Christian had an extremely long run at STAR. He didn't "Leave". Entercom pulled the trap door on him like countless others. Can you tell if the the ratings have been impacted in any way by his departure? He was fortunate to find another gig in the same town, but it's still not "Big" news...
Clearly the ratings at Star are lower than they were before, but all we have are the 12+, so it's hard to say. It's my view that his heritage made him a familiar name, and like most familiar names, he has his local fan base. So to them, his departure was big news.
Really when you talk about big news, it's all relative. To some people, Kelly Clarkson's divorce was big news. To others, they don't know who she is. Everyone lives in their own echo chamber.