Through tracking both stations, I have noticed quite a correlation between Star 94 and 99.7 The Point. Tony Lorino was PD/MD for KC and now in Atlanta, and the stations have a VERY similar sound. Both also take on similar sounding CHRs Mix 93.3 and Power 100 respectively for Kansas City and Atlanta. However, the ratings for The Point are much higher than Star's, as Power beats them continuously, while The Point is constantly on top. My question is--why is it that similar stations with similar competition gets such different ratings with presumably similar demos in both towns?
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Star 94's ratings battles vs. 99.7 The Point's ratings battles in Kansas City?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
Not sure the demos in the two towns are similar. Atlanta has more than double the black population as Kansas City.
Star was once a much higher rated station under Lincoln Financial. Not so much now.
You might ask why Kansas City can sustain 3 country stations, very highly rated, while Atlanta only has 2. That's another difference.
Did you mean Q100 or Power 96.1?
Memphis has a very similar demographic as Atlanta. Entercom owns FM100 (Hot AC) in Memphis and it always surpasses the two CHRs Q107.5 (Flinn) and Kiss 101.9 (iHeart) in ratings. Both stations respectively are identical to Q100 and Power 96.1. FM100 is also identical to Star 94 with "Today's Best Mix."
I think there are a few things that one needs to consider in the comparison between the two:
1 - Atlanta and Kansas City are VERY different markets. Atlanta is an over-radioed, highly diverse media market with a million frequencies, and a lot more competition. There are many more well-programmed stations going for the same demos that Star is going after. (Q, B98, Power, Fish, Bull, Kicks) Therefor, taking a plug and play approach from another station won't work. You can't take the logo, imaging, position, voice guy, clocks etc. and just stick them on 94.1 in Atlanta and expect the same results. You're up against two well-programmed CHRs (one with a heritage morning show), a big AC, and two well branded country stations.
2 - Star 94 is a station with high "brand awareness" in Atlanta, but poor ratings performance over the last several years. It's the restaurant on your block that everyone knows about, but no one eats dinner there. The station has been so many different iterations of Hot AC and CHR in the last 7 or 8 years that the audience is just confused at this point, and every change goes unnoticed. PDs have focused on the wrong things - changing the voice guy and putting a new logo on the van won't bring thousands of listeners to your station.
3 - Star / Entercom have clearly dumped a lot of resources in to the new morning show and it hasn't paid off. Too much time during the day is spent promoting a morning show that no one is listening to and honestly, just isn't that good. I know Jeff and Jenn were supposed to be the next big Atlanta morning "thing", but in the last several months the morning numbers have fallen lower than they had with Cindy or Drex Cassiday and Tingle. It's hard for a station to succeed when the morning show under performs so dramatically. It'll be interesting to see what the CBS / Entercom merger brings. I don't think this will go on for long.
1 - Atlanta and Kansas City are VERY different markets. Atlanta is an over-radioed, highly diverse media market with a million frequencies, and a lot more competition. There are many more well-programmed stations going for the same demos that Star is going after. (Q, B98, Power, Fish, Bull, Kicks) Therefor, taking a plug and play approach from another station won't work. You can't take the logo, imaging, position, voice guy, clocks etc. and just stick them on 94.1 in Atlanta and expect the same results. You're up against two well-programmed CHRs (one with a heritage morning show), a big AC, and two well branded country stations.
2 - Star 94 is a station with high "brand awareness" in Atlanta, but poor ratings performance over the last several years. It's the restaurant on your block that everyone knows about, but no one eats dinner there. The station has been so many different iterations of Hot AC and CHR in the last 7 or 8 years that the audience is just confused at this point, and every change goes unnoticed. PDs have focused on the wrong things - changing the voice guy and putting a new logo on the van won't bring thousands of listeners to your station.
3 - Star / Entercom have clearly dumped a lot of resources in to the new morning show and it hasn't paid off. Too much time during the day is spent promoting a morning show that no one is listening to and honestly, just isn't that good. I know Jeff and Jenn were supposed to be the next big Atlanta morning "thing", but in the last several months the morning numbers have fallen lower than they had with Cindy or Drex Cassiday and Tingle. It's hard for a station to succeed when the morning show under performs so dramatically. It'll be interesting to see what the CBS / Entercom merger brings. I don't think this will go on for long.
I've noticed their playlist since switching to "Today's Best Mix" has been broadened to include a lot of hits from 2000- now.
Your points are well taken, but I don't think Star 94-1 has taken a "plug and play" approach even though it might sound like that to you. Tony Lorino is smart and strategic, and I'm sure he puts of lot of thought (and research) into the adjustments he makes. I'm also not sure what you mean by so many iterations of Hot AC and CHR. When Steve & Vikki left, Star hired a morning show that was too young. Then PD Dan Bowen really screwed things up by changing the rest of the day to fit the morning daypart, taking it directly to Q100. But after Bowen departed, Star morphed into Hot AC, a very small difference from the Adult CHR the station had been for years. Star has been Hot AC since then (probably 2008 or 2009); the only variable has been changes in the years covered by the playlist. But killing the 90's made sense since that audience is now 10 years older.
I do agree that Star probably had unrealistic expectations for Jeff & Jenn. The star of The Bert Show is Bert himself, and he has managed to create and deliver compelling content and attract a loyal audience. Two sidekicks, popular as they may be, are probably not enough to pull listeners from The Bert Show. In fact, I'm not sure what it would take to attract Bert Show listeners. I've felt Power 96-1 properly counter programmed Q100 by being somewhat more music intensive although they are being soundly beaten by Bert. Mornings are probably going to continue to be the biggest challenge for Star 94-1 and have an effect on the rest of the day.
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