Star 94 and 99X

Star 94 is now down to a 2.5 6+...when is the last time it's been that low?

One thing that has always puzzled me about 94.1 going back to the 94Q days is the fact that their format has wandered all over the place. In the late 1970s they were "Rock 40" with a nice little niche between AOR 96 Rock and CHR Z-93. Then they went AC when everybody else did in the early 80s after the CHR market bottomed out in 1981. Then they started adding all that jazz. I guess those moves were boomer-chasing. Then when Power 99 flipped to 99X after CHR bottomed out again they became the closest thing to a Top 40 left on the dial...kind of a super-hot AC. When Q100 debuted they went back in the AC direction, hotter than B98.5 but never a true CHR.

I guess the only constant has been some kind of flavor of AC after their Rock 40 days...but the station doesn't have an identity IMO. Not like B98.5 or Q100. It's just ripe for someone to reimage it with a new name...names with more and better heritage have been disposed of for less.

Speaking of [email protected]'s now down to a 0.3 share 6+. Cumulus has done better with that translator before IIRC.

Somehow I think 99X at 98.9 will have zero this month.

The closest Star 94 ever came to CHR was in 1993. Post Power 99 and pre program director change in 1994. I remember Summer 1993 playlist (purely by my memory) was...

Tony, Toni, Tone - If I Had No Loot
Dino - Ooh Child
Big Mountain - Ooh Baby I Love Your Way
UB40 - Can’t Help Falling in Love
4 Non Blondes - What’s Up
Tell Me When - Human League
Tears for Fears - Break it Down
Stereo MCs - Connected
New World Order - Regret
Brian McKnight/Vanessa Williams - Love Is
Ben Liebrand - Oh What A Night, 1963 - Remix of Four Seasons song
Steve Miller Band - Wide River
Jon Secada - I’m Free
Simple Minds - She’s a River
Expose - I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me
Spin Doctors - Jimmy Olsen Blues

Time for Entercom to hIt the round table and reconsider the future for 94.1. I will not be surprised if they launch Alternative in the future.

It's a shame how far this station has fallen. I thought Entercom would know how to turn it around, but they've made it worse. I hear there are changes coming in the next few weeks, stay tuned.

It's interesting that 94Q never gets a mention as an old Atlanta station that people wish would come back. Quixie (AM) does, 96 Rock does, Z-93 (primarily the CHR version but also the classic rock version) does, 99X does, and occasionally even Fox 97 and Dave FM do.

Does AC just not make that kind of mark on peoples' hearts? All of the aforementioned stations went through a slow death (except maybe Dave FM), usually related to the ups and downs of their format, but each had a time when they were top-of-everyone's-minds.

IMHO in the late 1970's there still were not that many FM radios in cars. With Gary Mckee's morning show being top 40 in nature, 94Q really was a "block" format station. Jefferson Pilot did not go top 40 on 94.1 for fear of taking away from 790. I believe 94Q was created to mess with 96 Rock.

Is there any past AC station that anyone would want to come back? Usually the only one that ever gets mentioned is Peach, and only as a BM/EZ station, or while lamenting the current Atlanta format hole for soft AC.

Does any nostalgia exist for any of these stations?

94Q
Peach/Lite 94.9 (as AC, not BM/EZ)
WLTA 100/Warm 100/Warm 99.7 (as AC, not BM/EZ)
Lite 106.7 (OK, that wasn't around long before flipping to Y106)
Fox 97 (as "soft rock of the 60s, 70s, and 80s", not "Good Times and Eight Oldies")

Heck, if B98.5 went off the air I don't think there would be a lot of nostalgia for it...

Some folks used to reminisce about "Jazz Flavours" on 94Q. But not so much today, with how maligned smooth jazz is today. Smooth jazz has become today's BM/EZ.

jabba17 said:

Is there any past AC station that anyone would want to come back? Usually the only one that ever gets mentioned is Peach, and only as a BM/EZ station, or while lamenting the current Atlanta format hole for soft AC.

Does any nostalgia exist for any of these stations?

94Q
Peach/Lite 94.9 (as AC, not BM/EZ)
WLTA 100/Warm 100/Warm 99.7 (as AC, not BM/EZ)
Lite 106.7 (OK, that wasn't around long before flipping to Y106)
Fox 97 (as "soft rock of the 60s, 70s, and 80s", not "Good Times and Eight Oldies")

Heck, if B98.5 went off the air I don't think there would be a lot of nostalgia for it...

Some folks used to reminisce about "Jazz Flavours" on 94Q. But not so much today, with how maligned smooth jazz is today. Smooth jazz has become today's BM/EZ.

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I miss Peach/Lite when they would play Casey Kasem on Sunday afternoons (2001-2006, 12pm-3pm first 3 years then 3pm-6pm last 3 years). Those were the days.

Time for Entercom to hit the round table and reconsider the future for 94.1. I will not be surprised if they launch Alternative in the future.

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Alternative? You're joking, right? That format has been a massive ratings & revenue loser in the Atlanta market for over a decade. Yes, Radio 105.7 posted decent ratings for maybe two years. That station then fell flat on its face.

Star 94 is a healthy biller, has great brand recognition, and I cannot see Entercom ever abandoning a format that hyper-targets a lucrative, suburban female demographic. That station simply needs a tune-up.

For all the bloviating David Field does, I am not terribly impressed by his company's strategic chops. They ditched the wrong country stations in Seattle, launched a new station in Dallas that will likely prove to be a perennially weak biller, and they've done nothing to turnaround their ratings challenged Hot AC station in Washington, D.C.

jabba17 said:

Star 94 is now down to a 2.5 6+...when is the last time it's been that low?

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I remember in 1990 (may have been Spring) where Star was at a 2.8. The format then was AC with jazz at night, or as I called it, "Snore 94." A 2.5 may be the lowest on record.

The Jeff & Jenn morning show hasn't lured any of Bert's listeners away. The music mix is still all over the place. Are they CHR? Nope, there's no urban. Are they AC? Nope, too up and poppy. And why are they playing an acoustic version of "Meant To Be" by Bebe Rexha and FGL? Is the original too rockin' for Star? They have always had a reputation for playing oddball versions of songs and/or editing them beyond recognition. I remember that they edited the verses out of Maxi Priest's "Close To You" and only left three repeats of the chorus. Why play it at all??

Star 94 is adrift and needs a total re-branding and image. Maybe the time has come to do something old-school and pick a format, name, and slogan and pound it into people's heads via TV and billboards, and then stick with it. Nothing else has worked in the last 10 years.

Gary McKee was a force and he did an amazing job at 94 for 18 years. Steve McCoy came in after Gary and stayed nearly that long too. Problem now is that in this digital age and with most stations relying on automation and voice-tracking, there are no real local "stars" emerging to take over these morning shows and develop an identity and brand. And even if there were, stations wouldn't be apt to sit and wait for any dividends for any length of time.

Last time I checked, Star's playlist was virtually the same as the Mediabase Hot AC chart. Has that changed?