Power 96.1: Is the end near?

[Radio_Alex_1990]

Rankings seem to be tanking (3.7-3.5-3.1). Poor station, what is causing it to tank? Yes, Elvis Duran sucks for Atlanta radio but is that really the reason? (I'd prefer Clear Channel/iHeart Radio CHR's over Cumulus anyday) but obviously, it's not working out for them.
I am trying to figure out the real reasons. Q100 on the other hand seems to be enjoying this. Star 94 wishes it could do better. Is it time to put Radio 105.7 to the 96.1 dial? What needs to change for Power to survive? Is it too soon to start thinking about next format that will replace Power? If so, Put Radio 105.7 on 96.1 and bring Adult Hits and/or Classic Hits on 105.7/105.3. WBZY-FM on 105.3 seems to be doing poorly well. Hmm, it should be interesting what Labor Day weekend will bring if these two stations continue to dip.

Your Thoughts?

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

I think POWER 96.1 is here to stay. Clear Channel seems to had invest lots on advertising this station verses no advertising for the new Radio 105.7 station. IMO, POWER isn't as exciting and energy driven as it should be. Atlanta is a party city and this station doesn't take advantage of that. Mixshows, live club broadcast, street promos, etc...this station sounds dead to be Top 40 in ATL.

 

[Wildstyle K]

They should've just moved WiLD to 96.1 OR kept WiLD somewhere else and put Project on 96.1

Not sure why they launched a whole new Power when WiLD itself was even doing better at the time when Power was launched. Then they took Power a different direction formatwise. On top of that, Power sounds pretty dead in comparison to other chr's in major and minor markets.

I always had faith in WiLD.... but have always questioned the success of Power. But who knows what may happen in the next 6 months to a year.

 

[secondchoice]

I get the impression CC seems to not really care about the Atlanta cluster. They just want to put up something as cheaply cost effective as possible and hope the advertising income is greater than the expense. IMHO if the CC NYC stations performed like the Atlanta CC stations, Texas headquarters would have done something by now.

 

[kal30005]

I think the problem is two-fold.

First, I suggested the day that Power came on that they were not going to be competitive in Atlanta with syndicated shows during drive time. It's not so much the Elvis and Ryan Seacrest are so bad. But there's no way that Elvis Duran is going to beat the Bert Show in it's own market. It's just not going to happen.

The second issue in my opinion is a problem that has plagued Atlanta radio for years. They had a concept in Beat/Wild that was different and had it's own unique niche, and replaced it with a weaker copycat of 2 stations that are almost identical.

Not that Beat/Wild was the greatest station ever, but it was the first station in Atlanta I recall ever really bridging the gap between what is mostly white-targeted Star and Q and mostly black-targeted V and Hot. Atlanta radio has been so segregated as long as I've been here and Beat/Wild was the first station that broke that mold, and it was doing pretty well.

But as usual in corporate radio, it's not about finding a profitable niche. It's about trying to sound just like your competitors.

 

[electroboy73]

POWER isn't as exciting and energy driven as it should be. Atlanta is a party city and this station doesn't take advantage of that. Mixshows, live club broadcast, street promos, etc...this station sounds dead to be Top 40 in ATL.

See, that's where I kind of disagree. I think the energy is pretty good. And Power is def hooked up with local clubs, here like Gwinnett's Eastside Station, Opera, and Havana Night Club. Albeit, they should be airing what's actually playing inside the club more. Also, I hear lots of live remote broadcasts from say, various AT&T stores, fast food places, and they seem to always be at either Six Flags or Lake Lanier Islands Waterpark. Not only that but, Maddox sounds great in the evening. He's live, local and is very interactive with local listeners plus, has the only live, local nightly countdown in Atlanta.

I still HONESTLY believe that it's the current PD, Rick Vaughn and the music logs. Power still OMITS many songs, (even rhythmic) songs that are on the charts. And instead, fills the gap by playing recurrents in medium-heavy rotation and way too many songs in power-rotation at one time. I've seen so many FB comments on iHeartRadio about this. Power is only listenable for about an hour. So, of course..The listener is gonna find it more refreshing to switch over to Q100 after only a short time listening to Power. Plus, Q is even beating them on the rhythmic songs that Power should be playing anyway!! I too would MUCH rather a Clear Channel CHR be the winner over a Cumulus CHR. Atlanta DOES NOT need to be left again with only an adult leaning CHR. And please....I HOPE Power doesn't go full-blown urban-rhythmic. Just sayin. So, that's just my two cents on this subject.

 

[chrocket87]

I don't see Power going anywhere soon. CC is very committed to CHR, even though their work with Power has been half-assed. I find it very hard to believe that they won't make any musical/staff adjustments with this station.

Patron, on the other hand....

 

[atlantaboy]

I get the impression CC seems to not really care about the Atlanta cluster.

They sure care about Radio 105.7 - it's nearly their top rated Alternative station in the country

As far as Power goes, Rhythmic-leaning CHRs, as well as Rhythmics, in general, are getting mediocre ratings across the most of the country, when compared to more mainstream CHRs, yet they seem to be profitable formats (someone had said they're cheap to run) - ratings may not be great, but I don't think any other format, at this point, could do better - between Star and Q100, I'm not sure there's any room for CC to do anything differently

 

[atlantaboy]

Atlanta is a party city and this station doesn't take advantage of that. Mixshows, live club broadcast, street promos, etc...this station sounds dead to be Top 40 in ATL.

Atlanta's a party city, but it's a small party city - the city of Atlanta actually ranks something like 35th in the nation as far as the actual city goes, and remember that at least half of the city is black, and loyal to the Urban stations - what's extremely large is the suburban and exurban metro area, which extends more than 50 miles in some directions, which is why IMO Hot AC does so well in this market

Also remember that the people who "party" the most live close to the city, and are far less likely than suburbanites to spend a lot of time listening to the radio in their cars

 

[Radio_Alex_1990]

I get the impression CC seems to not really care about the Atlanta cluster.

They sure care about Radio 105.7 - it's nearly their top rated Alternative station in the country

As far as Power goes, Rhythmic-leaning CHRs, as well as Rhythmics, in general, are getting mediocre ratings across the country, yet they seem to be profitable formats (someone had said they're cheap to run) - ratings may not be great, but I don't think any other format, at this point, could do better - between Star and Q100, I'm not sure there's any room for CC to do anything differently

They might as well go Rhythmic cause there attempt with competing head-on with Q100 is not working. I do like their mix shows though! The station name "Power" does have that kind of name to it. And I would put it on the 105.3 dial. And put Radio on 96.1.

 

[kal30005]

Atlanta's a party city, but it's a small party city - the city of Atlanta actually ranks something like 35th in the nation as far as the actual city goes, and remember that at least half of the city is black, and loyal to the Urban stations - what's extremely large is the suburban and exurban metro area, which extends more than 50 miles in some directions, which is why IMO Hot AC does so well in this market

Also remember that the people who "party" the most live close to the city, and are far less likely than suburbanites to spend a lot of time listening to the radio in their cars.

I'm not sure I follow your logic here at all.

Radio, especially on a strong signal like 96.1 reaches the entire metro area and Atlanta is a HUGE metropolitan city and a big party city, no matter how you look at it.

The population inside the city limits of Atlanta is irrelevant. There is a very large population of younger party goers that live OTP but travel into Buckhead, Midtown, Sandy Springs and wherever the clubs are located. I don't believe there's a huge difference in where partiers live and their radio listening habits between Atlanta or any other city.

The reason Hot AC does well in Atlanta is because Atlanta has such a presence of strong African-American targeted stations that Atlanta radio has become almost completely segregated. I haven't seen another city come even close to number of strong stations and variety that Atlanta has.

So while in other cities, the CHR stations will play more urban stuff to try to attract crossover listeners, the Atlanta CHR stations lean more toward the Hot AC, because that's what the predominantly white CHR listener in Atlanta wants to hear.

 

[atlantaboy]

There is a very large population of younger party goers that live OTP but travel into Buckhead, Midtown, Sandy Springs and wherever the clubs are located.

Driving into Midtown/Buckhead on the weekends doesn't mean that this population favors rhythmic-leaning music all week - Rhythmic-leaning CHRs do well with young people that choose to live an urban (i. e. city) lifestyle permanently, as well as with Hispanic and Asian populations, and the ATL metro doesn't have a high percentage of any of these groups - we do have an extremely high percentage of middle-upper class white surburban listeners, which is why so many stations lean Hot AC in this market

A population of young people that want to hear "party music" on Friday and Saturday nights doesn't do much for the ratings of that Rhythmic-leaning CHR they're only in the mood for twice a week - plus, we're only talking about driving into the city, and driving back out - it's not like they're listening to Power while they're at the dance clubs...

 

[kal30005]

Driving into Midtown/Buckhead on the weekends doesn't mean that this population favors rhythmic-leaning music all week - Rhythmic-leaning CHRs do well with young people that choose to live an urban (i. e. city) lifestyle permanently, as well as with Hispanic and Asian populations, and the ATL metro doesn't have a high percentage of any of these groups - we do have an extremely high percentage of middle-upper class white surburban listeners, which is why so many stations lean Hot AC in this market

A population of young people that want to hear "party music" on Friday and Saturday nights doesn't do much for the ratings of that Rhythmic-leaning CHR they're only in the mood for twice a week - plus, we're only talking about driving into the city, and driving back out - it's not like they're listening to Power while they're at the dance clubs...

Oh, I see. I wasn't aware that the only people who count as partiers are those who listen to Rhythmic-leaning CHR music.

Now this goes back to the 80s and early 90s, but having lived in Florida and having spend time in several of the markets that have a bigger following of dance music it was just as prevalent in the suburbs as it was in the city. Actually maybe more so as rap was more prevalent in the inner cities.

I'm also not sure I necessarily believe that "urban lifestyle" is really that big a part of it either. And the Hispanic and Asian population in Atlanta is largely concentrated in the suburbs Northeast of the metro area.

I've stated the reasons I don't think Atlanta has ever had and likely will never have the rhythmic CHR station like you want to see. And It has nothing to do with the number of people who party in Atlanta. It has to do more with the segregation of Atlanta radio.

I don't believe there's a dramatic difference in the kids in Atlanta versus those of other cities, except that there's definitely a bigger hispanic population in Florida. I suspect people in cities that have the type of station you want would probably think the Atlanta party scene is better than where they live and might even prefer Atlanta's radio station choices.

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

FLASHBACK: I remember when 95.5 THE BEAT would party live over the radio at Wild Bills on Thursdays, Club Europe on Fridays and Club Primetime on Saturdays. Now that's when THE BEAT took off and really competed with Q100, Star 94, V103 and HOT 107.9. Now it's making since that CC should've just went with "WiLD 96.1" as a Rhythmic and let Q and Star battle each other while HOT and V compete. Just my opinion.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I don't see Power going anywhere soon. CC is very committed to CHR, even though their work with Power has been half-assed. I find it very hard to believe that they won't make any musical/staff adjustments with this station.

QUESTION IS:
Why do they always take so long?

Or are they going to try waiting many months before finally doing something to improve it again?

Why did the WiLD pd from South Carolina leave Atlanta's market?

 

[secondchoice]

I get the impression CC seems to not really care about the Atlanta cluster.

They sure care about Radio 105.7 - it's nearly their top rated Alternative station in the country

Just give CC Atlanta management some time, when they try to monetize (increase positive profit by selling more commercials and or cutting staff) 105.7 we will see how long it is successful.

 

[danman425]

I get the impression CC seems to not really care about the Atlanta cluster.

They sure care about Radio 105.7 - it's nearly their top rated Alternative station in the country

Just give CC Atlanta management some time, when they try to monetize (increase positive profit by selling more commercials and or cutting staff) 105.7 we will see how long it is successful.

It seems that they've let Nights/APD Kevin Cruise go due to staff cuts. From what I've heard, Knox (previous WKLS night jock and WRDA weekender) will take his place.

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/120876/kevin-cruise-exits-wrda

 

[Radio_Alex_1990]

I get the impression CC seems to not really care about the Atlanta cluster.

They sure care about Radio 105.7 - it's nearly their top rated Alternative station in the country

Just give CC Atlanta management some time, when they try to monetize (increase positive profit by selling more commercials and or cutting staff) 105.7 we will see how long it is successful.

It seems that they've let Nights/APD Kevin Cruise go due to staff cuts. From what I've heard, Knox (previous WKLS night jock and WRDA weekender) will take his place.

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/120876/kevin-cruise-exits-wrda

Let him go back to Power.

 

[Radio_Alex_1990]

Also, will the 96.7 simulcast continue? If they move to 96.1 or 105.3?

 

[secondchoice]

Also, will the 96.7 simulcast continue? If they move to 96.1 or 105.3?

No. There are still some signal overlapping programming rules the FCC enforces.

Do not plan on 105.7 /96.7's programming to move to 96.1. CC can do CHR in big markets but I guess they don't realize Atlanta is # 9 and their cookie cutter approach is costing them money. 105.3 (doing poorly in 6+ Arbitron) should still be getting most of the Hispanic agency buys in the market. I am not privy to the dollar amounts of the buys, but I have heard several national campaigns on 100.1 and 105.3 (in Spanish of course) that were on other Atlanta radio stations too.