# Atlanta Area Dopers: 97.1 The River STILL New?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527 "2008-05-08T04:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/1 "2008-05-08T04:00:26Z")
There is a local radio station in Atlanta that has been advertising for the past 2 years (or more) that it is “” New “”. How is this possible? Isn’t there some law, against this? ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/2 "2008-05-08T04:08:53Z")
Can’t answer the OP, but: Have they been around that long? Wow… To me they are still the oldies station. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/3 "2008-05-08T11:37:28Z")
To me, they are the station that starts bleeding over into my favorite station at a certain point of my commute to school. ☹ \*- ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/4 "2008-05-08T12:16:42Z")
[QUOTE=Meeko] Isn’t there some law, against this? [/QUOTE] Actually, there is a [legal decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals](http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/04/06/032065P.pdf) (PDF) that protects the right of advertisers to make such claims, known as [puffery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery): > [@](#): > > Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express subjective rather than objective views, such that no reasonable person would take literally. “New” is a subjective term, not a factual one, so the FTC is unlikely to consider it false advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/5 "2008-05-08T12:19:12Z")
technically, it’s constantly emitting new radio waves from its transmitter? ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/6 "2008-05-08T17:47:00Z")
It’s been driving me crazy also. I don’t see how that legal reasoning applies. A reasonable person would take it literally, that they were a new station. And they’re not. Just because it’s subjective doesn’t mean it’s arbitrary. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/7 "2008-05-08T19:19:15Z")
[QUOTE=muttrox] It’s been driving me crazy also. I don’t see how that legal reasoning applies. A reasonable person would take it literally, that they were a new station. And they’re not. Just because it’s subjective doesn’t mean it’s arbitrary. [/QUOTE] So, how old is a radio station when they cease to be ‘new’? ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/8 "2008-05-08T19:50:46Z")
People’s opinions would differ, but they would be within a certain range. I would think almost everybody would agree it’s less than 6 months. Certainly not two years. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/9 "2008-05-08T20:56:26Z")
[QUOTE=muttrox] People’s opinions would differ, but they would be within a certain range. I would think almost everybody would agree it’s less than 6 months. Certainly not two years. [/QUOTE] I would disagree. I would think many people would believe that so long as there is no other newer stations, the latest entry into the market can call itself ‘new’. 2 years, 3 years, it is still the new station until another comes along. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/10 "2008-05-08T21:07:46Z")
There have been plenty of new stations. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/11 "2008-05-12T11:52:08Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Actually, there is a [legal decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals](http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/04/06/032065P.pdf) (PDF) that protects the right of advertisers to make such claims, known as [puffery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery):“New” is a subjective term, not a factual one, so the FTC is unlikely to consider it false advertising. [/QUOTE] Interesting, My background is Marketing, I sooooo didn’t pick this up as Puffery. I thought that Puffery, on its face, had to compare the product in question, to a similar product. I mean, I was thinking they were actively seeking out a loophole ((That is, every 6 months, or some other “reasonable” time frame, they would purposefuly do something to re-register as “new”. Add watts, or move their signal, something.)) to maintain the phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/12 "2008-05-12T12:22:16Z")
[QUOTE=Hirka T’Bawa] Can’t answer the OP, but: Have they been around that long? Wow… To me they are still the oldies station. [/QUOTE] That platform moved down to 106.7 I believe. Yeah, we actually lost a country music station, somehow. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/13 "2008-05-12T15:27:01Z")
Well, they’re certainly not alone. Locally, we have a station that calls itself La Nueva 92.5. _La Nueva_ literally means “The New One”, and this is the only name they’ve had since at least 2005. This is a CBS station, so I doubt very highly that they are in violation of any regulation with the name. I don’t mind them calling themselves The New One, though. They are newer than the format they used to be, and I can’t imagine caring what a radio station calls itself. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlanta-area-dopers-97-1-the-river-still-new/448527/14 "2008-05-12T17:09:22Z")
Well geologically speaking, they are new. Brian