"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
13 September 2007Perry presses aheadRussell M. Perry's radio empire has expanded into Georgia: the Oklahoma City-based broadcaster has acquired five stations in the Augusta, Georgia area from Radio One. True to form, Perry is going with what's worked for him in Oklahoma:
"Augusta [is] the second-largest city in the state of Georgia with a population that is about 40 to 45 percent African-Americans, and the stations I bought are gospel, hip-hip and R&B. We will change one of them to country and western."
Perry's six-station Duncan/Lawton cluster runs six different formats, including country station KKEN. Apparently Perry won't be able to use the "Blazin' Hip-Hop and R&B" imaging from KVSP Anadarko/Oklahoma City in Georgia: Clear Channel is already using it on their urban-formatted outlet. Radio One, which has had a rough year, owns 55 stations in 18 cities plus Giant magazine; Perry is paying them $3.1 million for the Augusta cluster. Posted at 7:20 AM to OvermodulationThis is only on-topic if you squint and look at it kind of sidelong -- but around here the overwhelming majority of compliments I've had on my cowboy hat have come from African-Americans, with a slight majority of those being women. So (here's where you squint), maybe that country-and-western reformat will still bring in the Af-Am demo. Posted by: McGehee at 7:35 AM on 13 September 2007Perry's being a realist here: he's programming what he thinks will get an audience. And country does well enough in Augusta: in the last ratings book country stations pulled #4 and #7. Of the five stations Perry is acquiring, the "active rock" outlet pulls the lowest numbers; I suspect it will get the Nashville makeover. Posted by: CGHill at 7:52 AM on 13 September 2007 |