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Breaking: New "Beat" for Birmingham at 104.1

N

Nate Wesley

As of late, Clear Channel has been very aggressive with its use of translators to launch new stations or bring back old ones. It just launched its second urban station this month using them: First, Lexington, KY got 'Wild'. And now, in a bit of a surprise--Birmingham, AL catches 'The Beat'.

Follow the Birmingham launch here as the story develops on the Alabama board: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=194995.0
 
Both stations with names like that can be Mainstream or Rhythmic at best. CC likes pop songs and no more urban.
 
Guess we'll see, CC doesn't seem to care about Urbans anymore, not sure why they really invested in Bham especially since there is a "possiblity" for easy competition.
CC already screwed up WPHR, KATZFM, WMIB, WKKV, WJBT,in the last few years just to name some.
 
Went to Birmingham over the weekend for Magic City Classic and The Beat was no where to be found! This is one of the biggest weekend when it comes to Urban events. The voicetracked jocks mentioned nothing about it. How long will Clear Channel operate this station with NO local jocks? Meanwhile, Coxs' 95.7 JAMZ kept using the liner "The Real Deal" and "Live and Local."
 
ShawtyBlack_ATL said:
Went to Birmingham over the weekend for Magic City Classic and The Beat was no where to be found! This is one of the biggest weekend when it comes to Urban events. The voicetracked jocks mentioned nothing about it. How long will Clear Channel operate this station with NO local jocks? Meanwhile, Coxs' 95.7 JAMZ kept using the liner "The Real Deal" and "Live and Local."
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30,000 watt station covering the entire market vs a soon-to-be-250 watt translator covering downtown. What were you expecting? Clear Channel is doing things on the cheap here.

I'm sure The Beat still got a healthy slice of sampling, even if it had no real on-the-street presence.
 
WBHJ broadcasts at 12 kilowatts @ 304 meters above the terrain. http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WBHJ

Clear Channel doesn't care, they would rather toy with the idea of having a voicetracked mainstream urban on a translator and HD2 frequency than actually invest in the Birmingham market. The only thing that might come out of this is forcing 95.7 Jamz to actually be more competitive musically as response.
 
IMO, Clear Channel could really take on 95.7 Jamz if they wanted to not tomention they Gosepl urban format being back in town. During my weekend stay, Jamz sounded horrible music wise. The Beat actually started fading out on I-20 eastbound around Leeds, AL.
 
ShawtyBlack_ATL said:
IMO, Clear Channel could really take on 95.7 Jamz if they wanted to not tomention they Gosepl urban format being back in town. During my weekend stay, Jamz sounded horrible music wise. The Beat actually started fading out on I-20 eastbound around Leeds, AL.
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95.7 Jamz has always sounded horrible since its inception in 1996. No one in the Birmingham market has made a dedicated effort to program a station that plays contemporary hip-hop and R&B on a full market coverage signal since Dickey gutted the original WENN 107.7 and placed it on 105.9 (now the 105.5 frequency). As a result, Cox has won by default on that front. That's why urban radio is the way it is in Boringham when compared to other demographically similar Southern cities.
 
kilamanjero said:
95.7 Jamz has always sounded horrible since its inception in 1996.
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Not true.
 
kilamanjero said:
Nate Wesley said:
kilamanjero said:
95.7 Jamz has always sounded horrible since its inception in 1996.
Click to expand...

Not true.
Click to expand...

So true.
Click to expand...
Only in your opinion, which hasn't always proven to be factually based.
 
Word! said:
95-7 really never been on my list of good stations.
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Your assessment has been similar to most people that have listened to and exposed to stations in other cities have agreed. It has been mediocre at best.
 
Word! said:
thats ridiculous and also unfair to the market..... so what happens when a tornado hits?

smh
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People turn to the local TV stations weather bulletins either over-the-air, online, or via their radio simulcast on the selected stations.

CC knows this station is a bad 'front' to attempt, but everyone else knows 95.7 Jamz could be challenged (and easily defeated at this point) but is too busy being cheap with their newly acquired cluster ***COUGH***Cumulus ***COUGH***. All I'm going to say is 107.7 is flat as a tire when it comes to ratings these days because Kiss is the obvious winner on 40+ crowd, but 107.7 does pull in the coins for the Birmingham Cumulus cluster. Also having an over-saturation of R&B-exclusive urban stations on the FM & AM in the region doesn't help...

I have an interesting prediction in the future someone will actually program a decent urban or crossover station, but it will likely either be a local business person or a market move-in.
 
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