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94.9 getting ready to turn off the Lite for good?

jal41

jal41

Rodney Ho is reporting in his blog that WLTM may be in the market for a new format.

I am kind of surprised. I never thought the station was, out of all of the CC Atlanta stations, in that much trouble (of course, we are talking CC Atlanta here).

If this is true: Is it going to be simply another reimaging (the return of "Peach"), or a full-out format flip?

If a format flip, then to what? Hot AC? Adult Hits? Rythmic AC (Movin' type)? WGST-FM?

CC flipped both their AC and a Smooth Jazz at the same time in Philadelphia last month in favor for Rythmic AC and Spanish. Could this happen in Atlanta (94.9 and 96.1)?

That, along with the futures of Dave and 99X in jeopardy could be bringing us an entirely different radio picture in Atlanta over the next couple of years or so.

Cox and B98.5 better get the champaigne ready just in case.
 
I don't see why Lite of all stations would flip. I'd expect 96 Rock to go first. At least Lite can attain top 5 status every now and then.

But if it does, I call Rhythmic AC.
 
Predictions: After Christmas, Lite becomes Rhymic, Whoopi Goldberg comes in for mornings - Randy & Spiff return to new oldies-based station. Wouldn't be surprised to see someone bring back some version of "Peach" either. Next year Atlanta gets an FM talker. Oh yeah, while I'm being so prophetic, don't be surprised to see Stern pull an O&A and return to terrestrial. Okay, time for my medicine.
 
Someone I heard theorized that maybe Clear Channel might create a younger skewing "Movin'" format, which is now in St. Louis, Seattle and Los Angeles. Then again, Spanish AC has been bandied about and of course, the FM talk format as usual. Who knows?
 
I don't think Peach should have been changed. 94.9 was Peaach forever. There was no reason th change the name becase the music format was never changed. Well maybe it was but the music is now back to what it was when I was a kid and the imaging was Peach. WLTM is Clear channel's bright spot (no pun intended). I am very surprised that they would be considering a format switch.
 
rodneyho said:
Someone I heard theorized that maybe Clear Channel might create a younger skewing "Movin'" format, which is now in St. Louis, Seattle and Los Angeles. Then again, Spanish AC has been bandied about and of course, the FM talk format as usual. Who knows?



We Don't need another stinkin SPANISH station. Enough of the El Spanol PLEASE?
Damn, why dont we just give all the frequency's to them. We will soon enough.
This political correct B.S. has got to end somewhere.. Its time to leave well enough
alone. Davis Broadcasting already destroyed 102.3 fm, now what? God will it ever end?
Click to expand...
 
I am at a loss as to why they would change format at all.

1) They are still a top 10 station with an audience that is probably the most wealthy on the FM dial.
2) Lets assume that 94.9 gets $400 for an afternoon drive 60sec spot. At 15 units an hour, that's $6,000 an hour. I figure the voicetracker (in this case, "JT") & the board op combined MIGHT get $50/hour. That, friends, is a profit of $5,950/hour!!! Yes, there's tons of fixed cost but they've got to pay that regardless of format. What GM in his right mind would flip to a tougher format to jock and more expensive format to program?
 
We Don't need another stinkin SPANISH station. Enough of the El Spanol PLEASE?
Damn, why dont we just give all the frequency's to them. We will soon enough.
This political correct B.S. has got to end somewhere.. Its time to leave well enough
alone. Davis Broadcasting already destroyed 102.3 fm, now what? God will it ever end?

Another "stinkin" Spanish station? That's not racist at all...How many "stinkin" Spanish stations exactly are saturating the Atlanta market right now? The number of stations should reflect the percentage of Latinos in the entire Metro population, a number that is increasing daily. Viva is one of Clear Channel Atlanta's highest-rated stations and from what I understand one of its only money-makers. You should rest easily, though, the "stinkin" Spanish stations are hardly taking over the market.
 
Brian Donegan said:
I don't think Peach should have been changed. 94.9 was Peaach forever. There was no reason th change the name becase the music format was never changed. Well maybe it was but the music is now back to what it was when I was a kid and the imaging was Peach. WLTM is Clear channel's bright spot (no pun intended). I am very surprised that they would be considering a format switch.
Click to expand...

While Peach may have had it's heritage, the Atlanta area was growing and people from many different parts of the country were moving to Atlanta. "Lite FM" is likely more known and people will easily figure out what type of station it is.

The "new locals" probably wouldn't appreciate the "Peach" name.

Just my theory.
 
lilburncommunityradio said:
We Don't need another stinkin SPANISH station. Enough of the El Spanol PLEASE?
Damn, why dont we just give all the frequency's to them. We will soon enough.
This political correct B.S. has got to end somewhere.. Its time to leave well enough
alone. Davis Broadcasting already destroyed 102.3 fm, now what? God will it ever end?
Click to expand...

Stinkin Spanish station? Now I feel like I'm on the Philadelphia board! (Read that board and you'd know what I'm talking about). Time to call in David Eduardo!
 
Given that Clear Channel just flipped a station in Denver to rhythmic AC today and that WLIT Chicago was sounding more rhythmic AC-ish direction when I was up there two months ago, this may be in the cards for Atlanta should WLTM or WKLS flip.
 
Peach was changed to Lite FM because of their Flagship Lite FM in NYC, where it has been the #1 Station for years. I don't think a flip is coming. Will just have to wait and see.
 
lilburncommunityradio said:
We Don't need another stinkin SPANISH station. Enough of the El Spanol PLEASE?
Damn, why dont we just give all the frequency's to them. We will soon enough.
This political correct B.S. has got to end somewhere.. Its time to leave well enough
alone. Davis Broadcasting already destroyed 102.3 fm, now what? God will it ever end?
Click to expand...

'El' Spanol?

Mind schooling us on what this language is, exactly? I sincerely doubt any station Atlanta broadcasts in it... ;D

Either you don't listen to enough radio, or you shouldn't buy the $1 models with the penlight at Dollar Tree.
 
I miss Sleep 94.9, as we use to call it when it was Peach.

I enjoy listening to Lite 94.9. It will be a sad day when it flips. B-98.5 is not as good (my opinion). It does appear 97.1 The River is having some impact.
 
sidechick1 said:
We Don't need another stinkin SPANISH station. Enough of the El Spanol PLEASE?
Damn, why dont we just give all the frequency's to them. We will soon enough.
This political correct B.S. has got to end somewhere.. Its time to leave well enough
alone. Davis Broadcasting already destroyed 102.3 fm, now what? God will it ever end?

Another "stinkin" Spanish station? That's not racist at all...How many "stinkin" Spanish stations exactly are saturating the Atlanta market right now? The number of stations should reflect the percentage of Latinos in the entire Metro population, a number that is increasing daily. Viva is one of Clear Channel Atlanta's highest-rated stations and from what I understand one of its only money-makers. You should rest easily, though, the "stinkin" Spanish stations are hardly taking over the market.


Well, Sidechick you know... racist or not, Its time to at least do something. The AM dial in atlanta has changed so much and most of it is spanish programming. The reason that I wrote that post was because I will never forgive killing the last "LOCAL" station Gwinnett county had !!! Do we have to kill all the "LOCAL" stations, and let the Spanish people have them all? I will go one step further: Do you know what REAL LOCAL community radio is really about? Didn't think so..... It shows.
Click to expand...
 
Kevin said:
Has Clear Channel decided to make room for Whoopi Goldberg in Atlanta?
Click to expand...

94.9 is Clear's highest billing station. However, both WLTM and WSB-FM have been seeing decreasing reveneues for several years, so one of them probably has to refresh or modify, at the least.

I think you idea of making it the Whoopi station is a good bet. The biggest issue at format change time is lost revenue, and putting a star on the station while they tweek the music to make it a b it younger would be a way of diverting attention from the change to the sizzle.

There is no reason why they have to change anything. The station is doing well, if not spectacularly, in a market that has nearly zero revenue growth. So this may just be speculation or someone playing "what if?" over at CCU.

There is not room for another big Spanish signal. Clear still has not quite got it on Viva, and they changed format just 90 days ago... moving from a variety format to a more pure regional Mexican one. Apparently, the billing on Viva is softer than expected, perobably because Clear has so little experience with Spanish language radio: Viva bills less than half what 94.9 does.

I'll ignore the recist crap in the thread and simply say, "every station does its best to make money. Without a profit, no community can be served."
 
Ok, I will change my approach.. I am not BEING RACIST! Besides does anyone out there really know the meaning of the word? Huh? It may suprise you at best!
Now, Do we really even need to consider another spanish station? If anyone takes my words about spanish radio as racist, then Im really sorry for you. I just think
Atlanta is full of spanish radio! Look at 610 AM, 1100 Am, 1430 Am, 1460 Am, 1130, Am. Most of the Am frequency is full, so why more? Plus they already have 105.7 fm. I must tell you that the billing is soft, While in a customer's business the other day the rates for a 60 sec spot are really really low.. As in 60 dollars for mid to 6
am, and 120.00 for 6 am til midnight.. Thats low. I am truly sorry, but ITS MY OPINION that another spanish station is just no needed.
 
Clear Channel has flipped Las Vegas and Denver to "Party" in recent weeks, both with Whoopi in the morning. The Party is like Jack, it's fun for about two weeks, and then it gets old very fast. How many times a week do you really want to hear "Double Dutch Bus?"

LF (Atlanta transplant in Sin City)
 
Hey--I like the double dutch! Oh, you mean the SONG.

Anyway--it'll have "Whoopsie" whatever the format becomes. bet on that.
 
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