What is up with Top 40/CHR in Atlanta?!

[mike7586]

Actually I take back what I said about The Groove, they have added Ne-Yo - One In A Million and several other songs...

Ludacris - What's Your Fantasy
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
BoB - Don't Let Me Fail
Pitbull/T-Pain - Hey Baby
Ne-Yo - One In A Million
Lil Wayne - Right Above It
DJ Khaled - All I Do Is Win
Timbaland - The Way I Are

Amen to that! Sounding better now... hope they keep it up!

 

[Wildstyle K]

:-X ??? ...I must correct something I've posted:

"one thought per break," he said. that's all the listener can catch.

KDM you say so much that nobody catches any of it.

You have a good point here because I made a MAJOR typo I must correct, which I'm surprised was the one thing no one seemed to catch....

WEIRD FORMATTING VS. THE NORM
.... Then there is KMXP (who kicked EVERYBODY'S ass) which is EXTREMELY heavy on the pop rock ...., so... despite the talk on how boring KMXP is, you can't really deny that they don't know what they are doing (And they actually have more direct competition!).
.

Correction - It should be - they DO know what they are doing. The word "deny" was supposed to be replaced with "say", or the word "don't" was supposed to be removed. It should be an obvious error, but... still, it's best that I clarify it - especially if it will remain online forever for people to judge and misinterpret.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Anyway.... DONE.
Main point & message has still been delivered; typos, imperfections, and all.

Whatever other typos, mistakes, poor sentence & wording structure or direct future replies to come, remain once I finish posting this, SO BE IT.

 

[mike7586]

Actually I take back what I said about The Groove, they have added Ne-Yo - One In A Million and several other songs...

Ludacris - What's Your Fantasy
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
BoB - Don't Let Me Fail
Pitbull/T-Pain - Hey Baby
Ne-Yo - One In A Million
Lil Wayne - Right Above It
DJ Khaled - All I Do Is Win
Timbaland - The Way I Are

Amen to that! Sounding better now... hope they keep it up!

Hmm, they haven't play any of these songs during the day yet. It seems like when they add new songs, they play them at night for a day or two, then add them during the day. Is this normal procedure, just curious? I hope so because I'd like to see these songs added to their playlist.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

The issue isn't outsiders posting about radio. I can understand them offering opinions about their likes and dislikes. Here there's this tendency for outsiders to post with authority about the business. Sometimes I think they do it to try to impress the radio folk, which isn't gonna happen. Like you, not trying to flame but some don't realize insiders populate these boards and shake their heads in amazement. As far as our rhythmic friend, he isn't going away. He's a housefly. Swat him and he'll keep coming back. Let the two or three people who care about his topics read them. There's no sense nagging him. The only time I even see his posts is if they're buried as responses for other peoples' topics and even then I don't read them because they give me a headache.

Thanks for giving even more clarity to my point. Well said.

For the guy who says he "knows the lingo" that's exactly what I'm talking about. If you think that's relevant, try to use it to get a job in radio. (Of course I'm kidding.)

 

[InSearchOfGear]

While the basis and reasoning for the style in formatting I've been pushing for are mainly for the unique features that typically come with it (if the PD/MD chooses to make things live and interesting on the appropriate format), I must keep "the overall package" reasonable because the moment I (or anyone) steps out of that boundary and start sharing creative & innovative ideas, the reactions & responses will be 100% worse than playing it safe and suggesting something that's "in the radio norm" that has had proven success. It will also make the person presenting the idea far worse than just being assumed to be uneducated - especially "in this economy" (I wonder where the other economy is...).

That's why I keep my suggestions reasonable and simple because even when I keep it reasonable, I'm still faced with "it can never be done". The bottom line is there's somewhat of a hole in the Atl format gap - and the full blown format missing is one that... well, kind of makes you think "how is this happening today?" As long as there is a "standard norm" in radio and you're insane to present new ideas - whether or not they could work, people are going to talk about it (especially if it's only happening in ONE major market).

I'm not knocking down your statement at all because that needed to be said, even if the message in it is also directed towards me at any level. I'm just explaining why I choose to address the situation(s) the way I do. The more passionate folks than myself can be the ones to actually contact a specific pd/md....etc. At this moment, I'm not interested in going that far, for certain reasons.

Don't worry,
I'm still taking a break from the topic, but just wanted to slip that in before I do.

It's not your job to innovate in radio programming until you are experienced in the business, employed in it, and can do it from an informed point of view, UNLESS, somone in the position to actually run with a concept asks you. To make suggestions from a limited perspective is naive at best, and arrogant at worst. Suggestion: Limit the opining and ask more questions.

The one thing that will ultimately kill any business is stagnation. Clutching Sacred Cows. SOmeone once gave birth to those cows. WHat came before that? It stands to reason if the way it is now isn't the way it's always been, then it won't always be THIS way either. WHat any radio station does in a market 1000 miles away, even 100 miles awayhas little use when programming to an individual marketplace. There may be a grain or 2 of useful info from similar markets, but no 2 are alike, or for that matter even remotely alike. When you're looking at national charts, you're seeing tha cumulative amalgam of what hu8ndreds of indiividuals are doing independantly, at least in most cases. Don't put the cart before the horse.

 

[electroboy73]

Actually I take back what I said about The Groove, they have added Ne-Yo - One In A Million and several other songs...

Ludacris - What's Your Fantasy
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
BoB - Don't Let Me Fail
Pitbull/T-Pain - Hey Baby
Ne-Yo - One In A Million
Lil Wayne - Right Above It
DJ Khaled - All I Do Is Win
Timbaland - The Way I Are

Amen to that! Sounding better now... hope they keep it up!

Timbaland's "The Way I Are" and Justin's "SexyBack" are like 6 years old! (they play these on STAR-94)!

 

[electroboy73]

ENJOY YOUR WEEK, FOLKS.

Here's the problem with most of what I see posted on this board.

Most of it's done by people who are not in the business who use convenient and two-dimensional labels for what is/is not proper for a certain format, from the music selection to branding. I'm of the opinion that many of you like to parrot things you've heard by people you know, or from something you've read somewhere and present as uninformed opinion, at best, about something you clearly have little practical knowledge of from the programming side.

The biggest problem this industry faces is lack of innovation. Sameness from market to market. The very thing you're advocating in your narrow definitions of what's whatand who's who. SOmeone created everything you hold near and dear. Has the process of creation come to a halt? A fixed definition for everything? Not at all. Only in your inexperienced minds. Not trying to flame you here, just educate you.

Think about it...

The issue isn't outsiders posting about radio. I can understand them offering opinions about their likes and dislikes. Here there's this tendency for outsiders to post with authority about the business. Sometimes I think they do it to try to impress the radio folk, which isn't gonna happen. Like you, not trying to flame but some don't realize insiders populate these boards and shake their heads in amazement. As far as our rhythmic friend, he isn't going away. He's a housefly. Swat him and he'll keep coming back. Let the two or three people who care about his topics read them. There's no sense nagging him. The only time I even see his posts is if they're buried as responses for other peoples' topics and even then I don't read them because they give me a headache.

:
Good LORD......children! children! (It's okay).....lol

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

GROOVE finally played Waka Flocka "No Hands" (lol) ATL SHAWTY!

 

[radiolives]

GROOVE finally played Waka Flocka "No Hands" (lol) ATL SHAWTY!

That songs been out awhile now. Year and a day late

 

[atlantaboy]

Q100 is definitely going after the working adult crowd during the daytime, no doubt about it (hence the Vertical Horizon, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.) - so if it flipped to rhythmic-leaning CHR, Star 94 would have a huge ratings increase during daytime hours - Q100 would gain higher ratings among teens etc. during evenings/weekends, but it would lose that high-billing workday crowd, and don't think Cumulus would let that happen

 

[atlantaboy]

TO THE ORIGINAL POSTER:
Q100 is in the exact opposite situation as Kiss 95.1/Charlotte

Kiss 95.1 had high ratings until a new Rhythmic station started beating them out (or coming close), so they adjusted their playlist to become more Rhythmic

Q100 has easily beat out the market's Rhythmic station, which has recently folded completely, so they're continuing to focus their attention on cutting the ratings of Star 94 - since every time someone tries to start a Rhythmic or Rhythmic-leaning CHR in ATL it fails, that's a pretty risky direction for Q100 to turn

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Q100 has easily beat out the market's Rhythmic station, which has recently folded completely, so they're continuing to focus their attention on cutting the ratings of Star 94 - since every time someone tries to start a Rhythmic or Rhythmic-leaning CHR in ATL it fails, that's a pretty risky direction for Q100 to turn

If you're saying The Beat failed, I would disagree with you. Cox just needed an FM signal for WSB more than it needed The Beat. The Beat was Cox/Atlanta's lowest-billing station, but that was because of its very young demos, not its ability to get ratings. And it was certainly making money.

 

[Wildstyle K]

The only problem(s) I have with Q100 (from a listener point of view) is the lack of risk and not wanting to break new hits first. However, I could see how this wouldn't "fly too well" from a strictly hits, or "top 20 guarantee" point of view.

It would be great if they could either:

* Feature / sprinkle in some possible future hits (new music) or other outer top 20 (20-40) hits overnights, or
* Add in a brief mix show segment evenings and a main one on Friday nights, similar to the Saturday night mixshow.

Also, I'm not too sure that Q100 is focusing (primarily) on cutting anybody's ratings, but I say this based on

Here is an email I got from... Q100 in response to an email I sent

While not all of those songs appeal to everyone obviously, there is a great deal of passion in Atlanta for those rock/alternative songs that were top 5 songs on the Hot 100. We only talk/research people who listen to Q100. So the people who are responding to our research are specifically commenting on songs they want to hear on Q100. These songs in no way compete with 99X or constrict the flow of success for 99X. These are flavor songs that make a station distinct.

Given that it is a competitive business, I assume that there is naturally some level of trying to remain above the next station in ratings, but I doubt they're focusing their "undivided attention" on trying to "keep Star down"; Star, who is now a Hot AC and not too much of a CHR Top 40 threat like they used to be. I do remember the time when Star "had to" shift more rhythmic leaning and sound more like a traditional chr just to compete with Q. I guess afterwards, there was also a time when Q shifted more adult leaning as well, which almost caused Star to re-lead in ratings.

- If that is not accurate, please correct it so I (along with others) can know a more accurate brief summary of what all really happened in Atlanta CHR top 40 over the past 10 years.

I believe WBTS simply just didn't do the best they could do with what they had as closing time "approached" for them. They started off great, but there was a hint of "giving up" near the end.

Q does play good songs and sound good, but they are sometimes too safe and slow on new (likely future hit) music, or outer top 20 hits. At least feature them overnights or have a specialty show segment for them, since there is no other formatted station to play many of them.

 

[atlantaboy]

There's no way Q100 would ever send out an e-mail saying they were trying to cut another station's ratings - but IMO it's obvious that that's what they're trying to do - in any case, all their listeners that are giving them positive feedback on the rock/alternative stuff would switch to Star 94 in a heartbeat if Q100 started heading pop/rhythmic

Other thing is, Star 94 is still labeled as a CHR by both Mediabase and Arbitron (and they still present themselves that way on air by their fast pace, speeding up songs, on-air-presentation, etc.) - right now their music is basically Hot AC, but they could easily switch back to "Adult CHR" in a heartbeat if Q100 were to head in a more rhythmic direction

Agree with everything you said though about wanting them to be more aggressive musically, especially on overnights

 

[Wildstyle K]

OOPS...

Actually my last post was meant to go here: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=178781.0
But it ended up here by mistake. Anyway, No big deal. Besides, my reply actually makes more sense in regard to the recent topic of conversation here than it would've on that other page.

Speaking of "speeding up music"; Is it normal for a rhythmic that leans more urban to pitch ALL their songs (about 3 bpm's higher than normal speed)?

 

[mike7586]

There's no way Q100 would ever send out an e-mail saying they were trying to cut another station's ratings - but IMO it's obvious that that's what they're trying to do - in any case, all their listeners that are giving them positive feedback on the rock/alternative stuff would switch to Star 94 in a heartbeat if Q100 started heading pop/rhythmic

Other thing is, Star 94 is still labeled as a CHR by both Mediabase and Arbitron (and they still present themselves that way on air by their fast pace, speeding up songs, on-air-presentation, etc.) - right now their music is basically Hot AC, but they could easily switch back to "Adult CHR" in a heartbeat if Q100 were to head in a more rhythmic direction

Agree with everything you said though about wanting them to be more aggressive musically, especially on overnights

I still don't understand why Q100 wants to compete with Star94? Star is #14 I think in the market while Q100 is #3 I think. Q100 is suppose to be CHR and Star is suppose to be HOT AC or "Adult Hits". The only reason why Q100 is #3 or whatever is because 1) The Bert Show and 2) there is no other station that resembles CHR in the market.

If another CHR station came to town, Q100 would be screwed. Also, the male voiceover they use... it doesn't sound good with the Q100 brand. I urge many of you to listen to Z100 in NY if you haven't before and listen to how good that station sounds. Atlanta top 40 radio is depressing.

 

[atlantaboy]

I still don't understand why Q100 wants to compete with Star94? Star is #14 I think in the market while Q100 is #3 I think.

Back before Q100 was bought out by Cumulus (and tried to be pop/rhythmic), Star 94 was something like #5 in the market though (I think) - the reason Star's ratings are lower is BECAUSE Q100 leans adult

Star 94 has really high billing and brings in tons of money (they even sponsor a concert each year, which even Q100 doesn't do) - their straight ratings might not be that high, but they have RICH listeners - and bottom line is I think they're the ones that are surviving, not rhythmic stations

 

[mike7586]

I still don't understand why Q100 wants to compete with Star94? Star is #14 I think in the market while Q100 is #3 I think.

Back before Q100 was bought out by Cumulus (and tried to be pop/rhythmic), Star 94 was something like #5 in the market though (I think) - the reason Star's ratings are lower is BECAUSE Q100 leans adult

Star 94 has really high billing and brings in tons of money (they even sponsor a concert each year, which even Q100 doesn't do) - their straight ratings might not be that high, but they have RICH listeners - and bottom line is I think they're the ones that are surviving, not rhythmic stations

Interesting... but I still don't think Star is that big of a threat, at least not with Star's current format. Here is a great clip featuring Dave Foxx of Z100 about imaging (wish Q100 was as creative as Z100!!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYnaz4Jjt9A

Dave Foxx is right... radio needs to be fun. Q100 just isn't "fun" to listen to. It lacks the excitement and energy that other major market CHR stations have.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Wow, that was great.

Dave Foxx used to be a great midday jock back in the 70's on WPGC in Washington. Steve Kingston brought him to Z100 in 1988. At first, his imaging sounded like his jock work, but as technology advanced, he evolved into a whole different sound.

 

[mike7586]

Dave Foxx is awesome. He would sound so much better as Q100's V/O than Jeff Berlin (the current guy). Q100/Cumulus could learn some creative tips from Foxx.

Also, are they ever going to get rid of the Billy Bush show and hire some talent for a night show? I can't stand Billy Bush - he is so freaking boring. If anything, they should use his show during the day, not at night when the energy is suppose to ramp up. Adam Bomb really helped increase the energy on Q100 at nights.

Oh, and when is Q100 going to stop playing Owl City - Fireflies and Jason Mraz - I'm Yours?! Ugh, I can't stand Cumulus and Rob Roberts. Why is it so difficult for them to program a good CHR station?