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Do any stations play 70's music?

jabba17 said:
Question for The Big A: How familiar are you with the ATL dialscape?
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Enough to talk about it.

The thing about Atlanta is it's very spread out, and the full market signals are all taken with majority formats. We've talked here at length about WYAY, and it's obvious that Cumulus is sticking with some form of talk on that frequency. So there really aren't any other options except move-ins and rim shots.
 
TheBigA said:
WKEU is a non-commercial station that isn't based on advertiser support. A major market commercial FM station that seeks advertisers isn't likely to play the same music as a suburban non-com.
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No they play commercials on WKEU, this is not Kennesaw State University radio.
 
gregg75 said:
No they play commercials on WKEU, this is not Kennesaw State University radio.
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If it is at 88.9, that puts it in the non-commercial part of the FM band, so they cannot run commercials. It's owned by Georgia Public Radio.
 
DavidEduardo said:



Define "enough".

WCBS-FM is a high biller, and is around 6th in billings in the market.

But for every share of audience, they get 0.75 percent of the total market revenue. WHTZ gets 1.5% of market revenue for ever share of audience.

WLTW gets 0.9% of revenue for every share of audience. KKTU gets 1.2% of revenue for every share.

The difference here is that both WLTW, and to a greater extent, CBS-FM, have a big percentage of listeners over 55 so they get "discounted" for that unwanted audience.
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I meant “enough” revenue to be viable. Using the 75% rule revenue discount because of the older demos, an eighties station in Atlanta with half the market success of WCBS would be the equivalent of a 2.1 revenue wise (5.7 / 2 = 2.85 x 75% = 2.13). There are 3 signals that cover most of the market that consistently perform worse:

106.7 which is having some success 9 – 12 am due to Herman Cain on WSB. I will give Cumulus credit for sticking with the expensive news talk format on 106.7 which might be a serious challenge to WSB in a decade or two. 100.5 just resigned their morning show to 3 years so don’t look for much change out of Cumulus until the debt comes due. WBZY which gets almost the entire Hispanic agency buys being the only major FM signal for about 10% of the market population, so I guess it is really an 8 or 10 billing wise. 105.7 WRDA’s signal would work but they seem to be doing OK with Alternative.

IMHO 80’s pop hits is a huge format hole cheap to run that someone sooner or later will fill.
 
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TheBigA said:
If it is at 88.9, that puts it in the non-commercial part of the FM band, so they cannot run commercials. It's owned by Georgia Public Radio.
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Sorry, they are commercial and owned by GPR. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKEU-FM Wikipedia is a bit misleading, they do have DJs (although they may be on tape) and they do play local commercials (for just about everything).
 
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gregg75 said:
Sorry, they are commercial and owned by GPR. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKEU-FM Wikipedia is a bit misleading, they do have DJs (although they may be on tape) and they do play local commercials (for just about everything).
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GPR is a non-profit and the station is in the non-commercial band. What you're hearing are NOT commercials. The FCC has very strict guidelines about what a non-com can say, and the federal government has very strict rules about how a tax-free organization can operate. If they're airing commercials, they're breaking FCC and federal tax laws. So I doubt very much that they're running actual commercials.

In fact, the Wikipedia article you linked says very clearly that they are a non-commercial station.
 
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Its just like PBS TV. It was decided a while ago, that PBS broadcasters CANNOT make it by relying on donations from viewers (like you) or listeners. The FCC now allows them to accept "donations" for product announcements.
 
Public stations sell "underwriting," which are 15-second commercials disguised as messages of support. For example, "WABE is supported by Chase Bank, which offers free checking and high-interest savings accounts at 25 locations around Atlanta."

WABE-FM and GPB have very aggressive salespeople, er...underwriting specialists, several of whom have been in commercial radio. A number of years ago, when the government reduced funding to non-commercial stations, the FCC relaxed copy rules to allow advertisers to say what amounts to almost a commercial. There are still some things that are not permitted, such as "Come to Chase Bank by Friday to take advantage of our special low interest rate."
 
Back in the 80s Album 88 ran a message to the effect of "WRAS Album 88 is supported by a non-commercial grant from Turtle's Records and Tapes", and of course Masterpiece Theatre ran a plug for Mobil for years. Sounds like they can be more generous now. The PBS kids' shows run a list of support messages that almost sound like a commercial station commercial break, one "spot" after the other.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Public stations sell "underwriting," which are 15-second commercials disguised as messages of support.
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That's your opinion. The fact is that any company that donates money to a non-profit is providing support. So nobody is disguising anything. They're stating facts. People donate money to lots of things, and they typically get something in return. That includes churches, colleges, and political parties.

The bottom line is that a typical commercial station runs about 12 to 14 minutes of spots an hour. The typical non-commercial runs less than 2 minutes of funding announcements an hour. Very big difference. What they say is strictly regulated, and if they go outside the bounds of the law, they get fined. If anyone has a complaint about any of the non-coms in Atlanta, you're welcome to file a complaint with the FCC.
 
TheBigA said:
That's your opinion. The fact is that any company that donates money to a non-profit is providing support. So nobody is disguising anything. They're stating facts. People donate money to lots of things, and they typically get something in return. That includes churches, colleges, and political parties.

The bottom line is that a typical commercial station runs about 12 to 14 minutes of spots an hour. The typical non-commercial runs less than 2 minutes of funding announcements an hour. Very big difference. What they say is strictly regulated, and if they go outside the bounds of the law, they get fined. If anyone has a complaint about any of the non-coms in Atlanta, you're welcome to file a complaint with the FCC.
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Underwriting R&R have been relaxed greatly in the past 10 years for non comms but they still must avoid any "call to action." There are several Atlanta area non comms that blatantly disregard the rule. I have never heard WABE or GPB violate the rule.
 
wavo said:
Underwriting R&R have been relaxed greatly in the past 10 years for non comms but they still must avoid any "call to action." There are several Atlanta area non comms that blatantly disregard the rule. I have never heard WABE or GPB violate the rule.
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I see drivers who blatantly drive faster than the speed limit. The FCC responds to complaints. File a complaint.

Regardless, this is not a commercial station. Breaking the law doesn't change its status.
 
TheBigA said:
That's your opinion. The fact is that any company that donates money to a non-profit is providing support. So nobody is disguising anything. They're stating facts. People donate money to lots of things, and they typically get something in return. That includes churches, colleges, and political parties.

The bottom line is that a typical commercial station runs about 12 to 14 minutes of spots an hour. The typical non-commercial runs less than 2 minutes of funding announcements an hour. Very big difference. What they say is strictly regulated, and if they go outside the bounds of the law, they get fined. If anyone has a complaint about any of the non-coms in Atlanta, you're welcome to file a complaint with the FCC.
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There is a group of stations in NV, CA and AZ owned by a well known union group which runs 8 to 12 minutes of ads an hour on its non-coms, including not very well disguised calls to action "visit us and see..."), product comparisons ("the best...") and even price-item mentions ($1,000 cash back..."). This has been going on for nearly two decades at the oldest stations. No action has been taken, irrespective of the party in power.

Caveat: I have not listened for more than a year as I moved away from the service area of one of the stations, so they may have "seen the light" but I doubt it.
 
TheBigA said:
I see drivers who blatantly drive faster than the speed limit. The FCC responds to complaints. File a complaint.

Regardless, this is not a commercial station. Breaking the law doesn't change its status.
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I have no dog in this fight so I could care less if they follow the rules. It was simply an observation....
 
DavidEduardo said:


There is a group of stations in NV, CA and AZ owned by a well known union group which runs 8 to 12 minutes of ads an hour on its non-coms, including not very well disguised calls to action "visit us and see..."), product comparisons ("the best...") and even price-item mentions ($1,000 cash back..."). This has been going on for nearly two decades at the oldest stations. No action has been taken, irrespective of the party in power.

Caveat: I have not listened for more than a year as I moved away from the service area of one of the stations, so they may have "seen the light" but I doubt it.
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David - do you know if anyone has ever filed a formal or informal complaint with the FCC?
 
wavo said:
Underwriting R&R have been relaxed greatly in the past 10 years for non comms but they still must avoid any "call to action." There are several Atlanta area non comms that blatantly disregard the rule. I have never heard WABE or GPB violate the rule.
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You are correct. The limits are wider now, and WABE and GPB do not violate the rules.
 
All WKEU "commercials" are local and anything from real estate to autos and resturants. For a non-profit they sure appear to be making money (at least more than it looks like is needed to run a non-profit station).
 
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