This was posted on Thursday, December 29, 2016 by Rodney Ho on AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

CBS46 recently made multiple hires:

Astrid Martinez, a new CBS46 reporter who last worked in Dallas and Charlotte, will be covering education. She's the first reporter to focus on that subject since Donna Lowry took a buyout at 11Alive in the spring.

Giovonna Dpric, a Bolivian native who is bilinguial and has a masters in economics, will be covering politics. She also has a last name with a rather odd combination of consonants that isn't terribly common. She has worked in Orlando and New York City.

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Credit: Rodney Ho

"I put most of my reporters on beats," said new CBS46 news director Frank Volpicella. "Don't know why other stations don't cover education. It's an important topic whether you have children or not."

Ashley Thompson came to the station in September, having previously worked in Phoenix and Montgomery, Ala.

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Credit: Rodney Ho

Kai Beech, a multimedia journalist who came from a Nashville station, joined CBS46 in August.

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Credit: Rodney Ho

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Credit: Rodney Ho

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David "Hurricane" Smith, the program director at Hot 107.9 and operations manager for the entire Radio One Atlanta cluster, was recently promoted to vice president. He will now also oversee the Rickey Smiley Morning Show and the Ed Lover Show, both syndicated out of Atlanta. Smiley is heard on Hot. Lover is heard on Boom 102.9.

Smith joined the station seven years ago from Dallas and Hot 107.9 under his watch has steadily grown its audience. For many years, the station focused on 18 to 34 year olds but in recent years its popularity expanded to older listeners and is now a regular top 5 presence among all stations with all listeners. The station's ratings grew 18 percent in 2016 over 2015.

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Every time I see another accolade for the Boston sports talk show hosts Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb, I sigh. We lost them years ago after their time at 99X and Atlanta radio is just not the same without them. They were ranked No. 3 as best sports talk show hosts nationwide by Radio Ink magazine:

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The publication has yet to post 2016's list online. The 2015 list had Toucher & Rich at No. 4. No Atlanta radio hosts made the top 30 list.

UPDATE: The editor sent me a copy of the top 35. Two Atlanta radio shows made the list in 2016 and they compete against each other.

Carl Dukes and Mike Bell on 92.9/The Game came in at No. 19 while rivals Chuck Oliver and Matt Chernoff on 93.7/680 The Fan came in at No. 24.

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Chuck and Chernoff is the highest ranked sports talk show from Atlanta on Talkers Heavy Hundred Sports Talkers. CREDIT: 680/The Fan

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Credit: Rodney Ho

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SANTA MONICA, CA - DECEMBER 11: Recording artist Justin Timberlake attends The 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on December 11, 2016 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for The Critics' Choice Awards )

Credit: Rodney Ho

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Credit: Rodney Ho

I'm a radio geek. This following list is for radio geeks. These are the most played songs based on year of release on radio nationwide in 2016, according to Mediabase 24/7, which tracked the top 1,000 most played tracks among all radio formats this year.

Classic rock rules in the early years and the oldest song to make the chart goes back to 1967, courtesy of Van MorrisonPrince got in there in 1984 due to his death. Three Atlanta-based acts had the most played songs for particular years: Usher, Collective Soul and the Black Crowes. Green Day, Aerosmith, Justin Timberlake and Led Zeppelin are the acts who appeared twice.  You get two "American Idol" winners and Kid Rock.

2016: Justin Timberlake "Can't Stop the Feeling" 709,434 spins through December 27.

2015: Justin Bieber: "Love Yourself" 791,206

2014: James Bay "Let It Go" 442,442

2013: Avicii: "Wake Me Up" 133,763

2012: Lumineers "Ho Hey" 115,019

2011: Capital Cities "Safe and Sound" 87,697

2010: Bruno Mars "Just the Way You Are" 83,400

2009: Lady Antebellum "Need to Know" 94,771

2008:  Jason Mraz "I'm Yours" 67,391

2007: Kid Rock "All Summer Long" 103,260

2006: Rascal Flatts "Life is a Highway" 53,171

2005: Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats" 84,801

2004: Kelly Clarkson "Since U Been Gone" 56,124

2003: Usher "Yeah" 64,976

2002: Justin Timberlake "Rock Your Body" 59,415

2001: Jimmy Eat World: "The Middle" 51,507

2000: 3 Doors Down "Kryptonite" 43,847

1999: Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly" 50,841

1998: Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" 54,915

1997: Green Day "Good Riddance" 71,975

1996: Sublime "Santeria" 58,599

1995: No Doubt "Don't Speak" 45,102

1994: Green Day "When I Come Around" 57,791

1993: Collective Soul "Shine" 44,842

1992: Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge" 79,159

1991: Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 66,665

1990: Black Crowes "Hard to Handle" 60,258

1989: Tom Petty "Free Fallin' " 86,816

1988: Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" 80,691

1987: Whitesnake "Here I Go Again" 95,949

1986: Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer" 112,289

1985: Bryan Adams "Summer of 69" 94,364

1984: Prince "When Doves Cry' 72,823

1983: Police "Every Breath You Take" 85,777

1982: Joan Jett "I Love Rock n Roll" 99,802

1981: Journey "Don't Stop Believin' " 112,072

1980: Pat Benatar "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" 79,637

1979: Cheap Trick "I Want You to Want Me" 68,105

1978: Cars "Just What I Needed" 57,626

1977: Queen "We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions" 68,458

1976: Boston "More Than a Feeling" 75,638

1975: Aerosmith "Sweet Emotion" 72,391

1974: Lynyrd Skynrd "Sweet Home Alabama" 72,787

1973: Aerosmith "Dream On" 73,439

1972: Eagles "Take It Easy" 41,018

1971: Led Zeppelin "Black Dog" 54,300

1970: Black Sabbath "Paranoid" 43,493

1969: Led Zeppelin "Ramble On" 38,876

1968: Jimi Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower" 38,399

1967: Van Morrison "Brown Eyed Girl" 39,084