Does no one have anything to say about this? Not a format change but a big story nonetheless. I'll say some things:
I will miss Heather Branch. She was perfect for the music and pacing of Star 94-1. She is a great jock and terrific person. She could certainly find another job, but that probably would require relocating, and I don't know whether she would do that. But, I'm sure she'll be successful at whatever she decides to do. Marino has a really good voice and delivery, and would be a nice pickup by an AC station somewhere. I have no knowledge of whether B98.5 has filled its afternoon shift and of whether Marino has a non-compete, which he likely does. But, I expect him to do well.
Star 94-1 PD Ron Roberts has great radio instincts and a lot of creativity. When I was in Myrtle Beach last summer, his station, Mix 97.7, caught my attention because it sounded way better than I expected for a market that size. Now I'm hearing the same formatic excellence on Star 94-1.
I like the concept of Jenn Hobby (and Friends) because it's different from what everyone else is doing. Will it work? Jenn does have star power, but who knows? Amanda Kelly in middays will not be Heather, but she will still refresh the daypart and make it younger (and probably earn a lot less than Heather). Kannon in afternoon drive sounds like an excellent hire. I hope he's on until 7pm because there has been a fairly big drop-off in quality at 6. Overall the changes seem positive.
That said, significant movement up in the ratings for Star will not be easy for several reasons:
1. WSB-AM (+95.5 FM) is going to be #1 or #2 in this market for the foreseeable future.
2. Atlanta, because of its population composition, will continue to help Urban stations place in several of the top spots in the ratings.
3. B98.5 is widely perceived as the station acceptable for offices, restaurants and retail establishments, which gives the station a big head start in the ratings. And the PPM technology is favorable to stations being played where a lot of people congregate.
4. Too many stations are going for virtually the same women demos. The last time Star had a substantial increase in ratings, and it was short lived, was shortly after Scott Lindy joined the station and before the launch of Power 96-1. And the last time Star had a really sustained ratings run was in the late 90's under PD Dan Bowen, prior to The Beat and Q100. When Q100 launched at 100.5 and The Beat moved to Rhythmic CHR, Star maintained pretty good numbers until the combination of Steve & Vikki leaving (and being replaced by the wrong morning show) and Q100 moving to the bigger signal at 99.7.
5. When a station flips to a format already in the market, that format's share typically expands. That may not (or may) happen in the case of K-Love programming Christian Contemporary (in addition to The Fish) because that format has a limited fan base.
While I feel badly about the people who lost their jobs, I assume they knew what they were getting into when they went into radio. For us listeners (and radio junkies), competition is good, and I'm looking forward to the next several months on Atlanta radio.