WSTR (FM) - History

History

94.1 was once WGST-FM and was given away in the 1950s as FM did not take off. In the 1960s, WDJK appeared to occupy 94.1 as a brand new station, associated with WYNX (AM-1550) in Smyrna.

Within two years, 94.1 was sold to the owners of WQXI (AM-790), which was Atlanta's leading Top 40 Rock station. FM-94.1 then became easy listening WKXI. By 1969 the station had adopted WQXI-FM as its call letters, and in mid-1977 the station was officially rechristened 94Q. It became one of Atlanta's dominant FM stations and remained so until 1987, when its audience share began to dwindle. Various tweaks were made to the music mix, followed by an outright change of direction in early 1989 that competed head-to-head with then-dominant CHR WAPW/Power 99 (now WWWQ). 94Q was soundly beaten, and the station began to purge most of its management and on-air talent.

94Q also featured a smooth jazz music program called Jazz Flavors, which eventually served as the genesis for WJZF "Jazz Flavors 104.1", Atlanta's first smooth-jazz radio station (now WALR-FM), and later on, "WJZZ 107.5" (now WAMJ).

At midnight on November 16, 1989, its name was changed to "Star 94" after obtaining the broadcast callsign WSTR from a Sturgis, Michigan radio station (now WBET-FM). The station's format bordered between hot AC and top 40 (CHR), best described as "Adult Top 40" (a hybrid of Hot AC and Top 40). The station avoided most hip hop and rhythmic-oriented music hitting the Top 40 charts. Between 2007 and 2009, WSTR began to incorporate more hip hop songs in its playlist but remained more pop and rock oriented than most top-40-style stations. In September 2010, the station began shifting towards a Hot AC format, therefore Nielsen BDS moved WSTR from the CHR (top 40) to the Adult Top 40 (Hot AC) panel, as the station became more identified with a Hot AC playlist. It also changed its on air slogan to "Your Life...Your Music," to emphasize its acknowledged shift to Hot AC. In February 2011, Star 94 began programming an all 1990's weekend called the "Big 90's Weekend" in response to the all-1980's weekends on WSB-FM. However, by the Fall, the station dropped the All 90's weekends.

Several influential air personalities have worked at the Atlanta station, including American Idol's Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest interned on the night show with Tom Sullivan, who trained him in all areas of broadcasting then gave him his first "on air" shift of his career, before moving to weekends. He did this while attending Dunwoody High School in nearby Dunwoody.