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"The new sound of Rock 100.5 - starts Friday at 10AM!"

M

MarkW

So, twice hourly (or thereabouts), the station is playing the following tease:
"You've wanted it, and we're bringing it! The new sound of Rock 100.5! Starts Friday...at 10AM."

My guess as to what this means - a change in music mix similar to the recently launched 93.9 in Indianapolis. That station has shown promise out of the gate.

http://wndx.tunegenie.com/

Guess #2 - a change in music mix to sound more like the retooled 101 KBER in Salt Lake City. John Dickey did his best to ruin the station several years ago, but fortunately, it was able to return to its Hard / Mainstream Rock roots before it was too late! (KBER rocks harder than 93.9 Indy but also skews a bit older.)

http://kber.tunegenie.com/
 
Both stations seem to play a carefully curated mix of 70s-current rock, including alt and active rock that has become mainstream enough.
 
Would this put 105.7 in play?
 
My guess is either Mark’s guess #1- a move to a more active rock sound or perhaps it’s just a new personality coming in at 10AM. Hopefully it’s the first.
 
I’ll say up front that a new rock direction, rather than be alternative, active or a combo of both would be great.... however.... let me play devils advocate - How would a new rock tilt at 10 am on Friday differ when the same move was made in early 2013 when at 10 am, they launched an active sound with Three Days Grace? Remember it’s when The Bone and Rock 100.5 merged? At that time, rock 100.5 was a KZ 106 sounding classic rock station that played Janis Joplin, Deep Purple and Jethro Tull. Then The Bone, which was active/alternative rock, all post 2000, merged with Rock 100.5 which basically made a safe active rock station OR some even called mainstream rock which was a softer less modern version of Project 96.1 which everyone was avoiding to sound like. Why didn’t that last and how would this be different? Could active rock be picking up steam after an 8 year hiatus or could Rock 100.5 just be taking on yet another version of “rock”. I don’t think I have ever heard a frequency adjust between so many versions of rock music. They have went from AAA when the first launch to deep classic rock to a weekend (yes literally a single weekend) where it was hard in your face new rock reminiscent of the 105.3 the buzz days then back to classic rock etc etc... just makes me tired thinking about it.

Still, my vote is yes for more modern rock.
 
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...differ when the same move was made in early 2013 when at 10 am, they launched an active sound with Three Days Grace? Remember it’s when The Bone and Rock 100.5 merged?
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The execution of that change was terrible!

All that bands Project 9-6-1's former audience craved received little to no airplay. I'm talking Korn, Tool, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Rage Against The Machine, and bands of similar ilk. Instead, some milquetoast recurrents + major rock hits from the 90's were surrounded by the same worn out classic rock titles the station had always played, just a tighter mix (read: less variety).

The so-called "merger" was basically 70% the "old" Rock 100.5 and 30% Bone.
 
MarkW said:
The execution of that change was terrible!

All that bands Project 9-6-1's former audience craved received little to no airplay. I'm talking Korn, Tool, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Rage Against The Machine, and bands of similar ilk. Instead, some milquetoast recurrents + major rock hits from the 90's were surrounded by the same worn out classic rock titles the station had always played, just a tighter mix (read: less variety).

The so-called "merger" was basically 70% the "old" Rock 100.5 and 30% Bone.
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To be fair though, in 2013, active rock was taking a dump all over the country in terms of ratings. This was the height of the Alt (whatever) and radio (whatever) format changes all over the country as active rock took a backseat for alternative.

All I ask is that Cumulus lets Axle program the station based on what Atlanta wants and not what active rock product Cumulus is shoving out. To be fair though, I find cumulus does a better job at executing rock formats than Iheart. I also have to wonder if they may not bring back Cage because there was a lot of upset people when they removed him and he would fit so well on a active rock leaning format.
 
acheron1982 said:
All I ask is that Cumulus lets Axle program the station based on what Atlanta wants and not what active rock product Cumulus is shoving out.
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Not aware that there is any centralized Cumulus rock product. However, the guy in charge of all content for the company is Brian Phillips, who knows a few things about rock in Atlanta.
 
I was told by a very reliable source that the change involves adding music to the playlist. A good guess is more current active rock, but we'll find out tomorrow.
 
There are different types of active rock formats. Generally, Iheart tends to mix more classic rock in. Based on what I've heard so far, which is limited, this appears full fledge active rock with a new rock lean similar to what I would expect on an active rock station put out by Entercom. I've actually heard very little in the way of older rock. I'll give it more of a listen though.

I'm more of an alternative type of guy but been some time without a newer harder sound in Atlanta. Predictions on ratings or do we even want to go there this early?
 
acheron1982 said:
Predictions on ratings or do we even want to go there this early?
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I don't see anything that tells me this will lead to a big improvement in the numbers. Less classic stuff means less consensus music, which means lower ratings. The real question is with the Braves in first place, will this station get a bounce?
 
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Less classic stuff means less consensus music, which means lower ratings.
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When Rock 100.5 played nothing but 70s & 80s "consensus classic rock," the station's ratings were stuck in the mid to upper 1's - and that was AFTER the demise of Dave FM and Project 9-6-1. After multiple quarters of terrible ratings positioned as "Atlanta's Classic Rock," the station increased the percentage of spins devoted to 90's rock and brought back the "Atlanta's Rock Station" slogan, which is exactly the formula the station followed until 10 AM this morning.

The new playlist is a near replica of 93.9 in Indianapolis. It is following the same music scheduling playbook as the Indianapolis station. This is a mainstream rock format updated for 2019. The station now plays everything from Disturbed & Metallica, to ZZ Top and AC/DC, to Imagine Dragons, with preference given to straight ahead rock from the past 25 years.

For those in the ATL who enjoy newer rock and prefer FM radio over other audio sources, this should be a refreshing change. People who enjoyed Project 9-6-1 will gravitate to the station in greater number now. I also think some 105.7 listeners will defect to 100.5.

True, some Gen X and older listeners will be turned off by the changes, but I think the influx of listening from younger age groups will compensate for that.

Personally, I would've avoided songs from the indie/pop side of Alt completely, and I would've made the overall sound of the station one notch heavier - similar to 101 KBER in Salt Lake City.
 
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^ Fabulous writeup.

Co-owned 93X crushes it in MSP with a more modern playlist as they have to balance it against sister 92 KQRS.

93-9X Indy is rising in the ratings.

This is a good move by 100.5 in Atl.

Any market with an opening for a more current based rock station that includes the "classics" such as this would do well to follow this model. At this point in time, this is the way to do a rock station if you're not a classic rock station.
 
Looks like they are trying to skew to a younger audience. I'm an oldie and I like retro-rock, not new rock.........so this NEW sound will get even less interest from me.
 
gregg75 said:
Looks like they are trying to skew to a younger audience. I'm an oldie and I like retro-rock, not new rock.........so this NEW sound will get even less interest from me.
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Then, sadly gregg75, they are doing exactly what they should be doing to keep any form of a rock format on the air. Now, whether or not it will translate into listenership, ratings or revenues is the bigger issue.
 
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