I guess this is now why almost every 2nd adjacency (sometimes every adjacency) has a signal that you can hear on the FM dial. I'm also on the younger end of Boomer, but when we're on the lake or near Anderson or Greenville, I like that booty kickin', moonshine sippin' and live jock programming. I don't get that in Atlanta. It's different, and to me being different is refreshing in "today's radio"
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FOX 97 vs RIVER
- Thread starter formerlyinATLradio
- Start date
I’m actually 30, so definitely not a younger boomer but I do get your point. I guess I’ve always been around very “gritty” classic rock stations (the highly successful 99.7 The Fox in Charlotte being another one) so hearing classic rock stations outside of small and midsized southern markets is a bit different. The format definitely varies by geographic location. I’m obviously in the minority here because WROQ is a consistent top 5 performer and has successfully knocked the classic country station down a fair few notches.
Fun fact: only one of the WROQ DJ’s is live!
Given that WSRV is really a Classic Rock station, it's not surprising that they're more open to music from the first half of the 1970s than stations like KRTH or WCBS-FM. I can't speak for WMMO and WXGL as their Wikipedia articles aren't very clear on their history, but it seems WJGL had a similar arc as WSRV, flipping to Classic Hits back when the format name still described stations that played a hit oriented Classic Rock playlist that avoided most hard rock, then evolved to a more traditional Classic Rock format while still calling themselves Classic Hits even after the tern was redefined to describe stations playing a '70s pop hits (now '80s pop hits) based playlist. I have no idea why WJGL/WMMO/WSRV/WXGL still call themselves Classic Hits considering that KGLK/KHPT do describe themselves as Classic Rock. Interestingly enough, they don't do as well as WSRV or the Florida stations, but they don't seem to have as much variety as those stations.
Of the Classic Hits stations in the top 25 markets, 9 of them (10 if you consider KKHH) are owned by Audacy, who seem to be the main ones pushing most (but not all) of their Classic Hits stations to play more rock this year. I'm not sure if there's non Audacy stations in the format that have gone in a similar direction this year, but I still think it's mostly Audacy going in this route with Classic Hits. And this despite all of their top 25 market stations (aside from WOGL in Philadelphia and the already rock leaning WOMC in Detroit) being in markets with a big Hispanic population. However, I'd still say WJJK is the only Classic Hits station that's close to a WJGL/WMMO/WSRV/WXGL type format, even if there are a decent amount of rock leaning stations in the format, none are as extreme as WJJK.
Aside from WDRC-FM, the other three stations you mentioned are iHeartMedia stations, so pushing the boundaries with pop oriented new wave songs that may not have been AOR hits could just be something iHeartMedia does with their Classic Rock stations. Yet the aforementioned KGLK/KHPT has also recently been starting to play pop oriented songs such as Heart of Glass and Shout, so it could also be a trend that the format is going in. There seems to be a paradox this year with certain Classic Rock stations experimenting with pop oriented songs and certain Classic Hits stations playing more rock, which is very interesting.
WLS-FM in Chicago is probably the most rock leaning classic hits station in a large market. They play “Into The Groove” and “Stayin’ Alive”, but it’s a rock leaning playlist that still plays more music from the 70s.
The exceptions on these classic hits stations (as well as WLS-FM) are the fact that they still play the described King of Pop quite frequently, Michael Jackson. You may also hear Prince. But that’s about as far as they go and these are mass appeal artists. Even Madonna (I’m not complaining here) and Whitney Houston aren’t extremely prevalent on a lot of classic hits stations lately.
Speaking of Audacy, they’ve definitely changed the sound of their classic hits stations pretty significantly. They’ve dialed the imaging back on a lot of them, tightened the playlists, cut jingles out, and heavily moved out of the 70s (compared to iHeart and Cumulus) and have really focused on rock while they’ve added more stuff from the late 80s and most of the remaining 70s titles are classic rock fare. It was an evolution of sound/music genre and texture over the last few years.
Apparently from other posts on here, straight-up Classic Hits was to be the new format for Audacy's Star 94 before they went to rhythmic Classic Hits.
Speaking of Classic Hits...
Cox, as part of their Athens cluster, has 103.7 Chuck FM that you can get on the northeast side of town. When they started they were mostly 80s, with some 70s and some 90s. They've become more 90s-based as of late. Class A WBCX 89.1, the Brenau radio station out of Gainesville, plays an 80s-centered Classic Hits mix on automation when they don't have other programming.
I just got a car with an HD radio. Besides Audacy's WSTR-HD2 ("The Classic Sound of Star"), which spans the 70s through the 90s and can be streamed, there's also Cox's WSB-FM-HD2, which used to be either BM/EZ or soft AC, and is now 80s-centered Classic Hits. But it can't be streamed. Lastly, and this is the most surprising, there is Georgia State's WRAS-HD3, which is 50s-70s oldies, mostly centered on 70s AM gold (i.e., not a Fox 97 clone, with its Good Times and Eight Oldies), but you can't stream it as well, unlike Album 88 on the HD2 subchannel.
Speaking of Classic Hits...
Cox, as part of their Athens cluster, has 103.7 Chuck FM that you can get on the northeast side of town. When they started they were mostly 80s, with some 70s and some 90s. They've become more 90s-based as of late. Class A WBCX 89.1, the Brenau radio station out of Gainesville, plays an 80s-centered Classic Hits mix on automation when they don't have other programming.
I just got a car with an HD radio. Besides Audacy's WSTR-HD2 ("The Classic Sound of Star"), which spans the 70s through the 90s and can be streamed, there's also Cox's WSB-FM-HD2, which used to be either BM/EZ or soft AC, and is now 80s-centered Classic Hits. But it can't be streamed. Lastly, and this is the most surprising, there is Georgia State's WRAS-HD3, which is 50s-70s oldies, mostly centered on 70s AM gold (i.e., not a Fox 97 clone, with its Good Times and Eight Oldies), but you can't stream it as well, unlike Album 88 on the HD2 subchannel.
At least Audacy-owned WMXJ in Miami/Fort Lauderdale isn't tilting classic rock, even if their playlist isn't as distinctive as before.
Even KLUV in Dallas is playing U Can't Touch This and Ice Ice Baby, alongside standard fare like Careless Whisper and Red Red Wine. And KLUV, I believe, has been more classic rock friendly compared to others in the CBS/Entercom/Audacy umbrella.
But yes, Audacy is cutting back on the imaging, with fewer jingles and drier segues. Perhaps with the exception of WCBS-FM.
Even KLUV in Dallas is playing U Can't Touch This and Ice Ice Baby, alongside standard fare like Careless Whisper and Red Red Wine. And KLUV, I believe, has been more classic rock friendly compared to others in the CBS/Entercom/Audacy umbrella.
But yes, Audacy is cutting back on the imaging, with fewer jingles and drier segues. Perhaps with the exception of WCBS-FM.
I listened to CBS-FM a couple of nights ago around 10pm and was rather shocked at all of the cold segues. I heard one jingle in a little over an hour and very little jock talk. I know CBS-FM used to be the golden standard for the classic hits format, but honestly I’d rather listen to a station like WGRR in Cincinnati or 3WS in Pittsburgh.
WMXJ doesn’t have much choice - a classic rock lean would be chaotic in that market, especially considering Big 105.9 isn’t even doing great. The market demographics are incredibly against their favor for a rock lean.
KLUV is a sister station to KJKK, so they’re probably trying to keep the two stations somewhat separate. KLUV has also been slower to move in to the 90s, I guess due to KJKK. However, this hasn’t been an issue with the rock leaning KRTH and sister station KCBS in LA.
Fair to say KZ106 in Chattanooga might be one of the few classic rock stations in the south that have stayed true to classic rock? Traveling in the other day and heard Yes, Jethro Tull, Crosby Still Nash (maybe or maybe not young) and of course the typical AC DC, Skynard, Ozzy and even Metallica from the black album. Was pretty impressed.
Oh and the YES song wasn’t Owner of a Lonely Heart. It was actually Long Distance Runaround with The Fish album cut that followed.
Oh and the YES song wasn’t Owner of a Lonely Heart. It was actually Long Distance Runaround with The Fish album cut that followed.
I guess we can still count on WCBS-FM having a good playlist. And their playlist is still far from rock-centric.
KRTH can move onto the 90s because KCBS-FM tilts more alternative than the typical Jack-FM station, and from time to time, they play deeper cuts. Whereas, KJKK is closer to your typical Jack FM station.
I have a feeling KEYN and WOLX would lean rock because they are in heartland markets. WOCL and WIAD do not seem to lean towards classic rock. WOGL may lean rock (though not allergic to any rhythmic material) because of the strength of WMGK and WMMR; not the same situation in DC or Orlando.
Fox97 always had signal problems. They even tried a booster on 97.1 from the antenna farm but that ended up being a disaster, so the turned it off.
Does anyone know if Cox made signal improvements? Is 97.1 still on that massive tower that used to be shared with 106.7? (Both were Gainesville stations.) Or maybe they moved it close to Atlanta?
I remember totally losing Fox97 on Cheshire Bridge Road. In town was pretty awful.
Does anyone know if Cox made signal improvements? Is 97.1 still on that massive tower that used to be shared with 106.7? (Both were Gainesville stations.) Or maybe they moved it close to Atlanta?
I remember totally losing Fox97 on Cheshire Bridge Road. In town was pretty awful.
97.1 is still on that tower, along with the 97.7 TOSOTR translator and some other translators IIRC. 106.7 moved to the Fish Stick between Loganville and Winder a while back (keeping its full class C but having to power down to 77kW), and 95.5 spent some time there after 106.7 moved, but is now downtown.
Cox did have a CP to downgrade 97.1 from a full class C and move intown, but let it lapse without doing anything.
97.1 does have issues here and there intown, but really booms out in the suburbs.
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