CHR IN ATLANTA: 20 YEARS (my still unanswered perspective).....

[electroboy73]

I know this is long and the subject is old but and overdone. But I can fianally put into words why I'm so frustrated about the demise of GOOD TOP-40/CHR radio in Atlanta.

But growing up in Augusta, GA in the 80's and 90's and all we had for top 40 was 104.3 WBBQ.
They were the weirdest top 40 too! Because they would play it so safe with the music and when they would
play a hit top 40 song it was usually followed by.....anything from Bob Segar to Elvis Pressley. Even in it's
last few years as a Top-40, Augusta's famous WBBQ started playing almost all current pop music....BUT, still
woven into tons of Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan. However, when I would go on family trips (usually to visit relatives) we would go to cities, (not that far away) like Greenville/Spartanburg, Charleston, Columbia, Charlotte and definitely ATLANTA. All those cities and their respected top-40 stations were so much more "out there" and cutting edge....lol! (at least compared to Augusta). I always heard lots of club music and dance mixes on those stations. In fact, I think the reason that I got so into club deejaying and dance music as an adult was because of simply traveling out of Augusta and hearing OPEN HOUSE PARTY on "Power 99" (WAPW) for the first time. I always knew we were getting close to Atlanta beacuse I would start hearing 99.7 and I knew that later that Saturday night, they would play some of the best (for the 80's) club mixes of artists like Book Of Love, Erasure, Depeche Mode and even stuff from the U.K. underground ACID-RAVE scene! (which was very underground for 1988 on a radio station in the deep south!). My parents hated it beacuse I would sit through whatever we were doing (like a Braves Game....or whatever!) Who cares! My walkman was cranked up with Power 99 playing, just waiting to be wowed but what suprise club mix/remix they were going to play next!

But......alas.......come back to Augusta and the closest thing to hot/dance CHR you would hear would be
Madonna's "Cherrish"! Then, (comparitvely speacking), I knew I was back to listening the dull-ass
"Augusta Top-40" format of Paul Harvey news, then some Bonnie Raitt, then, HEY.....It's Janet Jackson(something with a beat)! Then.........OH....now it's Tom Petty........ohhhhh, now it's Michael Bolton...........
...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

OK NOW.......fast forward........20 YEARS LATER...............

After living in a dozen other places like Philadelphia and New York, I'm actually living here in Atlanta now and it
just baffles me that all of that comparing I was doing just now between TOP-40 in Augusta and
Top-40 in Atlanta.......has COMPLETELY REVERSED! (lol)

Now, 2008, I'm an Atlanta boy, and every so often I'll head back home to Augusta for Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. And still being passionate about CHR radio, I now tune into the Top-40 station there, (WHHD) 98.3 and low and behold.....what do I hear?! ..........OPEN HOUSE PARTY, exclusive dance mixes and NEW RELEASES from artists that are NOT even being played here on Star 94 and Q-100! Why is it that, now it seems Atlanta stations seem to add on a new song MUCH later than small-town
Augusta that has been playing it for weeks?

.........And guess what, everybody?

On Augusta Top-40 stations....you won't hear "Realize" by Colbie Callait 10 times a day! Like Q and Star!
HECK! Not even one Rob Thomas song on their entire playlist!

Why is it that now the "safe" top-40 is Atlanta and the exciting, clubbing hot top-40 is Augusta?
Yes, everybody has asked the burning question.....what has happened to the hot exciting radio that moved and shaked a generation of Atlanta? My question is, will it ever return?

What I do know is that if I still want to turn on my car radio (without satellite) and hear the brand new song by Kanye West or an even newer song by Ne-Yo or a club-remix of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" mixed into Deadmau5 and DJ Tiesto, LIVE on OPEN HOUSE PARTY...........

.....well then, I guess I'll have to check this out the next time I'm in Augusta.


Thanks so much for listening.


Any Thoughts?

 

[fussbudget]

I thought maybe they may not have "cookie-cutter" formats in Augusta but that's impossible. What has happened to "hot, exciting radio" in Atlanta? Blend "cookie cutter" with
"bean counters", "voice tracking" and "corporate downsizing," let stand a decade or more then throw in a heaping spoonful of "recession". Will it ever return? Ever is a very long time but I think that dish is burned beyond recognition and can't be saved.

 

[MPDinATL]

The more multimillions in revenue a station has,
the more guarded they're gonna be.

That's why smaller markets sound better/fresher/hipper...

Fear Sux

 

[jabba17]

The more multimillions in revenue a station has,
the more guarded they're gonna be.

That's why smaller markets sound better/fresher/hipper...

Fear Sux

97 F-O-X and Wide 107 (WWID, 106.7, now True Oldies) were the same way before they moved in and flipped formats...both of them were better Top 40s than Z-93 and 94Q music-wise (although nobody could beat Ross & Wilson in the AM)...

I had the misfortune of living in Florence, SC for a year. There was an oldies station, WWFN 100.1 "Fun 100", that blew Fox 97 out of the water. Much deeper playlist (and this was before the "good times and eight oldies" days in Fox's sunset years). Since then the station was bought by Cumulus and is now a sportstalk station with the same branding as 680 The Fan (see http://www.thefanfm.com/ ).

 

[CHRles]

I will say this much. It's a lot easier to listen to the kind of Top 40 station, or any kind of station, you may fancy in 2008. For one thing, you've got the internet, which you can listen to at the office or at home (and pretty soon on most cell phones). You've also got satellite radio. Sirius Hits 1 breaks a lot of new hits, 20 On 20 is a hot hits CHR, Pop 2 K leans on recurrent but doesnt sound adult (less ballads, more Rhythm), and BBC Radio 1 exposes you to whats hot in the UK.

Back to the Atlanta dial. Yeah, Q is lacking uptempo hits, and is late on Rhythmic Pop. Then again you've also got 95.5 The Beat, V-103, and Hot 107.9 for Rhythmic and Hip Hop. In general V-103 sounds like one of the most professional Urban station in the country. Definitely in a class of its own. You've got Hot 107.9 "representin" the ATL sound, and you've got The Beat for the crossover Rhythmic hits (they're even playing Pink these days).
And yet, almost every major market has a couple of Rhythmic or Urbans, a Hot AC, and a CHR/Pop station.

I don't really have a problem with Star 94 as it's trying to play to its heritage as an adult leaning CHR. The problem is as you've mentioned with Q-100. They should be sounding like Z-100 New York or Y-100 Miami, not 104.3 ZYP Huntsville (no offense to anyone from Huntsville). Even 104 KRBE Houston (another Cumulus property) sounds a bit hotter, and less conservative (in part because they have a very good competitor in Hot 95.7). With Q-100 there are far too many Recurrents and ballads, which is not what a CHR/Pop is about, especially not a major market one.

Electroboy made a very good point though about just how good CHR/Pop stations sound in other markets in the South. B-93.7 Greenville, Kiss 95.1 and 96.1 The Beat Charlotte, G-105 Raleigh, the new 96.5 The Mountain in Chattanooga, 103.7 The Q Birmingham, Electric 94.9 in the Tri Cities (TN), HD 98.3 Augusta, Q-107.3 Columbus, etc. There used to be a time when Y-107 Nashville was modeled after Power 99 Atlanta. Well, maybe it's time to model Q-100 after 107.5 The River.

All of the above-mentioned stations are also streaming online so you're all welcome to check their streams (or their music logs at yes.com) and compare them with Q-100. WWWQ already has the right personalities and a super strong transmitter. Now they just need to get that bigger-then-life Top 40 sound coupled with all the hits played all day long.