carolinaradio said:
The "lack" of a "good' airstaff is purely a management failure. It simply does not cost that much!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46994692?slide=2
I made a lot more in the 80's.
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Why Did WYAY Fail
- Thread starter acheron1982
- Start date
The "lack" of a "good' airstaff is purely a management failure. It simply does not cost that much!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46994692?slide=2
I made a lot more in the 80's.
secondchoice said:
As some of us have said earlier, I really do think the main reason for the failure of AGH is the purchase by Cumulus. After the purchase the station seemed to wonder. Maybe they got rid of the previous PD and gave the duties to an existing PD. Basically, with AN106.7 coming, management probably did not care too much as long as the format did not lose money for the year until the switch.
But others have made good points about River and then Journey. With AGH, that is a lot of competition for an older demographic.
Atlanta's Greatest Hits failed because Cumulus, like most corporate radio, is all about pinching pennies and sticking to their radio in a can drag and drop model.
No real talent, ditching Randy and Spiff, and a playlist that while decent, was devoid of deep cuts. The station had very dull imaging when compared to successful classic hits stations (e.g. CBS101 in NYC). Quite frankly, it sounded like a low budget satellite fed operation with no real direction.
It is clear the Cloud Company used it as a placeholder.
The statements about Classic Hits not being a viable format is indicative of what is wrong with the corporate attitude and radio industry in general. younger audiences (under 25) aren't listening to radio, they are online, on their Iphones, Facebook, etc. Their income is largely that of their PARENTS who are in the 35-55, and DO still listen to radio.
But rest assured, as I've said before, the corporate radio industry is on a suicide mission. Those 35-55 y.o.'s are asking their children, nieces and nephews how to get the music WE want to hear on our Iphones and Blackberries, since corporate radio isn't interested in what WE want to hear anymore.
No real talent, ditching Randy and Spiff, and a playlist that while decent, was devoid of deep cuts. The station had very dull imaging when compared to successful classic hits stations (e.g. CBS101 in NYC). Quite frankly, it sounded like a low budget satellite fed operation with no real direction.
It is clear the Cloud Company used it as a placeholder.
The statements about Classic Hits not being a viable format is indicative of what is wrong with the corporate attitude and radio industry in general. younger audiences (under 25) aren't listening to radio, they are online, on their Iphones, Facebook, etc. Their income is largely that of their PARENTS who are in the 35-55, and DO still listen to radio.
But rest assured, as I've said before, the corporate radio industry is on a suicide mission. Those 35-55 y.o.'s are asking their children, nieces and nephews how to get the music WE want to hear on our Iphones and Blackberries, since corporate radio isn't interested in what WE want to hear anymore.
Funny that in SF, Clear Channel is pulling classic hits off quite well - KOSF/103.7 is seeing the best numbers it has in years since going classic hits. They sound pretty good. I thought classic hits was dead in San Francisco after 106.9 dropped it.recto101 said:
acheron82 said:
Simply pulling the plug on a format doesn't necessarily mean it failed. There are many reasons formats change: low ratings, low revenue, change of ownership, etc. Sure, WYAY's former format didn't set the radio world on fire ratings-wise (don't know what the revenue was like), but it wasn't low as Dave FM either. Maybe Cumulus saw an all-news format as a way to bring in more revenue and ratings than what the oldies format could do. Plus, they're doing a format they have all to themselves in a top-ten market that didn't have one, and one that has proven successful in many larger markets for a long time (WCBS-AM New York, WBBM-AM Chicago, KCBS-AM San Francisco, et al). I realize there are some signal challenges in some parts of the metro, but if done right, it can do very well.
the golden boy said:
Yes it was - there were times over the course of the past six months that Dave was HIGHER than WYAY
I'm not surprised WYAY had lower numbers after Cumulus took it over. The presentation was never great (106.7 Atlanta's Greatest Hits wasn't a very good brand, either), but the music went so downhill after they bought it. They obviously didn't really care to put much in to it (why they fooled with the playlist is beyond me) as it was more than likely a placeholder for all news.
Here's a question - if Cumulus had not bought Citadel, and they still owned WYAY, would AGH still be here? I think yes. They really had it on track later last summer with a good playlist that consisted of the "right" variety/selection of music, and the increased presence of 80s music with less 60s made for a solid playlist. It would have sounded very good with proper imaging. They hit their highest numbers around that time.
Here's a question - if Cumulus had not bought Citadel, and they still owned WYAY, would AGH still be here? I think yes. They really had it on track later last summer with a good playlist that consisted of the "right" variety/selection of music, and the increased presence of 80s music with less 60s made for a solid playlist. It would have sounded very good with proper imaging. They hit their highest numbers around that time.
Look at WSRV in the Atlanta Books they are also a classic hits station in the market like the old WYAY but I saw a 3.7 for The River in the April Books and WYAY got a 2.4 in the April books. I say that that was a good move for Cumulus to convert 106.7 to go all-news. Remember in San Francisco 106.9 always got low ratings in the market before CBS decided to convert 106.9 and improve their signal to become KCBS-FM 106.9 (Officially its KFRC 106.9).
WSRV is more of a classic rock station than classic hits (I prefer calling it "lite classic rock." They aren't like WYAY was. They are pretty much rock that's softer than what full classic rockers play....they lack the pop, new wave, disco, R&B, type of music and upbeat presentation that classic hits stations (SHOULD) have.
^Atlanta's a southern market, though, so 70s rock is going to be much more popular than, say, 70s pop/disco
Are there any other large southern markets with successful Classic "Pop" Hits stations?
Are there any other large southern markets with successful Classic "Pop" Hits stations?
Like I've said, though, ATL is transient enough that I don't think "southern" has much to do with it anymore...
There aren't many, if any, markets on the same scale as Atlanta to really compare to in the south (except maybe Dallas and Tampa, both of which are successful with classic hits, and Houston).
There aren't many, if any, markets on the same scale as Atlanta to really compare to in the south (except maybe Dallas and Tampa, both of which are successful with classic hits, and Houston).
But remember, Atlanta is NOT the only city that WYAY covers. This station also reaches out to many rural areas in northeast Georgia.
www.big983.com - This station is in Savannah and does pretty well. In addition, their signal is amazing to the south.
www.big983.com - This station is in Savannah and does pretty well. In addition, their signal is amazing to the south.
I was in Tampa this past weekend and I listened to Q105 for a little while and I think that type of format could do well, though I should mention they were playing a what they were calling a Summertime list of music. It was pretty standard hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s, but it was all very upbeat mostly dance music. But it was fun!
That to me has been the problem with the classic music stations they've tried here in Atlanta. Stations like Max and AGH just kind of played very general chart toppers as opposed to making it fun. When I moved here in the mid 80s, Fox 97 seemed to play fun music but their oldies selection was a little before my time.
And quite honestly, that was what I liked about The Groove when it first started. They were playing a lot of older 70s and 80s fun music but they dropped it to play what everyone else was playing.
That to me has been the problem with the classic music stations they've tried here in Atlanta. Stations like Max and AGH just kind of played very general chart toppers as opposed to making it fun. When I moved here in the mid 80s, Fox 97 seemed to play fun music but their oldies selection was a little before my time.
And quite honestly, that was what I liked about The Groove when it first started. They were playing a lot of older 70s and 80s fun music but they dropped it to play what everyone else was playing.
kal30005 said:
Notice that the station is in Tampa, where huge numbers of people retire...
WYAY went from 2.2 to 2.9 (6+) in 3 months, IMHO 106.7 was headed the correct direction both ratings and music wise. Late bloomer yes, failure I am not too sure.
I just posted this in response to another post, but thought it made sense here too: Yes, AGH WAS trending up...and their cume was continuing to climb, too. Individual dayparts - including weekends - were also getting back to their 2011 highs, beating out other well known stations in town in key demos (including Mara Davis, who I often hear touted as a "great talent" on these boards). If Tripp West had gotten any help or promotion to get his numbers up, who knows where the station might have been? I talked to someone there and they tell me it was more of a "hands being tied" situation over the last few months...That the staff knew the end was coming so morale was down and music wasn't being refreshed, which left the dj's having to talk about the same songs/artists over and over. Yet, despite all that, it was still trending up. Perfect time to pull the plug!
atlantaboy said:
60s, 70s and 80s dance or party music doesn't really target senior citizens. I'd say it largely targets those in 40-60 age range, which there are plenty of in Atlanta.
The primary difference between AGH and Q105 is that Q105 probably skews a little younger, at least from what I heard, and played music that was considerably more uptempo.
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