BORING ATLANTA RADIO CONTINUES ON

[jabba17]

On FM allocation, a great chunk of the market's FM stations are "move-ins" in the market like Q100 (100.5), which used to be Anniston, AL but moved to the Atlanta market in 2001. It's also the only on of the move-ins that lucked up on a centralized location for a tower with full market coverage. However, 104.1, 107.9, and 95.5 are all move-in signals as well, but are still only viable to a portion of the market (mainly the locales where the core audience resides). Very few of the market's class C signals were originally assigned to the region, thus a huge market with a plethora of rimshots.

The original class C's on the commercial band are 92.9 (originally WGKA-FM), 94.1 (WGST-FM, WKXI), 94.9 (WAVQ), 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 (WLTA), 101.5 (WBIE-FM), and 103.3 (WPLO-FM).

 

[gregg75]

I think a lot of the dull radio in ATL is because we basically have only one of
everything. If we had 2 or 3 with the same format going after the same audience
it would be a lot more competitive. One station would feed off the other and that
would make for healthier and more enjoyable radio. Stations would no longer be
able to sit on their tush and do as little as they can get by with.

And this is nothing new. The single format dilemma has been in place here for years
although it is very slowly starting to fade.

 

[kilamanjero]

On FM allocation, a great chunk of the market's FM stations are "move-ins" in the market like Q100 (100.5), which used to be Anniston, AL but moved to the Atlanta market in 2001.

I would imagine that Anniston continues to be a thorn in Atlanta's side as several frequencies (95.5, 97.9) are being used there as well, thus preventing some Atlanta stations from having better signals.

Anniston is a thorn in Birmingham's side as well. There are a number of counties in Central Alabama that would collapse into the Birmingham radio market thus propelling it into the top 50 or even the top 40 rankings if it was not for Anniston and Tuscaloosa FM radio stations...

 

[Wildstyle K]

I think a lot of the dull radio in ATL is because we basically have only one of
everything. If we had 2 or 3 with the same format going after the same audience
it would be a lot more competitive. One station would feed off the other and that
would make for healthier and more enjoyable radio. Stations would no longer be
able to sit on their tush and do as little as they can get by with.

And this is nothing new. The single format dilemma has been in place here for years
although it is very slowly starting to fade.

It's been a long time now that I've been thinking of saying almost exactly what was said within the first three sentences there, but just never got around to it! However, I do believe there is somewhat quite a bit of r&b/urban overlapping going on to a degree, especially on Friday & Saturday nights when you have a bunch of stations all playing very mainstream hip hop & r&b hits in the mix (including WHTA on Saturday nights) and also touching on old school r&b. Also, don't forget some of the three or four college/school stations that could be doing more things as well...

 

[jabba17]

I think a lot of the dull radio in ATL is because we basically have only one of
everything. If we had 2 or 3 with the same format going after the same audience
it would be a lot more competitive. One station would feed off the other and that
would make for healthier and more enjoyable radio. Stations would no longer be
able to sit on their tush and do as little as they can get by with.

And this is nothing new. The single format dilemma has been in place here for years
although it is very slowly starting to fade.

Dunno about that...looking at the ratings (and using their format descriptions) we have 3 urbans (V-103 and WHTA and WWVA), 2 urban ACs (Kiss and WAMJ), three news/talkers (750 AM and NOW 95.5 FM WSB, WGST, WGKA), 1 gospel (WPZE) and 2 Christian ACs (Fish and J93), 2 countrys (Bull and Kicks, plus the 3+ rimshots), 2 sportstalkers (Fan and Zone), 2 classic hits (River and AGH), and 2 rockers (Project and Rock100.5, although those stations couldn't be any more different).

Where there is a lack of competition is in the CHR/secular AC space, where you have one CHR/M (Q100), one AC (B98.5), one hot AC (Star), and one AAA (Dave), and no CHR/R.

If anything we have a glut of urban and a glut of classic rock (which is causing poor ratings for all players in the case of classic rock), and redundancy in Christian AC and country.

We could go back to the early 80s, where we had five or six stations fighting for the AC space (94Q as hot AC, Peach as soft AC, Fox as 60s/70s/80s AC, and B98.5, Warm 100/99.7, and Lite 106 as "regular" AC).

The original class C's on the commercial band are 92.9 (originally WGKA-FM), 94.1 (WGST-FM, WKXI), 94.9 (WAVQ), 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 (WLTA), 101.5 (WBIE-FM), and 103.3 (WPLO-FM).

For comparison, the original formats of the above stations were classical, BM, religious (later BM), BM, BM, BM, BM (later country), and country (later AOR), respectively.

 

[secondchoice]

On FM allocation, a great chunk of the market's FM stations are "move-ins" in the market like Q100 (100.5), which used to be Anniston, AL but moved to the Atlanta market in 2001. It's also the only on of the move-ins that lucked up on a centralized location for a tower with full market coverage. However, 104.1, 107.9, and 95.5 are all move-in signals as well, but are still only viable to a portion of the market (mainly the locales where the core audience resides). Very few of the market's class C signals were originally assigned to the region, thus a huge market with a plethora of rimshots.

The original class C's on the commercial band are 92.9 (originally WGKA-FM), 94.1 (WGST-FM, WKXI), 94.9 (WAVQ), 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 (WLTA), 101.5 (WBIE-FM), and 103.3 (WPLO-FM).

Two of the old 8 in town C’s are “1960’s” move-ins. 94.1 had a COL of Smyrna and at on time IIRC was 1550’s FM, and 101.5 WBIE had COL, studios, an AM in downtown Marietta as late as the 1970’s. So really there are only SIX commercial C allocations for Atlanta.

 

[kilamanjero]

I think a lot of the dull radio in ATL is because we basically have only one of
everything. If we had 2 or 3 with the same format going after the same audience
it would be a lot more competitive. One station would feed off the other and that
would make for healthier and more enjoyable radio. Stations would no longer be
able to sit on their tush and do as little as they can get by with.

And this is nothing new. The single format dilemma has been in place here for years
although it is very slowly starting to fade.

It's been a long time now that I've been thinking of saying almost exactly what was said within the first three sentences there, but just never got around to it! However, I do believe there is somewhat quite a bit of r&b/urban overlapping going on to a degree, especially on Friday & Saturday nights when you have a bunch of stations all playing very mainstream hip hop & r&b hits in the mix (including WHTA on Saturday nights) and also touching on old school r&b. Also, don't forget some of the three or four college/school stations that could be doing more things as well...

However, this is a response to the market's and regions' changing demographics. Atlanta has the highest proportion of black inhabitants (percentage-wise) of practically every major metropolitan area (1 million+) in the US with the exception of Memphis. It's a huge urban market and of those consumer at least half of them are professionals with a Bachelors' and large amounts of disposal income, so they are going to cater them. It's not really so much overlap as it's knowing the demographics and the ability is there to support multiple urban-formatted stations.

Now personally speaking, I think there is some oversaturation to a certain extent in Atlanta, but this is still the South, where some formats just doesn't have the sufficient demographic base to support it.

 

[kilamanjero]

I think a lot of the dull radio in ATL is because we basically have only one of
everything. If we had 2 or 3 with the same format going after the same audience
it would be a lot more competitive. One station would feed off the other and that
would make for healthier and more enjoyable radio. Stations would no longer be
able to sit on their tush and do as little as they can get by with.

And this is nothing new. The single format dilemma has been in place here for years
although it is very slowly starting to fade.

Dunno about that...looking at the ratings (and using their format descriptions) we have 3 urbans (V-103 and WHTA and WWVA), 2 urban ACs (Kiss and WAMJ), three news/talkers (750 AM and NOW 95.5 FM WSB, WGST, WGKA), 1 gospel (WPZE) and 2 Christian ACs (Fish and J93), 2 countrys (Bull and Kicks, plus the 3+ rimshots), 2 sportstalkers (Fan and Zone), 2 classic hits (River and AGH), and 2 rockers (Project and Rock100.5, although those stations couldn't be any more different).

Where there is a lack of competition is in the CHR/secular AC space, where you have one CHR/M (Q100), one AC (B98.5), one hot AC (Star), and one AAA (Dave), and no CHR/R.

If anything we have a glut of urban and a glut of classic rock (which is causing poor ratings for all players in the case of classic rock), and redundancy in Christian AC and country.

We could go back to the early 80s, where we had five or six stations fighting for the AC space (94Q as hot AC, Peach as soft AC, Fox as 60s/70s/80s AC, and B98.5, Warm 100/99.7, and Lite 106 as "regular" AC).

The original class C's on the commercial band are 92.9 (originally WGKA-FM), 94.1 (WGST-FM, WKXI), 94.9 (WAVQ), 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 (WLTA), 101.5 (WBIE-FM), and 103.3 (WPLO-FM).

For comparison, the original formats of the above stations were classical, BM, religious (later BM), BM, BM, BM, BM (later country), and country (later AOR), respectively.

I was told to never trust the format descriptions on the ratings page of this website. WWVA/WWLG is actually a CHR/Rhythmic rather than urban as listed.

 

[kal30005]

I think a lot of the dull radio in ATL is because we basically have only one of
everything. If we had 2 or 3 with the same format going after the same audience
it would be a lot more competitive.

I disagree with this statement to an extent. In most more mid-size markets you have traditionally had multiple stations with almost exactly the same traditional format competing head-to-head.

For as long as I've been here, Atlanta has always had stations that are maybe a little more specialized and try to find a niche around the traditional formats instead of going head to head. Relatively few of the stations in Atlanta have ever really fit into the traditional radio format molds. Many of them are almost niched between formats and in many ways, I think that makes Atlanta radio unique.

One area I think Atlanta has always been ahead of the curve is in the Urban and R&B area. And it's been that way for a long time. Atlanta has always had several strong competitors where most markets have 1 or 2. And for that reason, I think the CHR stations have leaned away from that sound.

Some people might disagree with how I classify them, but I think Star 94 has always basically been a CHR, but has always leaned away from anything that even resembles rap and hip-hop. It's really almost always been between Hot AC and CHR. Whereas Q100 has probably been closer to a traditional CHR that most markets have, but even they seem to shy away from the rap and hip-hop and lean maybe more toward dance. And then Beat/Wild has covered more of the stuff between the traditional CHR and more urban stations. But all 3 stations cover stuff traditional CHR stations are playing, but they are all somewhat unique and really don't compete head-to-head.

Same with alternative music. Most cities have one station that plays kind of a generic alternative format where Atlanta has 99X which is probably closest to the mainstream, Project which is much more aggressive and Dave which is kind of a hybrid between AAA and Indie.

The point being I think what kind of makes radio in Atlanta unique is that instead of stations going head to head here and then the losers changing formats every year or so and jumping on the latest format trend (Jack, Movin'), that stations in Atlanta seem to try and find a niche that will last for a while. It doesn't necessarily make for the most exciting radio, but I think that for the most part, the radio market here is more stable than other cities.

 

[kal30005]

Sorry. This posted twice.

 

[gregg75]

The "Urban" format is probably the most diverse in ATL and there is some overlap there. Nobody really does what V-103 does. WWVA & WHTA are similar to each other, but not quite the same format & music. KISS & WAMJ are quite similar (but they are mostly oldies).

The country and rock stations in town, isn't one station more into oldies and the other more current?
I wouldn't call that the exact same format.

Sports and talk stations.....I don't think they feed off of each other.....like a music format does.

So I restate my case. We basically have one of everything and most just sit on their tush all the time and do as little as they can get by with. BOORING BOORING BOORING

 

[trusty]

One man's stability is another man's boredom. Lest we not forget a just few years ago - everybody was ticked off at Clear Channel's shaking things around; may have been ugly (and embarrassing), but certainly not boring.

Wanna go back?

 

[Wildstyle K]

I can't see WWVA and WHTA being described as "similar". The way I see it is WHTA is somewhat similar to WVEE, which is somewhat similar to WAMJ - in SOME ways. Then, you could also say WVEE is somewhat similar to WAMJ, which is somewhat similar to WALR. However, WHTA and WALR are nothing alike! That's what I mean by "some overlapping", although the formats overall are different. I guess you could say WWWQ and WWVA are similar, but I do see certain things between the two that make them both distinctly different from each other. I haven't researched the rock / alternative based stations enough to see how much overlapping is going on there, but I'm sure there's got to be some level of it going on there as well. So bottom line is it seems like the rock and urban ends of the spectrum are fully covered.

ANOTHER THING:
Although what I'm about to say next may not help or matter when it comes to radio, revenue and business-wise, I will admit that another reason I've always "pushed for", or desired a "traditional" top 40 sound IN Atl is because of the fact that I knew many people who were strongly (racially) biased and heavily closed minded to other forms of music - because their station only fed them ONE type of sound, and therefore, they genuinely believed nothing else was "cool" or acceptable. Maybe this was quite a bit of years ago and those high school days are long gone, but then you have adults in their 30's & 40's who still cannot abandon the idea that "If such and such doesn't play it/if it doesn't fit my ethnicity, then nobody should like it". I always figured that a traditional chr playing... well, things mixed up with other things, or even a main rhythmic/urban leaning sound with other things sprinkled in, it may open up more minds when people (mainly younger and even some full grown adults) realize there are "other things" out there - and yes they CAN be played together. I'm not going to get deep into past experiences I had during childhood in Atlanta, but I will say that this thing where most of the stations focus heavily/primarily on one sound & one ethnicity only encourages & fuels more people to subconsciously, but truly believe that certain sounds "belong to" certain ethnicities (and if you have a chr leaning mostly alternative and excluding a lot of middle of the road & urban material, most of the "kids / youngsters" who are "hip hop veterans" or heavily in urban music will literally think "that top 40 station... I shouldn't listen to it because it doesn't play 'my music'" or "..it doesn't play what I'm supposed to listen to"). Having a rhythmic chr, or having more than one chr available on the other hand, may open minds and introduce new things to folks who may love & appreciate it - especially if the difference between that chr & urban format aren't so vastly different that people feel it's appropriate to define the station/genre by race, or call it "(insert race here) music". At least, that's exactly how it was during my high school years in Atl....

Just looking at the overall topic at hand from a little bit of a different aspect.
It may not mean anything when it comes to bringing in revenue, but it surely does subconsciously keep minds closed & divided, which someone else has also brought up here once in the past...

 

[trusty]

We are beating a dead horse. The "powers that be" are too afraid to put life into their stations. It's the same thing over & over until the life is squeezed out of it. Micro-management and sterilized programming causes boredom - and death.

You want something different? How about Elton John doing "Whole Lotta Shakin'...", or a blend of Steely Dan & Michael Jackson and Ray Charles and Queen (or whatever), or announcements being read over Funk Brothers, or all sorts of live concerts with their built-in excitement, or Diana Krall singing "Crazy". There are so many good options - Look at the professional videos of music on YouTube. And if you have to pay for rights, sell more time. (Yeah, may take a little work.)

Listeners can tell if someone is having fun - even after morning drive - and they will listen.

 

[taylorengineer]

The marketplace, as always, is providing the product and services desired. We live in a "Dancing with the Stars/American Idol" culture so we get the radio version.
Radio will evolve......I wonder if it will be for better or worse.
BTW.....all these claims that radio is "better" in other markets is, IMO, silly. Competition does not *always* lead to better product. It *always* does produce more precisely what the consumer really desires. The average American desires the "Entertainment Tonight" version of everything.......and we have plenty of that to choose from here in ATL.