Goodbye Viva!

[DToTheJ]

Having spanish station is a good thing for CC, their DJs don't make much money like their English one...

Nice Freudian slip there... CC's one English DJ... LOL!

[atlantachristmas]

Atlanta could always use another urban station.

How about bringing Peach back?

bringing "Peach" or Any "Lite" Station would be great I miss Peach...

[jabba17]

Star 94 is an Adult leaning CHR, just like Q-100. Both are too vanilla sounding to be pure CHR/Pop.
The name Wild was already tried in the market a few years, albeit on a horrific 96.7 signal. The format was indeed Rhythmic CHR.
Clear Channel has already tried FM talk a few years ago on 105.7 (or was it 105.3?).

As for 95.5 The Beat, I'd hardly say they suck. Their signal doesn't cover the market as well as Q-100 or Star 94 yet cume-wise, and ratings-wise The Beat at times beats both of Atlanta's CHRs. That's saying something a lot.

For all we know CC could try another Spanish format on 105.7. If CC does inten on taking the station towards CHR/Pop expect there to be a healthy Rhythmic/Pop lean similar to CC's recent launch of 103.7 Kiss FM Chattanooga.

The Beat has a CP to bring their transmitter intown and cover all of the metro, so their east-leaning coverage should end.

Your daughter helping you out again?

Yeah, she found out the details on the FCC site.  She's still wanting to know when Radio Disney will be all dried out and back to 12K.

[jabba17]

Atlanta could always use another urban station.

How about bringing Peach back?

bringing "Peach" or Any "Lite" Station would be great I miss Peach...

Somebody's cybersquatting on lite1053.com, WHOIS doesn't say who...

[jal41]

bringing "Peach" or Any "Lite" Station would be great I miss Peach...

Somebody's cybersquatting on lite1053.com, WHOIS doesn't say who...

1. Cybersquatters got a hold of a URL when it was announced that 106.7 was going oldies. Citadel had to go with a longer URL as a result. This is common.

2. If CC launches another AC, it will not be "Lite". They rebranded WLTW/New York simply under "106.7". I also doubt "Peach", unless they go classic hits (like 96.5/102.5 in Macon). "Peach" conjures up memories of elevator music for many (and the pharmacutical industry is dead set against competiton for sleep aids), and any competitor would have to go against upbeat B98.5.

3. The Hispanic population has dramatically decreased since the economy went bad. I don't see as many Hispanics on the streets of North Cobb County anymore (although I don't go to South Cobb often, I have not seen as many when I do venture down there). That also is a factor.

4. Most Hispanics in Atlanta are Mexican. Viva targets younger audiences, but it didn't seem like they were listening. Most younger Mexicans I have encountered spoke perfect English, and most likely were listening to 95.5 The Beat or Q100. El Patron, La Raza, and the smaller AM's targeted the Mexican audiences. WAZX went under due to the FM competition.

5. The Hispanic population lives mostly in the Northern part of the Metro (extending all the way to the Tennessee line). Manufacturing was a big employer of Hispanics in Dalton, and poultry the same in Gainesville. There was a sizeable Hispanic population in Ellijay as well. This is why Davis bought WNSY 100.1 and WCHK, and paired it with WLKQ. 105.3 comes from Newnan to the south and west. While the signal is good in Cobb County, it is poorer in Gwinnett and Hall, and Pickens and the other areas I am mentioning. OTOH, the 105.7 signal out of Woodstock/Northeast Cobb targets all of these areas perfectly.

So...with all of this in mind...it seems to me the Mexican format of El Patron needs to be on 105.7. If this happens, there are three good options for 105.3

1. WGST-FM
2. The Legend moves to 105.3 from 96.7 (96.7 would simulcast 105.7, which it has done twice before).
3. AC (no "Lite"...no "Peach").

CHR and Urban are overdone here...so I don't see those as options. But remember...Clear Channel has the decision making capability and intellegence of a small farm animal. Whatever happens will ultimately be a surprise...and given their track record, a failure.

[carolinaradio]

FWIW, WLTW/NYC goes by 106.7 Lite FM.  They even got a new logo a while back.  They dropped Lite for a while but re-added the name.

I could see all-Christmas on one of the 105s then unveil a new format on the 1st of January.

[jabba17]

2) I agree that "Peach" as a heritage name is dead, despite the opinions of us radio geeks, because of the Beautiful Music connotations.

3) Many Latinos have gone, ahem, elsewhere to look for work.

4) Agreed.  Viva was a major miscalculation by CC.  Most Latino listeners wanted a Mexican station, not a Latino station.  Hence Viva doing poorly while Patron and La Raza do relatively well, considering their poorer signals.

5) Agreed.  105.7 would be a MAJOR upgrade for Patron and could steal some listeners from La Raza.  I miss Lake 102 and Sunny 100, but I know and understand why Davis did what they did.

[Neil Millman]

2) I agree that "Peach" as a heritage name is dead, despite the opinions of us radio geeks, because of the Beautiful Music connotations.

I think CurtisinPA would beg to differ.

Does anyone else remember him? He was to Peach what GT&GO is to Oldies or RhubarbFan is to Erin Watson.

[jabba17]

So...with all of this in mind...it seems to me the Mexican format of El Patron needs to be on 105.7. If this happens, there are three good options for 105.3

1. WGST-FM
2. The Legend moves to 105.3 from 96.7 (96.7 would simulcast 105.7, which it has done twice before).
3. AC (no "Lite"...no "Peach").

CHR and Urban are overdone here...so I don't see those as options. But remember...Clear Channel has the decision making capability and intellegence of a small farm animal. Whatever happens will ultimately be a surprise...and given their track record, a failure.

1. WGST-FM would only make sense if CC wanted to get $eriou$ again about a competitor to WSB, or if they wanted to make WGST AM/FM a conservative talk/FM talk hybrid.  That is, keep Rush and Beck, move Ramsey to evenings (which would work with the FM signal and also not have him get killed going up against Clark Howard), and put on a stronger show than Smerconish for AM and PM drive. 

2. Would Legend to 105.3 cannibalize Bull too much as Bull gets traction?  Keep in mind that when Y-106 flanked Kicks, Kicks was (and still is) a very strong franchise, and country on 101.5 goes back to the WBIE days before Kicks.  Bull won't have that anchor.  I agree on 96.7 simuling whatever's on 105.7.

3. Atlanta has a light AC/environmental hole since the demise of WJZZ.  But would light AC/easy listening PPM well?

CC doesn't have a chance with urban, not with V-103 and Radio One in the house, and Cox wanting in on the party.

CC could do CHR on 105.3 as a trial to see if they can find a niche between Star, Q, and Beat.  There is a hole there for a true CHR/M.

[DavidEduardo]

.

4. Most Hispanics in Atlanta are Mexican. Viva targets younger audiences, but it didn't seem like they were listening. Most younger Mexicans I have encountered spoke perfect English, and most likely were listening to 95.5 The Beat or Q100. El Patron, La Raza, and the smaller AM's targeted the Mexican audiences. WAZX went under due to the FM competition.

Pop, as a genre, has more listening in the rated markets of Mexico than Regional Mexican.

As to population, Arbitron uses Census figures tabulated by Claritas. Unless there is a revision of the population, perhaps after the decennial Census, which should come out around two years from now, Arbitron will continue to project the ratings into the universe based on current data. In the most rapid of cases, no change would happen until the October, 2010 annual revision of population data for all Arbitron markets. And any real change that has occured will not impact ratings until at least the end of next year.