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Christmas?

J

Jim1987

For the first time in two decades or more, Atlanta is not moving into the holiday season with an expected full-time Christmas music station. 104.7 The Fish, which served in this role previously, has gone off air and a number of other stations (most notably, B98.5 and Star 94) have spent the past 5-10 years as only part-time members of the format.

Do we expect a station to fill that hole in the Fish’s absence? Will Star 94 move beyond weekend-only Christmas programming to full-time? Does 105.3 fill the gap? And is there another market as large as Atlanta without a full-time participant. Eager to hear the group’s thoughts.
 
I'm still surprised that someone hasn't stuck it on a translator.

But then again, now you're competing against the commercial-free streamers, which have greater availability than non-translated HD subchannels.

How much has streaming impacted the viability of niche formats OTA? Has to be big.
 
It is odd that Atlanta and Miami are the only large markets that have no secular all-Christmas stations. It is amazing how high the ratings go for some stations that do the format in other places. Some markets have two stations that make the switch and both benefit.

The logical station to participate would be WSB-FM. Cox does all Christmas in Tampa on WDUV and began doing it in Jacksonville on WEZI. But not in Cox's hometown. The theory is that WSB-FM is hotter than most AC stations and isn't a good fit. But in some markets, a Hot AC station will do it anyway.

And sometimes, when an AC station doesn't do all-Christmas or there is no AC station, a classic hits station will do it. But Atlanta has no Classic Hits station.
 
WSB-FM used to go All Christmas, and the ratings went through the roof. But a lot of listeners who left when they went All Christmas were not returning after the holidays. So the station decided to mix Christmas music with their regular playlist, and it worked. Ratings during the holidays increased though not as much as when they played only Christmas music. But the ratings after the holidays were higher.

Now…WSB-FM could not have gotten away with that had another secular station gone All Christmas. People who wanted to hear Christmas music would have moved to the competitor.

Keep in mind that the PD behind the decision, Chris Eagan, is no longer with the station so we’ll see.
 
If someone is going to go all Christmas. My guess #1 is 105.3. #2 is 94.1. There could be some translators* do it.

1000 to odds is WSB 750 with streaming. Before everyone gets on the fidelity issues bandwagon with AM this would be a "streaming play". I don't think AM HD would be worth it unless they did something else rather than 95.5 programming after Christmas. Not meaning to derail this thread but, how many car radio owners have HD AM and don't know it.

No matter who does it, some billboards or social media complain will be needed just to have the Christmas people find you.

*The Fox group of translators might to it just as an "introduction" to the vast numbers of folks that don't know they exist.
 
I forget Smooth Jazz 101 / 100 last year did Christmas but with a heavy dose of Jazz. I listened 4 hours (not by choice) and didn't hear Kenny G's Christmas stuff. Strange.
 
secondchoice said:
If someone is going to go all Christmas. My guess #1 is 105.3. #2 is 94.1. There could be some translators* do it.

1000 to odds is WSB 750 with streaming. Before everyone gets on the fidelity issues bandwagon with AM this would be a "streaming play". I don't think AM HD would be worth it unless they did something else rather than 95.5 programming after Christmas. Not meaning to derail this thread but, how many car radio owners have HD AM and don't know it.

No matter who does it, some billboards or social media complain will be needed just to have the Christmas people find you.

*The Fox group of translators might to it just as an "introduction" to the vast numbers of folks that don't know they exist.
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105.3 yes. 94.1...they're trying to establish an identity and unless they are going to flip again, I don't think that going Christmas would help them.

As far as 750, what Cox would probably do as a streaming play is use a 98.5/104.1/97.1/95.5 HD subchannel instead.

The bigger question about 750 and HD AM is how many AM stations still broadcast in HD...and can a class A clear channel AM broadcast in HD after dark? Didn't the FCC make AM stations of all classes quit broadcasting HD after dark? Adjacent-frequency stations were complaining about interference, which would be worse with a class A clear.
 
I’d be surprised if IHM pulls the plug on 105.3 and flips to AC/Adult Hits.

The way Star 94 is going, I wouldn’t put Christmas music on it.

Someone increase the signal on 105.3 and everything will be fine.
 
A_b_m_90 said:
I’d be surprised if IHM pulls the plug on 105.3 and flips to AC/Adult Hits.

The way Star 94 is going, I wouldn’t put Christmas music on it.

Someone increase the signal on 105.3 and everything will be fine.
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Unless the spacing rules are changed the signal is stuck where it's at unless there is a "deal" between iHeart and Cumulus and or Audacity or a smaller group. It would most likely involve signals in other markets too.

The simplest deal would be for iHeart to swap 105.3 with 107.5. That would give Radio One 2 "Urban" signals and iHeart gets a signal with more friendly AC demos.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Radio One simulcasts 107.5 (north) with 97.5 (south). So they would have no need for 105.3 and would lose coverage in the northern half of the market.
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The 105.3 signal would allow them another type of Urban with a strong signal in the zip codes with racial makeup that tend to be are Urban friendly. Is 96.7 really helping 105.7 that much? If not iHeart could throw in 96.7 too. How did iHeart end up with a class A that far south. Of course if the second and third adjacencies are reduced some slick engineer could work a little magic especially if they would allow some interference with 96.1 like the 106.7 and 106.5 (Chattanooga) shoehorn last century.
 
secondchoice said:
The 105.3 signal would allow them another type of Urban with a strong signal in the zip codes with racial makeup that tend to be are Urban friendly. Is 96.7 really helping 105.7 that much? If not iHeart could throw in 96.7 too. How did iHeart end up with a class A that far south. Of course if the second and third adjacencies are reduced some slick engineer could work a little magic especially if they would allow some interference with 96.1 like the 106.7 and 106.5 (Chattanooga) shoehorn last century.
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They could go after WALR with an R&B oldies format...
 
I have always thought the reason they keep 105.3 CHR, is to give Atlanta clearance for Ryan Seacrest. If you flip, that goes away. It seems like that is important for iHM.
 
A couple years back, the tiny 96.7 flipped to a stunt format "Christmas 96.7". Even though that station is hard to pick up in the northern ATL environs, they managed a 1.0 share, and for a signal of that size, that is saying something. Similarly, 98.9 briefly flipped to an AC format (I forget the exact year) and aired 24/7 Christmas, which had similar results. Of course, the AC format ended up being a place holder for the 99X format which launched at the beginning of the next year. When such small signals get 1.0+ ratings, that demonstrates the demand for holiday tunes. Unfortunately the big players do not want to upset the apple cart with their formats and thus, no full power secular station has aired all-Christmas in ATL since 2012.

I get it. Radio is a business. But I still have a difficult time explaining to visiting family and friends why my hometown has no all-Christmas station (and by extension, no Delilah Radio Show).
 
secondchoice said:
The 105.3 signal would allow them another type of Urban with a strong signal in the zip codes with racial makeup that tend to be are Urban friendly.
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Majic 107.5/97.5 as a simulcast is one of the top-rated stations in the market. Losing 107.5 would destroy it. It's the more powerful of the 2 signals and covers well more than half the market.
 
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RadioDoogie said:
I have always thought the reason they keep 105.3 CHR, is to give Atlanta clearance for Ryan Seacrest. If you flip, that goes away. It seems like that is important for iHM.
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Who cares about Ryan Seacrest. If iHM really wants to have him, you could put an Adult Hits on 105.3 and have Ryan on there like on the Mix in Dallas for an example. And have Christmas music during the holiday season. But the majority of Atlanta listeners don’t really care. Power 96.1 was launched by him since he grew up in ATL.
 
Jim1987 said:
For the first time in two decades or more, Atlanta is not moving into the holiday season with an expected full-time Christmas music station. 104.7 The Fish, which served in this role previously, has gone off air and a number of other stations (most notably, B98.5 and Star 94) have spent the past 5-10 years as only part-time members of the format.

Do we expect a station to fill that hole in the Fish’s absence? Will Star 94 move beyond weekend-only Christmas programming to full-time? Does 105.3 fill the gap? And is there another market as large as Atlanta without a full-time participant. Eager to hear the group’s thoughts.
Click to expand...
I am hoping Cox Media would spread the Christmas cheer and flip B98.5 to Christmas.
 


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