Previous Format: Modern Rock “99X”
New Format: Gold AC “Journey 97.9”
Date & Time Of Change: June 17, 2011 at 12:00pm
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Previous Format: None
New Format: Modern Rock “99X On 97.9″
Date & Time Of Change: April 17, 2009 at 9:09am
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Previous Format: CHR
New Format: Rock
Date & Time Of Change: January 28, 2008 at 5:45am
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Related Changes: 99X Atlanta Signs-Off, Q100 Moves In

Previous Format: Modern Rock
New Format: CHR
Date & Time Of Change: January 25, 2008 at 5:30am
More Info: RadioInsight, Wikipedia
Related Changes: Rock 100.5 Atlanta Debuts

The Autumn of 2006 brought massive shakeups to Clear Channel’s Atlanta cluster, affecting all 5 of their FM stations in the market. The first shoe dropped on November 17 when Modern Rocker “105.3 The Buzz” moved to the stronger 96.1 frequency that had been home to heritage Classic Rocker “96 Rock” becoming Active Rock “Project 9-6-1″. Over the coming weeks, the 105.3 frequency would become Regional Mexican as “El Patron”, Viva 105.7 would lose its 96.7 simulcast, and here Mainstream AC “94.9 Lite-FM” would go Country as “The Bull”.

The AC format on WLTM was never able to gain traction against Cox’s heritage AC WSB-FM “B98.5″ following its relaunch after its long run as “Peach 94.9″. The battle against ABC’s country combo “Kicks 101.5″ and “Eagle 106.7″ could be just as tough in the long run. With the launch of The Bull, Clear Channel also announced that 94.9 would replace WKLS as the flagship station of the Atlanta Braves.

Most surprising about the flip was the timing. While WLTM was in the midst of its highly listened Christmas Music programming. By flipping the week before Christmas, the station was able to maximize the amount of listeners to the new format when Christmas music listening is at its peak.

On December 20, the shakeup in the Atlanta market ended with 96.7 WVWA dropping its aforementioned simulcast with 105.7 WWVA to assume the WLTM calls and AC format as “96.7 Lite-FM” targeting Atlanta’s southern suburbs.

Aircheck courtesy of MP3Airchecks.com

During the course of 2006, “The Buzz”, which had upgraded from suburban rimshot 96.7 to the 105.3 signal gradually caught up to and later surpassed heritage Modern Rocker 99X in the ratings. Meanwhile, sister Classic Rocker WKLS “96 Rock” lost its morning show following an incident with a show on sister station Viva 105.7 and battled competition from recent Classic Hits sign-on WSRV “97.1 The River”.

Beginning a string that would see changes at all 5 Clear Channel owned FM’s in Atlanta, The Buzz format was moved to the stronger 96.1 frequency and evolved to Active Rock as “Project 9-6-1″ in an attempt to revitalize the once heritage rocker. The 105.3 frequency simulcasted Project for a few weeks to move the listeners over and eventually flipped to Regional Mexican as “El Patron”.

Previous Format: Spanish Tropical “Viva 105.3″ WWVA
New Format: Modern Rock “105.3 The Buzz” WBZY
Date & Time Of Change: May 5, 2005
More Info: Wikipedia

Previous Format: Classic Rock “Z93″
New Format: AAA “92.9 Dave-FM”
Date & Time Of Change: July 21, 2004
More Info: Wikipedia

Previous Format: 80s Hits “105.3 The Max”
New Format: Hot Talk “Real Radio 105.3”
Date & Time Of Change: January 30, 2004
More Info: Wikipedia

Summary by Lou Pickney.

Cox Broadcasting launched a “Save Our Oldies” campaign in Spring 2002 as a promotional venture to raise brand awareness about its oldies programming on 97.1 WFOX. Atlanta Oldies listeners feared that the company might be contemplating a shift from Oldies, though at the time they were assured that this was merely a promotional tactic and nothing more.

However, that promise was short lived. On February 1, 2003, WFOX began stunting with a rather clever approach. Cox simulcasted stations from outside the market on WFOX, including Hawaiian AC KINE/Honolulu, ’80s KHPT/Houston, CHR-Pop WBLI/Nassau-Suffolk and CHR-Rhythmic WHZT/Greenville, SC. The station even simulcasted the Lex & Terry show from WFYV/Jacksonville, FL for one day of morning drive.

The concept was simple: Cox wanted to program an Urban station that would protect its Urban AC WALR while at the same time pull numbers away from Radio One’s Urban WHTA.