By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, December 3, 2015
One Star 94 vet's loss is another one's gain.
Rob Stadler will become the new host and executive producer of the morning show, he announced on Facebook today. He will join program director Greg Tantum, assistant news director Jackie Howard and co-anchor Cheryl White. He will debut Friday, December 11 for the Children's Healthcare for Scottish Rite radioathon from 1 to 3 p.m. and officially start his regular gig from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 16.
Steve McCoy was cut from NewsRadio's morning show in October after trying to pretend an old Donald Trump interview was new. That left an opening for Stadler, who had been let go in September as news director at Star 94 after 28 years there.
This seems to be a perfect landing spot for Stadler, who had to have been one of the last news directors left in the nation at a pop station. (Indeed, that's why he was let go by Star's new owners Entercom. The powers that be decided a pop station didn't really need a news director.)
Stadler's ability to survive different owners, different managers and multiple morning shows at Star was nothing short of astounding.
NewsRadio 106.7 hired McCoy earlier this year, hoping his name recognition and entertainment background would infuse life into mornings and draw new listeners. Unfortunately, McCoy's lack of journalistic training was to his detriment and ultimately made him a poor fit for NewsRadio 106.7.
"Rob is all about credibility and entertainment at the same time," said Dan Blankowski, who used to do traffic for Star 94 for many years. "That's a brilliant move on their part."
Tom Sullivan, who also worked with Stadler at Star, said this sounds like a great job for Stadler, describing him as detail-oriented, intense and organized.
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