Hotlanta CHR

[50000watts]

Driving through Atlanta a lot lately and I listen to the CHR battle there and came to the conclusion Q100 HAS to be beating Star. Got to my hotel room and logged onto allaccess.com and sure enough, Q is double Star in 12+ ratings.

It's easy to see why there is a hands down winner here. Music is safe, but good on Q. Star is way too rock for 2009 and a little too re-current/gold intensive. Especially in a city with the ethnic break down of Atlanta.

The other difference....the Burt Show. Man that's a good relatable morning show. I listened for about 40 minutes and the first 10 thought it was awful. But after a while, the light bulb came on. In one particular break he hit a relatable with me in that he said he's been homesick for the last 20 years (being from San Diego.) I relate and I'm sure a lot of Atlanta transplants that heard that break are life-long listeners now. Instant bond. He is surrounded by everyday people that seem to be in touch and on top of what's going on locally and in Hollywood.

The two morning hosts on Star were boring at best. Lame content, the guy sounds like he is doing a bad impression of Ryan Seacrest and the girl sounded ditsy. This show will never come close to Q in the morning. They may be nice people and I hear they moved from the afternoon shift to mornings, but they need work. You never put a 'work in progress' morning show against a precision show like Burt.

Finally, Q100 had clean, non-intrusive Omnia audio processing. I've always heard the best audio processing is set in such a way it doesn't sound like audio processing. You can't say that about Star. It was the worst audio I heard from Chicago to Miami. I couldn't believe how distorted, muddy, fatiguing, and clipped this station was for such a large market. It sounds like they went into the settings and turned everything up as high as possible. This processor (sounded like an Optimod) was doing way more than it is capable of doing and sounded horrible. The high end was so mushy that everyone on Star sounded like they had a lisp. After about 5 minutes, I wanted to turn it off because of the fatigue factor. And I'm a guy that likes loud settings! What must a female think subconsciously?

The new PD at Star has his work cut out for him. But so far, the changes he has made have actually made the station less competitive. Moving a failing afternoon show to the crown jewel shift is death. I also understand this will be the second morning show that hasn't worked in a row. Ouch.
Chest pounding imaging and bad audio are the next nails in the coffin. Ryan Seacrest might be from Atlanta, but so far his sydicated show is unproven, so that may be another mistake. Reading posts here, they blew out the midday guy. Midday guy??? That firing will make no difference. I didn't get to hear nights.

Good job Q100. You will have many good books in front of you unless Star makes some serious changes and brings their programming into 2009.

 

[redradioranger]

Bert, thanks for checking in! ;D

 

[Wildstyle K]

I loved Star*94 when I was in Atl. Back in 1993-1997 I had no choice... until I eventually decided I might as well start listening to Hot 107.9 or V-103. Then I came back to Phoenix and my favorite station flipped to hip hop before I came back, and that's how I got into hip hop. How great it would've been if there were a Q when I was living there, or even The Beat, but no point in reminiscing and using wishful thinking now. Star could become one of those "MIX" -like stations, that play the best of the 80's, 90's and today, but still leans mainly alternative... or maybe Atlanta already has that type of station. The name "Star" seems so..... light.

Never knew Ryan Seacrest was from Atlanta. I hear his syndication on Movin 97.5 here in Phx. and never once thought "he might be from Atlanta". Speaking of Movin, does anyone else even have a Movin anymore that has kept their real format? It's only a matter of time, it's only a matter of time....... enough said. Maybe they can change it back to Star 97.5 and put the broadway show music back! Now that was a good place to have the name "STAR", a few years ago!

 

[jal41]

About the processing at Star 94...it was so bad at one point, it sounded like the station was broadcasting from a speaker at the bottom of a huge metal can, with a microphone placed on top being fed to the transmitter. Under the new management and PD, they have taken it back to more normal conditions. I am surprised the processor did not overheat and burst into flames from working too hard.

Won't matter though when they become Lite 94.1. The move of Cindy and Ray to mornings is a positive start, but the damage may have already been done.

What they need to do...Star 94 needs get over their allergy to hip-hop, and become a balanced top 40 station playing both pop/rock and hip-hop. Rebrand and change callsigns into a brand new station. Keep Seacrest, but dump everyone else and restaff. Basically...become a brand new CHR station and truly play "all the hits". But given ownership, we will more likely hear Elton John and Billy Joel before hip-hop.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Im glad someone either than me noticed the extreme over modulation on star.. It is so badly Over Modulated that on a Portable boombox ANALOG, it sounds like the station has a constant Multy Path Static you can get rid of.... Am I a fan of Star.... Well when Susquana owned them they were great,, could they be better, of course they could, Im glad they are on the former Power 99.7 freq... But Power 99 was a better station by far. Star used to be hip too... The Beat used to be OKAY when they played some Dance Music, but now they are conservative Suburban Hip Hop.... I like Hip Hop,,, but I listen to Hot 107.9 or sometimes V for that...