WSTR (FM)
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WSTR (94.1 FM, "Star 94") is an radio station licensed to
Smyrna, Georgia Smyrna is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is located northwest of Atlanta, and is in the inner ring of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It is included in the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta MSA, which is included in the Atla ...
, and serving the
Atlanta metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixt ...
. Owned by
Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...
, it broadcasts a
rhythmic adult contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the cla ...
format. Its studios are located at Colony Square in
Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown for short, is a Urban area, high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used ...
, while the station transmitter resides in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
's
Reynoldstown Reynoldstown is a Historic districts in the United States, historic district and Intown Atlanta, intown neighborhood on the near Eastside, Atlanta, east side of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, located two miles from downtown. Histor ...
neighborhood.


History


Early years

The station signed on as WDJK on January 1, 1964, founded by WSMA (1550 AM) owner Mitchell Melof; WDJK operated as a
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
of WSMA. Jupiter Broadcasting of Georgia, then the owner of WQXI (790 AM), purchased WDJK in January 1965, with Kent Burkhart serving as vice president and general manager. WDJK's
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
was changed to WKXI and a beautiful music format was installed, with studios at 2970 Peachtree Road NW in Atlanta. The Pacific and Southern Company, forerunners to the modern-day
Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...
and
Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...
, purchased WQXI and WKXI in November 1967.


WQXI-FM (1969–1989)

In 1969, the station changed its call letters to WQXI-FM to match its AM sister station. In mid-1977, the station started calling itself "94Q" when WQXI's
contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...
format was moved to the FM station. Around 1987, WQXI-FM's audience share began to dwindle. Various tweaks were made to the music mix, followed by an outright change of direction in late 1988 that competed head-to-head with then-dominant Top 40 outlet WAPW (99.7 FM) as "Atlanta's Hit Music, 94Q". However, by the following summer, 94Q had been soundly beaten, and the station began to purge most of its management and on-air talent. WQXI-FM notably carried a
smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...
-themed program called ''Jazz Flavors'' during the 1980s, first airing on Sunday evenings before eventually expanding to weeknights. Despite the seeming incompatibility between it and contemporary hits, this program ran on WQXI-FM for several years, eventually serving as the genesis for the "Jazz Flavors" branding on WJZF (104.1 FM) when that station became the first one in the Atlanta market to adopt the format full-time. "Jazz Flavors" was reduced back to Sunday nights only in March 1989, when 94Q was experimenting with a mainstream CHR format.


WSTR (1989–present)

At midnight on November 15, "94Q" signed off after 12 years, with the final song being " Imagine" by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
. 94.1 would then relaunch as "Star 94" with the call letters WSTR. The first song on "Star 94" was " Oh Atlanta" by
Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...
. The station's format was a hybrid of
hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...
and Top 40, best described as
adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...
. The station initially avoided most
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
and rhythmic-oriented music hitting the Top 40 charts, though it added some rhythmic songs in the mid-1990s.
Steve McCoy Steve McCoy is an American radio personality best known for his morning show with Vikki Locke in Atlanta, Georgia for over 18 years on WSTR. The duo was twice nominated for the Marconi Award. McCoy came to Atlanta in 1981 to work at WZGC FM ( ...
was brought in as morning show host and was paired with Vikki Locke; McCoy and Locke would helm the station's morning show for the next 17 years. After WAPW flipped to
modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...
as
WNNX WNNX (100.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to College Park, Georgia, featuring a classic alternative format as "99X". Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. ...
in October 1992, WSTR was considered the "default" hit music station in Atlanta due to the lack of a mainstream Top 40 outlet. Outside of a brief stint as a Top 40 when WBTS launched in 1999, Atlanta gained a mainstream Top 40 station in 2001, when WWWQ (100.5 FM) signed on.


Hot AC era (2010–2020)

In September 2010, Nielsen BDS moved WSTR from the CHR/Top 40 panel to the adult Top 40 (hot AC) panel, as the station became more identified with a Hot AC
playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...
. WSTR changed its on-air slogan to "Your Life...Your Music", to emphasize its shift to hot AC. In February 2011, WSTR began programming all-1990s weekends, called "Big 90s Weekends" in response to the all-1980s weekends on WSB-FM (98.5). However, in the Fall of 2011, the station dropped the All-90s weekends. Jefferson-Pilot Communications (and later
Lincoln Financial Media Lincoln Financial Media was a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owned radio stations in the United States. The division was formed in 2006 following the company's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, whi ...
) had owned WSTR and WQXI since 1974. On December 8, 2014,
Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corp., it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning over 220 radio stations across 47 media ...
announced its purchase of Lincoln Financial Media's entire 15-station lineup, including WSTR and WQXI, for $106.5 million. The stations were operated under a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
(LMA) until the sale was approved by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC). Entercom officially took over WSTR and WQXI on July 17, 2015; WQXI was spun off to Atlanta Radio Korea in 2016. In November 2017, Entercom merged with CBS Radio, making WSTR co-owned with
WZGC WZGC (92.9 FM) – branded ''92.9 The Game'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Atlanta, Georgia, covering the Atlanta metropolitan area. Owned by Audacy, Inc., WZGC is the Atlanta affiliate for Infinity Sports Network; ...
, WVEE-FM and
WAOK WAOK (1380 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station, owned by Audacy, Inc., in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. WAOK broadcasts from studios at Colony Square in Midtown Atlanta. It is Atlanta's third-oldest continuously li ...
. In 2019, the station aired
Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...
during the holiday season for the first time.


Rhythmic AC era (2020–present)

On September 17, 2020, the station began teasing a "big announcement" to come at 3 pm; the use of the word "big" seemed to allude to previous reports the station was soon to flip to adult hits as "Big 94" (matching a similar recent format change on cross-country sister station WBGB in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
). At that time, after playing " Closing Time" by Semisonic, WSTR instead relaunched with a
rhythmic adult contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic contemporary, rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the cla ...
format, maintaining the ''Star'' branding while promoting the new focus as "The NEW Star 94" under the slogan "The Rhythm of ATL", with the first song being "
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson recorded for his sixth studio album ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It is the opening track of the album and was released as its fourth single on May 9, 1983, by Ep ...
" by
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
.


Notable alumni

Several influential air personalities have worked at the station, including
Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest is the host of '' Wheel of Fortune'', having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and ser ...
. Seacrest interned on the night show with Tom Sullivan, who also helped train him; Sullivan gave Ryan his first "on air" shift, and eventually he began working weekends, Ryan did this while still attending Dunwoody High School.


HD Radio

The HD2
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
formerly aired a classic hits format under the brand "Star 94.1 HD2". The HD3 channel formerly aired Audacy's
LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...
talk/dance format "
Channel Q Channel Q (stylized as CHANNEL Q) is an LGBT community, LGBT lifestyle talk radio, talk and electronic dance music, EDM top 40 radio network created, owned, and operated by Audacy, Inc. The network airs on the Audacy internet radio service, as ...
". It has since moved to HD2 with the HD3 channel being turned off.


References


External links

* * ( Guide to reading History Cards) {{Entercom 1964 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Audacy, Inc. radio stations Radio stations established in 1964 STR Rhythmic adult contemporary radio stations Rhythmic contemporary radio stations in the United States