Boomin' Cities

[evnlee]

I have lived in Atlanta, for close to 25 years now, but I still do not consider myself a 'native'.

The population has tripled since I moved here!

Yet, in the last 6 years, I have met numerous people that have relocated here from everywhere. It got me to pondering.... If I had moved here 5-6 years ago, I may not 'care' too much about 'Heritage stations' and the like.

Do the recent flips reflect a changing metropolis, or rather, the misguided programming decisions of a handful of people out of touch with the market's desires?

 

[Dano_Murf]

One additional thing to consider though is that the flips are happening on a wider, national scale in the past several weeks/months it appears. That to me would steer more towards corporate change, and away from the 'changing metropolis' idea.

 

[taylorengineer]

From a marketing standpoint.....what says "Rock Music" any more clearly than "96 Rock?"
The formatics could have been tinkered with while the product identification remained the same. You can change practically anything about the product....as long as it was some variation of rock and roll.
Why would you give up such a clear product ID?

 

[evnlee]

From a marketing standpoint.....what says "Rock Music" any more clearly than "96 Rock?"
The formatics could have been tinkered with while the product identification remained the same. You can change practically anything about the product....as long as it was some variation of rock and roll.
Why would you give up such a clear product ID?

I guess my point was, for people who were relatively new to Atlanta, the 'clear product ID' really doesn't mean as much. Does it matter if 'Rock' is not in the name? Would it have been palatable if it was called 'project 9 6 Rock'?

Okay, 96 Rock was a great Heritage station. But, for the recent arrivals, who cares?

It seems no amount of 'Rock Marketing' was helping the ailing 96. Let's face it, it was bad.

 

[middlega]

Why would you give up such a clear product ID?

The most obvious reason would be if there were negatives associated with the identity.

And there were certainly some negative stereotypes (fair or not) associated with 96 Rock.

Same thing was true with the Peach identity, which I understand struggled for years trying to shed the remnants of the "elevator music" association before finally making a change.

 

[wld3]

my $0.02 as a recent transplant (4 yrs) who doesn't work in radio or even know a soul in the industry:

I think some radio folks live in a bubble. This board has some interesting commentary, but it really seems some here project a lot of 'radio insider' thought to the community at large when it really doesn't apply. I don't know anyone who cares about 'heritage' stations and things like that. I see it on this board, and guess what? That's it. A buddy and I sat in his car in the parking lot to hear the 96.1 flip. Not because we liked 96.1 (we both associated it with rednecks & NASCAR -- fair or not, that was its image among a lot of us), but because we'd never heard a radio station flip formats. We for the most part don't care about 'imaging,' 'branding' or any of that stuff. We wake up to the radio and we listen in our cars. We don't know call letters, nor do we care. We're not loyal to stations or DJs, though we certainly have a few we particularly enjoy. I will scan the dial as soon as I hear a Foo Fighters song or a Boston song or something else I hate. And while I prefer local DJs myself, is it really going to affect whether or not I listen? Probably not. If you don't entertain me NOW, you lose me to whoever does for the next few minutes. And that may be any one of the dozen stations on my presets. I don't envy those of you who work in it. It seems like a very tough biz.

 

[RandomGuy6]

Do the recent flips reflect a changing metropolis, or rather, the misguided programming decisions of a handful of people out of touch with the market's desires?

Rather a handful of corporations out of touch with what it means to entertain people, making decisions on a nationwide scale regardless of geography. I've been in this business for all of my adult lfe, and it's no longer about the product. And personally, I think that really sucks.

 

[Sorcha]

non-native who has lived in Atlanta for 26 years

I have been reading these boards for a couple of years, I am not in the radio business, just love to listen to the radio. It has been very interesting to get the "inside view" of how radio works. I don't understand the thought process of "Hertiage" radio. 96 Rock was not working, I stopped listening when TRG started, they just didn't impress me. I felt it was a good move to fire them the first time, and was again turned off when they came back. I removed the preset since I found I didn't use it.

I work in Doraville and live in Griffin, I spend a lot of time as a radio listener. I have 12 fm and 3 am presets, and I use them. I don't want to hear the same song during my commutt, give me variety. I need the news and traffic updates, and not just northside of town traffic, would it kill the traffic team to update me on highway 675 and highway 75 south of Hudson Bridge Road? I am sure there are a lot of folks how have similar commutts, maybe not the same directions, but Atlanta is more than just Cobb, Alpharetta and Gwinnett, and it is still growing. I'd stick with one station if it gave me variety, news and lots of traffic. But then again, what do I know, I just listen....