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12/26: 96.7 now country
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Soft rock Lite 94.9 disappeared just over a year ago to make way for country station 94.9/The Bull. To mollify at least a handful of Lite fans on the South side, 96.7 became Lite FM for a year and played a wider variety of soft rock than the old Lite.
But as of midnight today, 96.7 is now the Legend, a country oldies station, focusing on the 60s through 80s. The station itself has such a limited signal, it has never generated much ratings or income for Clear Channel, which has tried at least a five formats on the signal this decade, including a Spanish simulcast, dance/R&B and alternative rock.
Clearly, by making it a country station, Clear Channel is taking a cue from Citadel (formerly ABC), which owns both Kicks and its slightly older-skewing flanker, Eagle 106.7. For years, those two stations scared away any other major country competitor until the Bull came along. Clear Channel now has two country stations, using Legend as an add-on component for its Bull sales staff.
Here’s the Legend’s home page..
According to yes.com, the station opened at midnight under its new format with Roseanne Cash’s “Seven Year Ache.” Other artists the station has been playing include Johnny Paycheck, Tammy Wynette, Elvis Presley, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Charley Pride and Willie Nelson.
Clay Hunnicutt, who engineered the move and specializes in country programming at Clear Channel, was at lunch with his kids when I called and asked me to contact him tomorrow when he’s back at work.
Victor Sansone, who runs Eagle 106.7 and Kicks 101.5, said he’s not concerned with Legend, given its weak signal. And he noted that the country oldies format wasn’t as viable as it used to be so over the past 18 months, Eagle has effectively phased country oldies out, moving more towards 80s, 90s and today, with a greater emphasis on the past 10 years. In fact, Eagle’s playlist is much closer to that of its sister station Kicks than it was a couple years ago.
“I don’t think there’s a market there” for Legend, Sansone said. “I don’t understand the plan, but it’s not mine to understand.”
But he’s said he’s sticking with Eagle as is. He has no plans to change it to soft rock, the most obvious hole in the market since 94/9 Lite FM left town, leaving the genre to B98.5.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Tune
December 26, 2007 3:41 PM | Link to this
I don’t care what they play, as long as it isn’t (c)rap.
By Al
December 26, 2007 3:55 PM | Link to this
Who cares??? Deskins and his stooges, Hunnicut & Bloomquist, are the biggest morons of Atlanta radio programming. So now Clear Channel has 2 poorly programmed country stations, some sort of rock station, a neutered talk station, and 2 stations that cater to illegal aliens. Just how much is John Hogan paying you clowns to run this cluster into the ground?
By DOA
December 26, 2007 4:04 PM | Link to this
I hope Clay is eating his vegetables at lunch, 12 months of losing with WUBL has got to drain you. How do you become a specialist in a format with losing stations?
By Boomer
December 26, 2007 6:05 PM | Link to this
Clear Channel still has stations broadcasting in Atlanta??? Damn!
By nickolas
December 27, 2007 8:38 AM | Link to this
So just what are his credentials that make him a “specialist”?
By Victor S.
December 27, 2007 10:39 AM | Link to this
Rodney, I actually didn’t change eagle’s music to make it more sellable, I just wantned to have more power over the billboard chart and have two station that help me get lots of favors from record labels.
By no1uno
December 27, 2007 11:23 AM | Link to this
No one knows Atlanta radio better than Victor. If the meddlers at Citadel would just let Victor do his job, KICKS and Eagle will regain their supremacy and put both Clear Channel pretenders out of the country format.
By Rodney Headed Ho
December 27, 2007 1:30 PM | Link to this
Damn….Yet one more reason to stereotype the south…..
By Sandra Lipiatos
December 27, 2007 6:23 PM | Link to this
My husband & I absolutely LOVE the older Country music that “The Legend” is playing !! It is what We listened to when we were dating and early married. It brings back so many memories & feelings !! I hope they stay around permanently !!
By Jason
December 27, 2007 6:49 PM | Link to this
Finally!!! Does it take a genius to figure out there is a huge generation of country music listeners that do not listen to the hip hop influenced “today’s country” anymore? I personally don’t know many people over 40 that listened to country radio today unless they have no other alternative. PLEASE KEEP UP THE COUNTRY CLASSICS!!!!!!!!
By radioman
December 28, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this
To the casual reader of this column: the comments by “no1uno” above are meant as humor. What it should have said was “no one knows Atlanta radio SALES better than Victor”. When it comes to the art of programming, he’s clueless and the stations’ achilles heel. It’s very similar to the Arthur Blank situation.
By no1uno
December 28, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this
Say what you will about Victor,he is an under appreciated asset that Citadel cannot afford to lose. If Clear Channel was smart, they’d snatch him away to run their country stations while he’s still available.
By bestactress
December 28, 2007 1:20 PM | Link to this
If playing oldies were a good thing Y106 would still be playing them and would not have dumped country gold saturday’s. Please bring back Peach!!!!
By fred scarbrough
December 28, 2007 4:48 PM | Link to this
Great country classics! Thank You Joyce & Fred scarbrough Peachtree City, GA
By Bud
December 28, 2007 5:04 PM | Link to this
The most obvious hole in the Atlanta market right now is for a classic rock station. Urban and country listeners have multiple channels to choose from, but classic rock fans only have The-Same-325-Songs-Over-And-Over-Again-River. Nu-Rock sucks and you can get that at Reject 9-6-1, and 99Xcrement.
The huge response to Led Zep coming back on stage is a clear demonstration that late 60’s to late 70’s rock-n-roll still has a lot of life in it, and will continue to attract younger listeners who aren’t satisfied with (c)Rap and Nu-Rock. There are some new artists creating new music in the classic rock style, such as American Bang and The Donnas and others if you are willing to dig for them.
In the meantime, we’ll just sit back and watch Terrestrial Radio do a death-spiral.
By Drew "Screw" Hayes
December 31, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this
Why won’t anyone try my All-Public Domain format?? I have many different versions of Jimmy Crack Corn, Row Row Row Your Boat, Dixie and Chop Sticks, by acts such as Nirvana, Ferlin Husky, A Taste Of Honey, the SurfPunks, the Mike Curb Congregation and Bubble Puppy. (I’m also working on a Spanish version, for HD-stations!)
By lovedrew!
December 31, 2007 6:18 PM | Link to this
While you are at it can you please voice track with DJ’s that puke into the mic? You should also invite Rodney to be the morning entertainment critic.