Atlanta Airwave Action

Atlanta's Radio Icons - 1994 To Now - Part 2

2013-05-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Atlanta radio has had so many greats in the almost 20 years that I've lived here. Last week's edition revealed 10 of these icons. We now continue our list:

Christopher Rude - Chris is a talented radio pro with a great voice and personality. After many spectacular years in AM and then PM drive on 96 Rock, he changed formats to Sports Talk and adapted exceptionally well. He's been anchoring mornings at 680 The Fan for 10 years.

Willard - Willard joined 96 Rock in its infancy in 1974 and did middays through 1999. Then he was picked up by Z93, first as morning show producer and then as talent. When Z93 ended and Dave-FM started, Willard moved seamlessly into sales. He now lives the good life in the North Georgia mountains.

Kaedy Kiely - Kaedy was a superstar at 96 Rock in afternoons during the station's heyday. She opted to leave for Z93 after Chris Rude and Willard were released at the end of 1998. For the past few years, she has masterfully handled mornings at 97-1 The River and adapted beautifully to the station's limited talk time.

The Regular Guys - Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler, along with sidekick Southside Steve Rickman, have been in the Atlanta market since 1998. They worked for Clear Channel twice, at 96 Rock and for a brief time at WGST. Both tenures ended in misadventures, but Cumulus hired them when Rock 100.5 launched in 2008. Some say the show is not as funny or edgy as it once was, but its longevity speaks for itself.

Emperor Searcy - For Dewayne Searcy, his radio career is second in importance to being a record producer. But he has been a constant in afternoon drive on Hot 107-9 for 18 years except for a brief foray on the morning show. He has a consistent and commanding air presence that serves him well.

The Morning X - Amazingly, the morning show that consisted of Steve Barnes, Jimmy Baron and Leslie Fram has been gone for almost 10 years. Yet it's still remembered as the anchor of one of Alternative radio's most innovative and successful stations, 99X. Barnes, who incidentally was the first person ever to unfriend me on Facebook, and Jimmy both later did mornings on 92-9 Dave FM, and are now pursuing other careers. Leslie was hired by her former boss at 99X, Brian Philips, who today is President of CMT. Leslie serves as CMT's SVP of Music Strategy.

Steve Craig - Steve was first on the air in Atlanta at the old Power 99 and then stayed when the station became 99X. The "House of Retro Pleasure" during his midday shift became a huge fan favorite. After a stint at New York's WRXP-FM working for Leslie Fram, Steve, who is a veritable music encyclopedia, replaced his former 99X cohort Jimmy Baron in mornings on Dave-FM. After Dave-FM died, Steve joined 97-1 The River for weekends and fill.

Randy & Spiff - Randy Cook and Spiff Carner were a solid foundation for Oldies station Fox 97 during its years in Atlanta. And when oldies moved, these guys moved with the format, to Kool 105.7 and then Atlanta's Greatest Hits 106.7. They also did morning stints on Lite 94-9 and WGST-AM. Randy was one of those real radio guys, and Spiff, well, was on the radio. They had excellent chemistry and made mornings fun for a lot of years.

JJ Jackson - JJ did the afternoon drive show on Fox 97, and his love and knowledge of music were evident. His disc jockey background goes back to the 80s on the legendary Quixie, and the great stations on which he plied his craft include CKLW-AM/Detroit, another legend. After years in radio, JJ is enjoying a new career that incorporates his second love, cooking.

Bert Weiss - After co-hosting with legendary morning hosts Kidd Kraddick in Dallas and Jack Diamond in DC, Bert felt he was ready to play lead fiddle. He was brought to the attention of Brian Philips, who hired Bert for mornings at Q100 when it signed on in 2001. Bert quickly proved he was right about being ready. His show has been a huge hit, bringing in big ratings and billings. The Bert Show is now syndicated in several markets.

That's it for this week. But more icons are coming in our next edition. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Atlanta's Radio Icons - 1994 To Now - Part 1

2013-05-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

We all complain about Atlanta radio. But since I arrived here in 1994, Atlanta radio has had some greats on the air. Some are icons because of their talent, others because of their resiliency or longevity.

I'm taking a risk by doing this because it's all coming from my memory; I'm bound to miss someone. Also, the personalities on the list were in their prime in 1994 or the years following. I do not have the knowledge to salute those who were big in the 70s or 80s.

Here are my choices in no particular order except from the left to the right of the FM band and then on to AM:

Mara Davis - Mara is the personality's personality. She is engaging, interesting and funny. She was able to stretch WZGC's formatic limits in middays to accommodate her act, and it was a highly entertaining one. In the era of the PPM, finding another perfect platform will be difficult.

Art Mehring - Art was not always "Mad Man." In the late 90's, he was the morning sports reporter on Z93, and he has very successfully reinvented himself doing traffic for Clear Channel. His radio career goes back to the 80s in Memphis.

Steve & Vikki - Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke were such a team on Star 94 for 17 years that when they were no longer on, it was hard to believe. They were one of the most well-oiled morning shows this market ever heard, and both are true talents and professionals.

Craig Hunt - Craig was one of the market's most talented jocks ever. He was so smooth and handled afternoon drive on Star 94 just about flawlessly. After a 10-year run for Craig, Star 94 made a decision to go with a 2-host show, Cindy & Ray. But Craig was immediately hired by one of Star's sister stations in Denver, KYGO-FM. Craig is still doing radio at Country station U.S. 103.5 in Tampa.

Rob Stadler - Rob has been News Director at 94.1 since the 94Q days and is the station's only constant from then until today. He still sounds great delivering the news in the morning, and it's a testament to Star 94 management that they recognize his value in this day and age of running lean.

Sandy Weaver - Sandy is one of the most talented people to grace the radio. She was amazing as the late evening personality at Washington's Q107 during the glory days. She moved to Atlanta in 1994 after IBM relocated her husband here and has worked at Peach/Lite 94-9, Kicks 101-5, Eagle 106.7 and B98.5. She is still on the air as Moby's co-host on his syndicated show.

Dale O'Brien - When I came to Atlanta, Dale was doing mornings on B98.5 with Trevor Johns. Out of all the morning shows that followed him on that station, I have never heard anyone who did it as well and sounded as good as Dale. I have listened to him on airchecks doing Top 40 at Z93, and he sounded just as terrific.

Kelly McCoy - Over the years, B98.5 has seen a lot of changes. But no matter the turmoil elsewhere on the station, most notably in mornings, Kelly was a steady presence in afternoon drive for 27 years. He has a great voice and fit in so well at the Cox AC.

Jordan Graye - Jordan is not the stereotypical AC jock and sounds great. She has anchored B98.5's most-listened-to daypart since 1994 with the exception of a couple of years at the turn of the new millenium.

That's all the room we have for Part 1. Our list of icons will continue in next week's Atlanta Airwave Action.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Power 96-1 Not Hitting On All Cylinders

2013-05-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

I'm happy Power 96-1 came to Atlanta. I was one of many bemoaning the absence of a true CHR in this market for a long time. I do not, however, think it is one of the better CHR's in a major market.

Power 96-1 does have some facets I like, including the music and the imaging. And a lot of what I do not like is being caused by limitations put on the station by owner Clear Channel. Some smart formatic elements are incorporated into the regular music hours.

A great station starts with a local morning show, a feature that Power 96-1 sorely lacks. And yes, Elvis Duran is successful not only in his home market of New York, where he is local, but in many of his piped-in markets. I thought the show would find the sledding tough against Q100's Bert Show, but it's been getting by. It's one of the factors, however, holding back Power 96-1 from greatness though not the biggest factor.

I suppose it's hard to criticize Power 96-1 for carrying On Air with Ryan Seacrest when great stations such as Z100/New York and Kiss 108/Boston air it with no damage to their ratings. And perhaps I could more readily accept it if morning drive were local, as it is on those two stations. Radio's primetime is weekdays from 6AM to 7PM, and Power 96-1 has non-local programming in 8 of those 13 hours. Maybe it's just me, but the content and formatics of Seacrest seem so out of phase with the station's other music hours.

Then there's the little matter of Mami Chula. Since her days on 95-5 The Beat, she always sounded to me like she was auditioning for the world's worst disc jockey competition. But I understood her act given the stations she was on, first The Beat and then Wild. She managed to attract a following, which won her the 10AM to noon slot on Power 96-1 when Wild was blown up. I recognize that her act is what earned her the fan base so maybe she was wise not to change it. But she sounds so unnatural and languid to me.

Sonic, who now holds down 4-8PM, is good and has broad appeal. It would be nice if he would do just a bit more than send shout-outs and promote appearances. Yet Power 96-1 sounds its best when he's on.

Maddox, now on 8 to midnight, has the stereotypical CHR sound that permeates a lot of Clear Channel's CHR FM's. It's a niche sound that relates to the young end of the demo that likes today's pop music. I much prefer a traditional night slammer, such as Z100/New York's Mo Bounce. It's interesting that Mo Bounce sounds so good on Z100 yet just average on his voice-tracked weekend shifts on Power 96-1.

The biggest reason for Power 96-1's mediocrity is its overall slow pace, it's lack of energy. It just does not have the forward momentum of a Z100, for example. It misses the excitement that has always been a hallmark of CHR architecture. While Q100 is a more adult CHR, and Star 94 is a Hot AC, both move at a rate consistent with their format. As a CHR, Power 96-1's momentum should be even greater.

The market's hunger for a pure CHR has made Power 96-1 successful in ratings and billings during the early going. And ending the cannibalization from Wild 105.7/96.7 was a move that could boost Power's metrics.

Maybe I'm never satisfied. I got a CHR and now have the nerve to want greatness. As I said, part of the problem is Clear Channel forcing Elvis Duran and Ryan Seacrest onto Atlanta listeners. But it seems the even bigger issue of a lethargic pace could be solved by PD Rick Vaughn and the Clear Channel braintrust.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

92.9 & 106.7 Stabilizing Atlanta Radio . . . For Now

2013-04-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

When I arrived in Atlanta in 1994, the radio market here was a unique one. It had far fewer stations on the FM dial than virtually all other markets its size. On AM, it had the big sound of WSB but for the most part was the king of low-fi signals. The move-ins that were made possible by FCC rule changes in the 1980's had started. FM's on 97.1, 104.1, 104.7 and 106.7 were now covering the market.

"Underradioed" was a word that Webster somehow missed but was frequently spoken in Atlanta radio circles. In fact, the word became associated with Atlanta to the extent that I heard an Arbitron representative use it when speaking at an ad club luncheon just 3 years ago.

Being underradioed was not the only thing that made the market unique back then. Dollars were pouring in to radio stations at a record clip. According to reports, Atlanta was the country's hottest market in radio revenue growth.

The results of all this were some very happy radio execs and complacent-sounding stations. Format changes were non-existent. Why flip when you're rolling in cash?

When you have a party like that, everyone wants to crash it. And they did. In the next 10 or so years, 9 new FM's and 1 AM announced their presence on the dial. Moreover, the record billing was not going to last forever. And what revenue came in would be shared by many more players.

The huge increase in competition and the end of the days of easy riches changed the market's complexion. The party crowd exceeded capacity, and someone had to be squeezed. Someone, or a couple of someones, would not be doing well and become the subject of format change rumors.

In December 2011, I wrote that 2012 could be a watershed year for changes in Atlanta radio, and it was. Since then, things have settled down for the most part. The ironic thing is the only two FM's doing poorly, at least so far in their young lives, are stabilizing the market. And both have invested so much that they have no choice but to keep going for the near term.

All News 106.7 (WYAY-FM) has been around for almost a year. Its share among total persons 6+ was 1.6% in the latest PPM monthly. My guess is that's pretty much where they will max out. The station's owner, Cumulus, is well known for running things as cheaply as possible. Yet with the exception of putting infomercials on weekend mornings, a move that resulted in the departure of original PD Marshall Adams, Cumulus continues to plow money into the product, hiring still more people.

I didn't believe what I was hearing when the all news rumor surfaced last year. It's probably radio's most expensive format, and while Cumulus lucked out by hiring staffers displaced by the CNN Radio shutdown, the company is paying plenty to keep things running. This puzzles me although the reputed egos of Lew and John Dickey might be outweighing their fiscal sense in this one case. Whatever the reason, Cumulus has thrown too much money into it to turn back any time soon.

92-9 The Game is another expensive proposition. The station is live and local at all hours. Owner CBS Radio has launched All-Sports stations in other markets and expanded the format's share. But after 6 months, The Game has shown no sign of burying its AM competition, much less bringing new people into the format. CBS is dug in for the long haul, but the point at which some adjustments may be necessary is close at hand.

So for now, PD's and air talent can relax a little and enjoy the spring weather. They won't last forever, but for now, the gifts of 92.9 and 106.7 are giving big time.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Star 94 Working On Workdays

2013-04-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

Have you heard B98.5's sweeper saying more people are listening to B98.5 than any other Atlanta station?

That probably sounds dishonest to a lot of people who look at the Arbitron 6+ shares online. But it's totally true. While B98.5 is #3 in average share, the Cox AC station is #1 in cume, the number of different people who listen to the station over a week. Most media buyers pay more attention to average quarter-hour than cume, but puffery has long been a part of advertising and promotion.

Contemporary music stations have always had large cumes and high turnover ratios, meaning the size of the cume compared to the average quarter-hour. In the 1960's and 1970's, many markets had out-and-out wars between two Top-40 stations, and their young listeners were notorious "dial twisters."

All News is another format that has always had a high turnover ratio, and for an obvious reason. The old WINS/New York slogan of "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world" explains why.

When Arbitron launched its Portable People Meter, AC stations showed up with huge cumes. And a big reason for that was listening in the workplace. With the old system, people listening to a radio at work would report their station in the diary.

With the PPM, however, if someone other than the Arbitron respondent has a radio loud enough for the respondent's meter to pick up, that station will receive credit. Moreover, if a station is played on an office-wide speaker system with enough volume, it will be recorded even if the PPM carrier does not consider himself or herself to be listening.

The at-work hours have always been important to stations for a couple of reasons. First, radios in the office tend to stay on one station for the day, adding substantial Time Spent Listening. Second, diary keepers in cubicles adjacent to a radio might write down the station they heard in the survey. With the PPM's advent, however, at-work listening became an even higher-stakes game.

In the January and February PPM's averaged together, B98.5's weekly cume exceeded Star 94, #3 in cume, by 37%. (V-103 was #2 and closer in number to Star 94 than to B98.5.)

There are some good reasons for that. B98.5 is played in offices, restaurants and retail businesses far more than any other station. AC is the format that does not offend anyone, as the stations like to say.

Jordan Graye has been the bedrock of middays on B98.5 for years, and her delivery seems just perfect for places of business. Importantly, B98.5 is widely perceived as the station appropriate for employees and customers alike. B98.5 does not even need the faux election that we all used to make fun of several years ago.

Here's something to think about, however. Only 3 stations in the market have a cume of at least a million a week, B98.5, V-103 and Star 94. So looking at the numbers without thinking about the reasons makes Star 94 look like it's within striking distance.

Star 94 PD Scott Lindy knows workplace listening is the big advantage that B98.5 has over his station. While the above factors probably will keep Star 94 from ever beating B98.5 at the office, anything Star could grab would help narrow the gap in both cume and, greatly impacted by cume, average quarter-hour.

Star has long promoted workplace listening with sweepers telling employees that they are listening to "Star 94 at work." In recent weeks, however, more aggressive attempts to increase listening on the job have hit the air. Workday ticket giveaways have been featured, such as "Maroon 5 Monday."

The call-in times for Star 94's major promotion, a chance to win a designer purse with a prize inside, are spread out to keep people tuned in through the entire workday. The contest strategy includes some quarter-hour maintenance, with the mystery prize in the next purse revealed 30 minutes prior to the giveaway.

Lindy has programmed Star 94 into an excellent-sounding station, in many minds at least as good as B98.5. With the station's sound in place, aggressively going after workplace listening is a smart and logical next step.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Clear Channel/Atlanta Picks The Best Alternative

2013-04-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine that Clear Channel thought CHR/Rhythmic Wild 105.7/96.7 was going to coexist with its new CHR, Power 96-1. Atlanta is not New York, where CC pulls off that kind of thing with Z100 and 103.5 KTU.

CHR/Rhythmic attracts a lot of Hispanic listeners, and Wild was the market's #2 station for Latinos. Yet its Hispanic numbers were not nearly enough to propel the station's ratings, as that audience does for KTU in the heavily-Latino New York market. And when it came to most other listeners, they were going to choose the big Power 96-1 signal over Wild's slightly more rhythmic format that was a hard pickup inside the Perimeter.

Prior to Power 96-1's launch, Clear Channel had seemed to recognize that Wild's soaring 18-34 ratings, as Wild evolved closer to the Rhythmic/Mainstream border, indicated a hunger for a full-power CHR. Consequently, CC created a Rhythmic-leaning CHR, and Wild constantly promoted its new sibling. Why not help Power 96-1 move into the ratings elite by eliminating Wild and attracting its former listeners? Yet it appeared Clear Channel felt Power and Wild could both succeed.

As Wild 105.7/96.7's ratings continued to slide, it was just a matter of time before Rhythmic/CHR would be ditched in favor of something else. That happened the week before last when Radio 105-7 was born with an Alternative format.

Format change decisions can be tough or easy. Clear Channel took a risk when it flipped 96.1 to CHR, throwing it into a fray with powerhouses B98.5, Star 94 and Q100. Ratings frustration, the company's success with CHR in the PPM era and Wild's growing audience were probably behind that move. And Power 96-1 has shown some good early results.

The choice of Alternative for 105.7 was, well, easy is being kind. No brainer is more like it. It's analogous to Rock 100.5 adding Active Rock to its mix following the demise of Project 9-6-1. The changes at 92-9 Dave FM and translator 99X left the FM band devoid of Alternative product. The one market sector that 105.7's signal does forcefully penetrate is the northern environs, which has a high incidence of the Alternative demographic.

While not knowing exactly how Radio 105-7's playlist will ultimately shape up, we are guessing it will emphasize current product along with a healthy dose of gold from the 90s and 2000s. In its initial days, the station concentrated on highly familiar gold and recurrents with a spattering of songs now charting, in order to build fast cume.

In the niche world of music radio, format labels are sometimes blurry. Today's Alternative format consists of straight-ahead Alternative (Thirty Seconds to Mars) and Adult Album Alternative (Mumford and Sons). A lot of AAA eventually makes its way to Hot AC and even CHR stations. Examples are Radioactive by Imagine Dragons and My Songs Know by Fallout Boy. I personally think of Portland, Oregon's Live 95.5 as Hot AC with a slight lean to Modern AC.

Radio 105-7's framework is adult oriented. Atlanta is fortunate the Clear Channel station has 3 live and local jocks in this day and age. The best news is Aly, formerly middays on Project 9-6-1, has been hired and will handle morning drive. She's one of the market's very best personalities.

The stations that might forfeit audience to 105-7 are those that picked up former Dave FM and 99X listeners by default, 97-1 The River, and to some extent Rock 100.5 and even Star 94.

Will Radio 105-7 amass big ratings? No, but it could show up decently in 18-34 and possibly 18-49. Moreover, the station can do very well without big ratings. First, the signal does not have the dollar value of a full class C, such as 96.1. So the station's somewhat smaller revenue should be proportionate to its monetary worth. Second, Radio 105-7 has format exclusivity.

Would the station achieve better ratings if it were on the more powerful and larger-reaching 105.3? I ask this realizing the thinking was that the Alternative audience tends to reside in the northern suburbs. But, my answer is still yes to an extent. Would El Patron get higher numbers if it moved from 105.3 to 105.7, which throws a strong signal into Hispanic-heavy Gwinnett? Most definitely.

I guess now is not the time to execute two complicated and confusing moves, when Hispanic ad billings are still way down. Despite those thoughts, the flip to Alternative was an excellent decision by Clear Channel, which has now made two major and prudent format changes in 6 months.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

107.5 Hoping To Keep That Afternoon Majic

2013-04-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Majic 107-5's ratings have been a lot better than its spelling. In the February PPM, the Urban AC ranked second in the market behind V-103 for Persons 6+. Majic, which has been winning the 25-54 money demo over its direct competition, Cox Media Group's Kiss 104, opened up some daylight in the overall 6+ numbers.

Majic 107-5/97-5, a Radio One station, has not been controlling its own destiny as much as Kiss, however. While both stations have syndicated morning shows, Majic with Steve Harvey and Kiss with Tom Joyner, Majic has been airing the syndicated Michael Baisden in afternoon drive while Kiss presents live local programming hosted by Art Terrell.

Said another way, 62% of Majic's prime hours (Mon-Fri, 6AM-7PM) contain syndicated product while 69% of Kiss 104's prime hours are live and local. And frankly, Majic likes it that way.

The past year has not been without scares for Majic. When Steve Harvey moved to Chicago and started a daytime TV show, respected blogger Kevin Ross predicted Majic's star morning host was not long for the radio world. Harvey quelled that idea by signing a new long-term deal with Clear Channel in January.

Two weeks ago, Michael Baisden announced his show would be ending due to not reaching new contract terms with Cumulus Media Networks. Cumulus was not happy it was Baisden and not the company who made the announcement, and reacted by locking out the host for his last 9 days.

Michael Baisden's story is one of tremendous determination. After driving across the country selling his self-published books from the trunk of his car, he did an afternoon drive show for New York's 98.7 Kiss FM at no salary. The station's ratings soared from #9 to #1, and Baisden was rewarded with syndication.

Syndicated radio host has been Baisden's bully pulpit for furthering African-American causes. He campaigned for President Obama on and off the air. His show was popular and carried on about 50 stations.

In Atlanta, Majic 107.5/97.5 routinely beat Kiss 104 in 25-54 during Baisden's shift. However, Baisden was reputed to be difficult to deal with, clashing with Cumulus brass for years. In recent months, stations in Detroit, Los Angeles and Philadelphia dropped his show in favor of local talent.

Baisden's departure forced a decision on the part of Majic 107-5/97-5 regarding the future of afternoon drive. On one hand, the station could find another syndicated show. On the other, it could go music intensive, perhaps shifting Carol Blackmon from middays or Si-Man from evenings into the slot. Both are Atlanta radio icons who successfully hosted drive-time shows in the past.

Majic opted to carry Skip Murphy, the new show being launched by Cumulus Media Networks and Reach Media to replace Baisden. Murphy, who will work with co-host Jasmine Sanders, appears to have the right pedigree. He has jocked in major markets for years and won a slew of prestigious awards. And his resume includes a hint of the activism that made Michael Baisden a household name.

So did Radio One make the right decision? My opinion is yes. Either course would come with risks. But Majic has been performing exceptionally well with a national show in afternoon drive that was more talk than music. It's a major point of difference from Kiss, and Majic's listeners expect such a show.

While Majic's local shifts are expertly programmed, they are still the bigger unknown in afternoon drive. Given the new host's credentials and the daypart's success, repairing what's broken rather than replacing it seems the better solution.

We will find out. Skip Murphy's show kicks off today, April 1.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

92.9 No Walk In The (Ball) Park for CBS

2013-03-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Six months have passed since CBS Radio introduced its newest entry to Atlanta, 92-9 The Game (WZGC-FM). And so far, we are seeing little sign of ratings traction.

CBS took quite a risk by installing the expensive All-Sports format in this market. Succeeding would require that the format's audience share grow significantly.

Until 92-9 The Game's sign-on, the shares of both Sports stations together hovered around 2 to 2.5 in Persons 6+. The Game would need to increase that share to 4 or so, and hope either 790 The Zone or 680/93.7 The Fan threw in the locker room towel. That would give 92-9 very competitive shares in its target male demos.

CBS Radio has done just that in several markets, doing it in Pittsburgh with a product created by The Game's PD, Terry Foxx. The two glaring exceptions are the Dallas market, where an AM station, 1310 The Ticket, dominates the CBS FM entry, 105.3 The Fan; and DC, where CBS's 106.7 The Fan (WJFK-FM) and Red Zebra's WTEM-AM slug it out for small shares.

Atlanta sometimes gets a bad rap as a sports town, and that's been hammered into the mindset of many residents. So the idea of a successful FM Sports station here met with some skepticism.

This is not Pittsburgh, Boston or Baltimore, home of rabid fans and, not coincidentally, markets where ratings of Sports FMs have soared. So I wondered whether 92-9 The Game could increase the format's slice of the pie. But, I never thought the new station would have trouble jumping over The Zone and The Fan.

Six months after its launch, however, WZGC is #3 out of the 3 Sports stations, getting beaten by two AMs, one of which simulcasts with a low-power FM translator. The other, 790 The Zone, throws an interference-free signal over a very small area at night. Moreover, the total Persons 6+ share of the 3 Sports stations in February was 2.5, just about where it had been with 2 stations.

Several months ago, I wrote a column on 92-9 The Game's prospects. I commented that Sports radio fans are passionate about the format, including the hosts. For that reason, I suspected pulling The Zone's and The Fan's bases away would take more time than in the music station world, but that eventually, WZGC's powerful FM signal would win out.

Although The Game's small share was basically carved out of the other two Sports stations, I expected a little more of 92-9 by now.

While I am more of a music radio person, I've listened a lot to 92-9 The Game and think the product is good. The format was well thought out, and the hosts are of high quality. In the early weeks, I found the afternoon drive show hard to listen to. The hosts seemed to be stepping on each other. But I tuned in recently, and the problem had been eliminated; the show was much more listenable.

The complaints that I have heard from others are the hosts do not sound like they are rooting for the Atlanta teams, and too much coverage is devoted to out-of-town organizations.

That occurred to me a couple of weeks ago during late evening host Jim Murray's lengthy lament about New England's loss of receiver Wes Welker to Denver. However, I enjoyed Murray's honesty. Formatically, the only thing that makes me wince is the annoying sweeper that another Sports Flash is coming up in minutes.

With 92-9 The Game entering its second 6 months, I have both good and bad news for 680 The Fan and 790 The Zone. The good news is the daylight hours are increasing, enabling them to keep their more powerful and less (and non) directional daytime signals on longer. And the Braves season is fast approaching, providing The Fan with a shot in the arm.

The bad news is that 92-9 The Game is not going away any time soon. CBS has invested so heavily in the station that it has no choice but to be very patient. Its 24/7 live-and-local boasting has required paying for a personality at 4AM on Sunday morning. I can imagine every iteration possible being tried before any thought of a format change enters anyone's mind.

With warm weather coming, The Game plans to showcase its talent with personal appearances around town. And some tweaks are probably on the way. The Braves and then the Falcons are about to become hot topics again. The rest of the year will be telling for 92-9 The Game.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

94-9 The Bull, Atlanta's New Voice-Tracked Leader

2013-03-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

You knew it would happen. A full-power Atlanta FM station would be voice-tracked for almost its entire broadcast day. And you guessed it would be a Clear Channel property. Well, that day has come for "Atlanta's new country leader," 94-9 The Bull.

Lance Houston, The Bull's APD/MD and afternoon personality, departed to accept the Program Director position at Clear Channel sister WPOC-FM in Baltimore. But, Lance is still on the air in afternoon drive here in Atlanta via the wonder of voice tracking.

The concept is not exactly new, of course. Back in 2005, The Bull's predecessor on 94.9, Lite FM, had a live morning show with Randy & Spiff, followed by Steve Goss from 9 to noon. Then came the voice-tracking with Heather Lorenzo (Randy West) from North Carolina and JT (Jeff Tyson) out of Birmingham. They were followed by the syndicated Delilah and automation overnight.

Even worse are the "Jack" stations, or whatever male name they are christened. They run automated with a business model based on mediocre ratings coupled with low operational costs. Who knew? The combination of debt and technology created this.

At 94-9 The Bull, Jason Pullman and Kristen Gates start the day with Caffeinated Radio, live from the Peachtree Street studios. At 10 o'clock, the control room lights go out, and Madison Reeves, Lance Houston and Angie Ward voice track the hours until midnight, when the syndicated "After MidNite" with Blair Garner cranks up until dawn. Just a year ago, The Bull was live and local from 6AM until 7PM.

So will things ever get back to the way they were? Some radio aficionados hope big debt will eventually force the main offenders, Clear Channel and Cumulus, to sell off legions of stations. But would even that change things?

There are a number of inherent problems. For one thing, listeners likely do not notice. Lance Houston can still host the "Top 6 at 6." Voice-tracked shows can still air calls from "listeners." And voice-tracked jocks can still list their favorite Atlanta restaurants on The Bull's website. As long as the ratings of voice-tracked stations are comparable to their live competitors, rationalizing that voice tracking is bad radio will be difficult.

Is this an opportunity for direct competitor Kicks 101-5 to steal listeners from The Bull? Could Kicks, which itself is hamstrung by its carriage of CMT Live with Cody Alan in evenings, promote that it's live and local? Could the station make middays with Jenn Hobby and afternoons with Mike Macho more interactive to emphasize its difference from The Bull?

What if Kicks was successful in instilling the fact it's live and local while The Bull's jocks are recorded and out-of-town? Would listeners really care? My guess is they would not. And Kicks could be taking a chance of damaging its sound with too much extraneous content.

Clear Channel gobbled up lots of small and medium markets in its initial buying spree following deregulation. Cumulus built its original business in small and medium markets. At this point, both companies probably would be happy to dispose of many outlets outside the majors. Would that get a lot of stations back to their community roots and live broadcasts? Probably not. Technology has made the allure of bigger profits too tempting.

Another manifestation of voice tracking is it's keeping talented young people away from radio. The decline in jobs could make developing future stars difficult.

All told, the only thing that would bring live and local back to radio would be listeners tuning out en masse. That would force radio companies to change things. But technology is powerful. In the music-driven world of PPM, stations can sound good and get ratings without the live and local elements that made radio so magical when I was growing up.

I find this all very sad. But it seems to be a fact of life.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Q100 Standing Its Ground

2013-03-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Atlanta radio reminds me of the Middle East, especially the stations targeting women or African-Americans. The companies do not like each other, but they continue doing what they do. And there is a fragile peace. I understand Jimmy Carter is standing by just in case of a flare-up. And no, I don't mean the Jimmy Carter who appears on the Kicks morning show.

When Israel carved out its land in 1948, its neighbors did not exactly shower the new country with welcoming gifts. And when Power 96-1 staked its claim in the already hotly-contested women's space, B98.5, Q100 and Star 94 did not roll out the red carpet.

After the original Power 99 went away in 1992, Atlanta was without a straight-ahead CHR station for 9 years. Star 94 was an Adult CHR and in the late nineties started dominating. Then in 1999, Cox launched 95-5 The Beat as a CHR just a bit to the Rhythmic side. In 2001, Q100 signed on from a new Atlanta signal at 100.5, finally giving the market a real CHR again. That pushed The Beat to full-scale Rhythmic CHR.

The Beat and Q100 at 100.5 hurt Star 94 at the edges, but the station held strong in its core of women 25-49. Cumulus' acquisition of Susquehanna in 2006 again made Atlanta a market with no mainstream CHR that played all the hits. Under the cloud company, Q100 shifted to an Adult CHR, in some aspects bordering on Hot AC territory. In 2008, Q100 moved to the powerful 99.7 signal.

With Q100, Star 94 and B98.5 presenting different shades of the music that young women in several demos favor, Clear Channel jumped into the fray last August with Power 96-1, Atlanta's first true CHR in 6 years. The company had already been attacking at the younger end with success on weak-signaled Wild 105-7/96-7, and now decided to go full force. We can also add The Fish, which has been cooking as of late, to the mix.

When Power 96-1 launched last year, I penned my thoughts. On one hand, Atlanta had been starving for a real CHR, as evidenced by the ratings of Wild 105-7, a signal that's hardly listenable in a lot of the market. And Power's closest competitor, Q100, was a haven for recurrents, a trait of the Hot AC format, and even occasionally threw in older product, such as Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

Power 96-1 was competing against one of the best morning shows on radio, the Bert Show on Q100, with the syndicated Elvis Duran at least initially. Moreover, Power was further cheapening its sound by filling middays with the syndicated On Air with Ryan Seacreast. I wrote at the time that Q100, despite spanning the spectrum from young CHR to Hot AC, should be fine unless Power 96-1 hired a live and local morning show.

Its non-local programming in mornings and middays notwithstanding, Power came out of the box strong, even edging out Q100 and Star 94 at the end of the year. How much of that was sampling is hard to say. Well, Q100 still plays Viva La Vida, Hey Soul Sister and My Life Would Suck Without You. And they play individual hit songs for months on end. In the January PPM, however, Q100 and Star 94 both edged out Power.

Power 96-1 PD Rick Vaughn reached out to potential morning talent for their packages a few months ago. But Elvis and his New York processing remain for now. It's kind of like Iran. Are they building up to a local morning show, or are they just enriching their knowledge of the kinds of shows out there? Hiring a good local morning show would likely ignite a war for Atlanta's women.

Speaking of Power 96-1, Sonic in afternoon drive sounds decent, but he could do so much more than just send shout-outs. In evenings, Maddox has been getting better but is not at the level of energy and command that I expect from CHR night slammers in major markets. I like the station's imaging and rhythmic-leaning music selection.

If Power 96-1 stays as it is, the uneasy peace among the competitors will probably remain in place. But, if Power continues to develop, including adding a local morning show, repercussions among the stations could be substantial. (With Wild 105-7 and Power 96-1 being somewhat redundant, a format change at Wild could have the same effect.) Jimmy Carter would be on his way. And Hillary Clinton would probably be close behind.

Thanks for reading. AAA will be back in 2 weeks. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Fun In The Morning & Madison All Day

2013-03-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I learned in school that James Madison was the fourth president of the United States. So in those days, that was what the name Madison meant to me. I have to admit I wondered how his wife Dolly had so much time to bake those treats my mom used to buy for us.

Early in my advertising career, I read about the huge ad agencies on New York's Madison Avenue and later worked there. At the time, that's what Madison would bring to mind. But, Madison as a first name has soared in popularity. In fact, it was the 8th most popular female name in the country as of last May.

In the radio world, the name Madison seems to mirror the name's popularity in the real world. Atlanta radio now has two major personalities using the Madison name. In fact, you can listen to Madison in middays and in afternoon drive.

The newest Madison in the market is Madison James, who joined B98.5 for afternoons on February 12. (I'm starting to think maybe I do believe in reincarnation.) She has worked for Cox in Atlanta before, filling in at the former 95-5 The Beat. She also did a lengthy stint in Greenville, SC and most recently handled middays at Cox's Rock 96-5 in the Richmond market.

B98.5 Program Director Chris Eagan's exuberance over landing her heightened my expectations. During her first week, Madison sounded good but a bit self-restrained; her delivery seemed to blend with the music. Yet I detected some potential star power in her somewhere. I listened again last week, and she was beginning to break out and sound better.

How high is up for Madison James remains to be heard. The other interesting aspect of this is that B98.5's mic on weekdays is, well, manned by women in all dayparts. And yes, Mr. Kelly Stevens does co-host mornings with Vikki Locke. In his short time in the market, Eagan has already demonstrated programming smarts and logic so I am looking at this with an open mind.

As I have expressed before, I doubt what we are hearing, as good as it is, is Eagan's final product. I still find strange that early evenings are automated and then followed with a jock, Kara Leigh, at 10PM.

The other Madison has realized her star power and is voice-tracked in middays on 94-9 The Bull. If NBC could do a "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" contest, Clear Channel could certainly air a "Where in the Clear Channel system is Madison Reeves?" contest. She is one of Clear Channel's master voice-trackers and has always sounded great.

Clear Channel could run the same contest with Angie Ward, voice-tracked evenings on The Bull. I give Clear Channel credit for disproving a basic rule of physics, that you can't be 2 places at 1 time.

During Sari Rose's lengthy stint at Kicks 101-5, first on weekends and then in middays, I thought she sounded like a small-market jock. Most of that was a result of her seeming lack of a controlled delivery, allowing a hick, undisciplined sound to come through. After Rose was let go in favor of Jenn Hobby, Sari was picked up by Star 94 for weekends and swing.

What a difference a station makes. Rose recently subbed for Star middayer Heather Branch for a couple of weeks. I thought she sounded good. She has a pleasant voice and loads of personality, and her delivery sounded controlled; the southern accent came through, but the hickishness did not.

Congratulations to Lance Houston, APD/MD at 94-9 The Bull, for accepting the PD position at Clear Channel ratings monster WPOC-FM in my hometown of Baltimore. According to reports, Lance will continue his afternoon shift on The Bull via voice tracking. Lance is not a fan of my opinions yet has been exceptionally nice to me regarding those and in other communications. I wish Lance the best. He's about to find out how a real crab cake tastes.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Atlanta Urban Radio At Peace With Itself

2013-02-18T12:59:00.000-08:00

Urban is the category that dominates the Atlanta radio ratings. As the new year unfolds, I find it hard to foresee any significant changes in Urban programming and audience rankings. In fact, all of the major players sound like a heated battle is the furthest thing from their mind. Each station just does its usual thing and makes money.

V-103 has been at or near the top seemingly forever. The CBS Radio-owned station has a lot going for it, starting with a huge signal from the market's best transmitter site for Urban coverage. It also has heritage and deep roots in the community complemented by a pool of superior talent.

When morning man Frank Ski decided to leave to pursue his next dream, V-103 just slid Ryan Cameron into the slot. The result was an instantly-established morning show with one of the format's best personalities. Cameron's move opened up afternoon drive, and PD Reggie Rouse had the solution in his pocket, Big Tigger, who previously worked for Rouse at WPGC-FM in Washington, DC.

I have mixed feelings about Big Tigger. At times, he gets into a CHR-like "screaming" delivery and at other times stays more grounded. He does, however, have loads of personality and that big New-York-Yankees-of-Atlanta-radio sound associated with V-103. I expect him to come close to the super ratings that Cameron pulled. In 25-54, Cameron was able to open some daylight between V-103 and the #2 station.

V-103 has brought back its "Big Money Kitty" and has some billboards around town promoting Cameron, to head off any possible road bumps during his initial weeks in mornings.

The 2 Urban AC choices, Kiss 104 and Majic 107-5/97-5, both enjoy big ratings success, and neither exhibits the killer instinct of stations at war. Cox's Kiss wins the Persons 6+ race, and Radio One's Majic edges out Kiss in 25-54. Last year, Majic boosted its 107.5 signal by increasing both its wattage and height from its new "Gwinnett is Great" site off I-85.

Both stations kick off the day with syndicated shows, Kiss with the aging but still effective Tom Joyner and Majic with Steve Harvey. When Harvey signed to do a daily TV show, some wondered whether he would continue with radio. But he dispelled any doubts by signing a new contract with Clear Channel a few weeks ago.

Kiss is somewhat more in control of its destiny than Majic, having local jocks in all dayparts outside morning drive. Majic, on the other hand, turns over afternoon drive to the syndicated Michael Baisden, who has been winning the daypart in 25-54. I expect little in the way of change for either station this year.

A number of years ago, when former Radio One Regional VP Bruce Demps gained oversight of the Atlanta cluster, he set out on a mission to make Hip-Hop Hot 107-9 more competitive with V-103. Well, that was never going to happen for a host of reasons. Yet Hot 107-9 continues to fare very well, snagging around a 5% share among Persons 6+.

The station, younger in appeal than V-103, manages some pretty amazing 25-54 numbers, especially in mornings and evenings. While upstart Urban translator Streetz 94.5, programmed by the respected Steve Hegwood, has been showing up in the PPM, its effect on Hot 107-9 has been negligible.

The one Urban station that took a little stumble last year is Praise 102.5. When the Gospel outlet had a run in the top 5, I was surprised in light of its limited signal, equivalent to 6,000 watts at 300 feet from its tower across I-285 from Greenbriar Mall. The signal, however, is good where the station's target audience tends to reside.

Still achieving respectable ratings, Praise's programming, guided by PD Derek Harper, is state-of-the-art, and owner Radio One is likely satisfied.

Urban Radio in Atlanta scores big ratings and revenue but does not sound like it's highly motivated to win. Every major player does what it does and seems satisfied with its ratings and billings. I would prefer a more spirited competition, but making money softens the motivation for having fire in the belly.

Thanks for reading. AAA will be back in 2 weeks. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Cumulus/Atlanta In Perpetual Construction Zone

2013-02-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

When the new 98.9 The Walk signed on last week, I remembered a story about legendary Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver. Pat Kelly, one of Weaver's players, led a very religious life. One day, Kelly said to Weaver, "Boss, you need to walk with the Lord." Weaver replied, "I'd rather walk with the bases loaded."

98.9 The Walk is now part of the Atlanta radio landscape. Launching the station on its 98.9 translator was one of two moves made by Cumulus/Atlanta last week. The other was melding music of the displaced station, 98.9 The Bone, with Rock 100.5's Active playlist.

The result is a younger, harder-driving Rock 100.5, still anchored by The Regular Guys in mornings. The iconic Axel Lowe, who hosted AM drive on The Bone, is back on Rock 100.5 doing afternoons, where he was when the latter station first launched.

The merging of the playlists was a smart move, if a smart move and a no-brainer are not an oxymoron. Although Rock 100.5 had grown recently in its primary male demos, it recognized that disenfranchised Project 9-6-1 listeners were there for the taking.

Cox Media Group's 97-1 The River had pulled in former Dave FM listeners, who tend to be older. By going younger, Rock 100.5 can complement, rather than half compete with, The River. The Regular Guys are still compatible with the format.

Going back to its days housing CHR Q100, the 100.5 signal has never racked up big Persons 6+ shares. I still believe the signal, though covering less geography than most Atlanta FMs, is big enough to get more in the way of ratings. Except for a slight null in Gwinnett, it comes in well among almost all of the metro population.

98.9 The Walk promotes itself as "positive and uplifting radio." It seems to be a mix of non-drinking, non-womanizing Country songs, by artists such as Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, and Christian Contemporary tunes by the likes of Michael W. Smith and Mercy Me. The Walk, which is automated, touts its family-friendly environment.

The Cumulus strategy with The Walk seems to be to shave a little off Salem's 104.7 The Fish in order to make the full-power WFSH-FM less competitive with Q100. Will it work? Probably not, and The Walk could possibly steal a few listeners from Cumulus' own Kicks 101-5. But the 98.9 signal is very limited; what is on it will make little difference in the whole scheme of things.

I would have loved for Cumulus to have put Classic Country on 98.9 and then greatly helped Kicks 101-5 by moving CMT Live with Cody Alan over to the new station. The show would still have an affiliate in the #9 market. But that happening was as likely as Matt Scarano talking to Rodney Ho.

Cumulus' 97.9 translator is another story. It's virtually a class-A FM signal in strength, not powerful enough to attract a large audience but sufficient to bring in a few dollars if run inexpensively. I doubt 97.9 will remain "The Q100 20 at 97.9" for long. This translator could be used to for Adult Album Alternative, which could nick The River's ratings, or even for 70s and 80s Oldies (called Classic Hits in most markets but not here because of The River).

Since last year, the Cumulus/Atlanta cluster has seemed to be in constant flux, and I doubt we have seen the last of the changes. Clear Channel has been close behind in terms of flips, and I have a feeling we will see some more action there this year.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Holiday PPM Drops Hints, Raises Questions

2013-01-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

The annual Holiday PPM throws things a bit out of whack because of Christmas music's success. In fact, two 4-week reports include Christmas music weeks, the December PPM and the just-released Holiday PPM. I prefer Arbitron published just one report spanning Thanksgiving week through Christmas week, but doing that would not work with the PPM's continuous 4-week cycles.

One firm conclusion from the Holiday PPM is the Christmas strategies of both B98.5 and 104.7 The Fish worked beautifully. B98.5 decided not to go all-Christmas but to play 4 holiday songs an hour, still positioning itself as "Atlanta's Christmas music station."

Program Director Chris Eagan apparently was concerned about ceding AC listeners to the competition and was willing to accept less than the historic Christmas ratings highs, to protect the station going into 2013. And while the regular playlist consumed most of each hour, many people did indeed perceive B98.5 as their Christmas destination, driving the station into the #3 ranking among Persons 6+.

Salem's 104.7 The Fish had been getting a slight lift from holiday sounds in years past, but was coming nowhere near B98.5's December dominance. That was of course due to The Fish's somewhat more serious and religious selection of Christmas tunes. However, without a totally-Christmas B98.5, The Fish, already very competitive in non-holiday months, bolted to its highest PPM share ever.

The Christmas ratings performance of B98.5 and The Fish left the super-hot race for Atlanta's young women in some disarray. One thing that seemed to break through, however, is that Power 96-1 is for real. Gauging the station has been a little difficult since CHR quickly attracts a lot of trial. The station has been in its current incarnation for almost 6 months, and its young audience was probably not attracted to Christmas music in significant numbers.

Many were surprised that Clear Channel jumped into the war already being waged among B98.5, Star 94 and Q100. But the company does the format well, and PPM is good to CHR. Clear Channel, long frustrated in the Atlanta market, made a decision to go for it.

Wild 105.7, CC's Rhythmic CHR, which had been crawling toward the Rhythmic/Mainstream line, was making ratings hay with young listeners, suggesting hunger for a younger CHR than Q100. Apparently that hunger was voracious, as Power 96-1 has been working its magic despite the syndicated Elvis Duran in mornings and On-Air with Ryan Seacrest, both shows that my ears will never go near.

One question as 2013 begins is how long Clear Channel will allow Wild 105.7, which has been bleeding listeners to Power 96-1, to go on. Why not let Power take virtually all of Wild's listeners and become a dominant station?

The Holiday PPM probably should not be of great concern to Star 94 and Q100. The Christmas music stations likely borrowed far more of Star's and Q's listeners than Power 96-1's. Yet, B98.5 finished the pre-holiday weeks strongly and figures to be a tougher competitor for Star and Q than in prior years. Chris Eagan has made some positive changes and likely will make more. At the least, we know that someone permanent will be installed in afternoon drive following the exit of short-term host Mike Shannon.

Star 94, which will move to its new Interstate North studios in the Spring, peaked earlier last year and has been on a small slide. The station, which had struggled for a few years, was hoisted back up in 2011 by PD Scott Lindy, who has since been perfecting the formatics.

Star enjoyed some unexpected good fortune as its Big 90s Weekend in 2011 snared substantial numbers of men for the historically female station. But the themed weekend experienced some burnout. In an effort to keep the male numbers up while stemming the burnout, Lindy kept some 90s on weekends while emphasizing Star's regular Hot AC playlist.

When Star 94's mini-slide began last Fall, a rumor swirled that a family logging many hours of Star had left Arbitron's PPM panel. Recently, Star's top swing person and weekend jock, Rachel Logan, left to accept middays at CBS Radio's Hot AC in Baltimore, Mix 106.5, in her home state of Maryland.

Star is an excellent-sounding station, and Scott Lindy is one of the industry's elite PD's. Jimmy Alexander, who recently joined as morning co-host, was a terrific hire. We'll see what else Lindy has up his sleeve to counter the growth of B98.5, which still holds the advantage of being the station perceived as right for offices and retail businesses.

Q100 has been getting away with trying to be a Mainstream CHR while playing Hot AC recurrents designed to pull audience from B98.5 and Star 94. And that was the right strategy when the market had no young-skewing CHR. It was also the reason that the poor-signaled Wild 105.7 was able to attract as many youthful listeners as it did.

So far, Q100, programmed by Rob Roberts, is sticking with the muddied playlist for which Cumulus SVP/Programming Jan Jeffries is so well known. I still wonder whether Power 96-1 will force Q100 to stop swinging both ways. Or will Jeffries bury his head in the sand?

Next issue, I will continue squinting through the haze of the Holiday PPM numbers and providing my thoughts about Atlanta radio in 2013.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

Cumulus/Atlanta: Das Radio Cluster

2013-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I am told that many years ago, General Managers of radio stations came from the programming ranks. Since I have been watching the business, however, radio sales has been the conduit to running a station. Occasionally, someone sharp who excelled as a programmer makes it to the top, such as Atlanta's Mary Catherine Sneed, but it's rare.

Now, a new path to radio station GM has opened, manager of an auto dealership. Between Christmas and New Years, radio columnist Jerry Del Colliano reported that Cumulus/Atlanta had hired the former General Manager of Gossett Volkswagen as Market Manager, overseeing 4 FM stations and 2 FM translators. This was something he could not have made up if he had tried.

Cumulus Co-COO John Dickey told the Atlanta staff that new Market Manager Brian Bove was a friend from whom he had purchased several cars. I can't imagine a more perfect background for running a cluster of radio stations. I am still checking out the rumor that on his first day, Bove headed for the production studio, wanting to record a message to media buyers saying, "If you bought time on another station, you paid too much!"

It might not be quite as crazy as it sounds. Dickey supposedly brought in Bove because he built and ran a successful sales operation, something Cumulus wants and needs. Programming probably takes its cue from Corporate. And, Chief Engineer Marc Lehmuth likely needs little direction. I know, it still sounds crazy.

Almost immediately after Market Manager Paul O'Malley's move to Cumulus Corporate and Brian Bove's arrival, 10-year Kicks 101-5 PD Mark Richards was shown the door. Why did this happen? Richards has a reputation as an excellent programmer.

Mark Richards of course no longer had the protection of Paul O'Malley. But keep in mind that O'Malley inherited Richards, who had been hired by former Kicks GM Victor Sansone. And it's unlikely that Operations Manager Rob Roberts, to whom Richards reported, has his fingerprints on this.

While this is conjecture, it's been reputed that Cumulus SVP/Programming Jan Jeffries feels Kicks' ratings should be higher; that the station should be soundly beating The Bull. Moreover, Jeffries is said to favor programmers of the malleable ilk who just implement his directives.

Interestingly, a couple of years ago when Cumulus hired Mike McVay and gave him the same title as Jeffries, word was that Jeffries was being put out to pasture in Chicago. But we have heard very little recently from McVay, who is said to be unhappy at Cumulus.

Significantly increasing Kicks 101-5's ratings, no matter the PD, will not exactly be a piece of cake. The station actually sounds excellent, with some of the market's best talent--Cadillac & Dallas, Jenn Hobby and Mike Macho--from 6AM to 7PM. Jeffries recently brought in imaging star Pat Garrett as the station's voice. And Mark Richards was one of the best when it came to formatics.

Kicks has a few inherent problems. The first is the Country format's relatively small share in this market, quite a change from 15 years ago. And Urban radio's dominance is not going to end anytime soon. That the popularity of younger women's pop will wane at some point is possible, but it's not likely to happen tomorrow. Atlanta also has some powerful Country signals coming in from its far corners, notably South 107 and 106.1 WNGC.

Kicks is also saddled with CMT Live with Cody Alan in evenings, syndicated by Cumulus Media Networks, which needs an affiliate in market #9. Although radio listening drops off after 7PM, people tend to leave their radios on whatever they were listening to the prior night. If they switched to The Bull to avoid Cody, Kicks' morning ratings could suffer.

Q100 has of course been the cluster's star performer, helped tremendously by The Bert Show. Even in the face of the new competition from Clear Channel's Power 96-1, I expect Q100 to remain successful. Rock 100.5 has been growing by virtue of a music makeover by Rob Roberts and adding audience displaced from 92-9 Dave FM. And Kicks, despite its ratings decline, is still a very viable money maker.

The one big question is the potential and sustainability of All-News 106.7. That Cumulus of all companies was undertaking the format was difficult to fathom. Doing it right is expensive, and going against the news image and product of WSB is akin to the Georgia State Panthers playing the Falcons. This signal is the one our eyes will be on most in the coming year.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

The New Year Dawns For B98.5

2013-01-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

The following column was written before Friday's announcement that afternoon drive host Mike Shannon has left the station.

When I was a kid, WPGC in Washington DC, then a Top-40 station, had a contest. The W in WPGC was stolen, which meant the jocks and the jingles could refer to the station only as PGC. For the required hourly ID, the "thief" called in and gave the full call letters since only he could say them. Clues were aired until a listener guessed where the W was hidden, which turned out to be the sign on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

Late last year, I tuned to the station I had always known as B98.5 FM. But the personalities and imaging said only B98.5. Being a creature of habit, I grabbed my pad and pen, and sat by the radio waiting for the next clue. However, no clue ever came, and I eventually realized the shorter name was part of a remake being engineered by new Program Director Chris Eagan.

In fact, Eagan has already changed the tenor of B98.5. I am a Jon Carter and Buffy O'Neil fan, and felt B98.5 had lost something when it replaced them as the station voices, with what sounded like cheap imitations. Now Eagan has replaced the budget couple with a female voice. He's also streamlined the imaging. (By the way, when I hear "80s, 90s and now," it somehow seems like a decade is missing. And I realize other stations use "80s, 90s and now" or "80s, 90s and today." Why not "the 80s to now?")

Eagan also has smoothed out the music. Former PD Cagle brought B98.5 into the new millenium 2 years ago by adding current songs. But the music mix was a little too all over the place. Gone are the Rhythmic currents that never should have been there. And Eagan has given the liner-reading jocks a little leeway for personality.

B98.5 has gone through a bunch of programmers: Phil LoCascio, Tom Paleveda, Paul Ciliano, Jeff McHugh and Lee Cagle, kind of surprising for a station whose PDs, up until recently, just followed the road map of former Cox Radio President Bob Neil. When Cox/Atlanta management made the decision to let Cagle go, Chris Eagan, well connected within the Cox radio family, was brought in.

The station now better captures the essence of a state-of-the-art AC. But Eagan is in a luxurious quandary. So far under him, the station has been earning its highest ratings in years, and he could relax and enjoy his situation. Yet, the changes he has implemented make me wonder whether Eagan is on a mission to turn the station into a first-class operation.

B98.5 has what I call a Lego morning show. It's two pieces put together, but the totality is just not there. Steve & Vikki were a morning team as were Kelly & Alpha. Both Vikki Locke and Kelly Stevens are talented pros, but the show lacks chemistry. I wonder whether Vikki & Kelly will make it through the year. If I were a betting man, I would wager they will not.

When Kelly McCoy, one of my favorite voices on Atlanta radio, ended his 27-year run in afternoon drive last year, B98.5 replaced him with Mike Shannon, long a personality for Cox/Louisville.

I have nothing against Mike except his name. Couldn't he have come up with something more imaginative? Seriously, he's acceptable; I can listen to him now that he's calmed down. But he is not the caliber of Kelly McCoy. Ratings have been good, and maybe that's all he needs. But afternoon drive is another daypart where despite the numbers, B98.5 is weak from a quality standpoint.

I find it strange the station goes into automation from 7 to 10PM and then has a personality, Kara Leigh, from 10 to midnight. I guess automation is PPM friendly, and Cox is the company that pioneered long-term automation back in 1999 with The Beat. It took that station about 15 months to have all live jocks. But Atlanta is a top-10 market. Couldn't they find someone to voice track? I hear Kate McCarthy is still wandering the halls.

Kara Leigh is fine for late night, and Eagan could probably get away with starting her show at 7PM. Yes, even K-Dub would be better than automation. I'm not sure Leigh will ever be ready for prime time.

So what path will Chris Eagan travel? Will he prop his feet up on his desk, collect his paycheck and enjoy the satisfaction of having quickly guided B98.5 into the ratings elite? Or will he be driven to make some major and possibly risky changes to mold B98.5 into one of the country's top AC's? We will get our answer in 2013.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Links:
Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/.
Atlanta Radio Insider: http://atlradioinsider.blogspot.com/.

V-103's Frank Ski Calls It A Morning

2012-12-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

They say the years fly by when you get older, and apparently they know. It seems like yesterday when V-103 threw a client party at Sambuca in Buckhead to welcome Frank Ski and give a send-off to departing morning man Mike Roberts.

When I moved to Baltimore in 1988, Ski was doing evenings on CBS Radio's Urban station, also V-103 (WXYV-FM). He had come there from his first radio job at Baltimore AM Hip-Hop outlet WEBB. I did not care for Ski, but someone smarter than I saw something in him and moved him to mornings, alongside current V-103/Atlanta newscaster Jean Ross.

Radio One's 92Q, V-103/Baltimore's Urban competition, went on the attack. V-103, long the market's #1 station, started eroding. CBS Radio fired Ski, who immediately was picked up by 92Q. It was not long before 92Q dominated the Baltimore market and pushed V-103 out of the format.

That will not happen in Atlanta, where V-103 has deep roots in the community, a mammoth signal and an air staff the likes of the New York Yankees. The enormously-talented Ryan Cameron will slide into Ski's chair, and V-103 will not miss a beat.

The station will replace Cameron in afternoons with Big Tigger, said to be a favorite of V-103 PD Reggie Rouse. Big Tigger worked for years at sister Urban WPGC in Washington but was fired last year. Rouse has proven a skilled programmer, but hopefully Big Tigger has substance. Another Rouse favorite, Osei the Dark Secret, did not fare so well in middays on V-103 several years ago.

Talent manifests itself in different ways. When Ski left Baltimore for Atlanta, I read of the emotional bond that his 92Q audience had with him; that he did his final broadcast outside the building, where listeners expressed their love and wished him well. When he first opened the mic in Atlanta, I thought V-103 had lost something in the way of talent.

I've always felt Mike Roberts, Ski's predecessor, had much more natural radio talent, meaning voice, delivery and sense of timing. But Ski more than made up for that in a number of ways. He was passionate, opinionated and inspirational, and had a work ethic second to none. He was always out in the community. Frank Ski touched many lives during his days on V-103.

Ski was both loved and disliked. And his co-host, Wanda Smith, who started during Mike Roberts' tenure, added hilarity. That all translated to #1 ratings.

So what's next for Frank Ski? He reportedly decided to leave V-103 because he felt the time had arrived for the next step in his career, a syndicated morning show. One thing is for certain: No one station is going to give him the huge platform and salary that he enjoyed at V-103.

How realistic is syndication for Ski? With the Urban and Urban AC landscape filled with Steve Harvey, Tom Joyner and Rickey Smiley, breaking in could prove difficult. Some have predicted that with the recent addition of a daytime TV show, Harvey will find doing his radio show a bit of overload. But I have heard nothing about the subject from Harvey himself.

Tom Joyner is getting older along with his audience. Yet I am unaware of any retirement plans. If either Harvey or Joyner did step down, Frank Ski could prove an excellent replacement. If they did not, Ski's best hope would be replacing Joyner on stations in a number of markets. I am unaware, however, of the contractual obligations of Joyner's current crop of stations.

Whatever the future holds, I wish Frank Ski the best. He made a mighty contribution to Atlanta radio and to the Atlanta community.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year. We will be back in January.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

101.5 Kicks It Up A Notch

2012-12-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

The market has talked very little in recent months about Atlanta's Country battle between Kicks 101-5 and 94-9 The Bull. The competition for big numbers among B98.5, Q100, Star 94 and Power 96-1 has grabbed most of the attention. And we have seen the end of Dave FM and the launch of The Game. The Country format in recent years has been relegated to below the top 10 stations, far different than a decade ago.

Kicks and The Bull, nevertheless, are locked in a knock-out, drag-down ratings battle. Kicks wins Persons 6+, but Adults 25-54, the "money demo," is neck and neck.

After beating Kicks in all but the oldest demos a couple of years ago, The Bull took a little tumble back to the second ratings tier. Several months later, for no apparent reason, Kicks lost a chunk of its audience while the Bull stayed the same. The result was Kicks was still ahead but not by much. And it's been that way since.

Two weeks ago, Kicks 101-5 made some news when Jenn Hobby, who had announced her departure from Q100's Bert Show, agreed to move down the hall for middays on Kicks. To make room for Jenn, midday personality Sari Rose was released.

When Cumulus took over Kicks following the Citadel acquisition, it ended the relationship with station voice John Wilyard. I liked Wilyard because he made Kicks sound big and unique. The speculation was Wilyard's departure happened for financial reasons. Wilyard's replacement did a decent job but sounded like a cookie-cutter voice you would hear on medium-market Country FM's across the U.S.

Just prior to the Jenn Hobby announcement, Kicks handed its voice duties to the renown Pat Garrett, said to be a favorite of Cumulus SVP/Programming Jan Jeffries. Garrett, who became a leading imaging talent via the Urban/Hip-Hop route, has clients in virtually all formats. His delivery on Kicks is a little more reserved than I associate with him, but he brings some distinctiveness back to the station. Of course, The Bull's voice, Cousin Deke, is likewise distinctive and also entertaining.

The Bull also made a change last week when midday personality Tim Michaels got caught in the latest Clear Channel nationwide blood bath. The new lineup is Jason & Kristen in mornings; Madison Reeves voice tracked in midday; and Lance Houston, also Music Director, in afternoon drive. Another master voice-tracker, perhaps Angie Ward, who seems to be on every CC Country station I tune in, will handle evenings.

Among Adults 25-54, Kicks had been comfortably ahead in mornings but was overtaken by The Bull in the October PPM ratings. Kicks added listeners in November, but so did The Bull. I feel Kicks, with heritage personalities Cadillac Jack and Dallas McCade, has a bit of a talent edge; though Jason & Kristen on The Bull are talented in their own rite. I'm wondering if the Kicks morning decline has something to do with where people leave their dials the night before.

Midday is a tough daypart to predict. Jenn Hobby has never done a music show or even run a board. Yet I fully expect her to make Kicks sound great. In her stints as a morning co-host on 95-5 The Beat and Q100's Bert Show, hearing her has been such a pleasant way to start the day. However, her competition, Madison Reeves, excels as a voice-tracker in multiple formats. Madison of course could be at a disadvantage for not being live and local, but I doubt many listeners will notice. Kicks could win the daypart if it capitalized on its live edge.

In afternoon drive, Kicks 101-5's Mike Macho is one of the market's top talents and sounds great on the air. However, The Bull's Lance Houston, also Music Director, has been no ratings slouch, coming close to Macho in 25-54 average audience and edging him out in weekly cume.

Evenings are the poster children of the Cumulus and Clear Channel syndrome. Kicks features the syndicated CMT Live with Cody Alan, and The Bull presents a voice-tracked music show. Listening levels fall off the cliff after 7PM, but I personally much prefer a local-sounding music show, even when it's voice tracked.

In average 25-54 ratings at night, The Bull has been dominating although Kicks comes close in weekly cume. A voice-tracked music show might give Kicks 101-5 a stronger lead-in to the next morning, but Cumulus is in a dilemma here because CMT Live needs an Atlanta affiliate for national sales.

The cumes indicate most Country listeners tune to both stations. Keeping them tuned in longer appears to be the challange.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

B98.5's Tentative Waltz With Christmas

2012-12-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

Most everything in life goes through cycles, including Christmas music on the radio. When I was a kid, stations added a little Christmas music after Thanksgiving and increased the songs as the big day approached. No one went all Christmas until Christmas Eve. Then, throughout the 1970s and '80s, few stations played any Christmas music until shortly before the big man in the red suit took flight. In the 90s, Christmas songs began a comeback, especially on Soft AC stations.

Around 1998, and the exact year escapes me, Atlanta's Peach 94-9 played a lot of Christmas music. And ratings shot through the roof. The following year, the station announced it would go 100% Christmas after Thanksgiving. Again, the results were astounding. Christmas music brought bigger audiences, which justified higher ad rates. Advertisers loved it because it put people in a buying mood.

I don't know the extent of the Peach scenario being played out in other markets at the time, but observers around the U.S. took notice. Within a couple of years, AC stations everywhere went totally Christmas songs. And ratings hit record levels. Stations in other formats ran for cover until the season passed and things returned to normal.

Then, the madness began. In markets with two AC's, being the first to go all Christmas music became a matter of life and death. The thinking, of course, was that if your competitor went Christmas first, you lost the Christmas audience.

The problem was if you flipped to 100% Christmas too early, you would alienate your listeners. I clearly remember an October Saturday when the temperature was in the mid-eighties, and Peach 94-9 was having a "Holiday Music Preview Weekend." Deciding the right time to switch was the stuff that sent PDs to the loony bin.

For a few years, B98.5 just stuck with its regular format and let Peach 94-9 hand it a ratings spanking. As to why, my guess is former Cox Radio President Bob Neil stayed steadfast to his beliefs in how an AC should sound, at all times. Suddenly, around mid-decade, B98.5 surprised everyone including its sales staff, who could have been selling it, by going All Christmas. And it's been that way since then, until this year.

In 2011, we saw an end to much of the insanity. With the exception of a smattering of stations switching early to get noticed, most AC's went Christmas during Thanksgiving week. In this market, 104.7 The Fish has also been playing all Christmas music starting just before Thanksgiving. And The Fish's more religious tint has given Atlanta listeners a nice choice.

This year, the Christmas cycle has been on the downside nationally; Christmas stations number a little less than a year ago.

B98.5 is in an interesting position. While it's in an all-out race with Q100 and Star 94, neither of those stations is likely to play significant holiday tunes until right before Christmas day. In fact, last year Star 94 felt B98.5's Christmas programming would give it an opportunity to showcase its regular playlist, which it did with surprising success. Finally, B98.5's 2011 Christmas ratings peaks--and two PPM reports included Christmas weeks--were the lowest in its history.

In walks new B98.5 Program Director Chris Egan to a question just as maddening as when to flip to Christmas in the insanity years. I have not been privy to Egan's thinking, but the chronology of events suggests some indecisiveness at Digital White Columns. In late October, a salesperson called me about advertising in B98.5's All-Christmas programming for a Christmas-oriented event that I work on.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, another salesperson informed me that B98.5 would go 50% Christmas on Black Friday and ramp up to 100% over the ensuing weeks. It's not impossible that the sales staff was not told of programming's plans, but on this important subject, it's hard to imagine they were not told anything.

Right at Thanksgiving, I heard from a reliable source that B98.5 had again changed plans and would initiate its ramp-up with 4 Christmas songs an hour. This proved to be true over Thanksgiving weekend--but surprise of surprises--the number decreased to 1 an hour last week. Whether this was the plan all along is possible but does not seem likely.

Any hesitancy notwithstanding, keeping Christmas music to a minimum at this late date was a gutsy decision. B98.5's ratings have been excellent, and its October PPM numbers were the best in years for regular programming.

Apparently Egan feels protecting his regular numbers is more important than the Christmas audience bumps. Of course, the danger is that regular AC listeners who prefer the sounds of the season will move to The Fish or even 93.3 The Joy FM. But with both of those stations leaning a bit more religious, B98.5's bet might prove to be one worth making.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

How Is The Game Plan Working?

2012-11-26T13:30:00.000-08:00

With 92-9 The Game (WZGC-FM) having settled in, it's time to step back and take a look at Atlanta's first full-market Sports FM. Loyal Sports Talk listeners tend to be passionate about the format and know what they like and don't like. I am not one of those ardent All-Sports folks, but I'll do my best to give you my take.

The Game has some very obvious and very big advantages over its direct competition. It's on a mammoth FM signal from the best transmitter site in the market. I like its processing; it sounds just right for the format to me. The station is live and local at night and on weekends, making the competition akin to daytime operations.

The Game's framework is not as relaxed and less Atlanta-centric than 680 The Fan and 790 The Zone. Shows such as The Fan's Rude Awakening and The Zone's Archer and Bell are just so comfortable sounding, and entertaining as well.

Morning drive on 92-9 The Game is well done. Rick Kamla does a nice job of running things, and Randy Cross adds insight and talent. I have a hard time, however, getting myself to think of CJ Simpson as a sports expert. Her Atlanta radio experience has been on Hot 107-9, where she specialized in being a white woman sounding black, and on 95-5 The Beat. (It's nice to see that her former other half on The Beat, Murph Dawg, wiggled his way onto The Game for a weekend show. I'm sure his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dawg, are proud.)

The Jerome & Jamie Show in middays is my favorite on The Game. Jerome Jurenovich seemed kind of formal on the Braves pre-and-post game shows on Sports South, but I find him knowledgeable, entertaining and appreciative of his callers. He and former Falcon Jamie Dukes have jelled nicely.

I'm still forming my opinion of the afternoon show, Game Time. Carl Dukes is a capable host, and former Pittsburgh Steeler Kordell Stewart, he of the sometimes controversy, offers informed comments. I have not yet embraced the sound or commentary of Rachael Baribeau, but maybe she'll grow on me.

Mac McDonald and Jason Goff, who handle early evenings, are both seasoned broadcasters who sound solid. In late nights, I really enjoy Jim Murray's sincere, conversational style. He transferred from within CBS Radio's Sports station chain, and he contributes both logic and expertise.

I have always been a fan of longtime Atlanta sports broadcaster Mitch Evans, who is buried in the wee hours. And 92-9 The Game was wise to bring in Atlanta favorite Bob Neal for his college football and other expertise, and his commanding sound. Finally, I'm liking those jingles.

Interestingly, almost everyone who commented about The Game on Rodney Ho's AJC blog and on a local radio discussion board has been negative. I personally think 92-9 The Game will be a success, but growth will come slowly and require patience on the part of management.

Major spoken-word stations, even the legendary WSB-AM, have added or moved to FM along with many of their listeners. But, I think this situation is somewhat different. Going back to how passionate Sports Talk listeners are, I feel that loyalty to The Fan's and The Zone's hosts and greater local emphasis will initially outweigh the FM band and signal advantages of 92-9 The Game.

Before long, however, I believe the forces of a full-power FM signal, and live and local 24/7 will win out. The Game PD Terry Foxx has done it before with CBS's 93-7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. And CBS Radio has been too successful with FM Sports outlets to fall on its face. But the company had better have patience, and they probably will. Think of how Dave-FM was a dead station walking for months and months.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

Clear Channel/Atlanta Leaves Us Hanging

2012-11-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

Clear Channel/Atlanta has given me the same feeling I had watching the crane in Manhattan dangling from its lower half after Hurricane Sandy. How will this thing end up?

Clear Channel made a bold move about 6 weeks ago, flipping 96.1, one of its two big Atlanta signals, to CHR. The move was questioned in many quarters. After all, it put CC on a collision course with Atlanta's Wall of Women, the fortress constructed by B98.5, Star 94, Q100 and even 104.7 The Fish.

I can see Clear Channel's point-of-view, however. The company has 2 big signals here, 96.1 and 94.9, and neither had been able to crack the top 10 in Persons 6+. CHR is a PPM-friendly format that has the potential to lead the ratings pack. At this point, with CC/Atlanta having played a distant second fiddle for years, why not go for it?

There also was the undercurrent, the groundswell of popularity for Wild 105.7/96.7 as that station was crawling from Rhythmic toward mainstream CHR. And this was being accomplished on signals that were hardly listenable in highly-populous parts of the market. Young people were ripe for the picking. Moreover, Q100 leaned to the adult side of CHR.

Power 96-1 is a Rhythmic-leaning CHR that doesn't touch the more adult hits unless they are huge. That begged the obvious question: What's next for Wild? How could a Rhythmic-leaning CHR and a CHR/Rhythmic co-exist in the same cluster?

Concurrent with the launch of Power 96-1, Wild purged its playlist of the more pop material. Yet it still plays some songs also aired by Power. Cases in point are Rihanna's Diamonds, Chris Brown's Don't Wake Me Up and Flo Rida's Good Feeling.

Let's take a look at Wild 105.7/96.7 in its current form. Its format is pure CHR/Rhythmic with no mainstream pop product. It competes with a powerful Rhythmic-leaning CHR within the same cluster that plays some of the same songs. It gave its morning show to its new competition, and it promotes that competitor on the air. Its afternoon personality Joe Breezy was blown away, and it lost 45% of its average audience in the month since Power launched.

The official Clear Channel position is that Wild is still #5 in its core 18-34 demo, and that it will complement Power 96-1, giving CC ownership of the 18-34 audience. But, I have to wonder. For one thing, if the 96.1 flip was intended to get a CC property into the market's ratings elite, why not allow Power to pick up Wild's listeners?

I'm anxious to find out whether Clear Channel/Atlanta has taken any smart pills. I've long advocated a move of El Patron from 105.3 to 105.7 based on the novel concept that a station should have a good signal where its target audience lives. Back when Viva first signed on, the station was on 105.3, and management moved it to 105.7 for the purpose of competing in Gwinnett County. Viva, a station with the wrong Hispanic format for Atlanta, had ratings far above what El Patron does today on 105.3.

That would leave 105.3, an excellent signal in most of the market, open for a new format. Given its considerable full class C competition, 105.3 would need to take on a somewhat niche format and be run economically. But Clear Channel could add a successful operation to its roster if 105.3's new format was selected and run wisely.

Time will tell whether current Clear Channel/Atlanta management will transform the long-underperforming cluster into a winner. A lot of us are wondering whether another shoe will soon drop.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

Q100 Opens Its Checkbook, Power 96-1 Has A Ball

2012-10-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

With Atlanta's CHR war in full effect, we can step back and take in how Q100 and Power 96-1 have positioned themselves.

For Q100, the strategy has been to sound its absolute sharpest, and to give away cash, lots of it. The music, which also pits Q100 up against Hot AC Star 94 and AC B98.5 to an extent, has stayed the same. Since Cumulus acquired Q100 and modified the playlist, I had longed for a CHR that played all the hits, and without several Hot AC recurrents in rotation. Some of the songs notwithstanding, Q100 is a fine-sounding radio station, at least from 6AM-7PM.

When Power 96-1 hit the air in late August, I was excited the market now had a true CHR that played all the hits. Well, not so fast. Power does indeed play rhythmic and dance songs that the more-conservative Q100 shuns. But it separates itself musically from Q100 by staying away from the more adult product, such as Train and Adele, except for massive hits, as Neon Trees, Taylor Swift and Pink have at the moment. I personally prefer a balance, but Clear Channel has obviously put some thought into its plan of action.

Power 96-1 is going after the younger portion of the CHR demo while Q100 is broader. I can visualize a help-wanted ad for Power 96-1: "Personality wanted. Must have just one name."

I've said it before, but while Elvis Duran's morning show works in a lot of markets, it's unlikely to challenge Q100's Bert Show. It's apparent Clear Channel is serious about turning Power 96-1 into a market force, and they are doing some smart things. But beating Q100 would have to start with a live, local morning show. Hopefully Elvis is a placeholder, and Power 96-1 is doing an exhaustive search.

Ryan Seacrest in middays accomplishes two things for Clear Channel: It gives the syndicated show an affiliate in the #9 market and provides free programming to Power 96-1. Seacrest does well at CHR's with no direct competition and also at New York's Z100. Z100, however, has huge heritage in that market. Whether Clear Channel gets away with it here is a question.

In middays, Seacrest slows down the pace of Power 96-1. Yet it's possible Power's playlist will be enough to draw the demo's younger end. However, the show has no appeal to me, especially with Jeff Miles going against it on Q100.

Miles, on Atlanta's 95-5 The Beat and then Q100 in its early days, had been displaced on New York's WPLJ-FM and returned to the market a few months ago. In his time away from Atlanta, Miles became one of the country's premier personalities. His Q100 predecessor, Brittany, was excellent, but Q100's getting Miles just prior to the 96.1 flip was fortuitous.

Power 96-1 has imported its afternoon and evening personalities, Sonic and Maddox (formerly Lunchbox), from CC stations in San Diego and Florida, respectively. Both sound good but are a step down from the CHR format's top talent, such as New York's JJ Kincaid and DC's Toby Knapp.

Sonic fits in well, but I much prefer Q100's Johnny O, who has broader appeal. Johnny O has always sounded very good but almost too straight and authoritative for CHR. Those traits are what makes him so effective filling in on countdown shows. But his attempt at personality came across like NBC's Brian Williams telling us about the latest exploits of Lindsey Lohan. Lately, however, Johnny has been opening up and melding his excellent voice with a conversational style, and sounding his best as a result.

Power 96-1's evening jock, Maddox, fits the evening CHR paradigm but lacks the high energy of the leading CHR night slammers. He has been interacting with listeners briefly on some subjects but might want to feature nightly topics and take listener calls. If he was able to master the energy part of the equation, he should be able to compete well against Q100's syndicated Perez at Night.

Power 96-1 did have a major momentum builder fall into its lap. Jingle Ball, a star-studded concert hosted by numerous Clear Channel CHR's across the U.S., has added Atlanta in December. And Power 96-1 is riding the wave.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net . Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

Is All-News 106.7 Here To Stay?

2012-10-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

The following column was written last Monday evening, the night before the departure of Program Director Marshall Adams was announced.

The opportunity to create an All-News station came at the right moment for Cumulus. Just as the company was digesting the Citadel acquisition, CNN Radio, based in Atlanta, ceased operation. That made a lot of quality news people available for a reported cents on the dollar. Moreover, a Program Director highly qualified to build an All-News station, Marshall Adams, was looking for a new place to ply his craft.

The idea of Cumulus launching a format that's probably the most expensive was a little hard to fathom at first. We then heard Atlanta would be a hub for feeding All-News programming to Cumulus stations around the country, lowering the format's overhead. Whether that eventually happens remains to be seen.

My assumption was All-News 106.7 would be an inferior product, but I was wrong. Marshall Adams did not disappoint and put together an excellent station. In addition to hiring a fine staff, he's been incorporating outside resources--FOX 5, Radiate Media, ABC News and the Atlanta Business Chronicle--to their maximum effectiveness.

The reality, however, is that All-News 106.7 has so far garnered a PPM 6+ share of 1.5% and skews heavily to 50+. Its share is unlikely to go much higher in the short term. Billings are said to be greater than Atlanta's Greatest Hits, the former iteration of 106.7. But that's not saying a whole lot for All-News 106.7's life expectancy.

On day one of All-News 106.7, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey came on the air and smugly said Cumulus was not the first company to think of doing All-News on FM in Atlanta, but was the first to get it done. He added the company planned to launch All-News operations in other markets. For that to really happen, 106.7 is going to have to generate more in the way of ratings and revenue, even if the plan was to amortize Atlanta talent across the U.S.

Are Lew and John Dickey schizophrenic? They want to run stations as cheaply as possible to the point of ruining legendary former ABC News/Talk stations. For example, Sundays on WABC/New York are primarily infomercials. Then they turn around and create a station with a format that's the most expensive to run. I doubt they're schizophrenic. So what was the motivation to start All-News 106.7?

Could Lew and John possibly have big egos? Cumulus has a prestigious All-News station in its home market. All-News 106.7 has shaved a little off News/Talk WSB's PPM share, pushing the station off its lofty perch. In the world of Cumulus, those things are good for the soul.

All-News can be a compelling sell to advertisers. As opposed to music formats, which can be used as background, All-News listeners pay attention and are more likely to catch what the commercials are saying. And unlike music stations, where commercials are aired in long stop sets in order to maximize music sweeps, spots on All-News stations are aired much more frequently and accepted by the audience.

All-News stations tend to bill more than their ratings seem to merit. In fact, according to the latest study by Miller, Kaplan, Arase, which measures radio station revenue, All-News has the highest Power Ratio--percent billings share divided by percent ratings share--of any format, with a 200 index.

All-News is not a format that can be successful when large-scale staff cuts are made. There is no CMT Radio Live or Perez Nights available for All-News outlets. And the local side of the news is always of tremendous importance. It comes down to a choice between doing the format right or not doing it.

The feeling here is that All-News 106.7 ratings and billings will have to increase for the format to stay for the long term. Cumulus is not known for its patience, and unlike young-oriented music outlets, All-News stations take time to build an audience. For now, the station seems to be going full speed ahead. Time will tell whether All-News 106.7 will be a long-term part of the Atlanta radio landscape.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

A Slow, Painful Death For WGST

2012-10-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

I remember as a kid, having a conversation with friends about how we would prefer to die. Yes, boys talk about the strangest things before the years when the subject changes to girls. But, I recall all of us wanted to die quickly rather than suffer for a long time.

When I moved to Atlanta in 1994, WGST was a very viable competitor. Just a year or so later, the decline began. It was a function of improvement in WSB, signal, population changes, the shift away from AM, and a string of bad decisions by management. In recent years, WGST was left twisting in the wind.

The format change to ESPN Deportes was a good decision, and I'll tell you why later in the column. If nothing else, WGST as a talk station was finally put out of its misery.

Under visionary Program Director Eric Seidel, WGST was a top-tier station. Even with the loss of Neal Boortz to WSB in 1992, WGST remained strong. Seidel had recognized Sean Hannity's potential and hired him from Huntsville to replace Boortz. The quick-witted and entertaining Tom Hughes anchored the morning news block. Rush Limbaugh was king of the midday ratings, and Kim "The Kimmer" Peterson kept listeners laughing on their ride home. Dennis O'Hayer anchored an evening newscast, 60 at 6.

WGST had become the Braves flagship in 1992, the first year following the famous worst-to-first run, replacing WSB, which had not expected the team's ascent. WGST leased an FM on 105.7 northwest of Atlanta.

In 1994, WSB was edging out WGST in ratings, but WGST reportedly outbilled WSB; the Braves were probably responsible for that.

WGST's decline started in 1994 after Program Director Greg Moceri rebuilt WSB. Finally getting its act together again, WSB started climbing back to the top. While WGST was still an excellent-sounding station, it had a major problem; its nighttime AM signal covered little more than Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead clearly. Atlanta's population had become so spread out that WGST-AM had become virtually a daytime station. Its saving grace was its small FM, which covered the market's northern environs.

Also in 1994, WGST was dealt another blow by the surging WSB. The Cox station dug deep into its pockets to outbid WGST for Braves play-by-play starting with the 1995 season, which turned out to be the year that the team won the World Series. (When WGST announced the change, I remember Tom Hughes joking it was because he refused to wear his hair like Don Sutton.) So now the market had a vastly better-sounding WSB with a big signal day and night plus the Braves. By 1995, WGST was sliding but still had respectable ratings.

The next blow to WGST came in 1997, when Sean Hannity resigned to join the brand new Fox News Channel. Hannity had held his own against Neal Boortz. However, Hannity's replacement, Ian Punnett, was not able to successfully fill Hannity's shoes. Around the same time, Eric Seidel was replaced by Nancy Zintak, who had worked for him.

In response to sliding ratings, WGST General Manager Bob Houghton brought in acclaimed ad man Joey Rieman to create a new image for the station. Rieman came back with "Planet Radio." A news staff cutback and talent revamp accompanied the new moniker. Punnett was moved to mornings with co-host Trevor Johns, replacing the fired Tom Hughes.

The ratings disaster that followed was blamed on the Planet Radio imaging, but I wonder how much it really had to do with the tremendous improvement in WSB, the loss of the Braves and Sean Hannity, and the new schedule that kicked off the day with a weak morning show. The Planet Radio moniker was quickly dropped, and Fox 5 sports anchor Jeff Hullinger took over mornings; WGST saw a small rebound. Morning anchor Tom Hughes was rehired 3 years later.

With WSB now dominating the market, WGST was holding its own in the second ratings tier as an AM-FM combo with still salable numbers. But, then came the knockout punch. Now a Clear Channel property, WGST was able to move its FM antenna to Sweat Mountain in Marietta, improving the signal. The move could have led to making WGST more competitive again. But Clear Channel, under Market Manager John Hogan, drooled over having another profit center and split the FM off from WGST-AM in 2001.

The split left what was now primarily a daytime station on AM. This is when WGST started its years of withering on the vine. The fact is an AM station that for all intents and purposes is day only cannot be left on its own. As ratings and revenue sunk to all-time lows, WGST shedded its local personalities, as Tom Hughes and Kim Peterson ended their careers. The station later hired Randy Cook to anchor mornings, but the dye had been cast.

The last bad decision regarding WGST was made about 2 years ago. Management apparently did not understand that WGST-AM did not have the tools, an FM or at least a full-market night signal, to go it alone. Clear Channel invested in live and local talent in both drive times, with Rob Johnson and Dave Merlino in mornings, and Rusty Humphries in afternoons. At the time, I wrote that unless WGST added an FM, the result would be more expenses with the same ratings and revenue.

With ESPN Deportes, WGST is bolstered by an FM partner. Whatever small audience it picks up could be added to El Patron's numbers and sold as a combo for a slight increase over El Patron's rates or provided as bonus. In any case, WGST will serve a purpose and be very inexpensive to run.

We do mourn the loss of WGST as a News/Talk station. It has a rich history in the Atlanta market.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net . Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

92.9, 97.1 & 100.5 Look for Male Companionship

2012-10-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

It's too bad eHarmony does not allow radio stations to sign up. The website's compatibility test would be a big help to 92.9 The Game, 97-1 The River and Rock 100.5. All three stations are trying to pick up men, many of whom became available when they and their favorite station went their separate ways.

Not that the market's females are exactly settled in. With all the recent changes, the instability of relationships for Atlanta's women has been on the rise. But their uncertainty pales compared to men.

92-9 Dave FM had the most dual audience of the stations in the Rock genre, with men and women divided about equally. Where are the former Adult Album Alternative listeners likely to settle? It's difficult to say, but based on music, I would not be surprised if both genders landed on Star 94. In fact, I think that Star 94, during its revival as a Hot AC, put the nails in Dave FM's coffin.

Star's playlist was heavy on the Nickelback, Train and Kings of Leon type of sound, acts that straddle the Hot AC/AAA border. For a while, Star 94 was doing its Big 90s Weekend, which brought over a lot of men under the radar. The sweet spot for both 92-9 Dave-FM and Star 94 is 35-54 so both men and women could be moving 1.2 megahertz to the right.

Luring some former Dave-FM listeners is not out of the question for 97-1 The River. Though The River is older and more male than Dave, both stations are on the softer side of Rock. The River does, however, throw in an occasional Led Zeppelin or Def Leppard. Its classic hits have had little in common with Dave FM's AAA except for a fit of experimentation early this year by former Dave-FM PD Scott Jameson.

Rock 100.5 has seen a lot of iterations in its 5-year life but seems to have finally perfected the recipe. The station is Classic Rock based, with a harder edge than 97-1 The River. And the Classic songs include an occasional 80s heavy metal band, such as Metallica. Added to the mix are some titles from the 2K decade and the 90s.

Rock 100.5's music has little similarity to either Dave-FM or Project 9-6-1 though it leans a little toward the Project taste. And like Project 9-6-1, Rock 100.5 has a compelling morning show. Just the availability of unattached men and the market's limited Rock choices could benefit the station, which has been on a ratings upswing. Of course, Cumulus created 98-9 The Bone to grab disenfranchised Project 9-6-1 listeners, and whether they run to fetch the small FM translator signal remains to be seen.

Where 92.9 The Game will get its audience will be interesting. Undoubtedly, the All-Sports share in the Atlanta market will increase. And CBS has done too well with the format to fail, especially on that big signal. So from where will The Game's audience come?

What portion of its First Preference listeners will come from the All-Sports AM's, 680 The Fan and 790 The Zone? I expect The Game's PPM shares to exceed The Fan and The Zone combined, and if I turn out to be correct, many probably will come from WSB, the Rock stations and other places. The All-Sports format has a higher male audience composition than any other format; 89% of 680 The Fan's listeners are male, as are 88% of 790 The Zone's audience.

With WGST's former listeners now added to the mix, watching the market's new relationships will be more intriguing than speculating about Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. How things ultimately shake out is anyone's guess.

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear from you at roddyfreeman@bellsouth.net. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/atlantaairwaves, and we'll follow you back.

Link to Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV blog: http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/