Viva 105.7 no more! Welcome to Groove 105.7

Say adios to Viva 105.7. And get on the dance floor with Groove 105.7!

Groove ("the maximum music station") appears to be a dance format focused on upbeat disco/R&B/hip-hop songs from the 1970s up to today. The clips of songs heard ranged from "Venus" by Banararama and "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson to C&C Music Factory to Pussycat Dolls to Justin Timberlake to 50 Cent ("In Da Club" of course) to Lady GaGa, Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry. Atlanta has never had a pure dance station like WKTU in New York.

First song: “Into the Groove” by Madonna (1985)Then:

“Shake Your Groove Thing” by Peaches & Herb (1978)

“Groove is in the Heart” by Dee-Lite (1990)

“Let’s Groove” by Earth , Wind & Fire (1981)

And the first song without the word “groove” in it: “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce (2003)

“Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees (1977)

“Gonna Make You Sweat” by C&C Music Factory (1990)

“I Gotta Feeling,” a well worn tune by the Black Eyed Peas heard on the Beat, Star and Q100 (2009)

“Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” Michael Jackson (1980)

“Rock Your Body” Justin Timberlake (2003)

“Let the Music Play” Shannon (1984)

“Best of My Love” the Emotions (1977)

“Just Dance’ Lady GaGa (2008)

“When Doves Cry” Prince (1984)

“Play That Funky Music” Wild Cherry (1976)

“It Takes Two” Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock (1988)

“Party in the USA” Miley Cyrus (2009)

“We are Family” Sister Sledge (1979)

“Spring Love” Stevie B (1988) (The most obscure song they’ve played so far by far. A top 10 dance hit but not a big hit on top 40 radio)

“Who Knew” Pink (2008)

“Super Freak” Rick James (1980)”

“Genie in a Bottle” Christina Aguilera (1999)

How do you like Groove 105.7 so far?

  • A party on the radio. Dance on!
  • I miss Viva big time. Bring it back!
  • Geez. Another lousy format!

The station will go 10,000 songs without commercials. That’s about a month.

Viva, a Hispanic pop music station which has been around in some form for five years, broke big when it was the first major signal FM Hispanic station in the market. But its fortunes have waned, especially since the arrival of sister station El Patron, which plays a more popular regional Mexican mix of music and survives at 105.3.

Clear Channel “stunted” for six hours before the new format.

From 10 to noon, the station simulcasted WGST (like it did back in the 1990s.). From noon to 2 p.m., it is playing a version of Peach, which used to be on 94.9 until 2006 (when it was called Lite.). That means Peaches & Herb, Rob Thomas, Barry Manilow et. al.

At 2:22 p.m., the station even played homage to Peach's Christmas roots by going all Christmas with Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and Whitney Houston's version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" In fact, it became "Holiday 105.7."

Someone at 2:20 p.m. (correctly) emailed me to say the station may go “rhythmic AC” at 4 p.m., as in Groove 105.7, which likely means dance music with a mix of disco tunes from the 1970s (Alicia Bridges, Donna Summer), the 1980s (Shannon, Jody Watley), the 1990s (TLC, Keith Sweat) and today (Lady GaGa, Justin Timberlake).

Demographically, Groove is a broad adult female format across races. Sean Ross, who runs programming for radio-info.com, said the format was a surprising hit in Miami and has been a stable force in New York. While this might work in those cities, I'm not sure how wide of an appeal that might have here in Atlanta. The format is also being tried in Philadelphia and Detroit. In fact, the Web site template is virtually identical to that of My106.1 in Philly. Ross said it could potentially bring in the mother-daughter coalition by bringing in songs both like.