Cumulus Changes

[TheBigA]

For months I've been reading comments about falling ratings at Q. Now we see a change at the top:

Cumulus Media Shakes Up Atlanta Programming Ops.

Cumulus Media announces changes at corporate and market levels following the exit of company veteran Louis Diaz. Diaz served as VP of Contemporary Formats since October 2018, overseeing the company’s

www.insideradio.com

 

[Loverofradio]

I don’t think it’s his fault ratings have slipped. Not implying you’re saying that. But, I wonder if this was done as cost cutting

 

[leethalweapon]

Wild speculation, but could 99X return back to it's spiritual origional frequency? Afterall, the original incarnation did replace an ailling CHR.

 

[MrRadio]

Wild speculation, but could 99X return back to it's spiritual origional frequency? Afterall, the original incarnation did replace an ailling CHR.

God, I hope not.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

For months I've been reading comments about falling ratings at Q. Now we see a change at the top:

Cumulus Media Shakes Up Atlanta Programming Ops.

Cumulus Media announces changes at corporate and market levels following the exit of company veteran Louis Diaz. Diaz served as VP of Contemporary Formats since October 2018, overseeing the company’s

www.insideradio.com

As a poster said above, we don't know the reason for Mr. Diaz's departure, and it could well be cost cutting. (His replacement will be spread over 2 major markets.)

That said, I'm not sure any PD will be able to increase Q99-7's ratings given the current state of CHR and the Atlanta market's ethnic composition. Also, the new programmer will be hamstrung by budgets and the necessity of keeping the 7PM to midnight slot syndicated.

Listening to the station, my perception is that Mr. Diaz was a master at programming a CHR in terms of formatics. From that standpoint, I think Q99-7 sounds great. I've always thought the station's processing was terrible, and I'm guessing it was based on Mr. Diaz's direction.

As long as Bert stays, the station is probably set in morning drive. Yvonne Monet, who was handling middays, was excellent, but she's now departed from the station. Mami Chula has been filling in, and so far she is not shown on the website as the permanent replacement. She's good for weekends and fill-ins but IMHO a drop in quality from Yvonne. Jade handles afternoons, and my feeling about her is she's okay. The syndicated Elliott is in evenings. He targets a young audience, and the quality is not what I would have expected years ago from a major market station, but he's okay given the current state of radio, especially after 7PM.

 

[lanceventa]

All I can say is you cannot look at this in the microscope of just Atlanta. This is part of bigger moves across the entire company.

 

[Mediafrog+]

All I can say is you cannot look at this in the microscope of just Atlanta. This is part of bigger moves across the entire company.

Table slowly being set for the long rumored merger with Audacy?

 

[lanceventa]

Table slowly being set for the long rumored merger with Audacy?

Not sure if it is that big yet. But the deal market in general appears as if it is getting ready to burst.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm not sure any PD will be able to increase Q99-7's ratings given the current state of CHR and the Atlanta market's ethnic composition.

The strange part of that is iHeart's ability to keep KIIS and Z100 in the Top 5, given they're also very ethnic markets.

 

[jabba17]

Not sure if it is that big yet. But the deal market in general appears as if it is getting ready to burst.

Do the Dickeys still have anything to do with Cumulus? Thinking in terms of ATL station divestments.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

All I can say is you cannot look at this in the microscope of just Atlanta. This is part of bigger moves across the entire company.

Maybe so but given this is the Atlanta board, I think it's fair to discuss its impact on Atlanta.

 

[lanceventa]

Do the Dickeys still have anything to do with Cumulus? Thinking in terms of ATL station divestments.

Nothing. WCNN is a stand-alone.

Maybe so but given this is the Atlanta board, I think it's fair to discuss its impact on Atlanta.

Of course. I'm just explaining that this move was not made specifically because of Atlanta's performance (or lack thereof).

 

[secondchoice]

If the rumored deal goes thru, and 100.5 is the frequency that has to be divested, could iHeart possibly get their hands on it? Of course they would have most likely have to out pay EMF which would most likely put Air1 on 100.5 or let EMF aquire 105.7.
The reason I post this am I the only one who thinks 100.5 could be upgraded if WSSL was downgraded.

 

[secondchoice]

The strange part of that is iHeart's ability to keep KIIS and Z100 in the Top 5, given they're also very ethnic markets.

Are the day to day decisions made in New York or Texas? Also there are around 9 million "non ethic by Nelson definition" people in the market divided by a limited number of market covering commercial FM signals. Any competent operator should have good EBITDA.

 

[radiorobert]

Does Elliot originate in Atlanta?

 

[TheBigA]

Are the day to day decisions made in New York or Texas?

Depends on which decisions

 

[Kent]

If the rumored deal goes thru, and 100.5 is the frequency that has to be divested, could iHeart possibly get their hands on it?

Not sure, but I suppose it could be possible, especially if iHeart were to swap to get into the few markets where Cumulus and Audacy have stations but it does not.

The reason I post this am I the only one who thinks 100.5 could be upgraded if WSSL was downgraded.

If I remember correctly, WSSL was an obstacle to getting 100.5 into College Park. Didn't it have to downgrade to a C0 before WHMA-FM could be moved where it ultimately ended up? Not sure how much WNNX could be upgraded, though, with a WSSL downgrade as it still would likely have to contend with WNSY and WUSY.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

If I remember correctly, WSSL was an obstacle to getting 100.5 into College Park. Didn't it have to downgrade to a C0 before WHMA-FM could be moved where it ultimately ended up? Not sure how much WNNX could be upgraded, though, with a WSSL downgrade as it still would likely have to contend with WNSY and WUSY.

Not exactly. It moved into Atlanta (with COL of College Park) without WSSL making any changes. WSSL later agreed to downgrade to a C0 so that WWWQ (now WNNX) could increase from 3,000 to 12,500 watts.

Agree with you that WNNX is as powerful as it will ever be.

 

[secondchoice]

If WSSL goes to C2 or C3 a really sharp engineer could improve the Atlanta signal. A C1 in Atlanta is worth a whole lot more that a C0 in Greenville. iHeart did something a lot more complicated in Louisiana to get a better population coverage

 

[lanceventa]

Are the day to day decisions made in New York or Texas? Also there are around 9 million "non ethic by Nelson definition" people in the market divided by a limited number of market covering commercial FM signals. Any competent operator should have good EBITDA.

I'm assuming you're talking about management decisions for Z100 and KIIS? Both are locally programmed with their PD's very high up on the corporate programming structure.

No iHeart leadership has been in San Antonio for years. The only thing in that building outside the local stations are some back-office adminstrative roles.