Meet the new Power 96.1 morning team Scotty K and Riley Couture

Their situation has some similarities to the arrival of the Bert Show in 2001. At that time, Q100 was a brand new top 40 station and Star 94 was the standard bearer in the format with a legacy morning show Steve & Vikki. Over the years, the Bert Show ate away at Steve & Vikki's audience share and by the time Star let that legendary team go in 2007, the Bert Show was the top 40 morning king.

Today, the Bert Show is the big show on the established pop station Q100. Power 96.1 is the newcomer hoping to knock its rival down a few notches.

For several years, the Bert Show has been a consistent top 3 performing morning show in this market. The show has also gone into syndication and is now in 20 markets, including Nashville, Dallas, Salt Lake City and Washington D.C.

That makes the Bert Show formidable but potentially vulnerable for listeners who might prefer a show focused more on local issues or simply seeking something different.

Scotty K reminds me of host Bert Weiss in his earlier days. They are of comparable build and height and similar ambitions to do great radio. Scotty doesn't have quite the depth of experience Bert had going in, having worked most recently as a night jock on a top 40 station in Chicago. (Bert was part of  high-profile morning shows in Dallas and D.C. before starting his own at Q100.) Riley, with 10 years of experience in radio, has worked on existing morning shows in Grand Rapids, Mich., Memphis and most recently, Nashville. This is her first shot at starting her very own morning show.

One big difference: Bert and his crew were given the freedom to do a full-fledged personality-based show with only a little music. Scotty K and his Riley are opening with 10 songs an hour and given just a few minutes an hour to make a daily impression.

"We are going to offer the meat," Scotty K said. "It'll be quality over quantity."

Then again, they are competing with two other morning shows that also play plenty of music. And both are relatively new shows. The Cindy & Jimmy team on Star 94 has only been around about 18 months (though Cindy Simmons has been at Star for more than a decade). B98.5's morning duo of Melissa Carter (formerly of the Bert Show) and Jeff Elliott is about seven months old.

The previous show on Power - syndicated Elvis Duran - was more like the Bert Show, with more talk than music. But that New York-based show, despite its success in many cities, wasn't able to tangibly hurt Bert in this market.

New morning shows with no name recognition take time to click. The Bert Show drew almost no ratings its first year before it found its audience, building first a base of 18 to 34 year old females and expanding from there. The Kidd Chris show on what was once Project 96.1 was just starting to pick up steam among younger males when Clear Channel dumped rock for pop in 2012.

We'll see if Clear Channel has the patience to give Scotty K and Riley a chance to breathe, to develop a rapport, to find an audience.

Power, with its music mix and presentation, is gunning for a younger audience than its rivals. Scotty is more than a decade  younger than Bert or Jimmy Alexander at Star. Riley is younger than Cindy, Melissa or Kristin Klingshirn on the Bert Show.

"We're planning to build something local and fun," said Scotty, a Chicago native whose real name is Scott Corchin. "We want to give the city something that sounds like a family."

Scotty has an older brother who was an entertainer and he copied him as a teen. He was paid to dance at parties, then DJed. "I love being an entertainer and making people happy," he said. (Doing weddings and bar mitzvahs also broadened his musical palette. He knows swing music to Motown to 80s pop to hip hop.) While he is focused on developing his morning show for now, he hopes to eventually get back into club DJing or host charity events.

He was very popular in Chicago, based on comments from Chicago radio boards.

To him, "Chicago set me up to come here. This is the most positive atmosphere I've ever been in."

Riley, whose real name is Raquel Segarra, grew up in Tampa and was a cheerleader, model and gymnast. She first tried her hand at sign language interpreter but the need to keep her mouth shut drove her nuts.

Radio came naturally to her. "Being behind the mic is like home to me," she said. "I just sit in Indian style in my seat and I'm good to go."

Scotty was hired first. He said he liked Riley immediately when they talked on the phone. What sold Riley on Scotty was his emphasis on family.

Indeed, the pair already act like pesky brother and sister, teasing each other's flexibility - or lack thereof. (Scotty made it to the Vegas round on the first season of "So You Think You Can Dance.")

Both are single. Scotty has a four-year-old son in Chicago.

Scotty said he emphasizes the "real."

"We're going to live our lives and get to know the city," he said. "The rule is, if you say something, it will go over the air. I'm a psychology buff. People know when you're not being real."

Riley has already moved into an apartment in Midtown, with her 250 pairs of shoes lined up in two closets by color and style. (Yes, she's an admitted shoe freak, Imelda Marcos style.)

"I'm on the hunt for the perfect shoe place," she said.

Scotty is more of a "gadget guy." "Radio Shack is my heaven," he said.

And while Scotty is not tall, he is at least taller than Riley (though with four-inch heels, it's hard to tell.) "My personality is tall," he said.

"He has swag," Riley said.

Scotty believes what will get them acclimated quickly to Atlanta is "curiosity. We want to explore the bars, the restaurants, the neighborhoods. I want to know where that hole-in-the-wall  sushi place is."

Both have ink. Scotty's most notable one is on his left arm: the Chicago skyline coming out of a radio mic like a sine wave. Riley's is Psalm 27:14 espousing patience.

 On the radio

Scotty K and Riley Couture, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday, Power 96.1

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