By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed December 23, 2014
As Atlantans spend less time with AM/FM (especially AM) radio, revenues and profits have stagnated and many media companies are not investing in personalities or taking creative risks.
There are exceptions, of course, especially among urban and sports talk stations. But overall, 2014 was a relatively quiet year for Atlanta radio although some changes did happen in the waning weeks of the year.
Here are the biggest stories of the year in Atlanta radio:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
A hugely successful prank, baby! Stunts and pranks, once part and parcel of the radio landscape, are increasingly rare in this day and age of political correctness and basic creative myopia. The Regular Guys came up with a brilliant one when rumors came out that Justin Bieber was considering buying a home on West Paces Ferry Rd. in swank Buckhead. So they created a "protest" one morning from a fake neighborhood association and had interns and staff stand in front of the home with signs and yelling inane slogans while local media fell for it. Stories went national and the Regular Guys got calls from media all over the world. Then they admitted it was all a cruel joke. Bieber enjoyed the joke, too. He tweeted a story I wrote and I got a windfall of page views. Thanks, Biebs!
Zoned out: 790/The Zone threw in the towel with local content this past spring by dumping all local talent for ESPN syndication. With an FM sports talk signal for the new Game and an AM/FM simulcast on the Fan, the Zone could not compete on a lone AM signal.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Out of purgatory: The members of Mayhem in the AM, the morning show that the Zone imploded in June 2013 after that infamous and tasteless ALS bit, has been resurrected to a degree on 680/The Fan. Steak Shapiro landed on the Front Row from 9 to noon. Chris Dimino is now part of the morning show. And Perry Laurentino's departure earlier this month from the Rude Awakening paves the way for a possible full-time gig for Nick Cellini.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The big blindside: Georgia Public Broadcasting and Georgia State University administration pulled off a behind-the-scenes deal to give GPB the day-time hours of its student-run signal 88.5/WRAS-FM. The students themselves were not involved in the deal. This also (coincidentally or not) led rival 90.1/WABE-FM to announce it will be dropping classical music during the day starting January 12, 2015.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Wachs off:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Big pimpin' classic hip hop: In November, three smaller signals all switched to the same format: classic hip hop: Old School 99.3, Boom 102.9 and OG (Original Gangsta) 97.9. So suddenly, the airwaves are filled with Tupac, Biggie and Missy. While the format seems viable for a town like Atlanta, three seems a bit much. It's likely two out of three won't be around in 12 months. (In fact, it's a good bet one of the three will be gone far sooner than that).
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
99X vet leaving: Axel Lowe, a likable, popular long-time jock first at 99X and then on Rock 100.5, is moving to Cincinnati for a new rock program director gig at a rock station there.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Herb Emory passes : The legendary traffic man at WSB died in April helping a man during a traffic accident. That was appropriate. The man was always helping others, whether it was a charity event or simply offering his take on the daily rush hour mayhem.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Local talk returns to GST: WGST is a shadow of its former self, trapped on an AM signal with a dying format. But management decided to give local talk a run by adding former Dave FM jock Sully to the lineup from noon to 2 p.m. daily. Ratings, while a mere fraction of its peak days, are better than when the station used only syndicated product.
All news fails at 106.7: Running an all-new station is a pricey proposition and Cumulus clearly couldn't stomach the losses given so-so ratings. So it added the Braves and brought back the Kimmer, then two more talk shows, leaving only morning and evening drive time for news.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The Game finds some game: The Game, despite a powerful signal on the FM, spent its first 20 months spinning its wheels against 680/The Fan. But the addition of Mike Bell (a recognizable hometown name!) from the Zone and the Falcons gave the station some traction in the fall, beating the Fan for the first time ever in overall ratings.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Elvis has left the station: Elvis Duran, the syndicated talk show host out of New York, lost his spot in Atlanta at Power 96.1, which opted for a new local show in the spring featuring newbies Scotty K and Riley Couture.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Shifting Star: Star 94's pairing of Cindy Simmons and Jimmy Alexander didn't work out. He was gone after less than two years on the air. Simmons has yet to be paired with a replacement. The recent announcement that owner Lincoln Financial is selling its radio stations to Entercom can't possibly help hasten any big moves.
Kicks kicked by the Bull: A trend that began in the fall of 2013 continued all through 2014 as the Bull now dominates Kicks in the ratings. Kicks used to be the master of the country world here for years but not anymore.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
V-103 stabilizes: After losing ground in 2013 following Frank Ski's departure, V-103 has found a new normal. While it isn't No. 1 anymore among all listeners (WSB usually takes that spot), it is still usually No. 1 among 25 to 54 year olds and 18 to 34 year olds. It's still the "Big" station, just not quite as big as it used to be.
Bringing the X back: We appear to have lost 99X for good but Cox brought a new alternative rock station using that letter back on 107, calling it X107.1.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
And guess who's still not on Atlanta radio? The 2 Live Stews. After two-plus years, Doug and Ryan Stewart appear no closer to a radio job than they were in 2013. It's a mystery wrapped in a cipher.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Bring on the podcasts! Radio personalities without a stick are going the podcast route. Steve & Vikki are doing weekly 40-minute shows with Tom Sullivan. Doug Stewart is doing a daily two-hour show at 11 a.m. at Spreaker. And former Regular Guy Eric Von Haessler is working his own shows as well. Nationally, the Serial podcast, a serialized crime story, has been a massive hit. Even Neal Boortz has gotten into the act with a subscription-based podcast.
Sirius/XM update: Nationally, the home of Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony (minus Anthony) is up to about 27 million subscribers from 25.56 million. Although Sirius doesn't release metro area subscriber numbers, it's fair to say at least 500,000 of those are in metro Atlanta given the size of the city.
Pandora update: The largest web-only radio broadcaster appears to be hitting some headwinds as listening has stagnated after steady growth for many years. The company hasn't released metrics since June. Competitors are hitting the station hard including IHeartRadio and Slacker.
About the Author
