B98.5

[Radio Love]

B98.5 FM has been sounding really good to me lately. I listen to many different stations and formats, and just love good radio. I don't care about the format or music style. It's special when a radio station can actually make me "feel good" with their sound and musical presentation, no matter the format. When I listened yesterday about 3pm, they played non-stop, upbeat "soft rock" music that included George Benson, Madonna, and Kelly Clarkson. This station amazes me with it's theme weekends also. Whenever I need a change of pace, I find B98.5 FM to be refreshing. Also, I checked out Steve and Vicky for the first time recently and enjoyed. I will be listening to this station more often when I need a change of pace, or when I just need to hear something different.

To those of you more familiar with this station and format....do they run a tight playlist or is it a deeper, broader playlist with lots of variety? Have they shifted their sound recently to sound less "sleepy" and more upbeat? They kind of remind me of the "MOVIN" format or "DANCE" format ATL never had. Whatever there doing...I like it.....non-stop, upbeat musical favorites.

 

[jabba17]

B98.5 FM has been sounding really good to me lately. I listen to many different stations and formats, and just love good radio. I don't care about the format or music style. It's special when a radio station can actually make me "feel good" with their sound and musical presentation, no matter the format. When I listened yesterday about 3pm, they played non-stop, upbeat "soft rock" music that included George Benson, Madonna, and Kelly Clarkson. This station amazes me with it's theme weekends also. Whenever I need a change of pace, I find B98.5 FM to be refreshing. Also, I checked out Steve and Vicky for the first time recently and enjoyed. I will be listening to this station more often when I need a change of pace, or when I just need to hear something different.

To those of you more familiar with this station and format....do they run a tight playlist or is it a deeper, broader playlist with lots of variety? Have they shifted their sound recently to sound less "sleepy" and more upbeat? They kind of remind me of the "MOVIN" format or "DANCE" format ATL never had. Whatever there doing...I like it.....non-stop, upbeat musical favorites.

I haven't listened to B98 in depth recently, but historically they always seemed to play a LOT of harder (for an AC station) classic AOR cuts, such as Nazareth and Boston.

 

[jal41]

B98.5 has a pretty good music mix, but for all intents and purposes they have not played soft rock in years. Some of the songs they play include No Doubt's "Hella Good", Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping", and Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life" (with crystal meth mentions intact). They have been upbeat for years now, and at one point Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" was in regular AC rotation. They refuse to touch the classic soft rock hits of the 70's (James Taylor, Air Supply, etc - anything they play from that time period is either classic rock or disco). They only play a couple of 60's songs, but general refuse to touch that time period. They are heavy on the 80's and 90's, and play every single Kelly Clarkson song that has been successful (Including all five songs from her "Breakaway" album - including "Since U Been Gone" and "Walk Away", songs most AC's won't touch). The station is often ID'ed as a hot AC occasionally due to the upbeat mix, and on several occasions it has been rumored they might flip to hot AC outright (although that probably won't happen for a while).

They run a tight 325 or so song playlist with a predicable clock that has not had major changes in years (1970-2002, 1970-2002, 2002-2006 or 2006-2008, 1970-2002, 1970-2002, 2002-2006 or 2006-2008, and if time allows another one or two 1970-2002). Exceptions are Steve and Vikki 5-9AM and Delilah 7 PM -12 AM. The theme weekends started last year after 94.9 went country. Currents have to go through an intense litmus test before they are added (something that needs to change...Cox needs to take risks occasionally).

Speaking of which...the fall playlist is late. They should have had it in before they started their money contest (a copy of the River's contest...a long throw away from $12 million they were offering a few years back).

 

[RoddyFreeman]

They refuse to touch the classic soft rock hits of the 70's (James Taylor, Air Supply, etc

I'm guessing the reason for that is The River. As far as the $12 million, they said it was up for grabs, but I doubt they ever gave it away. That contest was virtually impossible to win.

The $1,000 is for real and for that reason, I think it's a better contest.

 

[jal41]

They refuse to touch the classic soft rock hits of the 70's (James Taylor, Air Supply, etc

I'm guessing the reason for that is The River. As far as the $12 million, they said it was up for grabs, but I doubt they ever gave it away. That contest was virtually impossible to win.

The $1,000 is for real and for that reason, I think it's a better contest.

The insurance company involved obviously didn't want to pay out a prize, so they made the station use a keypad combination system that probably was rigged so that it wouldn't open the "safe" regardless of the combination.

As for the River...B98.5 has never played those artists even prior to the River. They might have in the 80's or early 90's, but not in the past 10 years or so. The River and B98.5 have a lot of overlap. The same Elton John and Fleetwood Mac songs play on both stations. I have noticed several songs, like Bryan Adam's "Summer of '69", Boston's "More Than A Feeling",and John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" play on both stations within minutes of each other. You might want to take a look at the playlists of both stations and see for yourself.

If Cox was smart...they would strategicly reposition the River and B98.5 appropriately to not overlap (River 60's, 70's and early 80's, B98.5 late 80's, 90's, and 00's).

Or...if 106.7 does very well with PPM and the River starts hurting, Cox flips 97.1 to classic AC (like the old 94.9 sans newer material) and B98.5 to hot AC. Of course...Cox is not dumb, so what they are doing right now obvious works. But the PPM train has left the station and is soon to be at it's first stop.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

B98.5 FM has been sounding really good to me lately. I listen to many different stations and formats, and just love good radio. I don't care about the format or music style. It's special when a radio station can actually make me "feel good" with their sound and musical presentation, no matter the format. When I listened yesterday about 3pm, they played non-stop, upbeat "soft rock" music that included George Benson, Madonna, and Kelly Clarkson. This station amazes me with it's theme weekends also. Whenever I need a change of pace, I find B98.5 FM to be refreshing. Also, I checked out Steve and Vicky for the first time recently and enjoyed. I will be listening to this station more often when I need a change of pace, or when I just need to hear something different.

To those of you more familiar with this station and format....do they run a tight playlist or is it a deeper, broader playlist with lots of variety? Have they shifted their sound recently to sound less "sleepy" and more upbeat? They kind of remind me of the "MOVIN" format or "DANCE" format ATL never had. Whatever there doing...I like it.....non-stop, upbeat musical favorites.

I haven't listened to B98 in depth recently, but historically they always seemed to play a LOT of harder (for an AC station) classic AOR cuts, such as Nazareth and Boston.

Nazareth, now you're talking!

 

[RoddyFreeman]

If Cox was smart...they would strategicly reposition the River and B98.5 appropriately to not overlap (River 60's, 70's and early 80's, B98.5 late 80's, 90's, and 00's).

Why would Cox reposition The River and B98.5 when both stations are doing great? A lot of stations would love to have their ratings and their profits. And I bet both Jordan Graye and Kate McCarthy would agree with me.

I'd better stop posting or RTibbs will never catch up with me.

 

[Kabrich]

If Cox was smart...they would strategicly reposition the River and B98.5 appropriately to not overlap (River 60's, 70's and early 80's, B98.5 late 80's, 90's, and 00's).

Or...if 106.7 does very well with PPM and the River starts hurting, Cox flips 97.1 to classic AC (like the old 94.9 sans newer material) and B98.5 to hot AC. Of course...Cox is not dumb, so what they are doing right now obvious works. But the PPM train has left the station and is soon to be at it's first stop.

Your comments are so comical and clueless, thanks for constantly giving me a laugh when I read them.

The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic Male 25-54 FM Station in the market in the Summer book, while WSB-FM is the #1 Non-Ethnic Female 25-54 Station in the book (Ethnic WVEE leads both on the Urban Side - which isn't surprising). Furthermore The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic 25-54 FM Station in the market and B98 is the #2 Non-Ethnic 25-54 Station in the market.

With those kind of numbers, for you to say Cox isn't smart is JUST FRICKEN HILLARIOUS!

As for the PPM comment, clearly you are out of it there as well as its very likely that B98 or The River could be the #1 Station 12+ overall when the PPM's numbers roll in.

 

[jabba17]

If Cox was smart...they would strategicly reposition the River and B98.5 appropriately to not overlap (River 60's, 70's and early 80's, B98.5 late 80's, 90's, and 00's).

Or...if 106.7 does very well with PPM and the River starts hurting, Cox flips 97.1 to classic AC (like the old 94.9 sans newer material) and B98.5 to hot AC. Of course...Cox is not dumb, so what they are doing right now obvious works. But the PPM train has left the station and is soon to be at it's first stop.

Your comments are so comical and clueless, thanks for constantly giving me a laugh when I read them.

The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic Male 25-54 FM Station in the market in the Summer book, while WSB-FM is the #1 Non-Ethnic Female 25-54 Station in the book (Ethnic WVEE leads both on the Urban Side - which isn't surprising). Furthermore The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic 25-54 FM Station in the market and B98 is the #2 Non-Ethnic 25-54 Station in the market.

With those kind of numbers, for you to say Cox isn't smart is JUST FRICKEN HILLARIOUS!

As for the PPM comment, clearly you are out of it there as well as its very likely that B98 or The River could be the #1 Station 12+ overall when the PPM's numbers roll in.

Good grief Kabrich...

Anyway, Cox obviously knows what it's doing (otherwise, how in the world would Beat be just a point from outdrawing Star and Q100 combined-WTH?).

I DO wonder if there's some cannibalization between River and B98.5, and maybe B98.5 and Kiss. Still, Cox gets the money somewhere in that trio. OTOH, I wonder if less overlap could cause them to pick up more marginal listeners--say, from True Oldies, Rock 100.5, WJZZ, or WAMJ. You don't want to over-booger with the formats, but are they leaving money on the table? B98.5 lost a little share in this book.

I do also wonder why WSB-AM lost share during the runup to the election. I thought that they would have been on an upswing.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I do also wonder why WSB-AM lost share during the runup to the election. I thought that they would have been on an upswing.

WSB-AM was down by 2 tenths of a (12+) share point. That's pretty insignificant.

Atlanta is a huge urban market, and it's difficult for non-urban formats to get big shares. The Beat's audience is something like 40% African-American, which is one reason for The Beat's high share.

 

[jabba17]

I do also wonder why WSB-AM lost share during the runup to the election. I thought that they would have been on an upswing.

WSB-AM was down by 2 tenths of a (12+) share point. That's pretty insignificant.

Atlanta is a huge urban market, and it's difficult for non-urban formats to get big shares. The Beat's audience is something like 40% African-American, which is one reason for The Beat's high share.

Agreed that .2 is an insignificant drop, but I would have expected about a point+ gain. Heck, even WGST picked up share, and I can guarantee you it wasn't anything outside of Rush or maybe the Braves.

Also agreed on the Beat--but what took them so long? I don't listen to them; did they tweak their format to go after a more churban audience than they had been?

 

[Radio Love]

Quote:

The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic Male 25-54 FM Station in the market in the Summer book, while WSB-FM is the #1 Non-Ethnic Female 25-54 Station in the book (Ethnic WVEE leads both on the Urban Side - which isn't surprising). Furthermore The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic 25-54 FM Station in the market and B98 is the #2 Non-Ethnic 25-54 Station in the market.



This would explain why I feel the same about 97.1 also!!! B98.5 and 97.1 are my two favorite stations to listen to when I get tired of Urban radio. Interesting. As far as "The Beat" they have actually gone more Urban and Hip Hop versus Churban. I enjoy this station also. Big shout out to 102.5 and 107.5 for great radio also.

 

[RAD1]

If Cox was smart...they would strategicly reposition the River and B98.5 appropriately to not overlap (River 60's, 70's and early 80's, B98.5 late 80's, 90's, and 00's).

Or...if 106.7 does very well with PPM and the River starts hurting, Cox flips 97.1 to classic AC (like the old 94.9 sans newer material) and B98.5 to hot AC. Of course...Cox is not dumb, so what they are doing right now obvious works. But the PPM train has left the station and is soon to be at it's first stop.

Hate to agree but it's true, it's all about ratings and revenue. Corporate doesn't care what you or the listeners think or what you want to hear. It's business, there's a model and they stick to it regardless.

Your comments are so comical and clueless, thanks for constantly giving me a laugh when I read them.

The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic Male 25-54 FM Station in the market in the Summer book, while WSB-FM is the #1 Non-Ethnic Female 25-54 Station in the book (Ethnic WVEE leads both on the Urban Side - which isn't surprising). Furthermore The River is the #1 Non-Ethnic 25-54 FM Station in the market and B98 is the #2 Non-Ethnic 25-54 Station in the market.

With those kind of numbers, for you to say Cox isn't smart is JUST FRICKEN HILLARIOUS!

As for the PPM comment, clearly you are out of it there as well as its very likely that B98 or The River could be the #1 Station 12+ overall when the PPM's numbers roll in.

 

[Tibbs4]

Quote:

"WSB-FM is the #1 Non-Ethnic Female 25-54 Station in the book "


Hate to say this but, how will this affect Stup-- I mean Star 94?

 

[thefirstgenesis]

B98.5 has a pretty good music mix, but for all intents and purposes they have not played soft rock in years. Some of the songs they play include No Doubt's "Hella Good", Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping", and Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life" (with crystal meth mentions intact). They have been upbeat for years now, and at one point Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" was in regular AC rotation. They refuse to touch the classic soft rock hits of the 70's (James Taylor, Air Supply, etc - anything they play from that time period is either classic rock or disco). They only play a couple of 60's songs, but general refuse to touch that time period. They are heavy on the 80's and 90's, and play every single Kelly Clarkson song that has been successful (Including all five songs from her "Breakaway" album - including "Since U Been Gone" and "Walk Away", songs most AC's won't touch). The station is often ID'ed as a hot AC occasionally due to the upbeat mix, and on several occasions it has been rumored they might flip to hot AC outright (although that probably won't happen for a while).

B98.5 is the station in Atlanta that is best at playing music from the 80's, 90's, and today and they should keep it that way. As silly as it is, why do they need to have those 60's songs anyway? I think they should eliminate them because it goes against their main genre or format they are playing which is Hot AC. Whatever 60's songs they play, Arethra's "Natural Woman" (Funny how this song gets played on occasion on a given workday at 6:56 P.M.) and the Righteous Brothers "Unchained Melody", those songs DO NOT qualify as Hot AC, and it's stupid hearing those songs on that station. Do they want to become the next "True Oldies"? Honestly.