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Cumulus chills out on "Warm," launches a refreshed "Ninety Nine X" @ 98.9

The new 99X will be a failure if they try to relive their glory days. You can't step in the same river (or the NEW 97.1 The River, or TOSOTR) twice.

If they position themselves as a new-music station breaking new artists, then they will be successful. But not if they play 20-25 year old "alternative". That will put them right in 105.7's buzzsaw, as well as various classic rock stations that have been dabbling in early 90s alt a little bit.

And about Album 88: GPB was going to get their hands on 88.5, period. Even if Album 88 had a five share. It's not like they had a big ol' rate card.

If 99X does well, they will get promoted to 100.5 or 106.7. Hence the "What's Next Radio" branding and the deprecation of 99X, which will just be to establish an initial identity. What's Next Radio could travel to any signal.
 
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jabba17 said:
Was the canned format itself Christmas music until and then AC afterwards? That might explain things.

Also keep in mind "radio junkies" include research folks at Cox, CBS, Entercom, and iHeartClearChannel.
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Yes, it was rebranded "Warm" when it flipped to Christmas music from country, then went AC after the holiday. In retrospect, the homepage for Warm 98.9 should have been a giveaway that the format was a stunt. For one thing, the core artists of the format were supposedly the Carpenters, Air Supply, Barry Manilow and Celine Dion, along with other '70s-'90s soft AC artists. Not one song by any of them got played during the week. And the station trumpeted its new format by using the words "adult contemporary." That's an industry term, not something you put out there for the website visitors to see. So I guess the week of AC was intended to drive off all the old country listeners who might have stuck around through Christmas in hopes that their music would return.

I noticed a few complimentary posts about the stunt AC format on the Warm 98.9 Facebook page -- which likely will be taken down soon. I'm sure the Cumulus suits had a good laugh over those.
 
CTListener said:
Yes, it was rebranded "Warm" when it flipped to Christmas music from country, then went AC after the holiday. In retrospect, the homepage for Warm 98.9 should have been a giveaway that the format was a stunt. For one thing, the core artists of the format were supposedly the Carpenters, Air Supply, Barry Manilow and Celine Dion, along with other '70s-'90s soft AC artists. Not one song by any of them got played during the week. And the station trumpeted its new format by using the words "adult contemporary." That's an industry term, not something you put out there for the website visitors to see. So I guess the week of AC was intended to drive off all the old country listeners who might have stuck around through Christmas in hopes that their music would return.

I noticed a few complimentary posts about the stunt AC format on the Warm 98.9 Facebook page -- which likely will be taken down soon. I'm sure the Cumulus suits had a good laugh over those.
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Yep CLUELESS cannot take constructive criticism.
 
Looking at the 99x playlist it seems like a slightly more diverse version of 107.1x. Still seems to have a very limited playlist but may just be because they're starting out. I dont get why 105.7 gets so much hate when they have a much more diverse playlist than a lot of other alternative stations I've come across. It doesnt compare to 97.7 but its pretty good IMO. Honestly dont see this 99x revival working out though. I wish Cumulus would bring back Q-100-20 (i think thats what it was called) or a station with a similar format. The top 40 stations we have at the moment are so repetitive and Q-100-20 was a nice break from that.
 
The reason why I have so much hate for Radio 1057 includes:
1- It's not local. Sure, a few local djs but no local promotions. During midtown, radio 105 was promoting iheart music fest in California. Note their Facebook page which lacks anything dealing with alternative music.
2-True, they play a wider variety of music in terms of age of artist/songs but when it comes the 90's, it's the same tired songs from the same tired artists. It's similar to a classic rock station that thinks The Wall by Pink Floyd and Free Bird by Skynards are the bands only songs. Then when it comes to new music, radio 105 skips a lot of songs and artist that most alt stations are playing. The few modern songs they do play are played over and over in between your black hole sun and Lithium tunes. They also lack deeper 90s cuts as well.

I noticed 99X is sounding a lot like X107 in terms of newer music but it's also not as repetitive as X107 and also not as poppy. While I haven't heard it yet, cumulus alt stations tend to lean harder with Chevelle, System of a Down, and Rage Against the Machine. With the exception of Chevelle, Radio 105 won't touch those artist and X107 wouldn't come close to any of them.
 
But you have to ask yourself why 99x's hey day was the 90's? What were they playing in 1997? Answer: mostly music from 1997 and a few years prior. Today, if 99x can focus on new music and promote, it can relive it's days as an alternative beacon............ Just not on a translator.
 
acheron82 said:
But you have to ask yourself why 99x's hey day was the 90's? What were they playing in 1997? Answer: mostly music from 1997 and a few years prior. Today, if 99x can focus on new music and promote, it can relive it's days as an alternative beacon............ Just not on a translator.
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Maybe Cumulus shopped the idea of putting alternative on a full-coverage stick to advertisers and agencies and found that a current-leaning alternative would be a wasted effort on anything but a translator. With hip-hop, EDM and other non-melodic, pure-rhythmic genres having made significant inroads with the white college crowd that used to be an alt-rock monolith, and with rock itself splintered into so many sub-genres (each with a fan base that largely can't tolerate other sub-genres), any current-leaning rock format has become the very definition of niche.
 
atlradio16 said:
Also, keep in mind that while 98.9 is limited OTP, it's still very strong ITP and out toward Kennesaw. They are easily in range of about three or four major universities, each with sizable student bodies. Something that WRDA hasn't done very well in my opinion is creating a talked-about presence among the youth community in the city. I think the new 99x has the opportunity to do this, as long as they really kill it with local events and promotion.
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Don't hold your breath on pormotions! Cumulus really had and still has a chance to gain some Urban dollars with OG 97.9. Unfortunately, with no Djs, no promotions and no street presence they will stay at a 1.3 share 6+. If rumor has it correct, Radio One will be moving BOOM from 102.9 to 97.5 which may crush OG's 1.3 share.
 
tjolsen said:
Keep in mind what they've launched is essentially the same exact packaging for an alt station with Jim Richards and PJ Kling launched on a frankin-fm in Chicago and hit a 2 if not a bit higher with. If they can get a team in place comparable to the one they had in Chicago and an on the ground presence at local events, they might do decently. It's actually a well formatted modern alternative station.
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When you say get a team in place, if that means live and local talent, it's not going to happen. The money they can make with that format on a translator will not be enough to afford live jocks.
 
Add WORC-FM in Worcester, Massachusetts, ironically at 98.9 still branded as a Nash Icon station with a live and local staff throughout the day. In fact they have grown their audience substantially since ditching their former greatest hits format.

http://www.nashicon989.com/
 
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