How's the new Alternative station doing?

[awp69]

Considering X98.5 has a proverbial squirt gun for a transmitter, a 1.1 share isn't too bad.  What's their reach anyway?

Pretty much the immediate Greenville area and its close suburbs (Anderson and Spartanburg are out of reach as well as Clemson where it probably would do well with the college students).

Its sister station, variety hits Chuck FM, fares better (lately in the 1.7-2.0 range), but also is using more wattage. Personally, it's not necessarily even X98.5's reach that hurts it as much as it is clarity and penetration. Particularly on sunny mornings, it's static city (from 98.5 in Atlanta, I've heard). Chuck doesn't suffer much from that issue. And the morning drive can kill a station IMO.

I don't think another format would do much better because of those barriers, so I'm hoping their new owner, Summit Media, will keep it up and running.

 

[secondchoice]

Which "Summit" is this?

 

[awp69]

Which "Summit" is this?

The Summit that apparently was formed by former Cox employees and bought some of their stations in Greenville, Birmingham, Honolulu, Louisville and Richmond.

 

[carolinaradio]

X98.5 seems stuck around a 1 share (as I've always predicted). In the latest trend, they were back down to a 0.9. Greenville just doesn't strike me as a huge Alternative market, so I think they're doing fine and on the right signal.

 

[awp69]

X98.5 seems stuck around a 1 share (as I've always predicted).  In the latest trend, they were back down to a 0.9.  Greenville just doesn't strike me as a huge Alternative market, so I think they're doing fine and on the right signal.

They trended down during the Spring months when that interference in the mornings was a big issue on sunny days. I'm a huge alternative fan and tuned out many mornings due to it. I'm not saying the station will ever be "huge" due to the market it's in but when even fans of the station complain about static coming all the way from a station in Atlanta, I'd say it does have some effect. For people on the cuff of choosing between X98.5 and another station, that can be a deal breaker. The morning drive is IMO the most important time slot and problems like that are not a good thing.

If that wasn't an issue and they had better penetration, I really do think they could pull more in the 1.5 range (and optimistically around a 2.0). Chuck FM was down to a 1.6 and they don't suffer from those static issues.

Not that it's a big difference either, but they trended around a .9 in Winter, but were 1.1 in the book so they seem to curve up when the official ratings come in.

 

[atlantaboy]

(Sorry to change topic back...)

Radio 105.7 added 5-6 new, "edgier" tracks into medium rotation after the positive ratings came out, but it looks like they got negative feedback from listeners, since they've now pulled most of those new tracks back down to less than 5 spins per week

I feel like nearly every format in ATL gets the same results, so I definitely don't blame Cumulus for programming Q100 like they do, or Star, or Power

 

[awp69]

(Sorry to change topic back...)

Radio 105.7 added 5-6 new, "edgier" tracks into medium rotation after the positive ratings came out, but it looks like they got negative feedback from listeners, since they've now pulled most of those new tracks back down to less than 5 spins per week

I feel like nearly every format in ATL gets the same results, so I definitely don't blame Cumulus for programming Q100 like they do, or Star, or Power

Yeah, sorry for derailing the thread.

Just out of curiosity, what were some of the "edgy" tracks that were added?

 

[atlantaboy]

(Sorry to change topic back...)

Radio 105.7 added 5-6 new, "edgier" tracks into medium rotation after the positive ratings came out, but it looks like they got negative feedback from listeners, since they've now pulled most of those new tracks back down to less than 5 spins per week

I feel like nearly every format in ATL gets the same results, so I definitely don't blame Cumulus for programming Q100 like they do, or Star, or Power

Yeah, sorry for derailing the thread.

Just out of curiosity, what were some of the "edgy" tracks that were added?

Foals "My Number", Fitz & The Tantrums "Out Of My League", Twenty One Pilots "Holding On To You", and Phoenix "Trying To Be Cool", were all added into medium rotation right after the last ratings book came out, but then pulled back this week

 

[secondchoice]

So "successful" Alternative is really the old top 40 except: instead of the teenage CHR songs are replaced with "40 or 50 Alternative" songs, and the DJ's are at the old AOR energy levels?

 

[awp69]

(Sorry to change topic back...)

Radio 105.7 added 5-6 new, "edgier" tracks into medium rotation after the positive ratings came out, but it looks like they got negative feedback from listeners, since they've now pulled most of those new tracks back down to less than 5 spins per week

I feel like nearly every format in ATL gets the same results, so I definitely don't blame Cumulus for programming Q100 like they do, or Star, or Power

Yeah, sorry for derailing the thread.

Just out of curiosity, what were some of the "edgy" tracks that were added?

Foals "My Number", Fitz & The Tantrums "Out Of My League", Twenty One Pilots "Holding On To You", and Phoenix "Trying To Be Cool", were all added into medium rotation right after the last ratings book came out, but then pulled back this week

Ouch. I wouldn't really consider those to be even all that edgy - particularly Fitz & the Tantrums and Twenty One Pilots.

 

[chrocket87]

That's too bad about Fitz- I really enjoy them and that song. But it seems CC hasn't really gotten into it like the other companies have. WRFF hasn't played it much and Fitz seems like a no-brainer for WRFF. The Premium Choice station here in Cleveland gives it a few spins during Sixx Sense (night show), but that's about it.

 

[awp69]

They played Fitz a lot on X98.5 here in Greenville when it first came out. Don't play it as much now, but still do -- probably due to the fact that the band just scheduled a tour date here.

It is a good song and seems like it would be a good fit for stations that are particularly going for that Radio 104.5 sound.

 

[atlantaboy]

So "successful" Alternative is really the old top 40 except: instead of the teenage CHR songs are replaced with "40 or 50 Alternative" songs, and the DJ's are at the old AOR energy levels?

I would definitely say that seems to be true about Radio 105.7 (vs. Dave's old ratings), especially since Dave was on such a strong signal and may have clearly reached twice the geographic area Radio does

I know that CHR is extremely popular right now, but there have got to be a significant number of the 18-34 demo that are turned off to the bubble-gum nature of it, so I think that taking a CHR-type approach to Alternative, if there is such a thing, is what's fueling WRDA

Radio 104.5 Philly, BTW, is #1 18-34, ahead of CHR

 

[awp69]

What's strange though is that the songs you listed are fairly mainstream in their sound. Fitz and, especially, Twenty One Pilots wouldn't sound all that out of place on CHR. It's not like we're talking about Nine Inch Nails or something.

 

[chrocket87]

WNCI/Columbus actually played Holding On To You in regular rotation. Then again, they are from Columbus, but still, it's great that a station would play local artists that aren't on the charts yet.

 

[awp69]

WNCI/Columbus actually played Holding On To You in regular rotation. Then again, they are from Columbus, but still, it's great that a station would play local artists that aren't on the charts yet.

X in Greenville plays them regularly as well. It's interesting that alternative stations in mid-size markets like GSP and Columbus are a little more aggressive. But given Atlanta's troubled history with alternative in recent years, it's probably best to play it safe.

With Greenville just on a translator, they probably feel they can afford to be more niche as well. Whether it survives or not, one thing I could never say about our station is that it plays it safe. Don't know if I've listened to a station that is so determined to play as much new music (their gold library can leave a little to be desired though).

 

[chrocket87]

WNCI is a CHR, hence why it's surprising. I think every Alt station has played it. I think Radio dropped it because its fallen into Recurrent status.

 

[awp69]

WNCI is a CHR, hence why it's surprising. I think every Alt station has played it. I think Radio dropped it because its fallen into Recurrent status.

Sorry, my bad. Yeah, that's one reason why I mentioned that I wouldn't have classified it as "edgy".

 

[atlantaboy]

X in Greenville plays them regularly as well. It's interesting that alternative stations in mid-size markets like GSP and Columbus are a little more aggressive.

IMO you really can't compare Radio 105.7 with either of those two stations, since GSP's signal is on a translator, and Columbus OH is an extremely liberal college town

With ATL, you've got a history of two failed Alt/AAA stations, and successful musically conservative stations (B98.5, Q100, The River, even Star if you compare it to the national Hot AC chart) competing with it - they also, most likely, want to be careful that male listeners don't switch back to Rock 100.5 to hear music which is more familiar

IMO there's just a large part of the ATL demo that doesn't like unfamiliar songs - to WRDA's credit, I feel like they're doing a great job of broadening the 90s-2000s gold list, while making sure that the gold tracks they play were hits, unlike Dave, which played select random gold album cuts repeatedly, while ignoring the more popular songs by those same artists

With time, I think they'll be able to get more musically aggressive with their currents - but it looks like they tried a few weeks ago, and determined that it just wasn't time yet

 

[atlantaboy]

BTW they did keep "Breezeblocks" and "Diane Young", two songs I literally can't sit through from beginning to end :-\ Glad they're getting exposure, though, and a positive audience response...