Cumulus will debut Atlanta’s first all-news station (on AM or FM) in mid-May, on 106.7 WYAY-FM “Atlanta’s Greatest Hits.” Atlanta has plenty of news-talk and sports talkers, but a city of that size should be able to support an all-news outlet.
“As big a city as we’ve got and as diverse and cosmopolitan a community, not to have an all-news product creates a huge opportunity,” John Dickey, Cumulus COO, told The Atlanta Business Chronicle. “It was an easy decision for us to take advantage of it.”
Dickey said Cumulus will look to attract a broader listenership than the predominantly male, 50-plus audience that tuned into all-news stations 20 to 30 years ago when the content was strictly hard news.
“Pop culture, celebrity news and entertainment news has really become news today. That has intermixed with hard news to create a different product. Having this format on FM is really the future,” Dickey told the paper. “We think is going to be a very successful radio station.”
Read the full Atlanta Business Chronicle story here.
While Atlanta does indeed have a younger audience than many major cities, we have to question whether going with a pop-culture/entertainment news mix is a great idea. Merlin Media’s FM News 101.1 in Chicago and NYC went in that direction at launch and still are pretty far down in the ratings (although WEMP is doing a bit better). Bottom line, it’s the hard news/traffic weather All-News stations like WTOP, WINS, KFI and WBBM that are either tops or high up in the ratings stack. It’s a proven formula—on FM or AM.
Dickey couldn’t agree more—in fact, he says his comments were a bit mischaracterized. Listen to what he tells RBR-TVBR:
[audio:John-Dickey-043012.mp3|titles=John Dickey, COO, Cumulus]
