It’s a big week in Augusta, Ga. And not only because there’s suddenly yet another CHR battle in a market where nobody wanted to do CHR for a while, but also because there’s apparently a golf tournament in town and some guy named Tiger Woods, who’s been getting a lot of press lately. Just in time for Master’s Week, Clear Channel’s Country WIBL became Top 40 Y102.3, taking on Beasley’s WHHD (HD98.3). The latter launched four years ago as a very pop-leaning Top 40, but has evolved over the years to a more down-the-middle balance. Last fall, it was No. 7 in the market, going 5.5 – 5.2, but up from the 3s a year earlier.

vs

Now, Y102.3 has debuted as a more rhythmic mainstreamer, reportedly applying again for the market’s old WZNY calls. When we compared the two stations at 11 a.m. on April 5, Y102.3 had signed on with 5,000 songs in a row and was commercial free. HD98.3 had retaliated with a count-the-songs contest called “5,000 Songs and $5,000.” HD isn’t eliminating its commercials, but it is starting a counter—when it gets to 5,000 songs, caller five will win. Thus far, the station isn’t giving an ongoing tally; it says that will come later.

Winning songs in each round are asterisked. If one station is in a stopset, the win goes to the station that’s playing music. The author’s opinion is effective at this writing—as you’ll see here, sometimes the difference between a winning and losing song is just hearing it for the second time in 45 minutes. No call-to-action by readers on individual titles at any other station is implied. You are invited to examine the song-by-song evidence and fervently agree or disagree below.

Let the punch wars begin:

Song 1

WHHD: Black Eyed Peas, “Imma Be”*

WIBL: Ke$ha, “Your Love Is My Drug”

*Early signs good on this Ke$ha, but BEP beats all comers. *

Song 2

WHHD: Script, “Breakeven”*

WIBL: Selena Gomez , “Naturally”

Same here, Selena’s picking up momentum but Script is in its sweet spot.

Song 3

WHHD: Ray J., “Sexy Can I”

KZHT: Beyoncé , “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”*

Nice to hear Ray J again, but Beyoncé feels like the more enduring of the two recurrents..

Song 4

WHHD: Taylor Swift, “Today Was A Fairytale”

WIBL: Justin Timberlake, “Rock Your Body”*

Nice to hear Justin again.

Song 5

WHHD: Buckcherry, “Sorry”

WIBL: B.O.B., “Nothin’ On You”*

B.O.B. would probably beat anything else at the moment.

Song 6

WHHD: Rihanna, “Rude Boy”*

WIBL: Lady Gaga & Beyoncé , “Telephone”

Either is a safe choice. “Rude Boy” is having its moment as the biggest, most legit hit from “Rated R” so far.

Song 7

WHHD: Stopset (from :42-:47)

WIBL: Onerepublic, “All The Right Moves”*

Win always goes to the station playing music , which gives WIBL an advantage in this case. HD98.3’s Webstream stopset filler, BTW, is the instrumentals of hit songs—“Tik Tok” in this case.

Song 8

WHHD: Stopset continues

WIBL: T.I., “Whatever You Like” T.I. on Y102.3 overlapped with both the stopset and a minute or two of Usher’s “Love In This Club,” which I would have given to Usher for novelty (and, after his week of big publicity, pop culture presence).*

Song 9

WHHD: Usher, “Love In The Club”*

WIBL: Timbaland f/Justin Timberlake, “Carry Out”

To Usher, for the reasons above.

Song 10

WHHD: Train, “Hey Soul Sister”*

WIBL: Adam Lambert, “What’ya Want From Me”

Like the Script, Train is in its moment. Interesting to be writing that about two songs from the Hot AC side, huh?

Song 11

WHHD: Nickelback, “Far Away”*

WIBL: Akon, “Right Now (Na Na Na Na Na)”

In real life, this battle of the golds would have sent me to another format altogether. But Nickelback is the more enduring of the two

Song 12

WHHD: Stopset (:42-:47)

WIBL: Rihanna, “Rude Boy”*

Rihanna wins twice this hour for both sides.

Song 13

WHHD: Timbaland f/Justin Timberlake, “Carry Out”

WIBL: Taio Cruz f/Ludacris, “Break Your Heart”*

Like B.O.B., Taio is undeniable this week.

Song 14

WHHD: Adam Lambert, “Whatya Want From Me”*

WIBL: Kelly Clarkson, “Already Gone”

As a New Yorker, I might be biased; Lambert has already been a power on Z100 and crossed over to WLTW (Lite FM) here.

Song 15

WHHD: Michael Bublé, “Haven’t Met You Yet”

WIBL: Jason Derulo, “In My Head” One of the places where the difference between the two stations become clear. Happy to see HD not afraid of Bublé, and I would have given this one to him vs. a secondary rhythmic title or recurrent. But it can’t beat “In My Head” this week.*

Song 16

WHHD: Beyoncé, “Sweet Dreams”

WIBL: Ludacris, “How Low”*

Ludacris wins this for freshness, but if you were enjoying Bublé, you might give this one to Beyoncé.

Final Total: WIBL 8 songs, WHHD 7 songs. That said, WIBL picked up at least three of those by dint of still being commercial free.

And now, your thoughts?