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Might "Project" be on the verge of an ATL return?

M

MarkW

Star Participant
I'm suddenly thinking it's a realistic possibility.

Late last week, iFart blew up its very low rated Alt station in Detroit to resurrect the storied "Wheels" brand (even though it hasn't been used in the market since '94 or '95).

This morning, iFart blew up a fairly low rated Classic Hits station in Jacksonville to resurrect the long running "Planet Radio" brand. Music wise, the station sounds somewhat like 105.7 in Greensboro. Even though Planet Radio was rock-leaning Alternative or Active Rock during its past life, the new version seems to be Mainstream Rock with no currents.

Alt 105.7 has seen some ratings improvement as of late (is the Woody Show to credit for this?)...yet the numbers remain really lousy. And we all know Alternative has weak power ratios to start with.

Might we be on the verge of seeing a return of the "Project" brand to a full power, analog FM signal in the ATL?
 
Project 9-6-1 wasn't exactly killing the ratings when it flipped to Power 96. Also, would replacing an alt rock station with an active rock station (replacing one thin slice of AOR with another) really turn things around?

Meanwhile, does ATL even have room for a third AOR station? You have River killing it in the classic rock department, and Rock100.5 doing respectably with a weakish signal. Rock100.5 has also been adding more active rock to its playlist, and River more 90s alt. I don't think ATL has ever had more than two viable AOR stations at a time including active rockers (comprising Progressive 103.3, 96 Rock, Z93, 105.3 The Buzz, Project 9-6-1, River, and Rock100.5). The one time we had three was when we had River, Rock100.5, and Project at the same time, and Project wasn't long for the world at that point. The only wildcard has been a third or fourth station playing alt (99X in its various incarnations, X107.1, Dave FM, TOSOTR, and Radio/Alt 105.7).

Frankly, I'd like to see iHeart put adult/variety hits on a real signal like 105.7 (it would have to skew pop to prevent being redundant to River), or bring 105.7 back as an FM side to WGST to try to pick up the listeners that will be leaving 106.7 in a couple months.
 
Project was seeing some of its best ratings ever when the format was changed. You are right to suggest ratings were not great for most of its existence. Still - what would you rather have? A 1.5 - 1.9 share (Alt) or mid/upper 2's (Project) ?

I do like your suggestion for adult/variety hits.
 
I'd rather see the iconic 96Rock brand resurface. The name "project" has/had no gravitas.

G
 
jabba17 said:
Frankly, I'd like to see iHeart put adult/variety hits on a real signal like 105.7 (it would have to skew pop to prevent being redundant to River), or bring 105.7 back as an FM side to WGST to try to pick up the listeners that will be leaving 106.7 in a couple months.
Click to expand...

WGST has come back to FM sort of. HD Radio only. For the past several years, it was simulcasting on 94.9 THE BULL’s HD3 subchannel. When iHeart put Variety Hits The Lake @ 94.9 HD2 and Soft AC The Breeze @ 94.9 HD3, they moved the WGST FM HD simulcast to Alt 105.7’s HD3 subchannel. Could iHeart move WGST to the main HD1 signal if Alt 105.7 were to bite the dust? Anything’s possible.
 
Oooo, I hope, hope, hope that the "Project" moniker comes back in Atlanta! It's a sin what radio has done to Active Rock this decade, pushing it completely out of the mainstream for several years. There's still plenty of good mainstream rock music that's current. Furthermore, I think Alternative is somewhat oversaturated relative to its ratings. Take a look at all the Top 50 radio markets that have both an Active Rock and Alternative station, and the Active Rock station still gets higher ratings in most of them despite virtually zero promotion of the music in the mainstream.

Alternative is a niche by definition (the 1990s were a fluke), so Alternative stations are better off focusing on the niche, especially now that the format has gone in an "electro-pop with a few rock-ish elements" direction. And given the demographics for Alternative versus Active Rock, Alternative is a better fit on smaller transmitters that cover the urban core and inner suburbs, while Active Rock should get more powerful transmitters to cover all of the suburbs and the immediate hinterlands. Flamethrowers shouldn't be out of the question, and rimshots could be a good idea as well.
 
AMFMRadFan said:
WGST has come back to FM sort of. HD Radio only. For the past several years, it was simulcasting on 94.9 THE BULL’s HD3 subchannel. When iHeart put Variety Hits The Lake @ 94.9 HD2 and Soft AC The Breeze @ 94.9 HD3, they moved the WGST FM HD simulcast to Alt 105.7’s HD3 subchannel. Could iHeart move WGST to the main HD1 signal if Alt 105.7 were to bite the dust? Anything’s possible.
Click to expand...

I noticed the move of WGST's HD FM signal that and was thinking that, too.
 
upstate29651 said:
I'd rather see the iconic 96Rock brand resurface. The name "project" has/had no gravitas.

G
Click to expand...

iHeart could bring back 96 Rock, but the WKLS call sign was snagged by a station in Alabama.
 
No matter. I<3 just resurrected its "Planet" brand in Jacksonville without the WPLA calls. It can be done.

G
 
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