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B98.5

C

carolinaradio

Caught B98.5 well early Thursday and listened for a while.

Why on earth are they playing Daughtry's "It's Not Over" and not Rob Thomas' "Her Diamonds", Matt Nathanson "Come on Get Higher", Miley Cyrus "The Climb (wait, thank God almost), Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me?" I looked back and they are nowhere to be found. Exactly what is their programming strategy? I knew they were odd but after seeing this, they are really crazy. Most AC's are wearing all of those out....what could be B's objection to them? I mean....play a Daughtry song that is barely doing anything on the AC chart but nothing from the top 5?

???
 
Something is going on with B98.5 and River. It seems like much of B98.5's gold has been removed from the playlist and moved over to River. Are they trying to freshen B98.5 to better compete with 94/Q (but do they really want to enter that fray?), and expand River's playlist (and I use the term "expand" loosely) to include more Top 40 (vs. AOR) classic hits to compete with True Oldies?

I don't like where B98.5 has gone; it's not bad, just not my cup of tea. But adding top 40 oldies to River just doesn't make sense, unless Cox thinks that Rock 100.5 has added so much new stuff to the point where classic rock fans won't switch to them, thinking that River is the only classic rock game in town.

I personally like the mix of top 40 and AOR oldies, but I can't see it being popular with the set-it-and-forget-it crowd versus button-pushing music geeks like me. Cume vs. TSL again...

At some point, something's going to have to give between Q100 and Star 94, particularly if Groove and a more CHR B98.5 bleed off many of their older listeners.
 
A current check of yes.com has Daughtry as their # 1. 3, 6 and 8th most played songs. Daughtry is to B98.5 as Rob Thomas is to Q100. Throw in a David Cook song at no. 5 and they are practically an American Idol dream. They used to have Kelly Clarkson in heavy rotation, top 10 type spins for them. She still has 5 songs on their top 100.
 
Barenaked Ladies on B? They almost seem more like a variety hits than AC station.

If you took No Surprise out, they look like an AC in 2008.

Just exactly what is their objection to the top 5 songs on the AC chart? I'm just failing to see the logic (if there is any) to playing a song way behind in the AC chart but nothing in the top 5.
 
Not sure if this is a change that's entirely motivated by Cox people, though. Clear Channel seems to be going through the same kind of transformation on its AC stations, where brighter, more upbeat music is featured prominently on Premium Choice stations. Magic 96 in Birmingham is one noticeable example.
 
Seems that nobody feels that they can compete with B 98.5, so they don't.
 
B98.5 only updates its playlist twice a year, which is why Taylor Swift and that recent Rob Thomas song is not on the playlist yet. They should be updating soon and I'm certain "You Belong With Me" and "Her Diamonds' will make the cut.
 
There's no reason why "Love Story" shouldn't have made the cut during the last round. And that B98.5 updates its playlist twice a year is frankly absurd. Cox is overly conversative musically with all of their stations, not just WSB...but this is a whole different level of ridiculous. Do they think people aren't hearing about Taylor Swift and Miley anyway, or that there's no desire to hear their songs until months after they've peaked? Hell, Steve & Vikki probably talk about them during morning drive.

Then I hear EMF's "Unbelievable" on a Saturday afternoon (no, seriously) and it makes even less sense.
 
MsMusicRadio said:
Then why doesn't Atlanta have a second AC?
Click to expand...
People have been asking that since CC flipped 94.9 from Lite to Bull (and that was while Eagle was still at 106.7).

At some point 94/Q need to decide who will be CHR/M and who will be hot AC.
 
MsMusicRadio said:
Then why doesn't Atlanta have a second AC?
Click to expand...

A lot of markets only have one AC. Stations rarely flip to AC these days. When they do it's to a "FRESH FM" type of bright AC that does little or no damage to the heritage AC.
 
TheMusicMan said:
There's no reason why "Love Story" shouldn't have made the cut during the last round. And that B98.5 updates its playlist twice a year is frankly absurd. Cox is overly conversative musically with all of their stations, not just WSB...but this is a whole different level of ridiculous. Do they think people aren't hearing about Taylor Swift and Miley anyway, or that there's no desire to hear their songs until months after they've peaked? Hell, Steve & Vikki probably talk about them during morning drive.

Then I hear EMF's "Unbelievable" on a Saturday afternoon (no, seriously) and it makes even less sense.
Click to expand...

Frickin "Unbelievable." That's a very good word that pretty much sums up B98.5. I assume that they will start changing their playlist sometime during the first or second week of November. And after that, probably Christmas songs.
 
The station must have just rejiggered its playlist for the first time in six months because B98.5 played Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" this morning. Haven't heard Rob Thomas' "Her Diamonds" but "Lonely No More" is on the playlist. In fac, I see no other newly added recurrents on yes.com.
 
The station must have just rejiggered its playlist for the first time in six months because B98.5 played Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" this morning. Haven't heard Rob Thomas' "Her Diamonds" but "Lonely No More" is on the playlist. In fac, I see no other newly added recurrents on yes.com.
Click to expand...

"must have"? "yes.com"? Thank you for relying on such inside information available to you. :D
 
Suggestion: Step back from the microscopic analysis of a playlist. Shifting a library by 50 songs within the AC universe after a music test has very little impact on overall brand strength - especially one that's 20+ years strong like B98.

Shifting categories around on a clock or platooning songs in a library (where 1/2 the songs are burned anyway!) and expecting a ratings impact is like
a restaurant owner moving bad food around on the plate and expecting business to improve - when it's the recipe that needs work.....

or maybe you have a cook in the kitchen when you need a chef.....
 
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