Atlanta Radio: Drex, Cassiday & Tingle OUT At WSTR

Less than four months after moving to PM Drive to make way for Jeff Dauler and Jenn Hobby in mornings, the afternoon team of Drex, Cassidy and Tingle is gone from WSTR Star 94.1 FM.

Grabbing Jeff and Jenn was a major coup for Star to compete against Bert Weiss and WWWQ Q100 given their brand equity from the Bert Show, reports Rodney Ho at ajc.com.

But the change meant Star 94.1 FM had a problem with too many jocks and not enough slots. Drex, Cassiday and Tingle still had nearly a year left on their contract. So that’s why they were kept on air instead of cut immediately. It also meant that they had another full-time jock Mike Marino with nowhere to go. So they placed Marino as producer of Jeff and Jenn.

Jeff & Jenn

On Friday evening, Star took Drex, Cassiday and Tingle off air six months before their contract was up. The pop station is basically going to pay the trio not to work until January, 2017.

“They were very professional about the whole thing,” Drex texted me tonight. “I think it’s going to play out in the best interest of everyone. But I’m sad. I would have liked to have continued my employment with them as long as possible.”

Marino gets his afternoon job back, according to Ho.

Star 94.1 has been making ratings progress since Jeff and Jenn arrived in February. Among 25 to 54 year olds, Star’s morning ratings were 3.5, ranked 12th, in January. By June, the ratings had climbed to 4.9, ranked seventh, up 40 percent.

The Bert Show, which suffered listener losses after Dauler left in November, has seen a rebound the past two months. After falling to fifth place among 25 to 54 year olds in April, the Bert Show returned to No. 1 in May and June.