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Thursday, May 4, 2006
5/4: The story on the River for Friday’s paper
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s what I wrote for Friday’s paper on the River’s mondo opening:
A flood of listeners jumped into The River, the new rock station at 97.1 FM launched on New Year’s Day this year.
The station — which plays rock hits mostly from the 1970s and 1980s by acts such as Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and Aerosmith — had one of the biggest debuts in recent Atlanta radio history, opening in fourth place in this winter’s ratings. It finished behind only R&B/hip-hop powerhouse V-103 FM, news/talk mainstay WSB-AM and gospel station Praise 97.5 FM.
More than 540,000 metro Atlantans, on average, tuned in during any given week this past winter, according to the Arbitron ratings covering January 5 to March 29.
“It was incredible,” said Chris Wegmann, market manager for Cox Radio Atlanta, part of Cox Enterprises, which also owns the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Now our challenge is to maintain the momentum.”
To draw new listeners, Cox spent several hundred thousand dollars advertising the River on TV, and the station broadcast its first month with no commercials. It now runs just eight ads an hour, far fewer than other music stations in the market. The River also is DJ-free at the moment, but Wegmann said the station plans to add morning and late-afternoon jocks — though they won’t talk much.
He said the station filled a gap among 30- to 54-year-olds for a music-heavy rock station focused on familiar songs. The River tends to be more female friendly than testosterone-driven 96rock and much less eclectic than 92.9/Dave FM. It also features a relatively small playlist of about 300 songs, a formula replicated from successful Cox radio stations in other markets.
The River’s debut appeared to ding a host of rival stations to various degrees, including 96rock, Star 94, Lite 94.9, the Fish 104.7 and Dave FM.
Buzz Casey, program director at 96rock, played down the new station’s success. He said music-intensive stations in other markets have made splashy debuts before. “They’d be absolutely huge for six or nine months,” he said, “then taper off quickly and settle in the middle of the pack.”
The FM signal 97.1, which covers the north side of metro Atlanta well, used to be Fox 97, the “good times and great oldies” station that was hugely popular in the 1990s. But it stumbled in its final years under Cox Radio ownership as the audience aged and tired of the station’s tight playlist. Former Fox 97 morning show host Spiff Carner joked in 2003 that it was “good times and eight oldies.”
Cox dumped Fox in early 2003 and launched Jamz, an R&B/hip-hop station targeting blacks in their 30s and 40s with a mix of hits from the ’80s, ’90s and today. It ran without jocks and spent a lot of airtime bashing rival V-103. In the end, it never gained any real ratings traction.
“It was a noble experiment,” Wegmann said. “It didn’t work.”
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5/3: Bloodletting to hit 99x/Q100
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With new owners Cumulus coming in, the housecleaning has begun. According to R&R, already, 16 people have been snuffed (and this doesn’t count the morning show cuts in recent weeks.)
Susquehanna, the former owners, are privately held and the station was still staffed as if 99X was a highly ranked station like it was at one time. And Q100 is healthily staffed too. So cuts were inevitable and with a publicly traded company like Cumlulus, the cuts could run deep. Word is Susquehanna cut some folks ahead of time before Cumulus officially takes over Friday so they can get better severence packages. A going away party happened Wednesday night at Shout. Former 99X morning show producer Christopher Calandro blogged about not getting in.
Former 99xer’s Jimmy Baron, Fat Kid, Crash Clark and Fred Toucher showed up, too.
Allaccess.com trade publication said Jamie Massey, formerly the morning traffic gal at Star 94 and recently traffic person at Q100, has lost her job again. Q100 music director Thomas Crone is gone. And 99X music director Jay Harren confirmed to allaccess that he is out, too:
HARREN told ALL ACCESS, “After almost nine years of working for the legendary 99X, and even more legendary LESLIE FRAM, I have fallen victim to corporate cutbacks, and effective immediately I am no longer employed here. Without a doubt, LESLIE FRAM is the most talented, creative, and innovative programmers in the country. In addition, she is not afraid to take risks. She took one on me.
“A long time ago, LESLIE spotted a guy who has a passion for music and empowered him with the ability to take that passion and turn it into a career. No one in the industry is more fortunate and blessed than me. To have had the privilege to work so closely with an industry legend is more than I could have ever hoped for. She is a true leader, an amazing mentor, and a great friend. Thank you LESLIE.”
