Atlanta Radio Ratings: July 2015

Power(still ahead of Q), Fish, and Praise appear to have the biggest drops while Kicks had a really big jump. Star, Radio, and Q up slightly. Star had the best two books in awhile and this was during the full blown 90s weekends. Interesting to see how the new full blown hot AC approach (minus 90s) will affect their ratings. Rock doing really poor. I really enjoy the morning show. I am surprised classic rock isn't doing well in this market. I fear they will make a format change soon. I just hope they keep the morning crew even if the format changes. I wonder how their Fantastic Four 2 cast interview will affect their listenership. This was all the talk this morning. Apparently the interview ended badly and abruptly and ended up on national news.

Rock 100.5 and 92.9 are tied (6+) this book. Traditionally sports sells way out of proportion to music stations with the same numbers due to the male demos, but Classic Rock is suppose to have strong male demo's too. I wonder are the agencies splitting between the two or is 97.1 getting the non sports male demo buys?

What would be a fair description of 97.1 The River. They really are not what I would consider a typical "Classic Hits" station because they lean more rock. However, I can't say they are a traditional "Classic Rock" station because they leave out a lot of deeper cuts and prog rock stuff from the 70s (except on specialty weekends). Not saying what they are doing is not working because obviously, it is. Still, one of the few stations I know of that report as "Classic Hits" yet leans more rockish (i.e. Not your Hall in Oats type of radio station).

The River called itself Classic Hits before that term was adopted by former Oldies stations that didn't want to be called Oldies any longer. I'm guessing The River selected that term because they wanted to be Classic Rock-leaning while leaving out the hard stuff. So Classic Hits seemed the best way to convey that.

Now almost all Classic Hits stations are stations that play the Top 40 from the 70's and 80's.

secondchoice said:

Rock 100.5 and 92.9 are tied (6+) this book. Traditionally sports sells way out of proportion to music stations with the same numbers due to the male demos, but Classic Rock is suppose to have strong male demo's too. I wonder are the agencies splitting between the two or is 97.1 getting the non sports male demo buys?

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I don't think the reason Sports stations have a high power ratio is simply because they target men. I think there are a couple of reasons: 1)The sports audience is pure in the sense that for products like beer and certain cars, sports fans are avid buyers, and you can reach these buyers with virtually no wasted audience, and 2)Sports stations are naturals when it comes to promotions that accompany radio buys, and Sports stations make a lot of money on those promotions.

>>>The River called itself Classic Hits before that term was adopted by former Oldies stations that didn't want to be called Oldies any longer. I'm guessing The River selected that term because they wanted to be Classic Rock-leaning while leaving out the hard stuff. So Classic Hits seemed the best way to convey that. Now almost all Classic Hits stations are stations that play the Top 40 from the 70's and 80's.<<<

You're right that there are really two formats that call themselves "Classic Hits." As you said, originally the term referred to stations like The River, WDRV Chicago, WROR Boston, WJGT Jacksonville, etc. They were really Classic Rock stations that stuck to the more pop side of the Album Rock library. No jingles, no Motown, no talking over the song intros. Then stations that formerly were Oldies started calling themselves "Classic Hits" to avoid sounding too "old." But they do play Michael Jackson and Madonna, use jingles and have more foreground DJs. Tampa is one such market where WXGL and WRBQ, both calling themselves "Classic Hits," are usually in the top five. WXGL is a pop-leaning Classic Rock station and WRBQ used to be Oldies.

RoddyFreeman said:

I don't think the reason Sports stations have a high power ratio is simply because they target men. I think there are a couple of reasons: 1)The sports audience is pure in the sense that for products like beer and certain cars,.

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Sounds like your stereotyped male to me.

but I saw this Gallop poll which is kind of interesting:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/156770/majority-drink-alcohol-averaging-four-drinks-week.aspx

although things are changing:

http://www.beerwestmag.com/the-magazine/feature-have-you-really-come-a-long-way-baby/

a little.

RoddyFreeman said:

The River called itself Classic Hits before that term was adopted by former Oldies stations that didn't want to be called Oldies any longer. I'm guessing The River selected that term because they wanted to be Classic Rock-leaning while leaving out the hard stuff. So Classic Hits seemed the best way to convey that.

Now almost all Classic Hits stations are stations that play the Top 40 from the 70's and 80's.

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Too bad we don't have a "Classic Hits" station here in Atlanta. Bring back Atlanta's Greatest Hits on 106.7. NewsRadio 106.7 is a joke. Can't believe Cumulus is still sticking with it.

Cumulus has purchased the domain "1005muse.com" and apparently there is however no direct link to Rock 100.5. So, is it too early to begin any sort of speculation for the future of Rock 100.5?

RoddyFreeman said:

The River called itself Classic Hits before that term was adopted by former Oldies stations that didn't want to be called Oldies any longer. I'm guessing The River selected that term because they wanted to be Classic Rock-leaning while leaving out the hard stuff. So Classic Hits seemed the best way to convey that.

Now almost all Classic Hits stations are stations that play the Top 40 from the 70's and 80's.

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IIRC 97.1 flipped from urban to "classic rock" before PPM, back in the diary days. Their main competition was the old WKLS: 96 Rock. Cox was smart not to have the name "Rock" associated with a diary listing not to give any quarter hours to 96.1. Also Iheart then CC could have objected to "Rock" because they were registered as 96 Rock. When I filled out the Cincinnati Arbitron station registration, I always had to check to make sure nobody changed to anything that could have could have caused confusion with diary entries. If you use "Big" or "one" WLW would complain (rightfully so) that you were trying to cause confusion with their "The Big One" slogan that they have used since Marconi worked there. (Just kidding about Marconi).

Alex_0490 said:

Cumulus has purchased the domain "1005muse.com" and apparently there is however no direct link to Rock 100.5. So, is it too early to begin any sort of speculation for the future of Rock 100.5?

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Now that Cumulus has got rid to the "Regular Guys" their Morning show should have a lot lower payroll. 100.5 is a good alternative to 97.1 and should not have a huge payroll, by Atlanta standards. Rock 100.5 must be having some impact on 97.1's billing or Cox would not have let Clapper Go. If I was running the Atlanta Cluster for Cumulus (before they fired me for have an opinion), just for revenue sake I would concentrate on Q100 and Kix 101.5. Both of these stations are in a radio "war" and both do not bid the big money they use to. .

Clapper was no great loss. The people at Cox (Tony Kidd in this case) know what they're doing. And, Cox will continue to print money.

secondchoice said:

Now that Cumulus has got rid to the "Regular Guys" their Morning show should have a lot lower payroll. 100.5 is a good alternative to 97.1 and should not have a huge payroll, by Atlanta standards. Rock 100.5 must be having some impact on 97.1's billing or Cox would not have let Clapper Go. If I was running the Atlanta Cluster for Cumulus (before they fired me for have an opinion), just for revenue sake I would concentrate on Q100 and Kix 101.5. Both of these stations are in a radio "war" and both do not bid the big money they use to. .

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Kicks is doing a little better, but they are still getting the horns from The Bull. I still think it's just a matter of time before Kicks* gets NASHed.

*the second oldest commercial radio moniker in the ATL behind V-103, 1981 vs. 1977

I'm guessing Rock100.5 bills well despite its ratings. Not many stations can/will carry ads for nekkid bars, head shops, and DUI lawyers, and the like.

Anybody know how the daytime GBP/NPR is doing on 88.5 as opposed to the nighttime GSU music format? There was a good sized jump June to July 12+, but where were the gains and what is the breakout?

Thanks in advance!

WGKA is in the toilet and it looks like they're about to get flushed. Maybe they should bring back Mark Levin to save them.

kf4rca said:

WGKA is in the toilet and it looks like they're about to get flushed. Maybe they should bring back Mark Levin to save them.

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WGKA's problem is that a resurgent (and I use that term loosely) WGST has picked up a lot of second-tier talkers, leaving very little for WGKA. Plus you now have talk on 106.7 as an alternative to You Know Who.

920 is a good AM signal; someone could do something with it. If I were Salem I'd ditch 970 and move the programming to 920. I don't see Salem amassing enough profitable programming to fill up 590 AND 920 AND 970 AND 1190.

kf4rca said:

WGKA is in the toilet and it looks like they're about to get flushed. Maybe they should bring back Mark Levin to save them.

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I don't think so. WGKA carries the basic Salem talk lineup, and it's main purpose in life is to serve as Salem's network affiliate in Atlanta. Having an affiliate in the #9 market is important to selling national time.

If you don't show up in the ratings...

you can't sell spots. True, WGKA has lost talkers to the other stations. They lost Dana Loesch to WSB. But if the Salem talkers can't pull numbers, then they should look elsewhere. I sure hope their reason not to renew Levin was because his rants were too fiery. Maybe the show went from barter to barter plus cash.