My whole thing is this- A 50 year old isnt going to get up one day and suddenly say that they are just no going to listen to B98.5 anymore, and are suddenly going to switch to Atlanta's Greatest Hits. They is what most people think. Just like if I am a 35 yr old woman (which, Thank the lord I'm not) I am not going to suddenly stop listening to Q100 and start listening to B. That doesn't make sense. I find it hard to believe that folks really want this: "If you really want the 70s, then you'll just have to listen to a different station- Sucks to be You!" That makes no sense.
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B98.5 goes hot AC
- Thread starter jal41
- Start date
If WSB wants to go HAC, why not make it like 'PLJ or WDVD in Detroit? They sound great, and always have.
iHeartRadio- 96.3 WDVD (Detroit's best hits without the rap)
iHeartRadio- 96.3 WDVD (Detroit's best hits without the rap)
Hot AC doesn't play "P. Y. T." by Michael Jackson, "Our House" by Madness, "1999" by Prince, or "Baby I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain
At this point, B98.5 is not Hot AC
At this point, B98.5 is not Hot AC
Judging by the sweepers saying "Remembering the 80s all Memorial Day weekend long," I suspect many of those 80s titles are specialty spikes for this weekend.
I agree that merely playing a song at #22 on the AC chart doesn't mean B98.5 should immediately be shipped to the HAC panel...but frankly, whether B is on the AC or HAC panel is a somewhat immaterial matter of technicality. You could make a case for both, much like the "Is it CHR? Is it Hot AC?" debates held about Star 94 for many years. If they're deliberately scheduling long sweeps that sound eerily interchangeable with Star 94 and adding sonically edgy songs like Rihanna and Foster The People, they're ditching their "safe for office listening" reputation and having an identity crisis, regardless of their reporting panel.
...and as I write this, I'm having another B98.5 WTF moment (I should trademark that). They're not playing the original version of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" like Star 94 and Q100. Instead, they're playing the more produced CHR remix. Again, I know AC has evolved, but does anyone else think they're stretching a bit? And the next song is "U + Ur Hand" by Pink. Seriously, guys? (ETA: following "U + Ur Hand," we got another 80s weekend spike..."Dance Hall Days" by Wang Chung." Trainwreck segue.)
I agree that merely playing a song at #22 on the AC chart doesn't mean B98.5 should immediately be shipped to the HAC panel...but frankly, whether B is on the AC or HAC panel is a somewhat immaterial matter of technicality. You could make a case for both, much like the "Is it CHR? Is it Hot AC?" debates held about Star 94 for many years. If they're deliberately scheduling long sweeps that sound eerily interchangeable with Star 94 and adding sonically edgy songs like Rihanna and Foster The People, they're ditching their "safe for office listening" reputation and having an identity crisis, regardless of their reporting panel.
...and as I write this, I'm having another B98.5 WTF moment (I should trademark that). They're not playing the original version of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" like Star 94 and Q100. Instead, they're playing the more produced CHR remix. Again, I know AC has evolved, but does anyone else think they're stretching a bit? And the next song is "U + Ur Hand" by Pink. Seriously, guys? (ETA: following "U + Ur Hand," we got another 80s weekend spike..."Dance Hall Days" by Wang Chung." Trainwreck segue.)
wpb1999 said:
What you're saying (I think) is that all stations age with their listeners, and that's definitely not true - that would mean that 20 years from now Q100 will have shifted its target to 35-54, and that all CHRs now will be ACs 25 years from now
I think that there are stations that have aged with their listeners (Star 94, WSTW/Wilmington, WZPL/Indianapolis, Q102/Cincinnati, etc.), but there are plenty of stations that clearly have a completely different generation of listeners now than they did 25 years ago (Kiss 108/Boston, Z100/New York, WNOK/Columbia SC, etc.)
B98.5 is still an AC station, whereas Star 94 has been a Hot AC station for well over a decade, even if it took the slowpokes at Mediabase several years to move that station to the proper format.
The two obvious reasons why B98.5 is still an AC station are the fact that they've played 'Stronger' 39 times in the past week, which is somewhat high for an AC station, as opposed to tons of Hot ACs which are playing it a lot more--anywhere from 60-75+ spins per week.
It's also on track to be the #1 Hot AC single of the year, and has certainly become the biggest top 40 single of Kelly's career.
The second reason is the lack of really hard rock on B98.5; Hot ACs such as my hometown Hot AC (KBIG/Los Angeles) play tons of rock from the likes of Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, AC/DC, Springsteen & Def Leppard just to name a few, and there are undoubtedly tons of Hot ACs out there which do likewise, and I listen to a ton of them.
Hot AC & AC do share tons of listeners in market after market, and especially the ultra-important adults 25-54 and women 25-54 demos. and have since the AC format exploded nationally in 1982 thanks to Jhani Kaye here at KOST.
Furthermore, Hot AC started to take off in the late eighties & early nineties as top 40 radio fell apart, and 100+ stations bailed out of the format, including top 40 powerhouses such as WNCI & WZPL, in order to hold on to their adult listeners, and especially women & their kids.
The rise of Hot AC, AC, Country, Classic Rock & Smooth Jazz stations starting in 1987-88 all came at the expense of top 40 radio, for which the nineties were an unmitigated disaster.
By1992, not only was Hot AC the hottest format out there thanks to newly-launched stations such as KYSR, KFMB & KHMX and many other burgeoning powerhouses-to-be, but Country became the most listened-to format in the country, and it's been there ever since save for a brief drop to second place behind News-Talk in 2008/09.
If Atlanta does get a Classic Hits station, there's no doubt in my mind that it will do extremely well and pull solid 25-54 numbers, since it appears to me you've got everything else radio-wise which can make money and draw satisfactory numbers of listeners, even if that means a 'rimshot' or two to cover the market.
The two obvious reasons why B98.5 is still an AC station are the fact that they've played 'Stronger' 39 times in the past week, which is somewhat high for an AC station, as opposed to tons of Hot ACs which are playing it a lot more--anywhere from 60-75+ spins per week.
It's also on track to be the #1 Hot AC single of the year, and has certainly become the biggest top 40 single of Kelly's career.
The second reason is the lack of really hard rock on B98.5; Hot ACs such as my hometown Hot AC (KBIG/Los Angeles) play tons of rock from the likes of Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, Foreigner, AC/DC, Springsteen & Def Leppard just to name a few, and there are undoubtedly tons of Hot ACs out there which do likewise, and I listen to a ton of them.
Hot AC & AC do share tons of listeners in market after market, and especially the ultra-important adults 25-54 and women 25-54 demos. and have since the AC format exploded nationally in 1982 thanks to Jhani Kaye here at KOST.
Furthermore, Hot AC started to take off in the late eighties & early nineties as top 40 radio fell apart, and 100+ stations bailed out of the format, including top 40 powerhouses such as WNCI & WZPL, in order to hold on to their adult listeners, and especially women & their kids.
The rise of Hot AC, AC, Country, Classic Rock & Smooth Jazz stations starting in 1987-88 all came at the expense of top 40 radio, for which the nineties were an unmitigated disaster.
By1992, not only was Hot AC the hottest format out there thanks to newly-launched stations such as KYSR, KFMB & KHMX and many other burgeoning powerhouses-to-be, but Country became the most listened-to format in the country, and it's been there ever since save for a brief drop to second place behind News-Talk in 2008/09.
If Atlanta does get a Classic Hits station, there's no doubt in my mind that it will do extremely well and pull solid 25-54 numbers, since it appears to me you've got everything else radio-wise which can make money and draw satisfactory numbers of listeners, even if that means a 'rimshot' or two to cover the market.
I'm not enoying this New B. How do you from 80's gold to Katy Perry......without
putting commercials between them?
B's core audience seems to have always been 25-45......now to turn their back on them and
go 18-30 seems strange.
"B-98 the most listened to station........WHILE YOU GO TO COLLEGE"
Not sure the "while at work" folks will go along with that one.
putting commercials between them?
B's core audience seems to have always been 25-45......now to turn their back on them and
go 18-30 seems strange.
"B-98 the most listened to station........WHILE YOU GO TO COLLEGE"
Not sure the "while at work" folks will go along with that one.
gregg75 said:
Here's the thing, I think that B could be doing something right. Look at the way most bands/artists get exposure. Social networking, mass appeal TV shows, movies and even TV commercials can launch bands and artists on to the world stage. These media products/devices are consumed by a broad range of people across all age demographics.
Smart programmers/media companies have probably come to the realization that the (music/media) taste of the average 35-40 something woman is vastly different from where it was, say 5 years ago, because of their social media experience.
The 80s stuff just sounds so out of place...here's a sample half hour:
Maroon 5 - Harder To Breathe
Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
Taio Cruz f/ Ludacris - Break Your Heart
Cranberries - Dreams
Nickelback - Someday
Adele - Rolling In The Deep
Prince - Purple Rain
Katy Perry - Part Of Me
Again, though, this is essentially what 107.9/The Link is doing in Charlotte, and their ratings, like B's, are extremely strong
I did hear a guy call in to B today, probably in his 40s, literally begging them to play something 80s (as if he couldn't take all the new music)
Maroon 5 - Harder To Breathe
Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
Taio Cruz f/ Ludacris - Break Your Heart
Cranberries - Dreams
Nickelback - Someday
Adele - Rolling In The Deep
Prince - Purple Rain
Katy Perry - Part Of Me
Again, though, this is essentially what 107.9/The Link is doing in Charlotte, and their ratings, like B's, are extremely strong
I did hear a guy call in to B today, probably in his 40s, literally begging them to play something 80s (as if he couldn't take all the new music)
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