This was posted on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 by Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
For the handful of eligible voters who have not decided yet between Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel in the hotly contested 6th District House race, WSB-TV is offering an hour-long debate on June 6.
The debate will air a week from Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Channel 2 Action News' Justin Farmer will be the debate moderator. The panel will include Greg Bluestein from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Condace Pressley from News 95.5/AM750 and Richard Elliot from Channel 2 Action News.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The April radio ratings in Atlanta, as measured by Nielsen Audio, are in and Cox Media Group held four of the top six positions.
On top for the 16th month in a row is News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB, holding at 9.5 for the second month in a row, as news listeners continued to be riveted by what is coming out of Washington.
Tied for second are R&B station Kiss 104.1 and rock station 97.1/The River, which has seen its fortunes rise steadily over the past six months. A year ago, The River was at 4.5. Last month, it finished at 6.2 rating, its best performance since July, 2013. (The station bottomed out in December, 2015 at 3.4.)
Although V-103 fell to fourth place overall, it was No. 1 among both 18 to 34 year olds and 25 to 54 year olds.
Among morning shows, Scott Slade at WSB was tops overall. Q100's The Bert Show was the most popular morning show among both 18 to 34 year olds and 25 to 54 year olds.
In the pop station battle, B98.5 was the most popular among all listeners with a 4.6 rating, followed by Q100 (4.4), Power 96.1 (4.2) and Star 94.1 (3.1). With 25 to 54 year olds, Q100 led the way (5.8), ahead of B98.5 (5.1), Power (4.0) and Star (3.1). For the 18 to 34 set, Power was the leader at 6.9, with Q100 and B98.5 tied (5.7) and Star again in fourth (4.9).
Among the country stations, 94.9/The Bull and Kicks 101.5 tied at 3.6 each, tied for 12th. But Kicks skewed significantly older. The Bull did better among 25-54 year olds (3.5 to 2.5) and (2.9 to a mere 1.3). WTSH 107.1 (Your Georgia Country), a signal which doesn't quite cover all of metro Atlanta, finished third in the country wars with a 1.4, better than a 1 rating a year ago and actually beat Kicks among 18 to 34 year olds with a 1.9.
In the news/talk world, after WSB, WABE had a slightly underperforming month with a 2.9, below its average in 2016 of 3.05. NewsRadio 106.7 had a better month than usual with a 1.9 rating, above its 2016 average of 1.3. 88.5/WRAS-FM drew a 0.7, a typical performance.
For sports fans, 92.9/The Game saw its ratings slip down to 2.6 with the Hawks and Falcons out of the picture. (A year ago, the station brought in a 2.4). 680/The Fan finished the month at a 1.4, down from a 1.8 in April, 2016.
Kiss, the River, B98.5, WSB, WTSH and The Atlanta Journal- Constitution are all part of Cox Media Group.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
After two years at Rock 100.5 as the assistant program director and afternoon host, Jay Philpott is off to legendary rock station 92 KQRS in Minneapolis, his hometown.
He added that he loved working at Rock 100.5 but home beckoned.
"This is an offer I couldn't refuse," he wrote me on Facebook. "I have been knocking on the door of this station since I could drive a car!"
He started his career 38 years ago in Minneapolis, then moved from city to city. His list: Seattle, Milwaukee, Norfolk/Va Beach, St. Louis, back to Minneapolis, Dallas, Charleston, S.C., back to St. Louis, Baltimore, then Atlanta. "Lots of great stories and people from each!" he wrote.
In other words, this is his third trip to Minneapolis and hopefully his last run there. "I have no desire to look further," he said. "I'll be the new guy on the staff. The next newest full-time staff member has been there 12 years. It's a very stable place."
He described KQRS as 96rock if that station had survived in Atlanta the past 10 years and it has had consistently monster morning show ratings.
Philpott's final day at Rock 100.5 is June 2.
