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

[mike7586]

Guys, Q100 basically almost cut Star 94's ratings in half when they went adult Top 40 on the 99.7 signal - IMO they'd have to be crazy to stop dayparting

Atlanta's got two Urbans and two Urban ACs, all four with huge ratings - L. A., for comparison, doesn't have any Urbans or Urban ACs - it's just a completely different market

The only CBS rhythmic-leaning CHR that's doing really well is KAMP (and it's in a market which is hugely Hispanic) - the others all have ratings that are relative low, so following their example and blindly adding We No Speak Americano is probably not a good idea IMO

If you guys really like rhythmic music/hip-hop, there are two urbans and a rhythmic - do you guys really think we need two huge Urban stations, two huge Urban ACs, a rhythmic, AND a rhythmic-leaning CHR?

I understand what you and KDM are saying... and I'm OK with the "pop rock" sound and I think the station sounds good from 5pm through 10am the next day. I think their "pop rock" song selections during the day could be much better though, which is what I was trying to argue in my previous post. Don't you agree?

Also, like I said, despite having all these urban/rhythmic stations here, many of them avoid the "pop rhythmic" sounding songs (examples off the top of my head... Chris Brown - Yeah 3X, new David Guetta songs, Akon - Angel, Kevin Rudolf - I Made It, Edward Maya - Stereo Love, new Far East Movement, and many more). Even WILD is avoiding these songs, which is another topic but kind of crazy considering many of those songs fit their format.

 

[mike7586]

Actually, now that I've been thinking about it, I take back what I said about the urban stations...

Using your argument: "Atlanta has 4 urban stations, so why should Q100 lean rhythmic?"... well Atlanta also has 4 rock/alternative stations (Rock 100.5, Dave FM, 99x, and Project 96.1), so why should Q100 lean "pop rock"??

In Atlanta, there's too much quantity but not a lot of quality. And even with all of these stations, many songs are still not played here.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Atlanta's got two Urbans and two Urban ACs, all four with huge ratings - L. A., for comparison, doesn't have any Urbans or Urban ACs - it's just a completely different market

Aren't almost all of Atlanta's radio stations located in the urban area? Which stations in the Atlanta market are located in suburban or rural areas?

The only CBS rhythmic-leaning CHR that's doing really well is KAMP (and it's in a market which is hugely Hispanic) - the others all have ratings that are relative low, so following their example and blindly adding We No Speak Americano is probably not a good idea IMO

Doesn't all the music on all of the stations in Atlanta have some sort of rhythm?

 

[electroboy73]

HOLY HECK!!  This is according to WWWQ's song log over at Yes.com:

Poirier - "Warehouse" 02.12.2010 12:52pm

("WHA-WHA-WHAT?!!") THIS IS A K-I-L-L-E-R ELECTRO-HOUSE RECORD!! (And an instrumental, too)....wow! Q100 REALLY must be "audience-testing" with all kinds of stuff.

I mean, NOW it's obvious, huh?

Any thoughts?

 

[mike7586]

HOLY HECK!! This is according to WWWQ's song log over at Yes.com:

Poirier - "Warehouse" 02.12.2010 12:52pm

("WHA-WHA-WHAT?!!") THIS IS A K-I-L-L-E-R ELECTRO-HOUSE RECORD!! (And an instrumental, too)....wow! Q100 REALLY must be "audience-testing" with all kinds of stuff.

I mean, NOW it's obvious, huh?

Any thoughts?

I think that particular song is a yes.com mistake. They really were playing Cascada - Evacuate The Dance Floor though.

 

[CHRles]

Just wanted to note that the CBS owned stations tend to do very well in places like Houston, Charlotte, San Francisco, Phoenix, etc. The only CBS-owned station that's under performing is 92.3 Now in New York.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I've seen the 92.3 Now talk on the New York Boards, but they should quit all that complaining because they have a variety of options out there! Spoiled brats! ;D

Then they also have the nerve to "get upset" over a dance station and Coast to Coast A.M. when they could simply just not listen to that one thing - out of all - if they don't like it, plain and simple!

Ok, done beating up on New York.

HOLY HECK!! This is according to WWWQ's song log over at Yes.com:

Poirier - "Warehouse" 02.12.2010 12:52pm

("WHA-WHA-WHAT?!!") THIS IS A K-I-L-L-E-R ELECTRO-HOUSE RECORD!! (And an instrumental, too)....wow! Q100 REALLY must be "audience-testing" with all kinds of stuff.

I mean, NOW it's obvious, huh?

Any thoughts?

That's been showing up on yes dot com for many months now. It used to a few months back, seemingly disappeared for a while, and now I guess it's back.

 

[Wildstyle K]

Actually, now that I've been thinking about it, I take back what I said about the urban stations...

Using your argument: "Atlanta has 4 urban stations, so why should Q100 lean rhythmic?"... well Atlanta also has 4 rock/alternative stations (Rock 100.5, Dave FM, 99x, and Project 96.1), so why should Q100 lean "pop rock"??

In Atlanta, there's too much quantity but not a lot of quality. And even with all of these stations, many songs are still not played here.

Well, I never thought about this. I have no rebuttal. I'll shy out and leave this up to someone else to tackle.

 

[Wildstyle K]

If you guys really like rhythmic music/hip-hop, there are two urbans and a rhythmic - do you guys really think we need two huge Urban stations, two huge Urban ACs, a rhythmic, AND a rhythmic-leaning CHR?

The problem with multiple urban stations (as oppose to rhythmic or rhythm top 40) is that they all only play (basically) ONE kind of music...

 

[mike7586]

Actually, now that I've been thinking about it, I take back what I said about the urban stations...

Using your argument: "Atlanta has 4 urban stations, so why should Q100 lean rhythmic?"... well Atlanta also has 4 rock/alternative stations (Rock 100.5, Dave FM, 99x, and Project 96.1), so why should Q100 lean "pop rock"??

In Atlanta, there's too much quantity but not a lot of quality. And even with all of these stations, many songs are still not played here.

Well, I never thought about this. I have no rebuttal. I'll shy out and leave this up to someone else to tackle.

Another thing to add after looking at November's ratings... no rock station in Atlanta (none out of all 4) was in the top 10 overall. So why does Rob Roberts (Q100 Program Director) believe that people in Atlanta have an affinity for rock/alternative music? All 4 of the urban stations were in the top 10 however.

And I will still say that the only reason Q100 is #7 overall (which isn't all that great and they remained flat) is...

1) The Bert Show (very popular morning show, which can make or break some stations)
2) They are the only station in the market that resembles a top 40 station, so what else are people going to listen to that like top 40?

If another REAL CHR comes into the market (which is unfortunately not likely to happen) or if WILD continues to evolve their playlist (become more rhythmic CHR) and build up its ratings, I guarantee Q100's ratings will go down. Q100 desperately needs some competition... right now they are just goofing off.

Finally, I can't help but wonder... if WILD ends up maxing out where The Beat did and the ratings don't move up much further, would Clear Channel flip it to CHR?

 

[upstate29651]

Using your argument: "Atlanta has 4 urban stations, so why should Q100 lean rhythmic?"... well Atlanta also has 4 rock/alternative stations (Rock 100.5, Dave FM, 99x, and Project 96.1), so why should Q100 lean "pop rock"??

You can't group rock & alt. Different creatures. Plus, as was explained to me on another board, there is no such thing as "rock" anymore.

G

 

[mike7586]

Using your argument: "Atlanta has 4 urban stations, so why should Q100 lean rhythmic?"... well Atlanta also has 4 rock/alternative stations (Rock 100.5, Dave FM, 99x, and Project 96.1), so why should Q100 lean "pop rock"??

You can't group rock & alt. Different creatures. Plus, as was explained to me on another board, there is no such thing as "rock" anymore.

G

I should have said "alternative rock" stations then... :

 

[upstate29651]

So why does Rob Roberts (Q100 Program Director) believe that people in Atlanta have an affinity for rock/alternative music? All 4 of the urban stations were in the top 10 however.

Atlanta continues to be the epicenter of all things musically urban. Not long ago, Atlanta was also the east coast epicenter for all things alternative. This should address both comments above.

G

 

[upstate29651]

Using your argument: "Atlanta has 4 urban stations, so why should Q100 lean rhythmic?"... well Atlanta also has 4 rock/alternative stations (Rock 100.5, Dave FM, 99x, and Project 96.1), so why should Q100 lean "pop rock"??

You can't group rock & alt. Different creatures. Plus, as was explained to me on another board, there is no such thing as "rock" anymore.

G

I should have said "alternative rock" stations then... :

There are not 4 alt rock stations in Atlanta.

G

 

[mike7586]

Alright, well I give up then. Q100 sucks and so do most radio stations in Atlanta. I'm just going to get I Heart Radio app for my iPod touch or Satellite radio and call it a day.

 

[electroboy73]

Finally, I can't help but wonder... if WILD ends up maxing out where The Beat did and the ratings don't move up much further, would Clear Channel flip it to CHR?

Not gonna happen....as long as TWO things:

1) Their signal doesn't improve.
105.7 fizzles to where it's mostly a MONO signal, here in Gwinnett. Then, driving down I-85 into say Buckhead-Midtown area, as well as Stone Mountain, Lilburn and Decatur, NEITHER 105.7 nor 96.7 are listenable! In fact I've been all over Atlanta and have NEVER found 96.7 useful at all.

2) The sound quality doesn't improve.
Has anyone else noticed that their bass is WAY to overkill! Some songs...(even IF the signal is okay), just sound "muddy" with like "hyper" modulation.

Any thoughts?

 

[Wildstyle K]

Finally, I can't help but wonder... if WILD ends up maxing out where The Beat did and the ratings don't move up much further, would Clear Channel flip it to CHR?

Just noticed this question. Here's my speculation:

Based on past ClearChannel rhythmic/top 40 experiences, I'd say it's likely. It probably wouldn't be any big major "flip", but rather tweaking and slowly adding in some rhythmic top 40 hits. I don't see what else they'd want to immediately consider flipping to with things the way they are right now in Atl. I don't think WWVA necessarily HAS to become full blown top 40 to start playing more rhythmic hits that normally get played elsewhere in the U.S. (and even Canada and London) regularly, though. They do indeed play many of those hits that are ignored in regular playlist during mixshows.

I'm not sure if or when a signal swap will be done because I cannot predict if or when ratings will be sufficient enough to make switching to a better signal "budget worthy". Based on all the WWVA signal complaints and comments I've seen here (and even in other unexpected places of these boards), I'm beginning to believe that the signal must be horrible. Either that, or a bunch of people are logging in and voluntarily spreading false rumors.

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

Finally, I can't help but wonder... if WILD ends up maxing out where The Beat did and the ratings don't move up much further, would Clear Channel flip it to CHR?

Not gonna happen....as long as TWO things:

1) Their signal doesn't improve.
105.7 fizzles to where it's mostly a MONO signal, here in Gwinnett. Then, driving down I-85 into say Buckhead-Midtown area, as well as Stone Mountain, Lilburn and Decatur, NEITHER 105.7 nor 96.7 are listenable! In fact I've been all over Atlanta and have NEVER found 96.7 useful at all.

2) The sound quality doesn't improve.
Has anyone else noticed that their bass is WAY to overkill! Some songs...(even IF the signal is okay), just sound "muddy" with like "hyper" modulation.

Any thoughts?

You're right about that. Here on the Eastside, both 96.7 and 105.7 are no good. Dont even try picking them up on a home stero.

 

[Wildstyle K]

WOW..

Ok somebody somewhere has to be hearing WWVA if the ratings are going up... Anyway, I might as well not get my hopes up and should also discontinue talking about the station until I get there, and avoid getting my hopes up for nothing only to step out of the plane and find out I can't even hear it.

I guess The Beat was better off after all... and it would've been more beneficial if ClearChannel had 95.5 to do whatever it is they are planning now with 96.7/105.7.

 

[mike7586]

WOW..

Ok somebody somewhere has to be hearing WWVA if the ratings are going up... Anyway, I might as well not get my hopes up and should also discontinue talking about the station until I get there, and avoid getting my hopes up for nothing only to step out of the plane and find out I can't even hear it.

I guess The Beat was better off after all... and it would've been more beneficial if ClearChannel had 95.5 to do whatever it is they are planning now with 96.7/105.7.

I live IN Atlanta and it comes in just fine. It's also fine in Cobb, Cherokee, North Fulton, and Gwinnett counties (it starts to come in around Braselton if you're driving south on 85). It is weak on the East and West sides if your traveling along I-20 (for example, once you go outside of I-285 it starts to taper off). South of Atlanta it doesn't last as long so you have to switch to 96.7. I'm sure having two signals is hurting their ratings a bit, but they've managed to go from 23 I think to now 18 (which is where The Beat used to be with 95.5). Either CC needs to spend the money to upgrade the 105.7 signal (if that's even possible) or switch things around (like move WILD to 96.1 and Project to 105.7?).

Also, did WILD get a new PD yet? It still lists Maverick on the website. I thought someone said they were getting someone else in...