99XWatch.org

Mistle Toe Jam on Creative Loafing's Xmas Top 10 Guide

From Creative Loafing's 11/29/2006 Issue:

As [Creative Loafing's] cover for this year's Holiday Guide suggests, [they're] searching for some sweet relief from the stress and strain of the holiday season. It just may be the best and most challenging time of the year. How to get through it? This year's package of ideas offers readers more than fun options; it offers a shot at surviving.

99X's Mistle Toe Jam beat out a crowded field of radio station Christmas concerts to end up number three on the list.  "This year's 99X Mistle Toe Jam is the who's who of who's hot on the radio right now."

The Future

via ToucherAndRichPodcast.com

Am I Biased?

An observant reader emails:

I'm a bit puzzled by your recent entry concerning the ratings book on the new morning x show.  You give it one hell of a disclaimer (that it isn't completely indicative, etc) but yet when the first one came out regarding Toucher and Rich, you do not make the same qualification.  Am I misrepresenting your comments, not understanding the ratings book(s) or is it a matter of your own bias? [Link added.]

I think Chase brings up a few of interesting questions.  First, why did I put a disclaimer in front of this particular ratings post and not others?  In the past I haven't written about Arbitrends, since the Arbitron Book is the industry standard for ratings success or failure.  Another reason for this is simply logistical:  most of the ratings data I get is from Radio Talk and Rodney Ho doesn't write about trends.  In this case I got the ratings from a source inside 99X.  Now, when presented with these numbers, I'm faced with three choices:  I can write about them, not write about them, or present them with a disclaimer that while I'm writing about them they don't carry the same weight as a book. I chose the disclaimer route.

Second, am I biased against 99X?  Not at all. I want to see 99X thrive.  That's why I wanted to get the ratings out there.  Yet, as someone who aspires to be fair, it simply wouldn't have been good journalism to put an Arbitrend out there without putting it in context.  I think that my readers appreciate a perspective that is more nuanced than simply that of a cheerleader for 99X, even when they may disagree with me.

Finally, am I biased in favor of people who are no longer at 99X?  Not really, but the fact is that this is 99XWatch, not WBCN Watch.  A former 99Xer has to do something pretty obnoxious, for me to criticize him.  Right now, I'm enjoying being a fan of WBCN and not a critic.

New Morning X Shows Strong Early Ratings

In it's first Arbitrend, the New Morning X increased its share by nearly 400% and lead the rest of the station to an increase of more than 100% in their target demo of persons 18-34.  The New Morning X beat out a soon to be fired Regular Guys and Whip, and an already Barnesless dave fm in persons 18-34. Steve and Axel (returning to afternoons) both showed big gains as well.

Arbitron ratings are based on an antiquated diary system and are famously volatile.  It's dangerous to draw conclusions on a book, which contains three months of diary data, let alone a single Arbitrend which only has one month of new diary data.  That being said, it would be wrong not to be optimistic.  Every journey begins with a single step, and this was one hell of a first one for the New Morning X.

Barnes to be on Fox's "Prison Break"

According to the Sunday Paper:

Steve Barnes—of 99X and then DAVE FM fame—has joined the cast of the Fox hit, "Prison Break." He plays Agent Drucker, a bad guy, and his first episodes air some time in January or February. He’s currently taping in Dallas, and will, as he himself tells us, "continue to come back and forth to Atlanta as long as my character lives."

Thanks to Rodney Ho for pointing this out to me.

Mazel tov!

At first I felt a little uncomfortable writing about this, but then I recalled how I found out about it:  11/26/06 Committed.

99X Goes on Offensive

When Rodney Ho wrote on the day of Project 9-6-1's launch: 

The "96rock" logo on the sign outside of the Peachtree St. building has already been taken off. And xerox sheets of paper with the words "Are you part of the problem or a part of the Project 9-6-1" have been posted.

When I read that it seemed to me that some Clear Channel HR person had read Who Moved My Cheese? one too many times.  Imagine my surprise to learn that "You're either part of the problem or part of the project" is Project 9-6-1's tagline.

Now, 99X is on the offensive, referring to that ill conceived tagline in its imaging.  I've heard "proud to be a part of the problem" and "part of the problem since 1992."  While I've laughed at some the jokes that The Buzz has had at 99X's expense over the last year or so, it's great for the shoe to be on the other foot. 

Look for the Clay Aiken ad next...

Thanksgiving Comes Early for 99X

From Radio and Records:

At 9 a.m. ET Friday Nov. 17), Clear Channel classic rock WKLS (96 Rock) became “Project 9-6-1.” And what’s making the scenario even more interesting is that former sister alternative WBZY (The Buzz 105.3) is simulcasting Project 9-6-1.

At the stroke of 9 a.m., WKLS faded out The Who’s "Baba O’Riley" and immediately went into a countdown to the new format with a “new attitude” and “new energy” featuring artists such as Metallica, AC/DC and Disturbed, signaling a shift to active rock. The station is currently jockless.

The Project 9-6-1 Web site (www.project961.com) is now live with this message: Welcome to Atlanta’s newest radio station, Project 9–6-1. Finally bands like Metallica, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, RHCP, Led Zeppelin, Sound Garden, Pink Floyd, Green Day, Ozzy, Nirvana, and Korn, are together for the first time on one Atlanta radio station.

So what does this mean for 99X?  One might say that Project 9-6-1 is "straddling the fence, trying to keep one toe in the alternative-rock world while not letting go of those aging out " to The River.   What makes this quote interesting is that it was said by Chris Williams, program director of Project 9–6-1 in his former capacity as Buzz PD, referring to not to Project 9-6-1, but to 99X, not to The River, but to dave fm.   

What made The Buzz appealling is that it was not your older brother's radio station.  Now it's trying to be your father's music station.  Do Buzz listeners really want to listen to both Buck Cherry and Ozzy Osbourne?  For that matter, do 96Rock listeners want to listen to either? 

Clear Channel sent a substantial number of 96Rock listeners searching for a new station when they fired the Regular Guys.   They're now sending the remaining 96Rock listeners as well a substantial number of The Buzz listeners looking for a new station.   In a moment of clarity John Dickey, Cumlus V.P. of Programming, told AJC Reporter Rodney Ho:  "I'm surprised they dropped the name 96rock ... It's like blowing up the Varsity and renaming it Project Fast Food." 

There is precisely one rock brand left in Atlanta. For the time being, there is only one big budget morning show targeting a rock demographic.  Clear Channel has set the table for 99X.  Now it's time for 99X to step up to it.

Now this is what it's like when worlds collide:

FK shares pictures from his visit to Boston on his MySpace blog.