They used to be a strange AC station, but have greatly improved lately; I think B98.5 is how an AC station should sound in 2011. Most of the 80s songs they play are pretty upbeat and they have a pretty good 90s selection. The station has finally started playing most AC currents, as well. I give them a thumbs up. The station debuted an updated playlist today.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
B98.5 in Atlanta
- Thread starter carolinaradio
- Start date
I could go as far and say it's a borderline hot AC station. A lot of the softer titles, though, could prevent it from being one. They have a similar playlist to Little Rock's KURB (coincidentally, also called B98.5).
I think they're just a little ahead of the curve - as hot AC moves more in to 2000s music and totally away from the 80s and a lot of the 90s, I think we'll see AC stations picking up on a lot of the 80s, 90s, and 00s songs that were once more like Hot AC songs. JMOthe golden boy said:
It's getting pretty close to doubling what Star 94's doing (now during the week as well as on weekends) - I'd say one of those two stations has gotta flinch pretty soon
Oh yeah, I forget to mention that AC KMGL/Oklahoma City added Journey's "Any Way You Want It" and Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name" to their playlist somewhere in the summer.
I
imhomerjay
Guest
Which relates to Atlanta......how?
There are other soft rock titles I'd like to see them add, like Bruno Mars "Grenade", Jennifer Lopez "If you had my love, and "Big Pimpin'" by Jay-Z. . ...
Agree...
B98.5 keeps getting better. They've ditched Delilah.
Too bad more AC's don't sound like them. Good mix of upbeat 80s-today, but some slower songs are still thrown in.
Too bad more AC's don't sound like them. Good mix of upbeat 80s-today, but some slower songs are still thrown in.
B98.5 numbers went up a lot after they updated their playlist. Well, it looks they got it. B98.5 just re-invented AC for 2010s. And, I agree that this is what AC stations should sound like in 2010s.
It looks like they totally backed away from the soft 70s/80s artists like Chicago, Elton John, Rod Stewart, and Fleetwood Mac and focused on the upbeat 80s/90s artists like U2, R.E.M., Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Collective Soul.
Based on what B98.5 sounds like, New Order's "Bizzare Love Triangle", "True Faith", and "Blue Monday", Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and Sublime's "Santeria" and "What I Got" would be a perfect fit for their playlist. Aren't they gonna throw in any of those songs as well?
It looks like they totally backed away from the soft 70s/80s artists like Chicago, Elton John, Rod Stewart, and Fleetwood Mac and focused on the upbeat 80s/90s artists like U2, R.E.M., Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Collective Soul.
Based on what B98.5 sounds like, New Order's "Bizzare Love Triangle", "True Faith", and "Blue Monday", Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and Sublime's "Santeria" and "What I Got" would be a perfect fit for their playlist. Aren't they gonna throw in any of those songs as well?
WLIT in Chicago has gone in a similar direction, as well. That station has never really done great, though. B98.5 does still play some slower/sleepier/older songs that Hot AC wouldn't play (such as "Father Figure"), but their approach to the format is interesting, and refreshing IMO. They play some interesting 80s songs that hardly anyone plays, especially in the AC format- even before this direction. Atlanta has a very successful Hot AC with Star 94, so that is likely one reason that they backed away from the artists you mentioned, in order to be better competitive with them.andrewduong77 said:
I think more AC's need to dig further in to the 90s - instead of Shania, Seal, Faith Hill, Paula Cole, Tracy Chapman, Goo Goo Dolls (for crying out loud, they had more hits than "Iris"), Matchbox 20, Edwin McCain, etc. over and over, there's a good bit of other material - Gin Blossoms, Vertical Horizon, Counting Crows (not "Big Yellow Taxi"), Alanis Morrisette, New Radicals, Collective Soul, Semisonic, The Cranberries, etc - I just feel that if the AC format can play rock from the 80s and aggressive recent songs, they could just as well do the same with the 90s.
But that's the very definition of AC.andrewduong77 said:
I don't know these except the Nirvana ones. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is out of the question unless you're hot AC. The other one might work.andrewduong77 said:
That's probably why most AC's still play them today.vchimpanzee said:
I
imhomerjay
Guest
No, it most certainly isn't.vchimpanzee said:
Looks like Cox's WWRM in Tampa has followed the B98.5 template. 80s, 90s, and now is their new slogan.
Not in 2012, no. Maybe in 2002. The AC format has been evolving greatly in the past couple of years, moving away from the 1970s, including more 1980s rock/upbeat tracks, and more current hits. Every format evolves. It has to.imhomerjay said:
Those are all great artists, and I love all of their music - but there will come a time (if it hasn't already for many) on an AC station where they are no longer viable. Rod Stewart has tons of 80s and early 90s material that I still hear frequently, and the other artists had 80s hits as well. I think they will continue to be heard, but not their sleepier or older tracks.
Windows has released XP, Vista, and 7 since 2001 - saying those artists are the idea of what AC should be playing is like saying we should all still be using XP.
It's funny how most AC stations out there that still play 80s/90s songs by Rod Stewart like "Young Turks", "Forever Young", "Downtown Train", "Rhythm Of My Heart", and "Have I Told You Lately" also still play 70s songs by Rod Stewart like "Tonight's The Night", "You're In My Heart", and "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart. Chicago also has tons of 80s like "Will you Still Love Me", "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", and "You're The Inspiration" that many AC out there still play while very, very few AC's out there still play 70s songs by Chicago like "If You Leave Me Now".carolinaradio said:
Most Classic Hits out there already start playing 80s by Rod Stewart like "Young Turks" and "Forever Young" which means it's safe for AC like B98.5 to totally back away from Rod Stewart. Sooner or later when the next decade is close we will hear 90s by Rod Stewart like "Downtown Train", "Rhythm Of My Heart", and "Have I Told You Lately" on Classic Hits.
It looks like B98.5 totally backed away from all Rod Stewart's 70s, 80s, and 90s, and it also looks like B98.5 totally backed away from both Chicago's 70s and 80s. Although they still play some other softer 80s songs like Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over", Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", Breathe's "Hands To Heaven", and Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" once in a while.
When it comes to Toto and Eddie Money, I'm unsure about this. If AC stations are supposed to play 1980-present music. Does that means they should continue to play all Toto and Eddie Money songs or not at all since these artists happens to have hits overlapping the end of the previous decade (late 70s) and the beginning of the next decade (early 80s). I thought it would be wrong to just play "Africa" '82 and "Rosanna" '82 by Toto while leaving out "Hold The Line" '78 by Toto. Same for Eddie Money, I thought it would be wrong to just play "Take Me Home Tonight" '86 by Eddie Money while leaving out "Baby Hold On" '78 and "Two Tickets To Paradise" '78 by Eddie Money.
It looks like most AC's out there by CC, CBS, Entercom, etc. still play a lot of 70s. Hmm... I still see core 70s artists on AC's like James Taylor, The Doobie Brothers, and The Eagles that doesn't have much to do with the 80s (these artists are totally "70s"). Classic Hits have been heavy on these 70s artists over the past decade and they even been a lot heavier on these 70s artists couple years ago and most AC's out the still play James Taylor, The Doobie Brothers, and The Eagles to death. Aren't they gonna leave them to Classic Hits? Even though I didn't listen to radio much back when I was younger, but I heard AC's phased out 60s around the late 90s and that means they should have already phased out 70s around the late 2000s, but they still didn't and it's 2012 already! I still hear "You've Got A Friend" by James Taylor from '71 on AC in 2012 which is a 41 year old song played on AC. This is crazy. I wonder if it's a sign that most AC stations will continue to play 70s until it will fell of the edge of the 25-54 demo along with Classic Hits stations. It looks like both AC and Classic Hits are playing 70s and 80s. Aren't AC stations trying to blur the border between AC and Classic Hits?
AC stations have been taking weird shape of it's own definition over the past years. I see a lot of Hot AC and CHR materials on AC, but I also do see a lot of old and soft materials on AC as well. It looks like that AC stations are trying to blur the border between Hot AC and AC with Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, and Taio Cruz while they're also trying to blur the border between AC and Classic Hits with Louis Armstrong, Ben E. King, The Righteous Brothers, Harry Chapin, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Carly Simon, Seals & Crofts, James Taylor, and The Eagles.
This is probably why Adult Hits stations are declining over the past couple of years because AC now sounds like Adult Hits with Classic Hits-AC-Hot AC All-in-One taking away Adult Hits listeners. No wonder why Adult Hits are declining so much these days because AC's are actually playing Boston, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith uptempo songs as well.
AC stations have been taking weird shape of it's own definition over the past years. I see a lot of Hot AC and CHR materials on AC, but I also do see a lot of old and soft materials on AC as well. It looks like that AC stations are trying to blur the border between Hot AC and AC with Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, and Taio Cruz while they're also trying to blur the border between AC and Classic Hits with Louis Armstrong, Ben E. King, The Righteous Brothers, Harry Chapin, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Carly Simon, Seals & Crofts, James Taylor, and The Eagles.
This is probably why Adult Hits stations are declining over the past couple of years because AC now sounds like Adult Hits with Classic Hits-AC-Hot AC All-in-One taking away Adult Hits listeners. No wonder why Adult Hits are declining so much these days because AC's are actually playing Boston, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith uptempo songs as well.
I guess I should be clearer about 70s music on AC. I don't think it should be actively promoted as part of an AC or featured prominently, but I don't see anything wrong with a track like "Baby Hold On" or "Hold The Line" being in the rotation.
70s music may still be on AC because the 25-54 demographic that the format targets might remember growing up listening to those songs - if not when they were new, they might have heard them when they were younger. Who knows. If they didn't test well, they wouldn't be played. It's just like how "Brown Eyed Girl" still makes it on to some AC stations - it doesn't fit, but it tests well with the 25-54 demo. Until a couple of years ago, it was common for 2-3 70s songs an hour to be heard on most AC's, but now one an hour or every other hour is common, so the era is slowly being de-emphasized. I just think that era has better longevity than the 60s, which had better longevity than the 50s, and so on.
Agree that the AC format has greatly changed. It's such a hodge-podge now and varies so by market. I don't know about others, but Entercom doesn't play much 70s music around here. One every other hour on WSPA. CBS seems to be converting more of its AC's to the 'Fresh' brand (which de-emphasizes the 70s and even 80s, KEZK in St. Louis plays one 70s every other hour, WWFS in NYC plays none), or following that idea. It's not a 'Fresh' station, but I believe KVIL in Dallas follows a similar template. I actually like their concept, despite their low ratings. CBS' WDOK in Cleveland is expect to make a move to 'Fresh' tomorrow, as well. CBS has some of the most aggressive AC stations out there. Their Hot AC's almost sound like CHR. Most, if not all of the Cox AC's have dropped the 70s and taken on more of a B98.5 sound.
IMO, Clear Channel, by far, has some of the 'oldest' and most conservative AC stations. One of several exceptions is WLIT in Chicago, which has a sound similar to B98.5....borderline hot AC.
70s music may still be on AC because the 25-54 demographic that the format targets might remember growing up listening to those songs - if not when they were new, they might have heard them when they were younger. Who knows. If they didn't test well, they wouldn't be played. It's just like how "Brown Eyed Girl" still makes it on to some AC stations - it doesn't fit, but it tests well with the 25-54 demo. Until a couple of years ago, it was common for 2-3 70s songs an hour to be heard on most AC's, but now one an hour or every other hour is common, so the era is slowly being de-emphasized. I just think that era has better longevity than the 60s, which had better longevity than the 50s, and so on.
Agree that the AC format has greatly changed. It's such a hodge-podge now and varies so by market. I don't know about others, but Entercom doesn't play much 70s music around here. One every other hour on WSPA. CBS seems to be converting more of its AC's to the 'Fresh' brand (which de-emphasizes the 70s and even 80s, KEZK in St. Louis plays one 70s every other hour, WWFS in NYC plays none), or following that idea. It's not a 'Fresh' station, but I believe KVIL in Dallas follows a similar template. I actually like their concept, despite their low ratings. CBS' WDOK in Cleveland is expect to make a move to 'Fresh' tomorrow, as well. CBS has some of the most aggressive AC stations out there. Their Hot AC's almost sound like CHR. Most, if not all of the Cox AC's have dropped the 70s and taken on more of a B98.5 sound.
IMO, Clear Channel, by far, has some of the 'oldest' and most conservative AC stations. One of several exceptions is WLIT in Chicago, which has a sound similar to B98.5....borderline hot AC.
- Status