and it has a miserable 0.24 power ratio. Any operator will quickly see that there is neither a rainbow nor a pot of gold in that picture. More like a porta-potty.
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DavidEduardo said:

Atlanta already has an alternative stations, and it has a miserable 0.24 power ratio. Any operator will quickly see that there is neither a rainbow nor a pot of gold in that picture. More like a porta-potty.
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"A power ratio is a method used by media companies to measure revenue performance compared to the audience share it controls. In order to use the power ratio, a company must know three numbers: the total market revenue, the company's revenue, and the audience share. The goal for media companies is to receive a high score in this ratio.
A power ratio often is used to compare the performance of different media forms against similar competitors. A high power ratio means that more revenue is received per thousand visitors or participants within a given medium. Power ratios are used both by media firms to evaluate performance and occasionally by large media corporations who seek to buy out smaller media outlets."

David, where do you get power ratio info online? I musta just missed it.

(Also, I believe 106.7 is seen as a better "fit" as an alternative to cover a "market" with a major university. Still can't monetize it, though.)
 
trusty said:
David, where do you get power ratio info online? I musta just missed it.

(Also, I believe 106.7 is seen as a better "fit" as an alternative to cover a "market" with a major university. Still can't monetize it, though.)
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There are no "free" online sources for full market revenue figures nor for the derivatives. You need to buy a data service for that. The cheapest is to buy one of the quarterly BIA books, Investing In Radio, which are $1525 per quarter.

The math is fairly simple, though.

Atlanta has about $250 million in radio revenue. Take WRDA's estimate billing of $2.1 million and a 2014 average of 3.1 share 12+. Adjust for the fact that only part of the total market listening goes to commercial stations and you get a power ratio of 0.24.

Essentially, if a station has a 1 share of the commercial station audience, it should get 1% of the market revenue. In Atlanta, a 1 power ratio would be $2.5 million in billing on a 1 share.[/SIZE][/FONT]
 
David: It seems iHeart Atlanta has some billing issues. WRDA isn't doing much, Wild billed about the same, and judging from 'Project' getting blown up 7 months before Wild, they probably weren't billing much either. I understand that Alternative, Rhythmic, and Active Rock are volatile formats, but are iHeart's other ATL stations billing well? If there are that many issues within the same cluster in 3 years, I have to wonder if they picked bad formats or if it's a cluster-wide problem.
 
chrocket87 said:
David: It seems iHeart Atlanta has some billing issues. WRDA isn't doing much, Wild billed about the same, and judging from 'Project' getting blown up 7 months before Wild, they probably weren't billing much either. I understand that Alternative, Rhythmic, and Active Rock are volatile formats, but are iHeart's other ATL stations billing well? If there are that many issues within the same cluster in 3 years, I have to wonder if they picked bad formats or if it's a cluster-wide problem.
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I know you addressed David, but Maybe I can help. iHeart /CC's Atlanta cluster is in much better shape than 3 or 4 years ago. It was kind of sad to witness the heritage 96 ROCK die, 94.9 the old Peach / Lite was even older. WGST 640 was competitive when they were on 105.7 which has a really good signal in the "conservative" part of the market (north of 285). iHeart IMHO has a much younger set of demos. The Bull and Power are very sell-able. I haven't spoke to my source in the cluster in a couple of months but around Christmas iHeart Atlanta had improved greatly year to year. I believe 105.7 is billing better than a lot of folks on this board think.
 
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As much as I hated to see 96 Rock go, I suppose the station had run its course. The thinking at the time was to bring a variation of 105.3's successful format to the big 96.1 signal as Project 9-6-1. At the time, I thought that was not a good decision. Yes, 105.3 as an Alternative station was successful as far as a smaller signal went, but the format didn't have the potential to perform in line with the value of the 96.1 signal. CHR has done really well since the PPM launched. Yes, Atlanta had a successful CHR in Q100, but Q was and is more of an adult CHR, at least during the day. Q100 wins the more lucrative demos, but I'm sure Power 96-1's billings are far and away better than Project 9-6-1's, and Power is the market's young, hip CHR.

The Bull has really done well in the past few years, having overtaken Kicks, which is quite a major accomplishment. El Patron, its low ratings notwithstanding, probably gets on virtually every Latino buy. And Radio 105.7 was a wise format choice for a small signal that covers the northern part of the market.

My guess is that iHeart's billings in Atlanta are far above what they were 4 or 5 years ago even with radio's general decline in recent years.
 
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Does RADIO 105.7 promote and announce that they are also on 96.7? The logo and billboards don't include 96.7. Same question with KISS 104.1 now being on that Gwinnett translator. I haven't heard them announce it on-air.
 
While watching radio markets nationwide I find that about half of the stations don't even mention translators on their websites. I makes keeping my radio station lists for every rated market and other selected markets a little difficult when I cant figure out the source for translators. Obviously I can keep track of Atlanta easily by living here. I am not sure why stations snub any additional signal that airs the station whether a translator or a full power station. I know they like simple branding but why just hope someone that needs that other signal will find it.
 
On air, Radio 105.7 has recently expanded the mentions of 96.7. Before it was simply"and at 96.7 on the Southside" but now highlighted more frequently with more verbiage, along the lines of "having trouble hearing Radio 105.7 on the Southside? We are also on 96.7 etc..."
 
Atlanta seems to have a lot of choppy signals and it's hard to understand why compared to other markets, anyone in the technical area explain this? Its hard to say that Radio 105.7 and X107.1 are really Atlanta stations cause you have a lack of a strong, listenable-signal type of radio station. So in this case, there a few stations that really have good signals: 92.9, 94.1, 94.9, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7,101,5, 103.3, 104.1 &106.7...

So it seems like depending on your car antenna, Atlanta really has 10 radio stations (not including 87.5-92.7mhz) Lol
 
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Alex_0490 said:
Atlanta seems to have a lot of choppy signals and it's hard to understand why compared to other markets, anyone in the technical area explain this? Its hard to say that Radio 105.7 and X107.1 are really Atlanta stations cause you have a lack of a strong, listenable-signal type of radio station. So in this case, there a few stations that really have good signals: 92.9, 94.1, 94.9, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7,101,5, 103.3, 104.1 &106.7...

So it seems like depending on your car antenna, Atlanta really has 10 radio stations (not including 87.5-92.7mhz) Lol
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Well, 92.9, 94.1, 94.9, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7, 101.5, and 103.3 are the original Atlanta FM allocations (94.1 to Smyrna and 101.5 to Marietta). 104.1 moved in from LaGrange and is not that good on the northeast side. 106.7 moved in from Gainesville but is a full class C (ditto for 97.1).

105.7 moved in from Canton after moving from 105.5. It's good on the northside but not in town or points south. Jacor/CC/IHeart has inched the station in closer to town, giving up a lot of coverage in the process and one could argue that it's made its northeast coverage slightly worse.

And 107.1, moving in from Rome, is a mess.
 
Re:

Atlanta has about $250 million in radio revenue. Take WRDA's estimate billing of $2.1 million and a 2014 average of 3.1 share 12+. Adjust for the fact that only part of the total market listening goes to commercial stations and you get a power ratio of 0.24.
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Wow. Those are lousy numbers for 105.7/96.7.

I've got to ask the obvious question: how do the above stats compare to what Project 9-6-1 was doing?
Should the "Project" playlist simply have been migrated to 105.7/96.7 ?

Makes one wonder why Cox is even bothering with 107.1. I don't get the play there.

I will say putting CHR/Pop on 96.1 is a better long-term play than using that massive signal for a Rock format.

Clear Channel within the past few years has flipped so many of its "new rock" properties away from hard-edged new rock in favor of weak sauced alternative. Indianapolis, Dayton, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Albuquerque, Greensboro and Charlotte all come to mind. They bailed on the format in Greensboro earlier this morning, bringing Mainstream Rock back to that market. Not sure how the billings compare today versus "before" on those stations, but ratings wise the results have been a mixed bag.
 
MarkW said:
Wow. Those are lousy numbers for 105.7/96.7.

I've got to ask the obvious question: how do the above stats compare to what Project 9-6-1 was doing?
Should the "Project" playlist simply have been migrated to 105.7/96.7 ?

Makes one wonder why Cox is even bothering with 107.1. I don't get the play there.

I will say putting CHR/Pop on 96.1 is a better long-term play than using that massive signal for a Rock format.

Clear Channel within the past few years has flipped so many of its "new rock" properties away from hard-edged new rock in favor of weak sauced alternative. Indianapolis, Dayton, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Albuquerque, Greensboro and Charlotte all come to mind. They bailed on the format in Greensboro earlier this morning, bringing Mainstream Rock back to that market. Not sure how the billings compare today versus "before" on those stations, but ratings wise the results have been a mixed bag.
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It's funny to note that Greebsboro's 105.7 just flipped it's "weak sauced" format to an Active Rock format, as most listeners seem to prefer. When they went that Alternative type of music direction, that station was not going to make it in the long term, from the way it's listeners have shared. Glad to know someone finally picked up the red flag...

Perhaps that should be Atlanta's 105.7/96.7'next move.
 
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Re:

Technically, they flipped to Mainstream Rock. I listened online for a couple hours yesterday. I heard zero currents. The station does play a lot of material that Active Rock stations feature in their gold categories (stuff from the 90's & 00's). It also plays a lot of Classic Rock that most actives would not touch with a ten foot pole.

I think listeners to the old 100.3 The Buzz will like this format better than the previous one, but it is by no means a return to the sound of "100.3 The Buzz," which was basically a carbon copy of Project 9-6-1.
 
MarkW said:
Makes one wonder why Cox is even bothering with 107.1. I don't get the play there.
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I thought Cox should have simulcasted Chuck FM on 103.7.
 
Choppy signals

are due to the hilly terrain. As frequencies go up they tend to become more line of sight. Lower frequencies follow the curvature of the earth.
In addition, high frequencies encounter a lot of multipath caused by objects in the field.
If you're driving down the road, and a station is going in and out, you could be receiving a direct signal at one moment and then a reflected signal at another moment.
 
I call 107.1 "the tail-wagging-the-dog station." It's the first time I've heard of a full-power FM using a translator as the main signal and the main signal as secondary. It's hard to believe Cox thought it would work, but I suppose the allure of Atlanta market dollars was too strong to ignore.

I said and still say they should have kept 107.1 country targeted to Northwest Georgia, with the translator used to chip away whatever they could from Kicks and The Bull.
 
One of the alt stations will blink and that will give the other more room to move. Honestly, something tells me 105.7 will blink first. X107 has a horrible signal. I can't believe that haven't done something about that. I believe the translator makes things worse for northside folks. Personally, I like 107 better than 105 but I think everything is a waiting game for now. Which station will blink?

I to would like to know the $$$$ numbers for Project 9-6-1 right before it ended.
 
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