Wow sad to see the demise of Star becoming more of a reality after these numbers. What’s next? Alternative? AC? Can Atlanta actually have an AC station that might make a run for B’s money?
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The End of Star?
- Thread starter Radio_Alex_1990
- Start date
I doubt anything will happen there short of a nuclear war. Please no Alternative, you see how that is doing...
I agree. I don't think they would dump the format, it would have to get much worse. Perhaps there are internal problems at Entercom/Atlanta. The only station in the cluster performing well is WVEE. If I was PD of WSTR I would decide whether to skew older and try to pull from WSB's listener base or lean more CHR with an adult presentation. Hanging out in the middle is not working. And hit the streets and social media harder, that is never a bad idea.
As I have said before, Star's problems date back to the 94Q days...they have continuously tried to feel out a niche in the AC to less rhythmic CHR space. B98.5 does a much better job in the AC space (and has for 35 years), and CHRs over the years (Z-93, Power 99, Q100, Power 96) have killed them on that end. The only time they did well was by default during the time between Power 99 and Q100, when Atlanta had no true CHR.
Could the market be telling Star that we don't need a halfhearted AC-to-CHR station with so many better players?
Another reason I don't think it's an Entercom problem: 92.9 The Game is doing reasonably well, and this during a time of NO PXP. Frankly I'm surprised they are doing as well as they are in light of that.
If Entercom didn't want to blow up Star, they should try adult/variety hits and give B98.5 a run for their money. B still advertises "80s, 90s, and today", but frankly they don't do much 80s and 90s anymore like they used to.
Not sure what you're suggesting. Don't you think there's a reason why B98 has moved away from older songs? Don't you think a shift from Hot AC to variety hits would be completely blowing up Star? Didn't Star just adjust its format a few months ago, adding "throwback songs" to the mix?
Yes, Star has dug quite a whole for themselves. They did just make a major change: While they still play some throwbacks, they took the number way down. In recent months, throwbacks dominated the hourly rotation. Star has also dropped the 30 years of Star theme.
PD Jerry McKenna's formatics have been on the air for a few months now. They sound good but a little on the bland side. The previous PD's sound was way more creative and ear catching.
Some thoughts about the current Star 94-1:
I can't figure out why McKenna hasn't made what seems to me a highly obvious move that would improve ratings: Shift Kannon from 2-6 to 2-7 or 3-8. At 6 o'clock, still the heart of the Atlanta rush hour, Star switches from the highly-talented Kannon to a voice-tracked show done by someone who IMHO is not major market caliber.
I've been told by someone who knows that there's sentiment in the building for getting Jenn Hobby "out of a quarterback role." And it was suggested to me that this is a contract issue. If that's the case, my guess is it could mean 1 of 2 things: 1) Jenn's contract stipulates that she leads the morning show, or 2) Star wants to bring in an entire new morning show, and doesn't want to be paying 2 shows at once. I personally feel they need to hire a whole new show.
The 2 hours of commercial free music at 9:45 seems to me like a non-starter for a couple of reasons. First, B98-5 is so well known for their 98 minutes of music that it will be very difficult for Star to establish a reputation for this. Second, despite B98.5 along with the AC format in general getting musically hotter in recent years, B98.5 has a sound that retailers and office workers perceive as appropriate for background. Star, with Hot AC music and formatics, is not perceived that way.
I think Madison James is highly talented and disagree with the posters who said she does not sound right on Star. That said, I feel Amanda Kelly, who replaced Heather Branch and was let go to (I'm told) save the salary she was earning by being part of the morning show, fit Star's format much better than Madison.
If what's holding up a morning change is having to pay 2 shows at once because of contracts, the likelihood of a change during an economic crisis is probably low.
PD Jerry McKenna's formatics have been on the air for a few months now. They sound good but a little on the bland side. The previous PD's sound was way more creative and ear catching.
Some thoughts about the current Star 94-1:
I can't figure out why McKenna hasn't made what seems to me a highly obvious move that would improve ratings: Shift Kannon from 2-6 to 2-7 or 3-8. At 6 o'clock, still the heart of the Atlanta rush hour, Star switches from the highly-talented Kannon to a voice-tracked show done by someone who IMHO is not major market caliber.
I've been told by someone who knows that there's sentiment in the building for getting Jenn Hobby "out of a quarterback role." And it was suggested to me that this is a contract issue. If that's the case, my guess is it could mean 1 of 2 things: 1) Jenn's contract stipulates that she leads the morning show, or 2) Star wants to bring in an entire new morning show, and doesn't want to be paying 2 shows at once. I personally feel they need to hire a whole new show.
The 2 hours of commercial free music at 9:45 seems to me like a non-starter for a couple of reasons. First, B98-5 is so well known for their 98 minutes of music that it will be very difficult for Star to establish a reputation for this. Second, despite B98.5 along with the AC format in general getting musically hotter in recent years, B98.5 has a sound that retailers and office workers perceive as appropriate for background. Star, with Hot AC music and formatics, is not perceived that way.
I think Madison James is highly talented and disagree with the posters who said she does not sound right on Star. That said, I feel Amanda Kelly, who replaced Heather Branch and was let go to (I'm told) save the salary she was earning by being part of the morning show, fit Star's format much better than Madison.
If what's holding up a morning change is having to pay 2 shows at once because of contracts, the likelihood of a change during an economic crisis is probably low.
Star's problem is that nobody can identify what they musically "stand for", and that is a real problem for a station with a 30+ year old brand. People know what River and Q99.7 and V-103 and WSB AM and B98.5 and Bull stand for. Star's tried the "me too" or "me too with slight variations" for 40 years, and it hasn't brought them big success. Maybe they need to do something different--or at least different enough where they aren't competing head-on with better players in the market. The last time 94.1 was musically relevant, they inspired a 40 year old sitcom.
Obviously what they have been doing, for quite a while, isn't working.
Maybe B can increase their listener base with a newer music mix. Maybe that's what *Hot AC* listeners want. But doing a pale imitation of that is not a guarantee for success. And if B moves away from one set of listeners to pick up another set, that opens an opportunity for another player to pick up the left-behind set. Kind of like when 96 Rock flipped to active Project 961--both River and Rock100.5/Cumulus saw an opening in the classic AOR space. River moved more towards AOR. It didn't mean that 96 Rock's niche was a bad one.
Change is constant, and I do not believe for one second that the Atlanta radio market is 100% optimally served. No market of any kind ever is.
There is no "adult contemporary" genre. That's a made-up category. These stations, and that includes B98, are mixtures of new and old songs drawn from various categories. That's what they will be, by definition. Unless they're country or R&B or news. So they put together a group of songs that they hoped would attract a larger audience and it didn't work. So they go back to the laboratory. I'm with Roddy on this one. This is a talent problem.
Yes, this is an industry-constructed category.
The criteria for an AC is that it not be current based, that it primarily be pop based (as contrasted with country, urban, etc) and that it predominantly play gold as opposed to recurrents. And its target is generally something in the 25-54 range.
The format, originally, was called "chicken rock". Back then, it was about what it did not play. And the format did not play hard stuff, teen stuff and things that were too urban, too country and too new.
A good example of the earliest "chicken rock" stations was WGAR in Cleveland under Lund. It was not oldies, it was not top 40. It did not play Iron Butterfly of Janis Joplin. But it did not play MOR songs either. And that was around 1971 or 1972, IIRC.
With that background, an AC can today have an amazingly wide range of flavors adapted to the region of the country and the other local competitors.
B98.5 is essentially a hot AC, as is Star. They are competing head-on in a market with no real mainstream AC, despite what Mediabase may say. As such, it makes sense for them to refocus on the last two decades.
I don't agree with you. B98.5's sweet spot is (women) 35-64, which is an AC target. Hot AC skews younger. Also, B98.5's pacing is that of an AC while Star's is that of a Hot AC.
That makes me wonder if country is taking away potential female listeners from Star.
I understand what you mean when you say they did well by default, but I interpret that slightly differently. Yes, they had no direct CHR competition from 1992 to almost the end of 1999. But they did what they did with a strategy. CHR listeners had no place else to go. So Star was able to get away with leaving out the rhythmic product and thereby adding older listeners who did not listen to straight-ahead CHR. It was smart and paid off...until they had CHR competition.
From 1996-1999, Star 94, which had done well in the previous years, skyrocketed in the ratings. New PD Dan Bowen really walked into the right place at the right time. Before he did anything, the station was already on the move up big time. Former PD Kevin Peterson had been released. I saw a quote from GM Mark Kanov in Radio & Records regarding Bowen's hiring. It was something like, "We've achieved a lot of our goals at Star 94, but we needed someone to take us to the next level."
Yes, part of Star 94's success was the lack of direct competition, which enabled them to get away with not playing rhythmic songs and attracting the CHR audience plus some older folks. But Star was also a great sounding station, with a staff of Steve & Vikki, Kevin Steele, Craig Hunt (one of the most talented) and Tripp West.
In September, 1999, 95-5 The Beat moved into the market and launched with a CHR format that skewed rhythmic. They took some audience from Star, but Star remained king. When 100.5 moved to Atlanta in 2001 and Q100 was launched, The Beat morphed into Rhythmic CHR, making it a competition between Star 94 and Q100. Q was a straight-ahead CHR, but Star still won handily. Q was initially 3,000 watts although at just under 1,000 feet from a centralized location.
Two things happened that combined caused Star to decline. The first was when Star did not renew Steve & Vikki's contract and replaced them with a morning show that was not right for an Adult CHR format. Surprising, Bowen changed the rest of the station to be consistent with the young skewing morning show, driving listeners away. The second was when Q100 moved to the big signal at 99.7. That was the first time Q100 beat Star.
Star did have a short-lived resurgence under PD Scott Lindy. But the launch of Power 96-1 hurt Star more than any other competitor, and the station has been struggling ever since.
One more thing: I'm wondering if last month's really low share had to do with the change in music to emphasize the throwbacks. Now they've changed it back.
Checking the cume duplication in the latest Nielsen shows WKHX and WUBL share listening mainly with:
Each other
WSB FM
WSRV
WSB AM
WWPW and Q100 also have significant sharing. There are no duplicates with STAR in this monthly.
What totally surprises me is the lack of duplication with CCM stations. I assumed CCM like WALR and WAKL were stealing the females...(wrong!!)
That's good to know. How much did Star share in previous books? Either they already have a niche audience that is either shrinking or is getting increasingly informed and entertained by other than the radio, or their listeners have flocked to other stations and haven't looked back.
WALR on the FM is R&B with black gospel on Sunday mornings. Don't you mean WFSH? WFSH is CCM.
There have been several events over the last five years that have done irreversible damage to Star. The most significant one was the creation of the Jeff and Jenn show when Entercom took over the station from Lincoln Financial.
Then GM Mike Fowler built a show based on ego and revenge. His only true mission was to "take down Bert", and he tried to do it with C-level players. From day one it was obvious that the Jeff and Jenn show was doomed to fail as the content wasn't as strong as Bert and the hosts felt that they should automatically be treated by the audience (and sales department) like they were Bert. Jeff and Jenn weren't taught that you have to earn the #1 spot, it's not something you can get by proxy. If they came in humbly and attempted to build that show from the ground-up they would've stood a chance, but they assumed listeners and clients would flock to their show just because they were two former co-hosts of Bert.
Another nail in the coffin was in the immediate marketing blitz of the show - again driven by ego. Entercom spent about $200,000 in outdoor advertising to market their new "not ready for prime time" show. As the old saying goes... nothing kills a bad product faster than good marketing. Star did just that. They invited new cume to the station long before the Jeff and Jenn show was firing on all cylinders, and it never fired on all cylinders. The only thing more embarrassing than the Jeff and Jenn show is Jenn and Friends, which sounds like it should be on a radio station in Macon. Jenn Hobby isn't a lead, and probably doesn't want to be the lead. She'd be best in middays.
Another misstep in the last five years of Star was the constant obsession with unseating Q100. A Hot AC can't unseat the CHR in the market if the CHR has a better morning show and a solid brand, which Q has. Mike Fowler and team were obsessed with taking down Q100 and it was never going to happen. Star 94 was always a weaker version of CHR and paid for it dearly each month. There is plenty of room in a market like Atlanta for a Hot AC to exist, but Star has been so focused on being a hybrid CHR that it never spent time building it's Hot AC image. Now it's too late. Entercom was so busy with its acquisition of CBS that the proper attention was never paid to this station from a corporate level.
After many programming missteps come personnel missteps. Having three program directors in three years (one who was ousted for a slew of HR complaints after only 8 months) is not a recipe for success. Now the station is run by a decent programmer who doesn't really have major market PPM chops. Jerry is undoubtedly a good guy, but he became captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. They also have a market manager who does not see Star 94 as a priority, V103 will always get the focus and attention at Colony Square and Star 94.1 will most likely flip. Sad.
Then GM Mike Fowler built a show based on ego and revenge. His only true mission was to "take down Bert", and he tried to do it with C-level players. From day one it was obvious that the Jeff and Jenn show was doomed to fail as the content wasn't as strong as Bert and the hosts felt that they should automatically be treated by the audience (and sales department) like they were Bert. Jeff and Jenn weren't taught that you have to earn the #1 spot, it's not something you can get by proxy. If they came in humbly and attempted to build that show from the ground-up they would've stood a chance, but they assumed listeners and clients would flock to their show just because they were two former co-hosts of Bert.
Another nail in the coffin was in the immediate marketing blitz of the show - again driven by ego. Entercom spent about $200,000 in outdoor advertising to market their new "not ready for prime time" show. As the old saying goes... nothing kills a bad product faster than good marketing. Star did just that. They invited new cume to the station long before the Jeff and Jenn show was firing on all cylinders, and it never fired on all cylinders. The only thing more embarrassing than the Jeff and Jenn show is Jenn and Friends, which sounds like it should be on a radio station in Macon. Jenn Hobby isn't a lead, and probably doesn't want to be the lead. She'd be best in middays.
Another misstep in the last five years of Star was the constant obsession with unseating Q100. A Hot AC can't unseat the CHR in the market if the CHR has a better morning show and a solid brand, which Q has. Mike Fowler and team were obsessed with taking down Q100 and it was never going to happen. Star 94 was always a weaker version of CHR and paid for it dearly each month. There is plenty of room in a market like Atlanta for a Hot AC to exist, but Star has been so focused on being a hybrid CHR that it never spent time building it's Hot AC image. Now it's too late. Entercom was so busy with its acquisition of CBS that the proper attention was never paid to this station from a corporate level.
After many programming missteps come personnel missteps. Having three program directors in three years (one who was ousted for a slew of HR complaints after only 8 months) is not a recipe for success. Now the station is run by a decent programmer who doesn't really have major market PPM chops. Jerry is undoubtedly a good guy, but he became captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. They also have a market manager who does not see Star 94 as a priority, V103 will always get the focus and attention at Colony Square and Star 94.1 will most likely flip. Sad.
94.1 as a real CHR
The only other time 94.1 took a straight-CHR direction was under PD Jan Jeffries in 1988-89.
Jeffries cleaned up the presentation, sharpened the music, and, after a struggle with upper management, dumped weeknight Jazz Flavors. This stopped the free-fall and for the first time in nearly three years, 94Q moved in a positive ratings direction, going from low-4s to 5s ... before GM Jerry Blum inexplicably pulled the plug, saying, "We've been treading in dangerous waters with our CHR direction..." So Blum dismissed Jeffries and then promptly retired.
Before long we had Star 94, featuring a weak music mix and Jazz Flavors back on every night of the week.
The only other time 94.1 took a straight-CHR direction was under PD Jan Jeffries in 1988-89.
Jeffries cleaned up the presentation, sharpened the music, and, after a struggle with upper management, dumped weeknight Jazz Flavors. This stopped the free-fall and for the first time in nearly three years, 94Q moved in a positive ratings direction, going from low-4s to 5s ... before GM Jerry Blum inexplicably pulled the plug, saying, "We've been treading in dangerous waters with our CHR direction..." So Blum dismissed Jeffries and then promptly retired.
Before long we had Star 94, featuring a weak music mix and Jazz Flavors back on every night of the week.
Star 94 was also a full CHR in 1993. Great sounding station. Then they moved back to an Adult CHR the next year and up to 2001 when Q arrived. No real movement after the Beat in 1999. They were CHR for most of 2001 and mostly CHR from 2007-2010 after they killed Rick Dees on Sunday nights. They’ve been straight on Hot AC since 2010.
“(one who was ousted for a slew of HR complaints after only 8 months)”
Yeah I gotta chime in. That’s not at all what went down but if you’d like to reveal your source is he glad to hope correct it to both of you.
One email with a ridiculous list of unsubstantiated NONSENSE, sent in anonymously, was local management’s “CYA” clause. I defended myself against any and all of the accusations. Got the receipts too.
Careful running with hearsay.
Yeah I gotta chime in. That’s not at all what went down but if you’d like to reveal your source is he glad to hope correct it to both of you.
One email with a ridiculous list of unsubstantiated NONSENSE, sent in anonymously, was local management’s “CYA” clause. I defended myself against any and all of the accusations. Got the receipts too.
Careful running with hearsay.
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