A New Version of 96 ROCK?

[weilr668]

I have to ask if a new version of 96 ROCK would work on 96.1 Atlanta. Seeing WSRV's 6plus numbers and according to All access.com Persons 25-54 is #1 Q99.7, #2 WSRV, #3 WSB-News, I can't help to think that even sharing some of WSRV's audience would be bigger than a top 40 on 96.1 that continues to struggle.

While iHeart does not seem to sell to clients on a per station basis (they sell cluster wide) it just seems there is an appetite for classic rock in Atlanta. You can also count WNNX out of this equation as they continue to struggle and it seems they have a signal issue.

What is 96 ROCK gets recreated in a way for today with a new presentation, the normal iHeart national air staff, etc.?? It just seems that it would do better for 96.1 overall.

If the problem is only clearing Ryan Seacrest, and Jubal, etc for iHeart Atlanta then it's a shame that Atlanta will not get a rock competitor.

 

[TheBigA]

I have to ask if a new version of 96 ROCK would work on 96.1 Atlanta.

Power is iHeart's highest rated station in Atlanta. It may not be your cup of tea, but they'd be crazy to blow up their best performing station in 6+ as well as a Top 5 station in 18-34 for another classic rocker.

 

[101tm]

Atlanta hasn’t been a strong cluster for iHeart for a while, especially among larger markets. Even though Power’s 6+ numbers (as well as The Bull’s) don’t look great, I don’t see iHeart giving up what success they do have for something unknown unless they start losing money.

I do think the morning show is pulling Power down. Going against TBS is going to be a heavy lift, so I guess they can either spend money attempting to go after it or just take the route they are now and save money and take the lower ratings while clearing one of their shows.

 

[lanceventa]

I have to ask if a new version of 96 ROCK would work on 96.1 Atlanta. Seeing WSRV's 6plus numbers and according to All access.com Persons 25-54 is #1 Q99.7, #2 WSRV, #3 WSB-News, I can't help to think that even sharing some of WSRV's audience would be bigger than a top 40 on 96.1 that continues to struggle.

WSRV's success is in that it serves as both the defacto Classic Rock AND Classic Hits station in Atlanta.

Cox markets the River (and its similarly formatted stations in other markets such as WXGL Tampa and WJGL Jacksonville) as Classic Hits to get the broader ad revenue associated with that format. Another Classic Rock station on top of WSRV and WNNX would be filling a limited niche in a market that has seen a lot of demographic shifts in the sixteen years since WKLS dropped the 96 Rock brand as many of the people in the core demos now would not even remember that station.

 

[secondchoice]

Hey Cumulus I have stated this before and I will not even charge a consultant fee. WNNX's answer is just up I 75 in Chattanooga. WSKZ is almost always in the top 3 (6+). Simply use their music play list. I don't personally care fore ether 106.5 or 100.5's morning shows that can be fixed later. Unless the PM drive talkathon is really winning just let Southside go solo.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Hey Cumulus I have stated this before and I will not even charge a consultant fee. WNNX's answer is just up I 75 in Chattanooga. WSKZ is almost always in the top 3 (6+). Simply use their music play list. I don't personally care fore ether 106.5 or 100.5's morning shows that can be fixed later. Unless the PM drive talkathon is really winning just let Southside go solo.

Chattanooga is a very different market. It has 9 counties, but only 4 FMs that come close to covering it all... then there are a couple more that cover between 35% and 50%. Then, that rock station bills less than half of what the country leader bills.

The market is 80% non-Hispanic white, while Atlanta is only 45% non-Hispanic white.

You can't compare two radically different markets.

 

[jabba17]

The question is, what would iHeart put it on? Maybe--maybe--105.7.

The next question is, how many folks are listening to this: 96 Rock - Atlanta's Classic Rock! . I'm sure the folks at iHeart have researched that.

That's not to say that someone couldn't go after River, since WNNX isn't really getting the job done and there's a lot of share to be had. But I don't think that iHeart is the one to do it.

 

[jabba17]

Chattanooga is a very different market. It has 9 counties, but only 4 FMs that come close to covering it all... then there are a couple more that cover between 35% and 50%. Then, that rock station bills less than half of what the country leader bills.

The market is 80% non-Hispanic white, while Atlanta is only 45% non-Hispanic white.

You can't compare two radically different markets.

WUSY US 101 has owned the Chattanooga market for years if not decades, much like V-103 did in ATL until a few years back. Chattanooga's rock station is gaining on country Wussy 101, but still hasn't toppled them.

Does the Chattanooga market include the heavily-Hispanic NW GA counties, like Whitfield?

I don't know if it's the topology or just the original allocations, but Chattanooga has few class Cx signals and a bunch of class As. WUSY is a full class C. When the DXing is even the least bit good, I can pick them up in Gwinnett.

IIRC iHeart bailed on Chattanooga altogether, trading their cluster to Entercom/Audacy, including WUSY.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Does the Chattanooga market include the heavily-Hispanic NW GA counties, like Whitfield?

Just Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in GA are part of the radio metro.

 

[WCDukenfield]

WUSY US 101 has owned the Chattanooga market for years if not decades, much like V-103 did in ATL until a few years back. Chattanooga's rock station is gaining on country Wussy 101, but still hasn't toppled them.

Does the Chattanooga market include the heavily-Hispanic NW GA counties, like Whitfield?

I don't know if it's the topology or just the original allocations, but Chattanooga has few class Cx signals and a bunch of class As. WUSY is a full class C. When the DXing is even the least bit good, I can pick them up in Gwinnett.

IIRC iHeart bailed on Chattanooga altogether, trading their cluster to Entercom/Audacy, including WUSY.

Moon Pie Town has some towers with high heights above average terrain, so they really boom into North Ga.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Cox markets the River (and its similarly formatted stations in other markets such as WXGL Tampa and WJGL Jacksonville) as Classic Hits to get the broader ad revenue associated with that format.

The River debuted a little before former oldies stations adopted the Classic Hits positioner. In its early years, The River stayed away from the harder stuff and was really a rock-leaning version of what became the general Classic Hits format. Over time, the station evolved to Classic Rock and does mention Classic Rock on the air but retained the Classic Hits positioner that it had come to own.

 

[lanceventa]

The River debuted a little before former oldies stations adopted the Classic Hits positioner. In its early years, The River stayed away from the harder stuff and was really a rock-leaning version of what became the general Classic Hits format. Over time, the station evolved to Classic Rock and does mention Classic Rock on the air but retained the Classic Hits positioner that it had come to own.

Roddy, I wasn't referring to positioning statements, but rather how Cox reports the station to Nielsen and ad agencies.

In terms of your point, the first "Classic Hits" positioners evolved from the original all 70's stations in the early/mid 90's as they began to broaden their playlists into the 80s. Stations like WMGK Philadelphia and WEGQ Boston were among the first to utilize it.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Roddy, I wasn't referring to positioning statements, but rather how Cox reports the station to Nielsen and ad agencies.

In terms of your point, the first "Classic Hits" positioners evolved from the original all 70's stations in the early/mid 90's as they began to broaden their playlists into the 80s. Stations like WMGK Philadelphia and WEGQ Boston were among the first to utilize it.

And there have been numerous cases of a station selecting one of Arbitron / Nielsen's accepted format names that is not the best fit. But if no competitor objects, nothing happensm

 

[secondchoice]

Chattanooga is a very different market. It has 9 counties, but only 4 FMs that come close to covering it all... then there are a couple more that cover between 35% and 50%. Then, that rock station bills less than half of what the country leader bills.

The market is 80% non-Hispanic white, while Atlanta is only 45% non-Hispanic white.

You can't compare two radically different markets.

You are correct in both markets’ demos. 100.5 60 DB could work as an urban signal. I believe it would be very expensive to try another urban station in Atlanta. I personally have very little knowledge of Hispanic radio formats since I don’t speak Spanish but neither Hispanic station in Atlanta is in the top 20 (6+).

Around half of the Chattanooga market is in Hamilton County. If you throw in Brady County and the adjoining Ga Counties you have most of the population of the market is within 20 miles of Downtown. Chattanooga is severely over radioed if you count the translators and move ins:

Radio Stations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The “non-black, non-Hispanic” population of Atlanta is 2,700,500. KZ106 does well in the crowded “non-black, non-Hispanic” part of the Chattanooga market. 100.5’s P1 is somewhere in the 2.7 million non-black non-Hispanic part of the Atlanta market. They are too late for anything else. They can’t go Country, or CHR because that is already in the Cumulus Atlanta Cluster.

IMHO a female friendly Classic rock station on 100.5 similar to WSKZ could get a respectable piece of the 97.1 audience.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Around half of the Chattanooga market is in Hamilton County. If you throw in Brady County and the adjoining Ga Counties you have most of the population of the market is within 20 miles of Downtown. Chattanooga is severely over radioed if you count the translators and move ins:

After the full Class C stations, no FM covers more than half the population of the metro. The translators barely get 10%. Once you eliminate the rimshots and Class A's, the market has very few good signals.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Roddy, I wasn't referring to positioning statements, but rather how Cox reports the station to Nielsen and ad agencies.

In terms of your point, the first "Classic Hits" positioners evolved from the original all 70's stations in the early/mid 90's as they began to broaden their playlists into the 80s. Stations like WMGK Philadelphia and WEGQ Boston were among the first to utilize it.

Lance, I was in no way suggesting that The River introduced the Classic Hits positioner. I was just saying it was an accurate descriptor of what they were doing then compared to what they are doing now; and that these days, people usually associate Classic Hits with former Oldies stations.

 

[MarkW]

People forget that just three or four years ago, Rock 100.5 had perfectly respectable ratings playing a mix of mostly late 70s to mid 90s rock, with a few newer titles thrown in for good measure.

Unfortunately, the corporate goons decided to wreck the station by moving Braves baseball from 106.7 to 100.5, and then when ratings took a hit, some of the folks who had helped 100.5 achieve all time record high ratings less than a year earlier were canned.

Enter Axel Lowe, his sloppy music scheduling, and his penchant for wrecking successful morning talk shows.

 

[TheBigA]

Unfortunately, the corporate goons decided to wreck the station by moving Braves baseball from 106.7 to 100.5,

Say what you will, but that move created a solid revenue stream for the station that made traditional ratings superfluous.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Say what you will, but that move created a solid revenue stream for the station that made traditional ratings superfluous.

Cumulus also had no choice in the matter. They had a contract to carry the Braves, and 106.7 was sold to EMF.

 

[MarkW]

Say what you will, but that move created a solid revenue stream for the station that made traditional ratings superfluous.

Then why did the station ditch the Braves when that contract concluded?

Without knowing the actual economic terms, it is difficult to say if Braves baseball was financially accretive or detrimental to Cumulus. It was certainly detrimental to ratings, though, as week long ratings dropped like a rock (no pun intended) for 100.5 as soon as baseball was added.

106.7 was one of the lowest billing full market FM signals when it was around. So, Braves baseball didn't seem to be a boon for that now defunct station.