I was both surprised and not surprised about Scott Lindy leaving Star 94. On one hand, you expect things like that to happen when a station with Star's ratings is about to be owned by a different company. Perhaps Star management was anxious to get ratings propped up quickly for their own security. Or maybe Entercom wanted to put its own person in there (or even CBS if they'll be the ultimate owner).
On the other hand, Lindy just brought in a new morning show, and it sounds to me like a morning show that could do big things if properly promoted. Moreover, Lindy remade evenings by bringing in Donny Michaels and giving him a fairly free reign to be a personality. Frankly, I feel Star can match any station in talent from 6AM to midnight. And the formatics sound excellent.
When Scott Lindy joined Star, he was able to jump over a bunch of stations to put Star 94 near the top for a while. After Star's numbers hit their (post Steve & Vikki) peak, a PPM family that logged a tremendous number of hours listening to Star dropped out of the PPM panel. That took ratings down a bit.
Cindy & Ray, while not rising to the ratings of Steve & Vikki, were doing quite well considering they were going against The Bert Show. Then Ray was fired; the reason why has been the best-kept secret in Atlanta radio history, and ratings continued to erode. Cindy & Jimmy just didn't have the appeal of Cindy & Ray. And frankly, I always felt the music was too conservative, but that's just my opinion.
In any case, with Drex, Cassidy & Tingle, I felt Star had a chance of chipping away at the competition. And their hiring obviously had the blessing of Entercom (or whoever the ultimate owner will be). The cast would not have left good jobs if security were an issue. And Lindy was the architect who had put the pieces together.
I got to know Scott a little, and he's a great guy and a real radio guy. I hope good things happen for him soon.
So what's next? Will the new owners replace Star 94 with a new moniker?