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B98.5 is becoming more Hot AC than ever!

A

A_b_m_90

Oh yeah. You can kiss the 80s goodbye. Barely an 80s song on their Most Recently Played track of songs. It’s becoming clear that they don’t want to go the Adult AC route.

Someone needs to pick up the 70 and 80s void whether it’s AC or Soft AC, B98.5 ain’t it folks. And it’s becoming clear as day. Good for them holding their own.

Star, it’s your move or iHeart time to get your sh*t together. That’s all I am going to say.
 
A_b_m_90 said:
Oh yeah. You can kiss the 80s goodbye. Barely an 80s song on their Most Recently Played track of songs. It’s becoming clear that they don’t want to go the Adult AC route.

Someone needs to pick up the 70 and 80s void whether it’s AC or Soft AC, B98.5 ain’t it folks. And it’s becoming clear as day. Good for them holding their own.

Star, it’s your move or iHeart time to get your sh*t together. That’s all I am going to say.
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Wow, yeah, I agree. Looks like one 80s song an hour and that's it.

By moving closer to Hot AC, they are certainly leaving a hole for variety hits, which could siphon off B98.5's top-end demos. Not that B has played a 70s song in the last 15 years, but still...

Also agree on Star. It's time to do something radical and different. Go all out and change the branding. How many "new Star 94" formats have we been through now?

iHeart has no clue so I immediately exclude them from anything interesting that might happen.
 
I don’t think this is anything new. I haven’t heard ‘80s music on B98.5 in many years, other than maybe one song per hour as the previous person said.

As for someone else flipping to ‘70s and ‘80s hits, I think that ship is sailing. The demos are getting too old. It may work for a smaller signal like 105.7, but I don’t see a full Atlanta signal doing it.
 
RMarino said:
I don’t think this is anything new. I haven’t heard ‘80s music on B98.5 in many years, other than maybe one song per hour as the previous person said.

As for someone else flipping to ‘70s and ‘80s hits, I think that ship is sailing. The demos are getting too old. It may work for a smaller signal like 105.7, but I don’t see a full Atlanta signal doing it.
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It's funny how my parents' generation had Fox 97 for their music 1989-2003 and the next generation had the super-lame and limited WMAX/105.3 for about two years. My generation never counted for squat with advertisers.
 
MrRadio said:
It's funny how my parents' generation had Fox 97 for their music 1989-2003 and the next generation had the super-lame and limited WMAX/105.3 for about two years. My generation never counted for squat with advertisers.
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I remember when Star 94 had Friday Night 80s and B98.5 had all-80s weekends (up until Delilah on Sunday nights), Atlanta was an 80s music hub. I was in heaven!
 
Yes, but the age old argument has been that... yes, The River does own the 80s... If you ONLY like rock, like 38 Special, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, Queen, and RATT. But, what's missing is a true classic hits station that plays, Bananarama, Alanis Morissette, Prince, Dead or Alive, Janet Jackson, Tears For Fears, Ray Parker Jr, etc.
 
deejaywestbrook said:
But, what's missing is a true classic hits station that plays, Bananarama, Alanis Morissette, Prince, Dead or Alive, Janet Jackson, Tears For Fears, Ray Parker Jr, etc.
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Janet Jackson, Prince, Michael Jackson, and other 80s music is on Star. The other stuff doesn't test well in Atlanta.

If there was an audience for it, Cox would find a station for it.
 
TheBigA said:
Janet Jackson, Prince, Michael Jackson, and other 80s music is on Star. The other stuff doesn't test well in Atlanta.

If there was an audience for it, Cox would find a station for it.
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Radio is a sad industry these days. Atlanta is an even sadder market.

This is a market that never had Howard Stern, didn't have a true CHR for 8 years, had an AC station that played jazz at night (LOL), can't support an all-news format (or even a second news/talker after iHeart ruined WGST), and has one of the best baseball teams in the majors but its flagship station sounds like a blender.

There's more but that's enough to prove that Atlanta radio is LAME.
 
MrRadio said:
Radio is a sad industry these days. Atlanta is an even sadder market.

This is a market that never had Howard Stern, didn't have a true CHR for 8 years, had an AC station that played jazz at night (LOL), can't support an all-news format (or even a second news/talker after iHeart ruined WGST), and has one of the best baseball teams in the majors but its flagship station sounds like a blender.

There's more but that's enough to prove that Atlanta radio is LAME.
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Radio stations reflect their population. The demos in Atlanta have changed a lot in the last 20 years. I could say the same thing about Houston.

Longtime residents don't notice their own towns changing around them. But music researchers do. That's why radio sounds the way it does.

The best indication of how Atlanta has changed is the two country stations. At one time, country was a Top 5 format in Atlanta. Now there are 3 urban stations in the Top 5. That's how changing demos have changed the radio dial. You're saying you don't like Atlanta radio, but what you're really saying is you don't like how the city has changed.
 
Atlanta has a larger Hispanic and Asian population (as well as people from all over the world) than it had 40 years ago, but the black and non Hispanic white demographics have stayed about the same percentage wise.

A classic hits station like KRTH would do well
 
golden eagles97 said:
I remember when Star 94 had Friday Night 80s and B98.5 had all-80s weekends (up until Delilah on Sunday nights), Atlanta was an 80s music hub. I was in heaven!
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golden eagles97 said:
I remember when Star 94 had Friday Night 80s and B98.5 had all-80s weekends (up until Delilah on Sunday nights), Atlanta was an 80s music hub. I was in heaven!
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Without a doubt! Lived in Atlanta from 1999-2001. I miss it and many fond memories of listening to both stations!
 
It was around 12 years or so that most AC stations dropped 70s titles. You would think 12 years later it would jettison the 80s. The problem is...although it has gotten somewhat better....you don't have the sheer number of 90s titles to pull from like you have had from the 80s. It seems post 2000 titles as a whole test far better than the 90s. ACs should probably be similar to the Mosaic channel on Sirius XM.
 
Seltzer said:
It was around 12 years or so that most AC stations dropped 70s titles. You would think 12 years later it would jettison the 80s. The problem is...although it has gotten somewhat better....you don't have the sheer number of 90s titles to pull from like you have had from the 80s. It seems post 2000 titles as a whole test far better than the 90s. ACs should probably be similar to the Mosaic channel on Sirius XM.
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I just posted on the other recent thread that B98.5 has moved out of the 80s completely.
 
jabba17 said:
I just posted on the other recent thread that B98.5 has moved out of the 80s completely.
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I wonder why, they have positioned themselves as 80s, 90s and today. Wonder why the shift? Perhaps is it they want to take away some of the Q99.7 listeners especially in the female demo.

This obviously leaves a gaping hole for a true AC in Atlanta but no one seems interested in taking that so-called risk. Which is a shame. There seems to be only two high-powered iHeart stations in 94.9 and 96.1. Aaaaand that is pretty much it. Putting AC on 105.7 is probably the most sensical solution but apparently people seem to be up in arms about taking down a Spanish CHR. Power 105.3 is useless.
 
A_b_m_90 said:
I wonder why, they have positioned themselves as 80s, 90s and today. Wonder why the shift? Perhaps is it they want to take away some of the Q99.7 listeners especially in the female demo.

This obviously leaves a gaping hole for a true AC in Atlanta but no one seems interested in taking that so-called risk. Which is a shame. There seems to be only two high-powered iHeart stations in 94.9 and 96.1. Aaaaand that is pretty much it. Putting AC on 105.7 is probably the most sensical solution but apparently people seem to be up in arms about taking down a Spanish CHR. Power 105.3 is useless.
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Soft AC probably has the same PPM shortcomings as other "environmental" formats like smooth jazz. The PPM killed that format.
 


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