Happy Anniversary 99X, Sort Of

99X's thirteenth anniversary was yesterday.  Yet this anniversary comes on the heels of the "worst overall [12+] ratings book in [99X's] 13-year history," according to Rodney Ho, radio writer for the AJC.  99X as a station ranks 19th in 12+ numbers and 26th(!) in time spent listening(TSL).  davefm has taken many of 99X's older, they-just-don't-make-music-like-they-used-to-in-1993* listeners. The Buzz has taken many of its younger, SliPKnoT-understands-my-exurban-anger listeners. Framarren are doing a pretty artful job of programming, but the reality is that few cities can support two, let alone three alt-rock stations*, and 99X is no longer the only game in town. Infinity and Clear Channel, go figure, seem to prefer that their station be Atlanta's one alt-rock station as evidenced by the fact that they are willing to spend money on advertising. 

Still, things couldn't be much better for the 99X morning show. 

As one Atlanta radio insider put it:  "No matter how good a morning show's ratings are they mean nothing if you aren't outperforming the station. Case in point: Bandy and Bailey. They had very respectable numbers. Unfortunately they weren't better than Kicks' numbers as a whole. Result: They were canned on Friday."  Among adults 18-34 this summer, 99X was ranked 9th; TJ&L were ranked 5th (2nd non-ethnic.)  Among males 18-34, the station was ranked 5th; TJ&L were ranked 3rd (1st non-ethnic.)

The increased clout created by the summer book, does not seem to be lost on Toucher who has been joking on the air about program directors across the country listening to The Headmaster Dies  bit (31MB MP3).  Jimmy says on the air he's been listening to a lot of old show tapes lately,  "as April 4th [presumably his contract expiration date] quickly approaches."  Toucher's contract expires in one year.  In a rant, not at all reminiscent of Howard Stern, Toucher complained that "I'm gonna go somewhere else.  I'm gonna go to another market because I want to be treated with some respect."

Yet, perhaps this will not be necessary.  Cumulus Media president/CEO and probably-soon-to-be Toucher's boss, Lew Dickey has in interviews has said that FM Talk is the next big thing.  Infinity is hoping that "Free FM" will stem their own bleeding from the loss of Howard Stern.  Given the relatively small amount of music the TJ&L Show plays, it's not difficult to picture some version of the show heading up an FM Talk format station.  Given its direction in the ratings, it's not difficult to picture 99X becoming that station.

I am a big fan of 99X's programming, and I sincerely hope that I'm wrong and 99X will continue to bring new music to Atlanta radio for another thirteen years.  Summer 2005 was only one book, and Arbitron is notoriously volatile.  That being said, things change.

* These are also known as too-stupid-to-figure-out-an-Ipod listeners.
** Update 10/28/2005 11:29 AM   A radio-info poster was kind enough to correct me that davefm is not Alt-Rock.  After further research, I have learned davefm's format is "Adult Hits".  Apparently the definition of "Adult Hits" is Alt Rock from 1993, with Sting played 30 times a day.