"Rock" 100.5 Is Officially Dead

[raptusregaliter]

Amidst a handful of real rock acts, here are some of the groups you would have heard yesterday on 100.5 from 3-5 pm: Los Lonely Boys, The Wallflowers, Ray LaMontagne, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, The Cure, and, everybody's least favorite band, Nickelback.

Sad.

 

[RTibbs]

But hey if they say it is Quality Rock they must be right.

 

[whit979]

Amidst a handful of real rock acts, here are some of the groups you would have heard yesterday on 100.5 from 3-5 pm: Los Lonely Boys, The Wallflowers, Ray LaMontagne, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, The Cure, and, everybody's least favorite band, Nickelback.

Sad.

That almost sounds like a Modern AC.

 

[shadoobee]

Sting. Yesterday they played Sting.

 

[FloydB]

From all of the complaints about Dave, this current Rock 100.5 playlist sounds pretty similar to Dave's. It would make sense to see if somebody could put a dent in the only AC station in town's share, but why would so many stations dance around it, thereby cancelling out each other, instead of taking B98.5 head on?

 

[Uriah]

Amidst a handful of real rock acts, here are some of the groups you would have heard yesterday on 100.5 from 3-5 pm: Los Lonely Boys, The Wallflowers, Ray LaMontagne, Snow Patrol, Coldplay, The Cure, and, everybody's least favorite band, Nickelback.

Sad.

Might I suggest that the issue here is not the subjective nature of "quality" but the way "ROCK" is perceived as a musical descriptive or attitude. The artists you mention can certainly be considered for a playlist defined as quality (as in interesting or not American Idol fodder) - but they don't satisfy your perception of rock. The emotional connection that a AAA format audience shares would be more akin to discovery and the desire to explore music.

Taking on B98 - or the AC hill - by rearranging the same 300 titles, rewriting the 10 standard liners and coming up with a different name might have worked in 1980 - but not
today.

 

[agentUrge]

Yeh, I remember hearing that Los Lonely Boys track and I'm thinking..."Axel can't seriously be rocking out to this in the studio."

The mix is just......just odd....the other day I heard the Ramones after hearing Journey and I'm thinking....it's the rock shuffle of 2004.

 

[jabba17]

I for one cannot figure out the AAA fetish among programmers. Does AAA really draw that many people nationally? I mean, Dave has had one of the lowest ratings, book in and book out, of a 100k station in ATL. Now we have another station on 1/10th the signal aping it. Does it bill well or something? Or do people think it's respectable because it's adult (not kiddie, and can piggyback on AC's traditional high ratings and billing) album (and therefore chockfull of critically-acclaimed, cognoscenti rock) alternative (and therefore hip)?

IMNSHO AAA is an absolute poseur when it comes to innovative formats and playlists. At least AC doesn't pretend to be.

As an aside, the only potentially successful adult* niche that isn't being exploited in ATL is soft AC, since the demise of Peach/Lite (which had good ratings until CC blew it up).

*As another aside, howcome radio is the only medium where "adult" isn't a euphemism for pr0n?

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

I mean, Dave has had one of the lowest ratings, book in and book out, of a 100k station in ATL. Now we have another station on 1/10th the signal aping it.

<tech_jargon>

Just for the record, Dave is not a 100 kW station - they have an ERP of 66 kW.

</tech_jargon>

 

[Uriah]

I for one cannot figure out the AAA fetish among programmers. Does AAA really draw that many people nationally? I mean, Dave has had one of the lowest ratings, book in and book out, of a 100k station in ATL. Now we have another station on 1/10th the signal aping it. Does it bill well or something? Or do people think it's respectable because it's adult (not kiddie, and can piggyback on AC's traditional high ratings and billing) album (and therefore chockfull of critically-acclaimed, cognoscenti rock) alternative (and therefore hip)?

IMNSHO AAA is an absolute poseur when it comes to innovative formats and playlists. At least AC doesn't pretend to be.

LOL - great post Jabba!

Labels can be trouble -especially with insiders, whatever the business. Every arm chair and/or employed PD has a different expectation and listeners could give a crap.

Almost 20% of terrestrial radio's cume is listening to online stations. Music discovery, personalization and lack of clutter are three of the draws.
Features like iTunes Genius and Apps like Pandora make depth tracks and new artist much more accessible (and cool).

As to AAA: Dave's inconsistencies have more to do with content/personality/music miss matching. Ex: 10+ morning shows and stereotypical jocks mucking up
a pretty solid music image. B98 and Hit AC formats in general may be perceived as shallow to an insider but they're consistent, safe and dependable from a listener perspective.

Rock 100 and TRG aren't moving the needle. They have to try something. And I wouldn't be surprised if The River ran it's course - ahem dried up - in the next 12-18 months.
News/Talk will probably migrate to FM at some point too.

 

[RTibbs]

I for one cannot figure out the AAA fetish among programmers. Does AAA really draw that many people nationally? I mean, Dave has had one of the lowest ratings, book in and book out, of a 100k station in ATL. Now we have another station on 1/10th the signal aping it. Does it bill well or something? Or do people think it's respectable because it's adult (not kiddie, and can piggyback on AC's traditional high ratings and billing) album (and therefore chockfull of critically-acclaimed, cognoscenti rock) alternative (and therefore hip)?

IMNSHO AAA is an absolute poseur when it comes to innovative formats and playlists. At least AC doesn't pretend to be.

LOL - great post Jabba!

Labels can be trouble -especially with insiders, whatever the business. Every arm chair and/or employed PD has a different expectation and listeners could give a crap.

Almost 20% of terrestrial radio's cume is listening to online stations. Music discovery, personalization and lack of clutter are three of the draws.
Features like iTunes Genius and Apps like Pandora make depth tracks and new artist much more accessible (and cool).

As to AAA: Dave's inconsistencies have more to do with content/personality/music miss matching. Ex: 10+ morning shows and stereotypical jocks mucking up
a pretty solid music image. B98 and Hit AC formats in general may be perceived as shallow to an insider but they're consistent, safe and dependable from a listener perspective.

Rock 100 and TRG aren't moving the needle. They have to try something. And I wouldn't be surprised if The River ran it's course - ahem dried up - in the next 12-18 months.
News/Talk will probably migrate to FM at some point too.

What are your expectations for TRG when you say they are not moving the needle?

 

[upstate29651]

This explains it all:

http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2009/04/13/414-morning-mash-with-rock-1005s-musical-shift/

100.5 has decided to take on 92.9, 96.1 & 97.1 all at once. This may....MAY force these three to become better at what they do if 100.5 makes inroads. If that happened & the three did improve, leaving 100.5 to flounder, could this allow 99X to move from 97.9 to 100.5? One could only hope.

This is a Top 10 market. It really can support Active, Alternative, Classic & AAA.

G

 

[agentUrge]

What are your expectations for TRG when you say they are not moving the needle?

Speaking of TRG, how long have they been extending the show into the 10am hour? I've heard them twice this week going as far as 10:15.

 

[jabba17]

This explains it all:

http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2009/04/13/414-morning-mash-with-rock-1005s-musical-shift/

100.5 has decided to take on 92.9, 96.1 & 97.1 all at once. This may....MAY force these three to become better at what they do if 100.5 makes inroads. If that happened & the three did improve, leaving 100.5 to flounder, could this allow 99X to move from 97.9 to 100.5? One could only hope.

This is a Top 10 market. It really can support Active, Alternative, Classic & AAA.

G

But it can't support heritage rock? :'(

Sheesh...from the link and comments I didn't realize how many people hated 80s AOR/metal--it's almost a disco-level of hate. But then again, I hate 90s alt--to each their own. I should note that the only 1980s song listed in Ho's blog was "Driver 8" by REM--perhaps the most annoying REM song evAR and a perfect example of the Jann Wenner cognoscenti rock that seems to delight critics but leaves some of us cold.

I agree that Rock 100.5 had to do something. But I am so disappointed that they have basically become the antithesis of what they were right out of the box--a station focusing on filling the gap between River, Dave, and Project. Now the gap returns as they try to ape all three of those stations.

River has been declining in ratings lately. Expect a big comeback for them if Rock 100.5 sticks with this new format. I heard "Jump" by Van Halen this morning on River...that would have been too hard for them a couple months ago. Maybe River will update their playlist to fill parts of this gap. It will be interesting to see what Dave and Project do (if anything, in the case of Project, which has been doing better lately).

 

[RTibbs]

They usually go until about 10:10 at least. Pretty much since they have been on the air. A good way to get some marginally higher rating in the 10:00 hour.

 

[Uriah]

Tibbs: Rock 100 Expectations - Primarily that TRG would grow up. Read: I like them them enough to want better content than strip club radio-so predictable.
Voyeur radio is only entertaining for a short period and the dependence on SSS is too easy. Less about them more about the brand position.
Shorter segments. Keep them wanting more when you're on the edge content wise. It's an A.D.D. Twitter World.
Also note that Colbert, South Park and Stewart are 30 minutes not an hour. What's wrong with 4 "Quality Rock" songs an hour?

Overall, some stations need to address what's between the songs as a more viable part of what makes a format position believable.
You can hear American Idol replays on every format. Contest for tickets - every format - remotes at T-Mobile - every format.
Jocks laughing at their own jokes - every format.

Music is nearing commodity status - free, disposable, ubiquitous. It's doesn't have the value it once did as the single defining format position.

 

[RTibbs]

Really they wanted them to grow up? I would have thought their main goal was ratings. I believe I read they were 5th in 18-34 and 8th in 25-54. Not bad for a station overall mired in the high 20's with their ratings.

 

[upstate29651]

But it can't support heritage rock? :'(

Heritage rock = classic rock.

G

 

[jabba17]

But it can't support heritage rock? :'(

Heritage rock = classic rock.

G

Yeah, but I am using the term to refer to "newer" classic rock (late 1970s through the 80s, not British Invasion through the mid-1970s). In Sirius/XM terms, think Classic Rewind and not Classic Vinyl.

Although, as I stated in another thread AOR ("old" classic rock) from the 1960s and early 1970s is about gone from ATL radio, except for a handful of key songs, so you do have a point about what classic rock (what's actually played) has become. The kind of stuff you used to hear on 96 Rock's "Psychedelic Psaturday/Psunday/Psupper" and Z93's deep cuts is gone.

 

[jabba17]

I thought Roddy had a good analysis of Rock 100.5 on his blog (www.atlairwaves.blogspot.com ). Sounds like what Cumulus is trying to do is make a male version of Dave or B98.5--if Dave is AAA for women, then Rock 100.5 is AAA for men (or, AC for men if the comparison is with B98.5).

Now, they need a new personality. It would be an insult to put an old warhorse like Kaedy Kiely or Bob Bailey on this format. What they really need is someone who understands this kind of rock...from a male point of view, of course. A real man's man. There's someone who's been out of work since WGST cleaned house...no, it's not the Kimmer but you're getting warm. I'm talking about...

...The GLORIOUS LESLIE DOVE! With Mens on Rock!