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FOX 97 vs RIVER

F

formerlyinATLradio

Unless I have my history wrong, its interesting to note that the RIVER has officially surpassed FOX 97 in how long it was on the air as oldies.

According to Wiki, "From January 1989 to January 2003, the station aired an oldies format as "Fox 97."[5][6]"
On January 1, 2006, the station flipped to "97.1 The River," with a mix of classic hits and classic rock, targeting people ages 25–54.[8]

That's 16 years, folks. And they are now #1. Shoutout to the FOX lover/early RIVER naysayers out there. Sounds like the switch paid off.
 
Two completely different formats and genres of music though the one thing they have in common is music from the past. The past for Fox 97 was longer ago than the past for The River.
 
Cox had to do something because their attempt to take down V103 (97 JAMZ) didn't work. Someone at Cox figured out that 96 Rock had grown stale except for "The Regular Guys". The River started out without announcers. When The Regular Guys self destructed with a bad bathroom bit secretly recording the CC Atlanta Hispanic airstaff in the men's room, (I actually heard it., IMHO it wasn't funny). 96 Rock was toast after The Regular Guys left.

All the "big" signals in Atlanta apparently are doing well billing wise. 100.5 IMHO is a "semi big signal" and should be a thorn in 97.1's side. I know I (and most likely several dozen other folks) could run 100.5 better. I would bet a cup of Burger King regular coffee someone has an embarrassing video or picture of someone high up in the Cloud Company.
 
inATLradio said:
Unless I have my history wrong, its interesting to note that the RIVER has officially surpassed FOX 97 in how long it was on the air as oldies.

According to Wiki, "From January 1989 to January 2003, the station aired an oldies format as "Fox 97."[5][6]"
On January 1, 2006, the station flipped to "97.1 The River," with a mix of classic hits and classic rock, targeting people ages 25–54.[8]

That's 16 years, folks. And they are now #1. Shoutout to the FOX lover/early RIVER naysayers out there. Sounds like the switch paid off.
Click to expand...
Where is goodtimesgreatoldies, the guy who kept insisting that Fox 97 was about to return? :rolleyes:

If you consider Fox 97's core playlist to be the 1960s (they dropped Rock Era 1950s material pretty quickly), that was 30-40 years old in 2000.

30-40 years old in 2020 is the 1980s.

So, that sounds about right. 🧓👵🧓👵🧓👵
 
Incidentally, the oldest music you will find in most markets these days on the commercial FM band is classic rock.

Yes, there are rare instances of classical, 50s/60s oldies, 70s AM gold, and classic country, but those aren't common.
 
jabba17 said:
Yes, there are rare instances of classical, 50s/60s oldies, 70s AM gold, and classic country, but those aren't common.
Click to expand...

Most classic country stations are centered in the 90's today. You're more likely to hear Garth Brooks than Hank Williams Sr.

Makes sense as that was largely considered country's heyday, and I was in high school and college when that music was big. That was also when my peers started giving country an ear when they wouldn't have even thought of it a couple years earlier. We're still square in the 25-54 demo, though we're close to aging out of it.
 
Kent said:
Most classic country stations are centered in the 90's today. You're more likely to hear Garth Brooks than Hank Williams Sr.

Makes sense as that was largely considered country's heyday, and I was in high school and college when that music was big. That was also when my peers started giving country an ear when they wouldn't have even thought of it a couple years earlier. We're still square in the 25-54 demo, though we're close to aging out of it.
Click to expand...
Probably the largest market classic country station, Country Legends 97.1 in Houston, is still well in to the 70s and 80s country stuff.
 
jabba17 said:
Where is goodtimesgreatoldies, the guy who kept insisting that Fox 97 was about to return? :rolleyes:

If you consider Fox 97's core playlist to be the 1960s (they dropped Rock Era 1950s material pretty quickly), that was 30-40 years old in 2000.

30-40 years old in 2020 is the 1980s.

So, that sounds about right. 🧓👵🧓👵🧓👵
Click to expand...
Caller 10 has been quite lately too.

Which did Cox buy first 97.1 or 104.1?
 
secondchoice said:
Which did Cox buy first 97.1 or 104.1?
Click to expand...

Cox bought 104.1 around 1993 when it was half of New City's WYAY/WYAI simulcast. It got the programming from WALR-FM 104.7 when Salem bought it for The Fish.

The former WFOX 97.1 went to Cox when it swapped KOST in Los Angeles to the old AMFM around 2000. Cox got WEDR Miami, AMFM's Jacksonville cluster, and a couple clusters in Connecticut in addition to WFOX.
 
Kent said:
Cox bought 104.1 around 1993 when it was half of New City's WYAY/WYAI simulcast. It got the programming from WALR-FM 104.7 when Salem bought it for The Fish.

The former WFOX 97.1 went to Cox when it swapped KOST in Los Angeles to the old AMFM around 2000. Cox got WEDR Miami, AMFM's Jacksonville cluster, and a couple clusters in Connecticut in addition to WFOX.
Click to expand...
The swap you mentioned happened around 1999. KOST's sister station, KFI, was also part of it.
 
I’ve always assumed 97.1 would have been named the “Eagle” (like the similar Cox Stations in Tampa, Jacksonville, Houston, etc) had it not been for 106.7 at the time.

The irony is many large market classic hits stations, sans the ones like CBS-FM in NYC, are moving more and more toward a format like 97.1. Fewer are using jingles, more rock leaning, less personality intensive. Rock material gets better demos.

So, if you like 70s music, The River is actually a better option for that than CBS-FM or KRTH as you’ll find much more of that on 97.1. You aren’t going to hear BTO, CCR, or early Bowie on the above mentioned stations.
 
101tm said:
I’ve always assumed 97.1 would have been named the “Eagle” (like the similar Cox Stations in Tampa, Jacksonville, Houston, etc) had it not been for 106.7 at the time.

The irony is many large market classic hits stations, sans the ones like CBS-FM in NYC, are moving more and more toward a format like 97.1. Fewer are using jingles, more rock leaning, less personality intensive. Rock material gets better demos.

So, if you like 70s music, The River is actually a better option for that than CBS-FM or KRTH as you’ll find much more of that on 97.1. You aren’t going to hear BTO, CCR, or early Bowie on the above mentioned stations.
Click to expand...
On the other hand, many classic rock stations like WAXQ, WBIG, KZPS, and WDRC are sounding like rock-leaning classic hits stations. Pop-oriented songs like Down Under and In Your Eyes are seeping into the playlists. That's not to say you won't hear AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. But harder-edged rock may not be the most client-friendly type of music.
 
victorres43 said:
On the other hand, many classic rock stations like WAXQ, WBIG, KZPS, and WDRC are sounding like rock-leaning classic hits stations. Pop-oriented songs like Down Under and In Your Eyes are seeping into the playlists. That's not to say you won't hear AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. But harder-edged rock may not be the most client-friendly type of music.
Click to expand...
SiriusXM’s classic rock station, Classic Rewind, eschews a lot of harder rock. You’re going to hear the above artists in addition to Don’t You (Forget About Me), Solsbury Hill, (I Just) Died In Your Arms, etc. New wave was rock technically, but those weren’t always classic rock staples.

xmplaylist.com

Recently Played Songs on Classic Rewind | xmplaylist

See recently played songs and last played history for Classic Rewind on SiriusXM. 70s/80s classic rock.
xmplaylist.com xmplaylist.com
 
101tm said:
SiriusXM’s classic rock station, Classic Rewind, eschews a lot of harder rock. You’re going to hear the above artists in addition to Don’t You (Forget About Me), Solsbury Hill, (I Just) Died In Your Arms, etc. New wave was rock technically, but those weren’t always classic rock staples.

xmplaylist.com

Recently Played Songs on Classic Rewind | xmplaylist

See recently played songs and last played history for Classic Rewind on SiriusXM. 70s/80s classic rock.
xmplaylist.com xmplaylist.com
Click to expand...
That's surprising, considering that new wave wasn't as frequent on SiriusXM Classic Rewind 10 years ago. They may have played Losing My Religion or Mysterious Ways, but they still tilted towards late 70s rock like Steve Miller Band, Eddie Money, Foreigner, Boston, etc.

A little trivia: Down Under wasn't a hit on the Rock charts, but Don't You (Forget About Me) and (I Just) Died In Your Arms were.
 
The classic rock station in my market, Audacy’s WROQ in Greenville SC is still very edgy and 70s-80s centric with very little from the 90s on played. They don’t mind playing toms and tons of stuff like Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, ZZ Top, etc so they’re a pretty raw/edgy/blue collar classic rocker. Any time I hear a larger classic rock station play something non guitar driven (in the typical sense), like the songs above, it’s a bit jarring to hear.
 
victorres43 said:
On the other hand, many classic rock stations like WAXQ, WBIG, KZPS, and WDRC are sounding like rock-leaning classic hits stations. Pop-oriented songs like Down Under and In Your Eyes are seeping into the playlists. That's not to say you won't hear AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. But harder-edged rock may not be the most client-friendly type of music.
Click to expand...
96 Rock played both of those songs as AOR currents. Although Men at Work got the ax when 96 Rock flipped from regular AOR to classic rock c. 1985 to superserve the boomers.
 
101tm said:
SiriusXM’s classic rock station, Classic Rewind, eschews a lot of harder rock. You’re going to hear the above artists in addition to Don’t You (Forget About Me), Solsbury Hill, (I Just) Died In Your Arms, etc. New wave was rock technically, but those weren’t always classic rock staples.

xmplaylist.com

Recently Played Songs on Classic Rewind | xmplaylist

See recently played songs and last played history for Classic Rewind on SiriusXM. 70s/80s classic rock.
xmplaylist.com xmplaylist.com
Click to expand...
Back when I had satellite radio, Classic Vinyl and Classic Rewind were more classic hits (of their respective decades), not classic rock.
 
jabba17 said:
Back when I had satellite radio, Classic Vinyl and Classic Rewind were more classic hits (of their respective decades), not classic rock.
Click to expand...
Classic Vinyl plays harder rock. Considering SXM has hard rock channels, maybe they feel that it’s best not to get too aggressive with channels like Classic Rewind which are more mass appeal.

I do like that Classic Rewind isn’t “overdone” like many classic rock stations. They’re not trying to sound super in your face and “macho”/blue collar like a lot of classic rock stations do.

Classic Rock 101.1 in Greenville is the self proclaimed “flame throwin’, booty kickin’, moonshine sippin’ 100% classic rock station”….presentation like that is an automatic turn off for me and I’m in the demo, although on the younger end.
 
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