WDOD Chattanooga flips from AAA to mainstream CHR!

[BRH]

Just a heads up for everyone about a new 100kw CHR that debuted this morning. At 10 AM (3/3/08) Bahakel flipped AAA WDOD Chattanooga to mainstream CHR as "Chattanooga's Hit Music, 96-5 the Mountain". The Mountain name was kept from the old AAA format. This marks the return of CHR to the Chattanooga market after Clear Channel dropped it about 6 months ago. Also, more importantly, this will be the first true mainstream CHR on a full class C, 100kw stick that the market has ever had. (WSKZ in the 80s doesn't really count because they were always very Rock leaning).

Anyway, this should be interesting and should really shake the market up. They launched with a fake country format for a couple of minutes and then a montage that made fun of the previous CHR stations in town over the past 25 years. It was pretty funny. Someone has already posted an MP3 download of the format change if anyone wants to download and listen. It's at http://www2.evilshare.com/77df10fc-3a86-102b-a8ce-0007e90cfb90

 

[CHRles]

Whoa! I was fixing to go down to Chatanooga today anyways! This is going to be awesome. This station has an amazing signal, can't wait to hear it with its new format.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Well, there goes any chance Alive 105 may have had, I bet they start to lean back more on Modern AC again. Oh well, its nice to have a chr in the area on such a powerful signal. I always wondered during the 90s why Knoxville always had a CHR, but not Chatanooga. Does this 96.5 The Mountain stream online?

 

[CHRles]

Haddaway "What IS Love" ;D Heh, that station played some fun 90s titles here and tere yesterday. I heard Will Smith "Getting Jiggy With It", Black Crows "Hard To Handle", and even "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys! LOL. I like the imaging and jingle, and I gotta say the launch itself was top notch, bigger then life just like B-94 Pittsburgh. Speaking of which, expect this station by the end of the next week or two to sound similar to B-94, or to Nashville's 107.5 The River. No points for guessing why it's called the Mountain - that's b/c of Lookout Mountain. A lot of people don't realize it but there's actually a whole little town/city up on Lookout Mountain. It's just minutes from downtown Chatanooga yet up there you can easily pick up all the Atlanta CHR (Q-100, Star 94, 95.5 The Beat), and even somewhat pick up Star 102.1 Knoxville.
As for 96.5 The Mountain's signal, it may be a 100,000 watts strong, but b/c of the terrain in the area the signal (like almost any other signal) doesnt come in too clear even 10 mins away from Chatanooga, like say in South Pittsburg. On the flipside, you can pick it up a good hour away in some places, and you're obviously going to be able to pick it up in all the places that count in metro Chatanooga. From Athens and Cleveland down to Dalton and even Rome Georgia, and over to Fort Payne in Alabama - all these places should be able to pick up 96.5 The Mountain. I think the only station from Chattanooga that has a bigger signal is Sunny 92.3.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Yeah, Lookout Mountain is awesome, also if you go up to Clingmans dome by Gatlinburg you can pick up all the Atlanta stations as well, but on Clingmans dome you can also pick up the Charlotte stations, like Kiss 95.1, and you can pick up B-93.7 Greenville SC on Clingmans dome too. I remember back in the late 90s while parked on Clingmans dome, it was the first time I ever heard 95.5 THE BEAT Atlanta, back then they played more POP and Dance and was called Atlanta's number one hit music station, this was before Q-100 was around, before Q-100 forced The Beat to go all Hip Hop.

 

[BRH]

Well, there goes any chance Alive 105 may have had, I bet they start to lean back more on Modern AC again. Oh well, its nice to have a chr in the area on such a powerful signal. I always wondered during the 90s why Knoxville always had a CHR, but not Chatanooga. Does this 96.5 The Mountain stream online?

WDOD isn't streaming at the moment. Currently it's just a very basic webpage up at www.965themountain.com. As far as Alive 105 goes; I'm also interested in seeing what they are going to do. Brewer has a CP to upgrade the signal and move it closer into Chattanooga, and they also just recently hired Roy Jaynes (aka Cadillac Jack, aka Brother John St. John) as the new PD for Alive 105 and sister station, 95.3 Jack FM. Jaynes was the former PD of WKXJ "Hot Jammin' Kicks FM" Chattanooga in it's successful Rhythmic CHR period in the late 90's , and also programmed KKSS Albuquerque in the early 90s too. He also was a very successful CHR jock in Knoxville with several stints at WOKI in the 80's as "Brother John" and "John St. John". Anyway, he is a great CHR programmer and a great old school on air jock as well. He previously worked for Brewer at WALV for a very short stint after WKXJ was sold, so this is kind of a return for him.

But it will be interesting to see what Brewer and Jaynes have up their sleeves for Alive 105. My guess is also that it probably moves in more of a Hot AC direction of some sort. Jaynes is most well known for programming rhythmic CHRs, and I'm sure he could put a great one on, but Brewer's big cash cow in the market is Alive's sister urban station WJTT "Power 94", and I really can't see them launching a rhythmic CHR that would eat into Power's numbers. I would have bet on CHR after the signal upgrade, but now with WDOD flipping, I'd guess maybe they stick with Hot AC.

Also, just to throw another monkeywrench into the equation. Clear Channel is supposed to be moving in a new signal into Chattanooga sometime very soon (103.7). They've had the permit for a good time now and everyone is wondering when it will finally hit the air. Back when they dropped CHR from 98.1 Kiss FM, it was rumored that Kiss would re-emerge on the new, stronger 103.7 signal when it hit the air. So who knows, we might have a CHR battle sometime in the future in Chatt. town, with WDOD, WALV, and the new 103.7 all doing or rumored to be doing some form of CHR.

 

[CHRles]

Jaynes was the former PD of WKXJ "Hot Jammin' Kicks FM" Chattanooga in it's successful Rhythmic CHR period in the late 90's

It was a very eclectic Rhythmic leaning CHR - they were one of the first stations to break Leann Rimes "How Do I Live" on CHR radio, and at the same time played a good amount of Hip Hop songs most CHRs were afraid to touch back then. Pretty cool that the station was 3 or 4 signals - I think they billed themselves as a superstation, right?

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I never even knew that WKXJ was ever a Rhythmic. Whenever I heard them they were pretty much a straight ahead CHR which was Hip Hop friendly, but I remember them playing all the Modern Rock cuts like Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20 as well. You wouldnt hear a Rhythmic playing those artists now days, at least not in Power Rotation. I always liked WKXJ but I always thought they were a mainstream CHR.

Also, isnt Power 94.3 pretty much a Rhythmic Hip Hop-R&B station? I dont see them launching another Rhythmic station unless its awfully POP Leaned with a suburban sound like B-96 Chicago kind of.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

As a matter of fact, its hard to believe that WKXJ was a Rhythmic, whenever you have stations now days like Channel 95.5 Detroit, and WSNX Grand Rapids which are CHR Mainstream, but have an almost all rhythmic playlist. Sorry to make two posts out of this, I just had to stress my opinion. A station like WKXJ would really mess up the Rhythmic charts, just like CHRs like Channel 955 make the CHR charts lean more rhythmic.

 

[CHRles]

As a matter of fact, its hard to believe that WKXJ was a Rhythmic, whenever you have stations now days like Channel 95.5 Detroit, and WSNX Grand Rapids which are CHR Mainstream

True but back in the late 90s stations reporting to the CHR/Pop panel didnt lean as heavily on Rhythmic (they were usually afraid to). What I can tell you is that I do remember Kicks FM being on Radio & Records Rhythmic panel in the mid to late 90s. Besides, you had other Rhythmic playing Pop titles. For example, KMEL in San FRancisco played Alanis Morisette's "Ironic", Wild 94.9 played Lisa Loeb's "Stay", B-96 Chicago played Hootie & The Blowfish "Only Wanna Be With You", and quite a few Rhythmics played Elton John's "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (like KGGI Riverside, Power 96 MIami, and KS 104 Denver).

 

[Rob Mackenzie]

Syndie wise, they already have Rick Dees (Rick has a Rhythmic show!?! When did he start that? According to Rick.com, he has 3 shows now), Backtrax (90's I'd guess), TRL and Dawson McAllister lined up, under the features tab of the website.

They play some older tracks that make me scratch my head a bit. U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For is one example. Although looking at the last 2 hours, that's the only one that stood out that made me go 'huh?'


I like the "Kiss My Astra" contest with the Saturn dealer ;D

 

[only1moore]

Also, isnt Power 94.3 pretty much a Rhythmic Hip Hop-R&B station? I dont see them launching another Rhythmic station unless its awfully POP Leaned with a suburban sound like B-96 Chicago kind of.

Back in the '80s WJTT did have a Rhythmic direction in the WLUM/WHRK/WAMO mold, so having a churban direction is nothing new to them. Plus at the time they were owned by Ying Hua Benns, the same one that owned the now-defunct WMYK/Norfolk during its "K-94" days.