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Awesome 99.5 flips to 99.5 Streetz

101tm

101tm

www.995streetz.com

Star 99.5 FM

Star 99.5 FM
www.995streetz.com www.995streetz.com

Summit has pulled the plug on Awesome 99.5 after almost 2 years. At 3pm they flipped to Urban/Hip Hop as 99.5 Streetz.
Sort of strange considering the 99.5 signal was almost doing as well as the Block trimulcast which has kind of collapsed (the 96.3 signal has gotten worse over the past couple of years)

radioinsight.com

SummitMedia Takes Awesome 99.5 To The Streetz

SummitMedia has flipped 1980s Hits "Awesome 99.5" W258CB Greenville/107.3 WJMZ-HD3 Anderson SC to Hip Hop "Streetz 99.5". Positioning as "Where
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
I’m thinking Hot pivots away from rhythmic CHR completely for straight up CHR. They’re playing “Flowers” by Miley in power rotation and playing “As it Was” by Harry Styles for example. It would probably be a good sales pitch for 98.1/98.5 and 107.3/99.5.

Also, 96.3’s signal is so bad at times, 99.5 could crush them in Greenville county since it’s arguably the best translator signal up there.
 
I guess Summit wants to keep the urban listeners and advertising buys all for themselves. Between Hot, Jamz and now Streetz, they could lock up that revenue. It's like iheart and country. The Block didn't really fit Audacy. They just did it to try to knock down Jamz a few notches.
 
101tm said:
I’m thinking Hot pivots away from rhythmic CHR completely for straight up CHR. They’re playing “Flowers” by Miley in power rotation and playing “As it Was” by Harry Styles for example. It would probably be a good sales pitch for 98.1/98.5 and 107.3/99.5.

Also, 96.3’s signal is so bad at times, 99.5 could crush them in Greenville county since it’s arguably the best translator signal up there.
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Lots of Rhythmics are playing "Flowers" in Power. It charted very high. "As It Was" is questionable (never crossed over) and they just recently added that. It was no where to be found last time I tuned in. I suspect they will start adding more and more top 40 hits in the coming weeks. I do hope 99.5 will add a translator in Spartanburg as well.
 
AMRocks said:
I guess Summit wants to keep the urban listeners and advertising buys all for themselves. Between Hot, Jamz and now Streetz, they could lock up that revenue. It's like iheart and country. The Block didn't really fit Audacy. They just did it to try to knock down Jamz a few notches.
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The funny thing is, Jamz isn’t even a great urban AC so it would take very little to take them down. I never really understood iHeart not doing urban on 102.5 or 104.9 since an urban format on one of those signals would almost guarantee WSSL #1. It surprised me Audacy did it instead, but I figured it was maybe a sales sweetener for WFBC as well as an effort to try to take Hot down a little and keep WFBC ahead.

It seems like the glut of stations playing older music came to a head considering especially 102.5 and 103.3 have seen significant losses as well. Where do the scraps of Awesome listeners go? I’m guessing they spread out between 106.3, 102.5, 103.3, and 101.1. Awesome was pretty female targeted and didn’t play much rock so could help Magic who has a lot of the 80s pop Awesome played in the rotation.
 
101tm said:
The funny thing is, Jamz isn’t even a great urban AC so it would take very little to take them down. I never really understood iHeart not doing urban on 102.5 or 104.9 since an urban format on one of those signals would almost guarantee WSSL #1. It surprised me Audacy did it instead, but I figured it was maybe a sales sweetener for WFBC as well as an effort to try to take Hot down a little and keep WFBC ahead.

It seems like the glut of stations playing older music came to a head considering especially 102.5 and 103.3 have seen significant losses as well. Where do the scraps of Awesome listeners go? I’m guessing they spread out between 106.3, 102.5, 103.3, and 101.1. Awesome was pretty female targeted and didn’t play much rock so could help Magic who has a lot of the 80s pop Awesome played in the rotation.
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Audacy could very well flip The Block to Urban AC, but how many points would it pull from JAMZ with that weak signal? You are absolutely right. Iheart should be doing it. Adult Hits on 104.9. Urban AC on 102.5 and JAMZ would fall enough for Whistle 100 to take the top spot.
 
JSikes925 said:
Audacy could very well flip The Block to Urban AC, but how many points would it pull from JAMZ with that weak signal? You are absolutely right. Iheart should be doing it. Adult Hits on 104.9. Urban AC on 102.5 and JAMZ would fall enough for Whistle 100 to take the top spot.
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I don’t know how well The Block would do as an urban AC getting even closer to Jamz. Jamz has a clear signal advantage. I think The Block would do better on the marginal signals with a “throwback” hip hop type format. They do have the advantage of the Anderson and Spartanburg translators, which gives them more coverage than the other translators in the market just covering Greenville, but 96.3, even though it’s the primary signal, is very weak to the south compared to 99.5 and other translators, partly due to interference from WKSP in Aiken, but it seems like it’s gotten worse.
 
I grabbed the legal ID so for any that haven’t listened or just want to hear what it sounds like:

I wonder if Summit will move Ace and TJ to Hot 98.1? They seem to have a carriage deal with them across multiple markets, they’ve already been on 98.5, then 99.5, and 98.1 doesn’t have a morning show right now. A move like that would go well if a shift to mainstream CHR happened. I just looked at the CHR chart on Mediabase and actually, 98.1 is really playing everything in the top 10 on mainstream CHR right now (except for #10, Ed Sheeran’s “Eyes Closed” which is soaring up the chart, they should add it). Who knows, could there be changes at Hot and 99.5 just flipped to take some potentially upset listeners that could go to The Block?
 
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Terrible choice, IMO...
So maybe something new in store
soon for 98.1 or the Block....

Seems that there is already enough Urban format in the market, but no classic/throwbacks format (similar to The Block WXBK in NYC) so hopefully something else happens soon we'll see how long it lasts.
 
101tm said:
I don’t know how well The Block would do as an urban AC getting even closer to Jamz. Jamz has a clear signal advantage. I think
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Remember, most of the Black measurement is in the HDBA area, and the signal is OK there.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Remember, most of the Black measurement is in the HDBA area, and the signal is OK there.
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Good point. Sort of why country on a signal that doesn’t cover more suburban or rural areas wouldn’t be a big success I’d think.
I don’t think there’s anything Summit can do to put the Streetz format on a translator in Spartanburg due to translator rules for commercial stations, Spartanburg is barely entirely inside WJMZ’s 60dbu so the best you can get is a signal like the 94.1 translator for Hot, which isn’t that much of a Spartanburg signal.

Comparing Hot 98.1 to sister station Hot 104.5/WKHT in Knoxville, WKHT seems more hip hop/rhythmic focused than WHZT these days which seems “safer”
 
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A translator can rebroadcast a translator, they can daisy chain the signal to get there or rebroadcast an HD. And don't forget, they already 94.1 sitting there rebroadcasting 98.1 who recently changed city of license to move closer.
 
Well I enjoyed the 80's format on Awesome 99.5 so sorry to see it go. And in Spartanburg you can also receive Urban choices from Charlotte, on Power 98, V-101.9, and 105.3 so plenty of choices here.
 
The Beat said:
A translator can rebroadcast a translator, they can daisy chain the signal to get there or rebroadcast an HD. And don't forget, they already 94.1 sitting there rebroadcasting 98.1 who recently changed city of license to move closer.
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I thought a translator (unless it was non-comm) when it relays a signal be it main or HD channels its primary coverage had to be inside the 60dbu of the main station. That’s why 94.1 was never able to move further east since its contour can’t exceed that of parent station WJMZ-HD4? It’s on the 103.3 tower NE of Greer and isn’t really a Spartanburg signal.

Cox changed the COL years ago but they let the CP expire a decade ago.
 
The imaging and playlist is on point!!!! Perfect sister station for 107.3 JAMZ. Definitely more urban hip hop flare compared to the sound of HOT 98.1, which also is a great Rhythmic station in my opinion. I’m sure DeDe in the Mornings could be the new morning show.
 
I’m not that familiar with urban stations and not a huge hip hop listener, but I switched between 96.3 and 99.5 a lot today and The Block seems like an older leaning station compared to Streetz. Way more “throwbacks” to the 90s on The Block, more R&B on the Block and I’ve personally heard way more of what The Block plays, both new and especially throwback. Most of Streetz’s playlist I’m not very familiar with unless I’ve heard it on 93.7 or 98.1. Streetz does have fresh, solid imaging and it seems a lot more modern and targeted to a younger audience.

I’m interested to see what this does, since The Block has fallen from a 2 and a half share to less than a 1 now. I don’t think The Block will flip, but I’d be surprised if they don’t make any changes…not just because of Streetz, but just looking at the numbers and steady decline.
 
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