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Star Seems to Be All Christmas
- Thread starter RoddyFreeman
- Start date
I mean, sure! If only iHeart owned 94.1 they could do that with the “Breeze” but I don’t if know Entercom runs their stations with that specific format.
I hope it finds a way on 105.7FM but doubtful. Heck, they could always bring back “The Peach” name. The peach is “soft” so the name does fit.
Don't forget that B98.5 advertised themselves as not having "sleepy elevator music" by showing a guy snoozing to a radio with peaches coming out of the speaker. For those who have been in Atlanta long enough, Peach=BM/EZ. And the short-lived ezpeach.org had that format as well (albeit a touch less BM/EZ).
IHEART LMAO> they have done NOTHING for Atlanta radio, but ruin heritage 96 Rock, etc.
Theoretically they could use the 'Peach' name, but the WPCH call is still assigned to a Macon area station (and owned by iHeart). In the Atlanta area, we may associate 'Peach' with soft AC but when WPCH (and companion WZCH) launched as "Peach" in Macon last decade, the format was classic hits / variety hits, not soft AC. The station has since broken up the simulcast, selling off WZCH, and switched formats to new country and perhaps something even different by now but still keeps the WPCH call sign.
"Star" is a legacy name and is generic enough where they could flip formats but keep the name. Nonetheless, maybe the long standing format hole in the A-T-L will get filled at long last. If soft AC or variety hits does indeed become the new format, a return of the Delilah Radio Show to this market could be a possibility too.
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It's not unusual for a Hot AC station to flip to all-Christmas music, especially if the local AC station does not. On Long Island, WALK-FM makes the switch each holiday season for the last 20 years. It originally was a mainstream AC station and kept the practice when it moved to Hot AC.
In Seattle, Hot AC KPLZ flips every November, even though mainstream AC outlet KRWM also makes the switch.
I suppose Entercom saw the hole in the Atlanta radio market, since WSB-FM doesn't go all-Christmas. Entercom decided to take the opportunity, especially since WSTR is only ranked at #16 in the latest ratings. A poorly rated station can zoom up to the top or near the top of the Holiday ratings. It is puzzling that it waited so long to flip, instead of going all-Christmas before or on Thanksgiving as other stations do.
It does not necessarily indicate a change in format on December 26th.
In Seattle, Hot AC KPLZ flips every November, even though mainstream AC outlet KRWM also makes the switch.
I suppose Entercom saw the hole in the Atlanta radio market, since WSB-FM doesn't go all-Christmas. Entercom decided to take the opportunity, especially since WSTR is only ranked at #16 in the latest ratings. A poorly rated station can zoom up to the top or near the top of the Holiday ratings. It is puzzling that it waited so long to flip, instead of going all-Christmas before or on Thanksgiving as other stations do.
It does not necessarily indicate a change in format on December 26th.
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Exactly. Country station KKGO has flipped to Christmas for the past three years. It has returned to country every December 26th.
Is this a reference to the New York City station?
Anything ELSE in Atlanta? There is no soft AC except on HD.
That's right. The vast majority of stations that go all Christmas return to their regular format on December 26.
There are, however, some reasons why some of the people posting are speculating about a format change in this case:
-Star 94.1 has been doing poorly in the ratings in the very highly-competitive female space
-The station hired a new PD a few months back, and Star's sound is virtually unchanged.
-Star had never gone all Christmas in its 30-year history, and while some Hot AC stations go all Christmas, it's not that usual.
I don't expect a change from Hot AC with the possible exception of a change in the ratio of throwbacks to currents. At some point in the not-to-distant future, there will be some big changes at Star. Some of them might happen right after Christmas, or they may all happen later. We'll know soon.
From what I've heard from sources, the jocks are all expected to be there after Christmas. They were told the station just wanted to go Christmas. Star kind of bungled the opportunity by doing it so late, but they may see a ratings bump.
I do expect whatever Star does--whenever they do it--to be one of the big stories in the early part of the year.
I hate trying to post with my phone
I am not an iHeart fan. They have bought a station I used to work at messed over a couple of friends. I agree Clear Channel ruined 96 Rock and Peach / Lite 94.9. There are numerous treads on this and other sites on that topic, but iHeart now has the #1 (6+) CHR and Country stations in Atlanta. They have dominated heritage Kicks 101.5 so badly that there are / have been major changes at 101.5, and they made life hard for Q99.7 even with the Burt show. At least they figured out that out programming a Cumulus station in a major market is not that hard.
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I agree, and that's because iHeart is in many ways a different company than it was ten years ago.
And if Liberty Media takes over control, and things seem to be moving in that direction, it might be a different company from what it is now.
That could be quite interesting since Liberty Media owns the Braves too
Maybe...didn't hear them say anything about 70s. I heard "perfect playlist for Atlanta" and a "custom music experience."
I did hear them say "throwbacks" but not to when. And by throwbacks, it sounded like it would be an occasional feature.
You can guess what prizes the 10th caller would get during the summer.
A random assortment of thoughts from an old programmer on this front, especially as Star has begun to air :30 promos for itself following Christmas Day:
•There's no telling when PD Jerry McKenna decided (if it was his call, at all) WSTR would flip to 24/7 holiday music, but it did seem like a rushed decision. Why? A classic tell of a station's preparedness for such a flip is when it only has two or three Christmas jingles ready to go, and then uses them incessently throughout the first few days of holiday programming. That "Let's roll — Star 94.1, the Christmas Station" jingle plays ~6 times over the two hour block I listened to in the first few days. Same with its TOH imaging, etc. The station likely had these in reserves from its annual Christmas Eve/Day 48-hour holiday format (which, by the way — and this has held true this year — is one of the best Christmas playlists in Atlanta and around the country). However... as the days have gone on, Star continues to add more and more Christmas imaging that, while excellent, seems as if its been produced in the past week after a hastily decided Christmas flip.
•A staple of the all-Christmas stations going back 20 years has been the "After the holidays, keep it locked to [X station] for the most music while you work!" promos. These are effective and strategic — anything to halt the post-December ratings bleed is a net-positive for these stations (extra credit to any readers who remember the "80s, 90s and Noel" spots from B98.5's final year going all-holiday). WSTR only began airing such promos yesterday or the day before, more than a week following the Christmas flip, but more on those in a minute. Either McKenna became spooked by speculation of a flip from people who pay way more attention than the median listener (i.e. this discussion board) or word came from on high at Entercom that Star needed to take advantage of the likely ratings boost to plug its existing format.
•The :30 promo for Star "after Christmas" is mostly standard Hot AC stuff and resembles Star's imaging pre-flip — "Sounds like Atlanta," "Listen while you work," etc. It also briefly mentions "throwbacks" played on the station, while all of the song clips included are from the past two years. What is new is the tagline about its music being "Custom-built for Atlanta." What does this remind me of? KTCZ/Cities 97 (iHeart's Modern AC in St. Paul) and, to an extent, KMXB/Mix 94.1 (Entercom's Hot/Modern AC crossover in Las Vegas). Both stations, Cities 97 in particular, position themselves as things like "distinctly [X city]" with a "hand-crafted music mix." It sounds almost AAA-ish in its approach, something that worked pretty well in Atlanta back in the day. KMXB plays songs like "Drive" by Incubus and an emphasis on more Indie-sounding music like "Trampoline" by SHAED. KTCZ, meanwhile, is programmed as something of a crossover between SiriusXM's "The Pulse" and "PopRocks" stations, with a mix of current singer/songwriter-style music, along with 1990s- and 2000s-era lite alternative. I think both stations are worth contrasting with whatever WSTR ends up sounding like in January and beyond.
•As of the beginning of this month, there's very little daylight between the "AC" (if one can even call it that) playlist of B98.5 and the Hot AC playlist of Star. And, if we're being honest with how CHR sounds in 2019, there's also very little noticable playlist difference between those two and Q99.7. Yes, they're a more upbeat-sounding station (along with Power 96.1), but the current core artists and songs are essentially all the same. So, if you're Entercom and looking to differentiate Star from — not one or two — three identical competitors, it may take more than a few playlist and imaging tweaks or a morning show re-arranging to do so. Entercom has shown dedication in its other markets to investing in and improving its heritage brands, and I imagine things will go similarly in Atlanta. All of that to say: McKenna has a big task in front of him.
•One final note on the radio landscape in 2020 and the following decade: as music released in 1980 turns 40 years old next year, AC stations nationally will start to feel the pressure to fully hand over 80s music to their Soft AC and Classic Hits counterparts, just as it did to get rid of 70s music at the turn of the decade in 2010 (currently around the country, the new Soft ACs are very 70s-focused and the Classic Hits stations are basically 80% 80s). So where does this leave 80s pop and rock — arguably one of the most popular genres of music ever — on Atlanta radio? Some of it has a home on WSRV, though it's all the Bon Jovi/Guns 'N Roses/Def Leppard stuff, not Michael Jackson/Madonna/Whitney Houston. The 80s already seems to occupy only one song an hour or so at B98.5, and I can't imagine this number will grow. So where will listeners be able to hear Jackson, Madonna and Houston — not to mention the countless one-hit-wonders — on Atlanta radio in the next decade? Time will tell.
Anyway, I digress. Merry Christmas.
•There's no telling when PD Jerry McKenna decided (if it was his call, at all) WSTR would flip to 24/7 holiday music, but it did seem like a rushed decision. Why? A classic tell of a station's preparedness for such a flip is when it only has two or three Christmas jingles ready to go, and then uses them incessently throughout the first few days of holiday programming. That "Let's roll — Star 94.1, the Christmas Station" jingle plays ~6 times over the two hour block I listened to in the first few days. Same with its TOH imaging, etc. The station likely had these in reserves from its annual Christmas Eve/Day 48-hour holiday format (which, by the way — and this has held true this year — is one of the best Christmas playlists in Atlanta and around the country). However... as the days have gone on, Star continues to add more and more Christmas imaging that, while excellent, seems as if its been produced in the past week after a hastily decided Christmas flip.
•A staple of the all-Christmas stations going back 20 years has been the "After the holidays, keep it locked to [X station] for the most music while you work!" promos. These are effective and strategic — anything to halt the post-December ratings bleed is a net-positive for these stations (extra credit to any readers who remember the "80s, 90s and Noel" spots from B98.5's final year going all-holiday). WSTR only began airing such promos yesterday or the day before, more than a week following the Christmas flip, but more on those in a minute. Either McKenna became spooked by speculation of a flip from people who pay way more attention than the median listener (i.e. this discussion board) or word came from on high at Entercom that Star needed to take advantage of the likely ratings boost to plug its existing format.
•The :30 promo for Star "after Christmas" is mostly standard Hot AC stuff and resembles Star's imaging pre-flip — "Sounds like Atlanta," "Listen while you work," etc. It also briefly mentions "throwbacks" played on the station, while all of the song clips included are from the past two years. What is new is the tagline about its music being "Custom-built for Atlanta." What does this remind me of? KTCZ/Cities 97 (iHeart's Modern AC in St. Paul) and, to an extent, KMXB/Mix 94.1 (Entercom's Hot/Modern AC crossover in Las Vegas). Both stations, Cities 97 in particular, position themselves as things like "distinctly [X city]" with a "hand-crafted music mix." It sounds almost AAA-ish in its approach, something that worked pretty well in Atlanta back in the day. KMXB plays songs like "Drive" by Incubus and an emphasis on more Indie-sounding music like "Trampoline" by SHAED. KTCZ, meanwhile, is programmed as something of a crossover between SiriusXM's "The Pulse" and "PopRocks" stations, with a mix of current singer/songwriter-style music, along with 1990s- and 2000s-era lite alternative. I think both stations are worth contrasting with whatever WSTR ends up sounding like in January and beyond.
•As of the beginning of this month, there's very little daylight between the "AC" (if one can even call it that) playlist of B98.5 and the Hot AC playlist of Star. And, if we're being honest with how CHR sounds in 2019, there's also very little noticable playlist difference between those two and Q99.7. Yes, they're a more upbeat-sounding station (along with Power 96.1), but the current core artists and songs are essentially all the same. So, if you're Entercom and looking to differentiate Star from — not one or two — three identical competitors, it may take more than a few playlist and imaging tweaks or a morning show re-arranging to do so. Entercom has shown dedication in its other markets to investing in and improving its heritage brands, and I imagine things will go similarly in Atlanta. All of that to say: McKenna has a big task in front of him.
•One final note on the radio landscape in 2020 and the following decade: as music released in 1980 turns 40 years old next year, AC stations nationally will start to feel the pressure to fully hand over 80s music to their Soft AC and Classic Hits counterparts, just as it did to get rid of 70s music at the turn of the decade in 2010 (currently around the country, the new Soft ACs are very 70s-focused and the Classic Hits stations are basically 80% 80s). So where does this leave 80s pop and rock — arguably one of the most popular genres of music ever — on Atlanta radio? Some of it has a home on WSRV, though it's all the Bon Jovi/Guns 'N Roses/Def Leppard stuff, not Michael Jackson/Madonna/Whitney Houston. The 80s already seems to occupy only one song an hour or so at B98.5, and I can't imagine this number will grow. So where will listeners be able to hear Jackson, Madonna and Houston — not to mention the countless one-hit-wonders — on Atlanta radio in the next decade? Time will tell.
Anyway, I digress. Merry Christmas.
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