Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2005 > February > 08 > Entry
So which stations play more unique songs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Your iPod might have 1,000 songs on it. How many unique songs does a radio station actually carry in a given week?
I got temporary access to the databases at Mediabase 24/7, a tracking firm. Here’s what a few local stations carry in terms of different songs. Most extreme cases: Eagle is very deep for its format; the Beat is extremely shallow. Dave isn’t as deep as other adult alternative stations.
Star 94: 176 (That’s fairly tight even for a top 40 station)
Q100: 236 (about average for a top 40 station)
B98.5: 321 (well below the typical for an AC station)
Lite 94.9: 610 (that’s above average for an AC station)
Cool 105.7: 710 (That’s more than typical among oldies stations)
96rock: 469 (a little below average compared to other classic rock stations but the station also loses 4 hours a day to an all-talk morning show)
99X: 539 (that’s much deeper than is typical of alternative stations—specialty shows help)
Buzz: 231 (that’s the tightest alternative rock playlist in the country but the station plays 70 more songs per day than 99X)
Kiss 104.1: 711 (that’s higher than most urban AC stations)
Eagle 106.7: 729 (third highest in the country among all country stations!) Kicks 101.5: 473 (about average for a country hits station)
dave FM: 605(24th out of 29 among adult alternative stations so not nearly as adventurous as meets the eye)
V-103: 400 (about average for an urban station. V-103 plays 35 fewer songs per day than Hot or about 1.3 songs per hour, which reflects more advertising and talk)
Hot 107.9: 376
95.5/The Beat: 109 (the second smallest playlist in the country among rhythmic top 40s)
And who actually spins more songs on average per day: Lite or B98.5?? It’s a close call, virtually a tie. In the last week, WSB-FM spun 298 songs while Lite played 290 per day. In both cases, that’s slightly higher than average for AC stations. Since Lite does Delilah at night, it plays fewer songs in the evening than B98.5 but Lite plays more songs during the day though the differences in the day are marginal at best.
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Comments
By Yeeshkul
February 9, 2005 08:58 AM | Link to this
I’ve been thinking that Dave is pretty lame. When 105.7 (or was it 105.3?) played Adventure radio on the weekends and they had a great eclectic playlist that actually made me want to listen to the radio. I think 96Rock is the most boring rock/classic rock station that I’ve ever heard. In fact all of Atlanta radio is pretty boring. They all sound as cold and mechanical as the statistics used to program them.
By Pete
February 14, 2005 10:15 AM | Link to this
We’ll have to make that number 177 songs for STAR 94!! They now play “Live Like You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw. They dropped the Shania, Faith and Lonestar but are now playing Tim McGraw. How does this fit in with their horrible new fomat which includes trash like Usher, Black Eyed Peas and Outkast? Must be that STAR now considers Tim “hip” because he did a song with that no-talent Nelly.
Seems like STAR 94 is going through a serious identity crisis.
By fmfreq
February 16, 2005 03:40 PM | Link to this
Simple, they play “Live Like You We’re Dying” because women eat the song up. The song tests HUGE. Its called crossover.