Another New Urban Station 92.3/96.7 ???

The Beat? Real? Whatever the name, the Gods over at iHeart are flipping MIA 92.3 and 96.7 (Radio 105.7 simulcast) to an Urban station according to Mr.Ho at AJC. All indications look to be promising considering The Breakfast Club was pulled from STREETZ 94.5 all of a sudden. By the way, that morning show is still on in Charlotte at STREETZ 103.3, Steve Hegwood's other station so the writing is on the wall that this was definitely an iHeart move to pull the show here in ATL.

Is this a great move? As much as I love Hip-Hop and R&B I'd say no. iHeart has waited too long for the opportunity to go Urban here in Atlanta. 3 Urbans, 3 Urban AC and the 2 Old School Hip Hop stations already exist here. I would predict iHeart could skew this new station Urban Contemporary to shave V103 down from the top. iHeart has ownership in The Breakfast Club Morning Show along with Keith Sweat's "Sweat Hotel" night show which is aimed at adults playing slow R&B songs. That show is not currently aired here in Atlanta so why not throw it on now. Most iHeart Urban stations run the voice track package with Breakfast Club in the AM and jocks from other stations like T.Roy, Big Sue, Chris Michaels, Big Nat and Mr.Chase. More than likely, whatever happens here will have little to no local and live jocks.

Signal wise, 92.3 nor 96.7 sounded clear last night driving from downtown to Lithonia on I-20. 92.3 started cutting out past Moreland Ave and really went out once I got to Candler Rd. 96.7 was choppy the entire ride. Not sure how an Urban station not covering Dekalb County is going to work out. Looking at the signal maps it may look like a perfect setup covering ATL proper and the SW parts of town where the Urban core is. Maybe last night must've been a DX type of night where signals go hay wire!

The Rodney Ho/AJC article ShawtyBlackATL referenced: http://radiotvtalk.blog.ajc.com/2016/11/03/exclusive-iheartmedia-switching-92-3-96-7-to-hip-hop/

The way iHeart is launching this new hip-hop station seems appropriate for all it really wants to accomplish: A new home for The Breakfast Club in market number #8. Streetz thinks it can mine more money with its new local "Morning Grind" morning show featuring Young Joc. I can see why. At the same time, 'The Club' has proven its power in nationally viral segments and interviews--94.5 is still taking a nice-sized risk in dropping it.

iHeart is essentially paying itself by clearing TBC on owned signals it can breath new life into cheaply. If 94.5 can pull almost a two by its own small footprint...

Yes they did that in with Steve Harvey in other markets putting him on iHeart urban ac stations. Wonder what the name will be

I agree with Mr. Black that the new 92.3/96.7 is unlikely to gain any traction. There are just too many Urban stations, and they cover the AA population with better signals than the new combo.

Whether this is a wise move depends on how much 96.7 contributes to the 105.7/96.7 combo. The 105.7/96.7 combo is #2 in Men 18-34 (behind Rock 100.5). If virtually all of that audience is on 105.7, I suppose there is no harm in flipping 96.7 to Hip-Hop, especially since The Breakfast Club is a Premiere property. If not, I question this move.

Per Radio-Locator it looks like this combo will cover Cobb up to Marietta and north Fulton up to Roswell, but won't cover Gwinnett at all.

The closest to Gwinnett County I have been able to pick up 92.3 is in Johns Creek, and not particularly well.

jabba17 said:

Per Radio-Locator it looks like this combo will cover Cobb up to Marietta and north Fulton up to Roswell, but won't cover Gwinnett at all.

The closest to Gwinnett County I have been able to pick up 92.3 is in Johns Creek, and not particularly well.

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You've pointed out a flaw with 92.3 being Hispanic. That's not the format if you can't cover Gwinnett.

RoddyFreeman said:

You've pointed out a flaw with 92.3 being Hispanic. That's not the format if you can't cover Gwinnett.

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Agreed; it doesn't cover the Buford Highway corridor in DeKalb well, either. On the Perimeter it doesn't come in well until you approach Ashford-Dunwoody.

But this combo should handle an urban format well. Southside and ITP coverage should be good, except for the aforementioned Buford Highway/I-85 corridor.

The AJC is reporting now that the station's launch got delayed until next Monday. I'm actually really anticipating this station. Even though Atlanta has 5 hip-hop stations currently they all either play stuff that is currently charting or less than a year old, or stuff pre-2005 for the most part. There a good 8-9 years worth of hip-hop that get very little airplay in Atlanta and I'm hoping this new station may be more of a 00's-10's hip-hop hits station, as this would at least allow it to offer something different. Looking at other hip-hop stations iheartradio owns in major urban areas this seems to be more of the case.

I'd say the old Motown era, like 1962-1974 ??? is not getting covered here, as well as 70's Top 40 radio (but that wouldn't be Urban) in case they decided on doing something other than Hip-Hop.

gregg75 said:

I'd say the old Motown era, like 1962-1974 ??? is not getting covered here, as well as 70's Top 40 radio (but that wouldn't be Urban) in case they decided on doing something other than Hip-Hop.

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People who like that music tend to be over 65 years old.

TheBigA said:

People who like that music tend to be over 65 years old.

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You are so so wrong on that.........Just what ATL needs another black station.

max100 said:

You are so so wrong on that.

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And yet when you look at the data on radio stations that program 60s music, that's exactly what you see.

http://thebeatatl.iheart.com
Their website is up now.

I doubt it'll live up to 95.5 the Beat but I still appreciate the name.

92.3 & 96.7 THE BEAT
"The A's Hip-Hop and R&B"

Eric Edwards is the Voice guy. Breakfast Club mornings and Big Boy late nights is new to the South, but it looks like middays, afternoons and early evenings maybe live and local!

TOH at 12noon the relaunch was played again. From what I've heard so far, they've combined the sounds of STREETZ and BOOM with a large ATL Hip-Hop sound and throwbacks.

I've been listening to a lot today and i think it may be my new favorite atlanta hip-hop station solely because it seemingly has the largest catalog and isnt limited to just new or classic hip-hop. They also play some Atlanta stuff that never charted on a national scale so thats cool. The signal could be a little better too but overall I think this is a great addition.

It is just phenominal, music to go to sleep by.

Curious: I'm not a hip hop fan at all but from a radio perspective, is it common for iheart hip hop stations to be a little more adventurous with the playlist by playing from a larger catalog of music OR does this station seem to have a lot more local control vs the typical corporate sound of most Iheart stations. Iheart is my least favorite Alternative format producer because I feel they tend to be pretty safe and from a Top 40 perspective, while they may play newer stuff first, they also play a tighter playlist than Q.

ATL4Life said:

I've been listening to a lot today and i think it may be my new favorite atlanta hip-hop station solely because it seemingly has the largest catalog and isnt limited to just new or classic hip-hop. They also play some Atlanta stuff that never charted on a national scale so thats cool. The signal could be a little better too but overall I think this is a great addition.

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In my opinion, most I heart Urban's I've listened to tend to have a wide variety when it comes to the playlist. Since the "Classic Hip Hop" trend started, I tend to hear more throwbacks on iHeart mainstream Urban's. The larger markets that i've streamed play regional trends too. I think all of iHeart Urban's use Premium Choice voice tracking and the national "Beat" playlist overnights. Some smaller markets run Premium Choice nearly 24/7 with little to no local jocks nor regional music trends.

I would bet either middays or afternoon drive will be voice-tracked from another iHeart market. I don't see this station having big revenue potential, and iHeart uses voice-tracking even on big billing stations.

RoddyFreeman said:

iHeart uses voice-tracking even on big billing stations.

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Although not as much. iHeart sells as a national platform combining on air and online.