The "New" 97.1 The River

[Blazeradio]

Heard over the last 24 hours on the "New" 97.1 The River ...

AC/DC "You Shook Me All Night Long"
Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine"
Guns N' Roses "Paradise City"
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
Def Leppard "Rock of Ages"
Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
Van Halen "Jump"
Billy Idol "White Wedding"

Looks like the play list has been expanded ever so slightly with a little harder lean.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

Could be a reaction to Rock 100.5 adding more classic rock and harder edge stuff too. Maybe by adding new music, for the station, they can continue being The "NEW" 97.1 The River. Does anybody on this board have anything that is four years old and they still call it new?

 

[bnaivar]

Kind of reminds me of the "Evolution of the Dance" video soundtrack on YouTube.

 

[jabba17]

I mentioned something about this on another thread:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,158097.msg1345496.html#msg1345496

Essentially, I think River is leaning harder to overlap less with True Oldies (WHICH IS GAINING SHARE WITH ITS 5,000 SONG PLAYLIST!!!!!) and go for the kill against Rock100.5 (which is losing share).

 

[Insideradio]

I mentioned something about this on another thread:

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,158097.msg1345496.html#msg1345496

Essentially, I think River is leaning harder to overlap less with True Oldies (WHICH IS GAINING SHARE WITH ITS 5,000 SONG PLAYLIST!!!!!) and go for the kill against Rock100.5 (which is losing share).

Good lord... I just went on Yes.com to look at what Rock 100 has been playing... WTF are they doing? One week they're AAA, the next they're classic rock, now they're mixing in some oldies... They are reeling in my book.

Pick a format and do it well!

 

[rho01]

The River in the last week of October added 36 new songs it has never played, at least since July 1, 2006 (Mediabase 24/7, where I culled this data, measured the station from that day and missed the first six months). 25 of the new songs are from the 1980s from acts such as the Talking Heads, Steve Winwood and Journey. The top 24 songs the station played last week, though, were from the 1970s, its core. Here's a sampling of the "newbies"

Queen/David Bowie "Under Pressure"
Aerosmith "Rag Doll"
Aerosmith "Dude (Looks like a Lady")
Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane."
Guns 'n Roses "Sweet Child o' Mine"
Billy Squier " The Stroke"
Def Leppard "Photograph"
Rolling Stones "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"
AC/DC "Back in Black"
U2 "Where the Streets Have No Name"
Def Leppard "Rock of Ages"
Steve Winwood "Back in the High Life"
Steve Winwood "Higher Love"
Blondie "Heart of Glass"
Tom Petty/ Heartbreakers "You Got Lucky"
Gregg Allman Band "I'm No Angel" (I'm hearing that right now)
Billy Idol "White Wedding"
Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"
Clash "Train in Vain"
Rolling Stones "Brown Sugar" (can you believe the River has never played this song before?)
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers "Mary Jane's Last Dance" (this is the only song the River plays that is less than 20 years old--it came out in 1993.)


But the playlist is as tight as ever: about 240 songs. On a decade breakdown: one song from the 90s, 84 from the 80s, 149 from the 1970s and nine from the 1960s (of which eight are by the Rolling Stones).

 

[RTibbs]

I just bounced them from my presets in favor of WABE. Solid local news on that channel. Steve Goss and Dennis O'hayer. good stuff. Beats Scott Slade show which seems to bne a never ending loop of throw to Cap'n Herb, then a tease, then a commercial, the throw to tony Schiavone, then a tease, a commercial then throw it to Kirk Mellish with weather and then more teases and useless info.

 

[DToTheJ]

Steve Winwood "Back in the High Life"
Steve Winwood "Higher Love"
Blondie "Heart of Glass"

How can you call yourself a legitimate rock station and play these songs? I wonder if they also play Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" too?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Could be a reaction to Rock 100.5 adding more classic rock and harder edge stuff too. Maybe by adding new music, for the station, they can continue being The "NEW" 97.1 The River. Does anybody on this board have anything that is four years old and they still call it new?

In Tampa, we have the "New Magic 94.9" which I believe switched from "WARM 94.9" in 2000 and is still 'New'. They have a basically unchanged line-up and basically the same mainstream AC music. Yet it is always "New". "Mix 100.7" is constantly tinkering with it's line-up and music but is never "New"--that is because CC uses other cliches.

Also Tampa has "the NEW 101.5 The Point" and the "the New 107.3 The Eagle" . However they are not ten years into the same format. Maybe 6 or 7. Hard to remember.

 

[carolinaradio]

Greenville, SC has The NEW Hot 98.1. Has been new since 2002.

Cox is really a joke of a company. Never heard one of their stations besides n/t that was interesting or any good.

 

[Uriah]

Greenville, SC has The NEW Hot 98.1. Has been new since 2002.

Cox is really a joke of a company. Never heard one of their stations besides n/t that was interesting or any good.

Hard to argue with a company that out bills and outranks its competition - especially in Atlanta. Reality bites: In today's fight for survival billing trumps interesting and good. No joke.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Well said, Uriah. Cox is one of the few major radio companies that still do well and are not overleveraged.

 

[OutOfTheBiz]

Greenville, SC has The NEW Hot 98.1. Has been new since 2002.

Cox is really a joke of a company. Never heard one of their stations besides n/t that was interesting or any good.

Hard to argue with a company that out bills and outranks its competition - especially in Atlanta. Reality bites: In today's fight for survival billing trumps interesting and good. No joke.

Today has nothing to do with it. Ratings and Revenue are what has always driven radio stations. It would be stupid to be in business for any other reason.

 

[knozall]

I worked for a station whose owner insisted that, according to Arbitron, using "new" in the station moniker attracted listeners always looking for something "new" regardless of whether or not there was anything "new" about the station. He was full of crap then and he's still full of crap; a real know it all guy who had money, but, had never had a radio job other than sales. His station is still losing money hand over fist and finally quit calling itself "new".

 

[BIGSTICK]

I worked for a station whose owner insisted that, according to Arbitron, using "new" in the station moniker attracted listeners always looking for something "new" regardless of whether or not there was anything "new" about the station. He was full of crap then and he's still full of crap; a real know it all guy who had money, but, had never had a radio job other than sales. His station is still losing money hand over fist and finally quit calling itself "new".

It really is irritating hering that new crap all the time, it is painful to listen to 97.1, it was such a great station in its heyday...

 

[Uriah]

Greenville, SC has The NEW Hot 98.1. Has been new since 2002.

Cox is really a joke of a company. Never heard one of their stations besides n/t that was interesting or any good.

Hard to argue with a company that out bills and outranks its competition - especially in Atlanta. Reality bites: In today's fight for survival billing trumps interesting and good. No joke.

Today has nothing to do with it. Ratings and Revenue are what has always driven radio stations. It would be stupid to be in business for any other reason.

Of course. Let's assume we're in this to make money.

This thread still has that, nose pressed up against the glass, arm-chair PD feel. Does anyone really think dropping "new" or changing a liner will positively affect ratings or radio's loss of relevance? Please. Romanticizing is one thing - go for it. Survival is another.

Terrestrial radio, print and TV are based on a PUSH model of content distribution; so is the web to large extent. The consumer is now the PD and will capture, or PULL, content as they wish - much of it free without commercials.

Media companies/broadcasters make money in the roll of toll taker - commercials in exchange for content. Surrounding 6-8 minute stop sets with LCD content can hardly compete in a consumer controlled environment.

Bordering on the romantic side, I believe terrestrial radio can be relevant and profitable. Reps are learning digital selling, PD's are incorporating social media, jocks are communicating with listeners through FB and Twitter and GSM's are realizing that results lead to more business - not just ratings. Plus the digital bottom line is growing for companies like Cox. Terrestrial is not going to be the biggest piece of the media pie going forward.

For radio consider this: Concentrate on finding ways to tune people in versus obsessing on the reasons they tune out.

 

[trusty]

"The River in the last week of October added 36 new songs it has never played..."

As long as it adds NEW songs it will be a NEW station, donchano??

 

[jabba17]

I worked for a station whose owner insisted that, according to Arbitron, using "new" in the station moniker attracted listeners always looking for something "new" regardless of whether or not there was anything "new" about the station. He was full of crap then and he's still full of crap; a real know it all guy who had money, but, had never had a radio job other than sales. His station is still losing money hand over fist and finally quit calling itself "new".

It really is irritating hering that new crap all the time, it is painful to listen to 97.1, it was such a great station in its heyday...

You'd have to go all the way back to its CHR days, before its move-in in the 80s, for me to consider 97.1 as "great". Even in the late 80s/early 90s WFOX wasn't that great of an oldies station...True Oldies would have crushed it. Then again, I might be romanticizing the days when you had to DX WFOX to pick it up in most of what was then the metro area.

However, I do like their latest music mix--perhaps the best of the River era.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

so how come B98.5 does uncox like stuff like having an overnight personality and jingles?

 

[secondchoice]

so how come B98.5 does uncox like stuff like having an overnight personality and jingles?

98.5 has made some cuts in the last few years. I forget the evening person’s name but they when started running Delia (formally on 94.9 Peach / Lite) in the evening shift went away. That money could have been used to keep the overnight live. Many people think The Delia Show on 98.5 will keep any new AC from being launched in this market. I don’t think there is a poor performing big signal station in Atlanta. A strong signal is required to reach suburbia and into buildings for “listen while you work”. 96.1 doesn’t count because I bet there I will bet was a “deal” made when Delia went to 98.5. If somebody else tries to run at 98.5’s revenue, they will most likely run “hot AC” and go around instead directly at 98.5. If I had an under performer, I would try to mess with Q100, The Beat or Star. If I could tie in with a TV stations’ newsroom I would go after WBS am. If I had extra deep pockets and could wait a couple of decades I would go after V103!