Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2006 > May > 03 > Entry
5/3: The River floods Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My usual source who feeds me Arbitron numbers is unavailable so I’m still scrounging around. You can get the 12-plus numbers on the link to the right. They cover winter 2006.
The big news story: the debut of the River at 97.1. It’s no. 4 overall and no. 3 25-54. It was huge, one of the biggest debuts in recent Atlanta radio history, outdoing the opening books for Praise 97.5 and Viva. Those two were filling wide open niches. Interestingly, 97.1 didn’t appear to be filling an obvious opening, rather was another rock station in a market that already had four (96rock, Dave FM, 99X and the Buzz).
But Cox’s Chris Wegmann said they had done research and thought Dave Fm was too eclectic for some. 96rock too male oriented (and talk heavy) and the likes of Lite FM too female. Basically, they are going for a similar demo to what Fox grabbed so well on the same radio position in the early 1990s—the 35 to 54 crowd. The ill-fated Jamz experiment is now a memory. The signal skews north where the River demos mesh perfectly.
So far, so good. The station launched with a flurry of advertising and no commercials. Even now, it only runs eight units an hour, less than other stations. And though the station plans to add a morning and PM drivetime shows, they are not going to be personality heavy. I presume the jocks will be along the lines of what Cox does with the Beat and B98.5. They’ll promote contests and mention what songs were played but not much else.
Clearly, the station is feeding those who don’t like a lot of jock talk but haven’t gone to iPods. Will it last given the station’s relatively modest playlist?
Comments
By Tom McGill
May 3, 2006 04:30 PM | Link to this
I like listening to the River for an hour a day. I’d listen more, but like most Cox stations, their playlist is too small. I bet they do not have more than 250 songs in their library.
By Lee
May 3, 2006 04:44 PM | Link to this
I think it’s good that they put the new format on 97.1, so that you can still hear Classic Rock when 96 Rock isn’t playing music during its Braves games in the spring and summer, and while the Regular Guys are talking in the morning.
By LHK
May 3, 2006 04:56 PM | Link to this
I guess sometimes you have one of those days when you get into your car and you think, “Gee, I’d really like to hear Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’ or The Eagles’ ‘Take It Easy” today” … and that’s when you swicth over to The River, because there seems to be about a 75% chance that one of those songs will be on.
I listen a couple times a week, and I think I’ve heard their whole playlist several times over. It’s nice to have another station with guaranteed music in the morning, though, and they seem to play a whole lot fewer self-important promos than B98.5 and Lite.
By shannon
May 4, 2006 08:42 AM | Link to this
This surprises me - in my life (and I’m in the demo) I have never heard a more repetitive radio station - definately not a listen at work station. It ruined me all together. I don’t care what they do now, I don’t think I’ll ever listen again.
By j
May 4, 2006 08:52 AM | Link to this
We can get the 12 Plus numbers via the link on the right? What link on the right? The only thing I’m seeing are MI: 3 ads.
What about the Kimmer’s ratings, are they showing any changes since the departure of Gosset?
By R.I.P.
May 4, 2006 09:18 AM | Link to this
Kimmer was down over 40% 25-54 in the winter book.
By Bud
May 4, 2006 09:20 AM | Link to this
Well, we needed a good rock station and The River is fitting the bill. The Eagles/Fleetwood Mac/Elton John are great artists, but if they would ease back on the volume of these tunes and mix in a bit more Led Zep, Rush, Who, Stones, Skynyrd, Floyd, and Deep Purple they would be spot on target for their demographic. That, and keep the DJ’s muzzled.
By MisterDaisy
May 4, 2006 09:23 AM | Link to this
At first, I listened to the River on a regular basis, however, after a few weeks, I found myself less and less interested in it. In fact, its existance had already slipped my mind before I read this blog item.
Their incredibly small playlist has lost my interest and the lack of strong jock personalities is another negative in my books.
By jerry d.
May 4, 2006 09:27 AM | Link to this
With Lite, 96 Rock, VIVA and WGST all taking HUGE hits will there be any mangement changes at Clear Channel?
Or will they blame it on the talent like they always do?
By B.J.
May 4, 2006 02:09 PM | Link to this
Jerry D: You pose GREAT questions there… In WGST’s defense, they can blame it on talent… The question is when are they going to REPLACE the talent? The only way WGST can improve its ratings is if they improve the programming. They can’t get better ratings with the same poor programming. You would think that they would know this. However, as many of the music stations don’t realize that SHORT playlists don’t appeal to the listeners, talk stations don’t realize that BAD programming doesn’t appeal to the listeners either. The proof is in the ratings…
By DH
May 4, 2006 04:52 PM | Link to this
The novelty is wearing off quickly. The spring numbers will be much lower. It’s just too mind-numbing to take.
By Lisa
May 10, 2006 12:47 PM | Link to this
I like the River. They do need to add more variety to their playlist, but it is great background music to have on while I work, and I like that the DJ’s do not talk a lot.
By crs
May 10, 2006 12:52 PM | Link to this
Wow, the bert show has a smaller audience than me yelling out the window of my car.
By k
May 11, 2006 12:11 PM | Link to this
A few months back old listeners of 97.1 R&B were sad/angry to see it go. The playlist for R&B was similar. I wonder if 97.1 will be a country music station next year this time? Stop letting your listeners down.
By WAR EAGLE
May 12, 2006 12:56 PM | Link to this
Kimmer’s ratings went down when they let the Newsmaker man go. Kimmer’s show is more of a venting show. As for the River-expand the library, keep the DJ’s muzzled and mix in some 60’s music every now and then for variety. Maybe we can take over a Spanish station and turn it back into a 60’s/70’s station only-Beatles/Clapton/Cream/Eagles-Good Soft easy listening music with words you can understand and tunes that don’t sound the same-like hip hip songs.