So how long until Cumulus kills off 99X?

[Groove1670]

Alt and active are not going to be big winners in ATL. However, because of the low cost of operating a translator. They can target select advertisers, and a niche audience (and generate some revenue) that is probably all they can expect.

If you are going to program Bluegrass or Classical, do yourself a favor and donate your translator to Brother Swaggert, and take the tax credit.

Last time I was in Atlanta, two of my taxi cab drivers were listening OG 97.9. Both had stock radios with a static RDS displayed. I would assume with a limited signal a scrolling RDS would fragment.

David might tell us if any of the analog HD children have pulled #'s. I can't see any more that a .3 to .9 share.

 

[TheBigA]

It's bluegrass (used to be on the analog) and HD2 but still shows in the DC book.(At least it used to...not sure about today)
Just checked...WAMU HD2 bounces around between no show and a 0.1. But that is HD ONLY...no translator.

Funny you should bring that up. WAMU just announced that they're selling that station because it's losing money. And actually the station has a few translators, but none in the city. Then again most of the bluegrassers live out in Virginia. Plus we're talking about a non-profit operation, owned by American University, not a commercial station run by a profit making company.

 

[wavo]

Funny you should bring that up. WAMU just announced that they're selling that station because it's losing money. And actually the station has a few translators, but none in the city. Then again most of the bluegrassers live out in Virginia. Plus we're talking about a non-profit operation, owned by American University, not a commercial station run by a profit making company.

I see in the Washington DC thread a story about this! Lost $146K last year!! I guess bluegrass is NOT the recipe!! According to Groove, neither is Classical.
So if all the "good" formats are on full power signals why even putz around with translators unless you're an AM?

 

[davideduardo]

David might tell us if any of the analog HD children have pulled #'s. I can't see any more that a .3 to .9 share.

If you men the share for HD-originated translators, there are some quite successful ones.

Emmis has a Spanish pop HD+translator in Austin that gets around a 2 share. A similar operation by iHeart in San Antonio has hit a 3 in sales demos.

There is a regional Mexican in Houston and another in Chicago that get around a 1 share in very large markets.

Hopefully Huff can mention some of the better performing general market examples.

 

[Groove1670]

If you men the share for HD-originated translators, there are some quite successful ones.

Emmis has a Spanish pop HD+translator in Austin that gets around a 2 share. A similar operation by iHeart in San Antonio has hit a 3 in sales demos.

There is a regional Mexican in Houston and another in Chicago that get around a 1 share in very large markets.

Hopefully Huff can mention some of the better performing general market examples.

Sorry David, I should of said Atlanta. I know there have been several success stories (a translator in Jacksonville) comes to mind.

 

[MarkW]

The notion that Cumulus is content with 99X's performance is absurd.

Almost no one is going to pay to advertise on a station that's being played on only 1 of every 1000 actives radios in the market, on average, at any given time. The station isn't just performing more poorly than X107.1, it is performing a *LOT* more poorly than X107.1!!

Nash Icon and The Walk were both killed off due to terrible ratings. 99X's previous incarnation was scrapped in favor of The Bone because the thinking (at the time) was Active Rock could achieve better ratings. And as a matter of fact - it did!

If I were running Cumulus, here's what I'd do:
--97.9: leave as-is
--98.9: use as translator for 106.7
--100.5: flip to a replica of 96Rock in Cincinnati (big focus on active rock currents & recurrents but gold categories consisting of a mix of active, alt and classic rock hits).
--106.7: flip to a classic hits format with a heavy focus on the 80's

 

[TheBigA]

The notion that Cumulus is content with 99X's performance is absurd.

They've had a new management regime for almost a year. During that time, management has encouraged local stations to program to local audiences, rather than follow corporate direction. Lots of markets have made format changes. Not Atlanta. That leads me to believe they're content with their stations' performance. The fact that YAY has just hired a new talk host leads me to believe they're committed to news/talk in Atlanta. If you have some facts that indicate otherwise, please post them.

 

[secondchoice]

The fact that YAY has just hired a new talk host leads me to believe they're committed to news/talk in Atlanta.

Has (will) the new host moved to Atlanta? If he is "phoning it in" from it home from somewhere else then there is no commitment. If Cumulus paid to move him here then there is commitment. I know you do not have to live in a market to do a show but if the station is trying to have local topics it helps. They could of used some kind of syndicated talk show to finish Braves season if they were going to pull the plug however.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Has (will) the new host moved to Atlanta? If he is "phoning it in" from it home from somewhere else then there is no commitment. If Cumulus paid to move him here then there is commitment. I know you do not have to live in a market to do a show but if the station is trying to have local topics it helps. They could of used some kind of syndicated talk show to finish Braves season if they were going to pull the plug however.

He's doing the show from Atlanta, but I don't know if that means much. Rumors of a format change after the Braves season are still running rampant in that building.

 

[max100]

He's doing the show from Atlanta, but I don't know if that means much. Rumors of a format change after the Braves season are still running rampant in that building.

Funny how 98.5 WOMG in little ole Columbia, SC just switched to classic hit format at 2pm today and huge Atlanta does nothing as usual.

 

[atlradio16]

He's doing the show from Atlanta, but I don't know if that means much. Rumors of a format change after the Braves season are still running rampant in that building.

+1 to this. Layoffs by the end of next month, format change by November (after Braves & election). New Cumulus brass could only come up with one word for WYAY: "embarrassing." At this point, all of the news coverage is canned Business reports, contests/giveaways, and old Fox 5 field reports, with almost nothing original.

 

[acheron1982]

All be it small, it appears 99x has added a few more late 2ks vs all music within the last three years. Little more familiar but still not as bad as radio 105. Last gasp? Not sure. Ratings are horrible. Personally, I appreciate the new lean and local artists but if they want to succeed, they may want to fall more in line with the other cumulus alt stations and lean a bit harder. At the end of the day, most alt rock fans go to Alt nation on XM radio or they just rip it off online. Most hipsters probably don't even listen to radio much anymore. Sad but true. Sorta what happens when alternative turns into alt 40.