Majic adds back 97.5, bumping off Boom after less than seven months

The first song aired with the revived simulcast today was James Brown's "No Static."

Classic hip-hop station Boom will remain on 102.9, where it debuted 20 months ago. For the past six-plus months, Boom simulcasted on both 102.9 and 97.5.

Majic 107.5's ratings were already on the downswing when owner Radio One dropped the south-side leaning 97.5 signal to add Boom, timing the move with the debut of "Yo! MTV Raps" vet Ed Lover and hip-hop legend Monie Love as the new morning show. Lover and Love are syndicating their show out of Atlanta.

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

At the time of the switch, management believed 107.5 would continue to serve the southside of metro Atlanta almost as well as 97.5 and not impact Majic's ratings to any grandiose degree. The hope was the added benefit of the signal at 97.5 would boost Boom even more.

But in reality, southside listeners in cities such as Fayetteville, Riverdale, Newnan, College Park and Union City complained about not being able to hear morning syndicated host Steve Harvey, said Tim Davies, who runs Radio One Atlanta, which includes Hot 107.9 and Praise 102.5 as well as Boom and Majic.  "Sometimes you make a decision and you find it wasn't the best so you revert back," he said.

Ratings for Majic fell from 4.1 in January to 3.2 in June, its lowest monthly result since Arbitron installed people meters in 2009. (Since then, Nielsen bought out Arbitron.) Its ranking in the market fell from eighth to 14th. As recently as May, 2014, Majic had a 6 rating, tied for third. In 2013, the station averaged a 6.8 rating, good for third in the entire market.

The ratings increase for Boom (from 0.8 in December 2015 to 1.2 in June, 2016) was not enough to offset the loss for Majic. "It wasn't as big a lift as we had hoped," Davies said.

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho