Star 94.1 rejiggers morning show, goes music intensive

Hobby joined Star in 2016 after a long run with the Bert Show on Q100 (now Q99.7), then mid-days at Kicks 101.5 (now New Country 101.5.). She was originally paired with Jeff Dauler, her former castmate with the Bert Show, but he was let go last year. They then added Owens and Stone last year and re-named the show “Jenn and Friends.”

The adult pop station has struggled to find a stable morning show without real success since it let go Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke at the end of 2007.

Since then, Star 94.1 has gone through seven different morning show configurations:

Owens, who used to work as a producer with Q100′s Bert Show and Rock 100.5′s Regular Guys and then 92.9/The Game, joined the Star 94.1 morning show last year. He also has spent years emceeing between inning entertainment at Atlanta Braves home games. (Ironically, while at the Bert Show, he played a character named Phil Terrana, an inside joke, because that was rival Steve McCoy’s real name.)

Slade came from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, hired by former program director Ron Roberts, who was let go last year. (Roberts is now a licensed realtor.) Roberts, in a Facebook post, said the show he put together “had the potential to be something special, and while they’re no more as of now, they actually were kinda special anyway."

It appears the station is going to focus on music in the mornings for now without as much content. As “Jenn and Friends," there were plenty of regular segments such as “Group Therapy” and “Jenn’s Got Jokes.”

Hobby chose not to go on Wednesday morning after the news came out that her colleagues were let go. Entercom, owners of Star, has not said when she will return.

Star 94.1 for now is keeping its music format of the past 31 years, what is known in the radio parlance as “Hot Adult Contemporary” targeting women 25 to 54. It has gone through many slogans over the years but is currently “Atlanta’s feel good station" with the proper COVID-19 “work-from-home soundtrack.” It now plays current hits by the likes of Taylor Swift, the Weeknd and Maroon 5 as well as cuts from its entire run as Star, going back as far as Madonna’s “Like a Prayer."

The station’s biggest success was in the 1990s when it had little competition in its genre and its morning show Steve & Vikki captured the “suburban mom” demographic as well as their kids. When Q100 arrived in 2001, the Bert Show began slicing off its younger audience and eventually beat Steve & Vikki in all key female demographics. This led Star to drop Steve & Vikki (who then appeared briefly together on B98.5).

Star has consistently maintained its image as the “soccer mom” station and generates decent ratings. But its ratings nowadays lag behind the three other pop stations in town.

B98.5, led by the savvy Chris Eagan, has been known for years as the “at work” music station with the biggest audience and has maintained that lead even during the pandemic. Q99.7 draws big morning numbers courtesy of Bert Weiss and his sturdy morning show. Power 96.1, which arrived in 2012, has generated solid ratings among younger listeners, relying on its hipper sound and the reliable presence of the syndicated voice of Ryan Seacrest mid days.

In the August Nielsen monthly ratings, Star 94 drew a 2.1 share (17th place overall) compared to B98.5′s 4.5 (sixth place), Q100′s 3.2 (12th place) and Power’s 2.9 (13th place). I no longer have access to the demographic or time-specific breakdowns.