Would this type of station work in Atlanta?

[MarkW]

Rock 100.5 is never going to amount to anything. The station is damaged goods. They are basically playing the same crappy music that 96Rock played in the late 90's & early 2000's that earned crappy ratings then and is yielding crappy ratings today.

So...what should Cumulus do with 100.5?

Two options come to mind to me.

Option #1: Turn it into a replica of Radio 96.1 in Raleigh. That station -- owned by Curtis Media -- was a longtime heritage rock station that had a bit of an identity crisis and less than stellar ratings (although not as poor as Rock 100.5's ratings). After making the change, this longtime ~3 share radio station is now a 5 share radio station. The demographics of the Raleigh market are quite similar to that of Atlanta, and just like Atlanta, Raleigh lacked a Variety Hits before WBBB made this change.

Here is a list of the last ten songs played on Radio 96.1 :

DURAN DURAN
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF

POISON
EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN

BUSH
COMEDOWN

CHEAP TRICK
THE FLAME

NENA
99 RED BALLOONS

U2
I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M L

QUIET RIOT
*** ON FEEL THE NOIZE

R.E.M.
ORANGE CRUSH

CAPITAL CITIES
SAFE & SOUND

DEF LEPPARD
ANIMAL

=================================

Option #2: Flip to Rhythmic Hot AC, similar to Hot 103.7 in Seattle and Q102 in San Francisco. Atlanta LOVES rhythmic and urban music. The Urban AC stations in town seem to like the softer side of R&B and program strictly toward an African American audience. The Urban Contemporary stations in town play too much hardcore hip-hop. A rhythmic Hot AC would play a lot of "party" songs with strong crossover appeal and would blend current rhythmic hits with "throwbacks" from the 90's and early 2000's.

This format was an instant success in Seattle.

 

[max100]

NO to all above suggestions, they need to put a good oldies station on it and let it go.

 

[Groove1670]

Option #2: Flip to Rhythmic Hot AC, similar to Hot 103.7 in Seattle and Q102 in San Francisco. Atlanta LOVES rhythmic and urban music. The Urban AC stations in town seem to like the softer side of R&B and program strictly toward an African American audience. The Urban Contemporary stations in town play too much hardcore hip-hop. A rhythmic Hot AC would play a lot of "party" songs with strong crossover appeal and would blend current rhythmic hits with "throwbacks" from the 90's and early 2000's.

This format was an instant success in Seattle.

As I said on another board I think this format will expand as long as it stays fresh, it has had success so far.

 

[gregg75]

I think they are taking 100.5 in more of the direction the Old B-98 was at, and so far it seems to be working for them. They've taken two steps in that direction, they just need to take some more.