Two Atlanta sports radio mainstays will stick around longer and a longtime station will switch formats this month in local radio news.
Oliver and Chernoff to stay on 93.7/680 The Fan
Chuck Oliver and Matt Chernoff, two mainstays on 93.7/680 The Fan, have re-upped for multiple years, the sports station announced on social media last week.
The afternoon hosts, known as “Chuck and Chernoff,” both of whom grew up in metro Atlanta, have been staples on the station for 18 years. They began at The Fan in middays but moved to afternoons, considered a more prestigious time slot, in 2011.
David Dickey, general manager and president of The Fan for the past three decades, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that negotiations went smoothly. “It helps when you are locally owned and operated and work side by side every day,” he said.
Credit: . 93.7/680 THE FAN
Credit: . 93.7/680 THE FAN
In the June 2026 Arbitron radio ratings, “Chuck and Chernoff” ranked No. 13 overall and No. 6 among men 25 to 54. Their ratings lag those of Carl Dukes and Mike Bell on rival sports talk station 92.9/The Game, but The Game has a far stronger FM signal.
Both Oliver and Chernoff worked at the now-defunct sports station 790/The Zone for several years (but not on the same show) before joining as a duo at The Fan in 2008.
Oliver’s specialty is college football but he has an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide array of sports. Chernoff is an expert on a range of topics including the Atlanta Falcons, the Atlanta Braves and sports business.
Their fast-paced show has an “Odd Couple” vibe, with Oliver taking a more analytical approach while Chernoff is apt to be cynical or sarcastic. Their arguments often extend beyond sports to food, pop culture and social mores.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Yung Joc to stay at Streetz 94.5
Morning host Yung Joc has signed a new contract that will keep him at hip-hop station Streetz 94.5 for two more years.
The hip-hop star known for the big 2006 hit “It’s Goin’ Down” joined Streetz in 2016 and now works with Mz. Shyneka and Shawty Shawty on the “Yung Joc & The Streetz Morning Takeover.”
The show is now syndicated nationally in 15 markets and streams daily on Roku and YouTube, providing him a wider platform.
In the latest Arbitron rating, Joc’s show ranked ninth among 18-to-34-year-olds and 14th overall.
Core Radio Group CEO Steve Hegwood in a press release said locking in Joc was deemed “a top priority.”
Credit: STAR 94
Credit: STAR 94
Star 94 tweaks its music mix
Star 94 in July made a modest shift in its sound, bringing back many of the softer pop/rock hits it had eschewed in 2020 when the station switched to a more dance-heavy format.
This means that artists Star used to play in heavy rotation in the 1990s and 2000s have returned, including Nickelback (“How You Remind Me”), OneRepublic (“Counting Stars”), 3 Doors Down (“When I’m Gone”), Plain White T’s (“Hey There Delilah”) and Train (“Drops of Jupiter”).
Some ballads that the dancier version of Star would not have touched have also been thrown into the mix, including Adele’s 2011 hit “Someone Like You,” “Night Changes” by One Direction from 2014 and 2015’s “7 Years” from Lukas Graham.
Star Program Director Emily Boldon said there was no official shift. “Just playing some different titles,” she texted the AJC.
Indeed, the format appears expanded in that many of the hip-hop classics from the 1990s and 2000s that Star never played at the time they came out remain on the playlist, such as 2PAC’s “How Do You Want It,” Gucci Mane’s “Bricks” and Jeezy’s “And Then What.”
In 2020, Star 94 made its biggest shift in its 30-plus-year history when it moved to a heavy focus on dance and hip-hop songs, calling itself “The Rhythm of Atlanta” with heavy use of the phrases “feel good” and “throwback.”
For a time, Star played a mélange going back to the disco era like Donna Summer and the Bee Gees, 1980s hits by the likes of Madonna and Prince and current hits by Dua Lipa and The Weeknd. But eventually, songs from the 1970s were eliminated, and more recently, almost the entire decade of the 1980s. Many pure dance songs from the 1990s and 2000s have been largely excised from the playlist.
The shift comes a few months after the station brought in a new morning show from Kevin Avery and Taylor Scott, who arrived after a quarter century at Christian pop station Fish 104.7, which shut down early last year.
In the most recent Arbitron radio ratings, Star ranked 13th overall and seventh among women 25 to 54. (Several Cumulus-owned stations including rival Q99.7 are not included because of a legal dispute between Cumulus and Arbitron.)
Its closest rival B98.5 has regularly beaten Star in the ratings in recent years and was ranked No. 5 overall in June with more than double the share of the listening audience than Star.
Credit: RODNEY HO
Credit: RODNEY HO
A familiar face at B98.5
Jeremy “Otis” Maher, known primarily for his work at country station 94.9/The Bull, has landed a new job as a night host on B98.5.
He also became production manager for Cox Media Group Atlanta Radio.
Maher takes over on air for Chloe Nelson, who had been voice tracking her night show at B98.5 from Orlando, Florida, where she is a morning host on country station K92.3.
B98.5’s weekday lineup now is entirely hosted by Atlantans. Otis joins Tad Lemire, Drex Rener and Kara Leigh in mornings, Abby Jessen mid-days and Chris Centore in afternoons.
Otis lost his job at iHeartRadio last fall as part of a series of nationwide layoffs. He had previously worked on-air at both the Bull and later, pop station Power 105.3.
“His connection to Atlanta and his talent on air exemplify B98.5’s commitment to entertaining local radio,” said Jules Riley, director of operations and programming for CMG Atlanta Radio.
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