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Christmas 2021 in Atlanta

L

Lotologist492

Every year around this time we start speculating. Sirius XM has launched their yuletide tunes already. While on a trip to Savannah this past weekend, their AC - 98.7 The River was running adverts about the launch of 24/7 Christmas this Friday! Not only is that unusual in that stations which go all Christmas normally keep the day and time a closely guarded secret, but they are also making a game of it - announcing a contest to name the first Christmas song to play and win a prize! Hearing this station reminds me of the gaping format hole in the Atlanta market; it is an excellent sounding AC, and of course, they were airing the Delilah Radio Show - missing from the ATL airwaves since 2012.

Which brings me back to A-T-L....which station(s) might play some sleigh bells this year? The Fish is pretty much a certainty. Star could do again, and perhaps longer this year, since their current format is not exactly climbing the ratings. 98,5 will probably continue on with mixing the holiday tunes into their normal play list. Are there any surprise end of year format flips possible, with an all-Christmas stunt? There was a ton of noise about a format flip over the summer which fizzled out to nothing. Any other thoughts or ideas?

Atlanta is definitely a tough market for AC. IMHO the format officially 'died' in 2006 when the Bull charged in, FIFTEEN years ago this year! Wow, does time fly.
 
Lotologist492 said:
Every year around this time we start speculating. Sirius XM has launched their yuletide tunes already. While on a trip to Savannah this past weekend, their AC - 98.7 The River was running adverts about the launch of 24/7 Christmas this Friday! Not only is that unusual in that stations which go all Christmas normally keep the day and time a closely guarded secret, but they are also making a game of it - announcing a contest to name the first Christmas song to play and win a prize! Hearing this station reminds me of the gaping format hole in the Atlanta market; it is an excellent sounding AC, and of course, they were airing the Delilah Radio Show - missing from the ATL airwaves since 2012.

Which brings me back to A-T-L....which station(s) might play some sleigh bells this year? The Fish is pretty much a certainty. Star could do again, and perhaps longer this year, since their current format is not exactly climbing the ratings. 98,5 will probably continue on with mixing the holiday tunes into their normal play list. Are there any surprise end of year format flips possible, with an all-Christmas stunt? There was a ton of noise about a format flip over the summer which fizzled out to nothing. Any other thoughts or ideas?

Atlanta is definitely a tough market for AC. IMHO the format officially 'died' in 2006 when the Bull charged in, FIFTEEN years ago this year! Wow, does time fly.
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That would also mark 15 years since the end of Casey Kasem on the Atlanta airwaves.
 
TGC Radio in Athens, despite being an Internet-only radio station, will be flipping to Christmas music Sunday 11/14/2021. They'll be playing Christmas music all the way through 12/25 Christmas Day Night at 11:59 PM into 12:00 AM (12 Midnight) on the morning of 12/26. They're calling it TGC's Magical Musical Christmas and like last year in 2020, the show Georgia Gold Saturday Night with Ron Parker will continue with its usual oldies & classic hits rotation. Other stations I'm monitoring: 107.7 The Breeze/AM 1450 WCON-AM/W299AT-FM in Cornelia and The Peach Radio in Atlanta. 107.7 The Breeze & The Peach Radio have not yet announced whether or not they'll be flipping to Christmas music this year. Why am I monitoring The Peach Radio? The reason is because back when we had EZ Peach Radio, they flipped to Christmas music for 2 years in a row. The 1st time they played Christmas music, IIRC, they played Robert Goulet's rendition of "I'll Be Home For Christmas". Since the company that owned EZ Peach Radio also owns the still existing radio station WEZI EZ Radio up in Memphis, TN, you can take it to the bank that WEZI EZ Radio will definitely flip to Christmas music. The way they do it is they play the music and they have 1 guy do the liners for the station at Christmastime. I don't know his name but if you tune into WEZI EZ Radio, you won't hear the normal DJs that are on their team doing the liners like you normally would during the regular time of the year. You won't hear Steve Goss. You won't hear anyone else on their team. No, you will NOT hear Jeff Laurence doing the liners. The unknown guy who did one of the liners on EZ Peach Radio at Christmastime always ended with "Merry Christmas from Peach!" If WEZI EZ Radio uses the same unknown guy that was used for EZ Peach Radio for their Christmastime liners, one of those liners may end with either "Merry Christmas from WEZI!" or "Merry Christmas from WEZI EZ Radio!" Could something like that be in the works for The Peach Radio, the EASY hits WITHOUT the pits station? I don't know. It's possible. The whole WEZI EZ Radio stuff is based off of speculation. Anyway, that is all.
 
Does anyone know what's going on with WNNX Rock 100.5? They dismantled their morning show which was one of their best dayparts IIRC...can anyone confirm that fact? It's never been a ratings juggernaut, although I could see them getting another chance considering all of the other active/alt rock stations (not counting [email protected]) are gone.
 
atthestars said:
Well, 96.7 WBZW split from Z105.7 and is going "Commercial Free Christmas" until the end of the year.
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Yes! iHeart Media has most definitely flipped 96.7 WBZW-FM and has much more planned for Atlanta in the coming weeks around and after Christmas Day as the Breeze continues to blow…
 
Kidd Casio said:
Yes! iHeart Media has most definitely flipped 96.7 WBZW-FM and has much more planned for Atlanta in the coming weeks around and after Christmas Day as the Breeze continues to blow…
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Are you saying this thread might revert to its original topic after Christmas? iHeart could experiment with 96.7, but it's never going to do anything in the Atlanta ratings no matter the format.
 
W244EI - Radio Korea - prohibits me from getting WBZW here in Gwinnett. I am surprised they allow a translator so close to a regular radio station on the same frequency.
 
ShawtyBlack_ATL said:
THE BREEZE will more than likely be on 96.7 FM. No way they’d blow up Power 96.1 and 105.3 gives The Breakfast Club a clear signal in the market, the only reason they flipped 105.3 to Urban.

iHeart has registered the following:
thebreezeatl.com
96breezeatl.com
96thebreeze.com
96rockatl.com
atlantasrock.com
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Remember these domains were registered back in May. The rock domains are now in use but The Breeze remains……
 
They might put The Breeze on 96.7 if only to lock up the name and format in Atlanta. I'm sure, as far as national buys go, it would be nice for iHeart to include such a huge market in their portfolio.
 
RadioDoogie said:
W244EI - Radio Korea - prohibits me from getting WBZW here in Gwinnett. I am surprised they allow a translator so close to a regular radio station on the same frequency.
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According to the FCC history cards:


WBZW was originally going to be WCOH Newnan GA. class “B” back in 1948 on 92.3. The cards are hard to read but it ended up on 96.7 one of the old FM “local” channels. It originally was never intended to serve Atlanta. During deregulation it got a City of License of Union City but the FCC channel spacing* for 97.1 (Class C to A = 59 miles) kept the signal too far south to really be a factor in Atlanta radio. What surprises me WBZW did not have the old waiver that Cox used to move 95.5 into Atlanta. The translator as long as it doesn’t interfere with an existing station is not required to have the spacing.



* 47 CFR § 73.207 - Minimum distance separation between stations.
 
Although 96.7 is a very tiny signal, strangely I can pick it up fairly well in Woodstock and North Cobb. Its not perfect as there is some static but I can listen to it!
 
In the USA, the strong Christmas marketing push with radio & TV commercials etc., ramps up immediately after Thanksgiving.

In Canada, it starts a month earlier after their Thanksgiving, whereas in the UK it commences even earlier!
 
Radig said:
In the USA, the strong Christmas marketing push with radio & TV commercials etc., ramps up immediately after Thanksgiving.

In Canada, it starts a month earlier after their Thanksgiving, whereas in the UK it commences even earlier!
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Lately, here in the US, it starts immediately after Halloween in many cases. 😒
 
It still seems odd that WSB-FM doesn't make the switch to Christmas music, leaving Atlanta as the only sizable market in the U.S. with no secular Christmas music station. Former hold-outs like WLYF Miami and WMJX Boston have jumped into the Christmas pool in recent years.

It doesn't make much sense for WSB-FM to buck the trend. What are some of the objections?

--"Oh, Atlanta is too warm for Christmas music." Well KESZ Phoenix, KSNE Las Vegas and KSSK Honolulu don't think so.

--"Oh, WSB-FM is hotter in tempo than most AC stations." Well, WALK-FM Long Island, which switched to Hot AC music, doesn't think so. It's still playing Andy Williams, Nat King Cole and The Carpenters for five weeks a year.

--"Oh, Christmas music is not a right fit in Atlanta." Well, it boosts Atlanta Christian AC WFSH to #1 in many holiday books. For years, folks thought that Miami's large Latin American immigrant population isn't into Christmas music. But WLYF proved that wrong.

Other Cox stations go all-Christmas, like WDUV Tampa and WEZI Jacksonville. So I don't know why WSB-FM doesn't.
 
Gregg. said:
It still seems odd that WSB-FM doesn't make the switch to Christmas music, leaving Atlanta as the only sizable market in the U.S. with no secular Christmas music station. Former hold-outs like WLYF Miami and WMJX Boston have jumped into the Christmas pool in recent years.

It doesn't make much sense for WSB-FM to buck the trend. What are some of the objections?

--"Oh, Atlanta is too warm for Christmas music." Well KESZ Phoenix, KSNE Las Vegas and KSSK Honolulu don't think so.

--"Oh, WSB-FM is hotter in tempo than most AC stations." Well, WALK-FM Long Island, which switched to Hot AC music, doesn't think so. It's still playing Andy Williams, Nat King Cole and The Carpenters for five weeks a year.

--"Oh, Christmas music is not a right fit in Atlanta." Well, it boosts Atlanta Christian AC WFSH to #1 in many holiday books. For years, folks thought that Miami's large Latin American immigrant population isn't into Christmas music. But WLYF proved that wrong.

Other Cox stations go all-Christmas, like WDUV Tampa and WEZI Jacksonville. So I don't know why WSB-FM doesn't.
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I do not think there is any objection to Christmas music in this market per se; ATL just has a unique landscape to its station lineup. 98.5 is a very hot leaning AC and is battling it out with CHR's (which translates to less jingle bells), yet they are still the de facto 'listen-while-you-work' station, which has prevented a straight-up AC from getting a foothold in the market. 98.5 is also the very reason why we do not have the Delilah Radio Show in Atlanta. There simply is not an appropriate-formatted station to carry her show. Incidentally, 98.5 used to air Delilah up through 2011, when they were much more AC and less hot.

With "Christmas 96.7" stunting, maybe this is the forerunner for an AC, although on a very weak signal. iHeart seems ready to bring an AC to this market but until they can find a good signal for it, they will likely just park it on 96.7 for the time being and in the very least, add to their "Breeze" portfolio.
 
Lotologist492 said:
I do not think there is any objection to Christmas music in this market per se; ATL just has a unique landscape to its station lineup. 98.5 is a very hot leaning AC and is battling it out with CHR's (which translates to less jingle bells), yet they are still the de facto 'listen-while-you-work' station, which has prevented a straight-up AC from getting a foothold in the market. 98.5 is also the very reason why we do not have the Delilah Radio Show in Atlanta. There simply is not an appropriate-formatted station to carry her show. Incidentally, 98.5 used to air Delilah up through 2011, when they were much more AC and less hot.

With "Christmas 96.7" stunting, maybe this is the forerunner for an AC, although on a very weak signal. iHeart seems ready to bring an AC to this market but until they can find a good signal for it, they will likely just park it on 96.7 for the time being and in the very least, add to their "Breeze" portfolio.
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I think that's right. B98.5 always had a Christmas bump like the Holy Mackerel does now; the problem was they lost a lot of their "regular" listeners to the CHRs during that time and they didn't come right back in January.

If and when CHR hits its periodic doldrums we may see something different. In the early 80s we had 3 CHRs (94Q, 97 FOX, Wide 107) switch to AC (and then to other formats in the case of Fox and Wide 107). At one point we had 6 ACs--3 newcomers and 3 incumbents--needing to differentiate themselves. About 10 years later we lost both CHRs in a short period of time (Z-93 to classic rock and Power 99 to alt), leaving no real CHR except for Star 94's attempt at filling that hole, and the two legacy ACs (B98.5 and Peach) battling each other.

In short, as of now CHR and its demo is just too attractive for B98.5 to ignore, with Q99.7 and Power 96 in that space battling it out and Star 94 now going in a different direction. And judging by Nielsen the folks at Digital White Columns are doing the right thing.

Part of the problem is that AC (soft or mainstream) remains a format hole in ATL, along with variety/adult hits. And those are the two formats most likely to go all-Christmas.

The only alternative would be if someone were to blow up a low-rated station with plans to move to a new format after the holidays.
 
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