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Could Something “BIG” Be Coming to 94.1?

Is that anything like the robot counting down who would occasionally say, "It's going to be big"?

That happened around April fool's Day 1987 in Greensboro NC. The old WBIG was coming back. Sort of. This time on FM.
 
Re:

I've been saying for years that Atlanta needs a good Variety Hits station.

Even as some folks on R-D were running interference and defending the disgrace known as 103.3 (D)AMP Radio in Boston, several of us stated that the station could add more value for Entercom's stakeholders by moving to a different format. Ultimately, Entercom arrived at a similar point of view and finally changed the format. So glad they did!

Atlanta is a different situation. Star 94.1 / Star 94 is a heritage brand and the station has programmed Hot AC or adult-leaning CHR for the better part of 30 years under that identity. At least pre-COVID, billing supposedly was still decent. Nonetheless, Entercom does such a great job with the Variety Hits format in other large & major markets, I would love to see them give it a try in Atlanta.

If Star 94 doesn't go that route, Cumulus should seriously consider flipping 100.5 to such a format.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Variety Hits could make sense for this market. I was told something different by a reliable source, but it's possible he's wrong. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any speculation on any other sites, nor have I heard anything suspect on 94.1 that would indicate some sort of change.
 
If you look at the 6+ numbers * Star has “lost” all of the gains it made this summer (2.7 back down to 2.1). * I will save David the trouble of saying there is no revenue in the 6+ ratings and no advertising is bought based on the numbers. But I doubt few of us old out of the money demo’s 55 plus crowd listen to hot AC or CHR so one can assume some of the loss has to be in the money demos. Entercom has some successful pop hits or Varity stations. I believe WCBS FM bills OK despite having a lot of people over 55 listening. I could see Entercom “importing” 101’s play list until they do music testing in Atlanta. I am not sure of the “discount” a Varity hits stations has billings wise verses a Hot AC, but if I was trying to guesstimate “flipping’ 94.1 I would figure the new format would do “half as well” as CBS FM market share then factor in the negative power ratio then it becomes a simple math problem.

*https://ratings.****************/content/arb047
 
Look at the numbers for 97.1 The River. Anyone would love to have a piece of that action.

River is 95% classic AOR, but plays a smattering of AOR-friendly classic hits that don't sound out of character (and were often played by AOR back in the day even if a "regular" classic rock station wouldn't play them today)

If someone wanted to grab the more classic Top 40 side of that playlist, that could steal listeners from River and maybe B98.5 (currently the oldest-leaning AC/CHR), and also maybe pull some people away from satellite and internet stations.
 
I agree. I think a format that nips from B98.5 and The River and adds maybe a splash of "pop-ish" hits without going into the "Look at us, we're playing cheesy 80s favorites" mode would do better than what Star has right now.

And then there's the "What do we have to lose?" factor.

However, all I see over on Star's site is an ad for a "Labor Day 10-In-A-Row Weekend," along with the usual concert announcements.

So maybe nothing changes after all. Wouldn't surprise me.
 
jabba17 said:
If someone wanted to grab the more classic Top 40 side of that playlist, that could steal listeners from River and maybe B98.5 (currently the oldest-leaning AC/CHR), and also maybe pull some people away from satellite and internet stations.
Click to expand...

The big problem we see is that the pop side of that era attracts 55+, while the AOR side is more evenly distributed.

That's why companies are more interested in more rock-oriented playlists than pop.

For example, what happened in Chicago yesterday.
 
TheBigA said:
The big problem we see is that the pop side of that era attracts 55+, while the AOR side is more evenly distributed.

That's why companies are more interested in more rock-oriented playlists than pop.

For example, what happened in Chicago yesterday.
Click to expand...

However, it is worth considering that there has been a significant recent reduction in national agency business in radio. With the move to podcasting and other web-based options, radio may have lost a lot of its national business. That is, unless there are more significant easy national buys.

That means that the key to keeping big advertisers may be consolidation of product offerings to include single buys in national formats instead of hundreds of buys in local stations.

And at the same time, if national buys become less important, the tight 18-49 and 25-54 demos may relax, with older consumers being more targeted by local stations because local advertisers are not so demo conscious and are, of course, more wallet-conscious.
 
secondchoice said:
If you look at the 6+ numbers * Star has “lost” all of the gains it made this summer (2.7 back down to 2.1). * I will save David the trouble of saying there is no revenue in the 6+ ratings and no advertising is bought based on the numbers. But I doubt few of us old out of the money demo’s 55 plus crowd listen to hot AC or CHR so one can assume some of the loss has to be in the money demos. Entercom has some successful pop hits or Varity stations. I believe WCBS FM bills OK despite having a lot of people over 55 listening.
Click to expand...

Remember, that 2.7 share was a higher percentage of far fewer listeners overall. The rating actually declined.

WCBS FM bills well because it has around a #3 rank in 25-54. Agencies that buy by the numbers don't even look at the 55+. It's also the #3 billing music FM.
 
DavidEduardo said:
However, it is worth considering that there has been a significant recent reduction in national agency business in radio
Click to expand...

I haven't seen that at all. If you compare Media Monitors for this week with their survey from four years ago, the top advertisers are buying the same number of spots:

https://radioink.com/2020/09/01/home-depot-returns-to-the-top-2/

You also have to keep in mind that the top national radio companies are ALSO in the podcasting business. So they're a one-stop shop.

National agency business is the one bright spot during the pandemic, with home improvement, car insurance, and car parts leading the way.
 
TheBigA said:
I haven't seen that at all. If you compare Media Monitors for this week with their survey from four years ago, the top advertisers are buying the same number of spots:
Click to expand...

But if you talk to any market manager, you will see that national, overall, is way down in the last year... not just due to the virus. Some advertisers have found a good way to use radio. Many are not using it at all.

You also have to keep in mind that the top national radio companies are ALSO in the podcasting business. So they're a one-stop shop.
Click to expand...

Not all the companies are doing a good job. iHeart is, but the rest of the top 10 groups are nowhere near as good at it except for Townsquare.

But national agency business is the one bright spot during the pandemic, with home improvement, car insurance, and car parts leading the way.
Click to expand...

Yes, there are some big individual accounts. But overall, national is way off in total.
 
TheBigA said:
Yet they're filling unsold local inventory with national spots. In terms of percentages, national is down less than local.
Click to expand...

A lot of the nationals are given bonus spots to make up for GRP shortfalls during the Coronavirus period.
 
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