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Audacy has announced that Sacramento Market Manager Stacey Kauffman will be promoted to Regional Vice President/Market Manager adding oversight of the company’s San Francisco cluster.Kauffman will succeed Greg Nemitz in San Francisco. Nemitz will remain with the company as Senior Vice President overseeing West Coast sales and operations for Audacy’s National Partnerships team.Audacy has also promoted San Francisco VP/Sales Kieran Geffert to the same duties in both markets.Audacy announced market leadership changes for its San Francisco market. Effective June 7, Stacey Kauffman will assume the role of Regional Vice President and Market Manager of Audacy Northern California, overseeing the broadcast, digital and live experience assets for CHANNEL Q (KGMZ-AM/KLLC-HD2), ALT 105.3 (KITS-FM), Alice @ 97.3 (KLLC-FM), KCBS All News (KCBS-AM), The New Q102.1 (KRBQ-FM) and 95.7 The Game (KGMZ-FM) in San Francisco.This role will be in addition to her market manager responsibilities for Audacy Sacramento. Kauffman will report into Doug Abernethy, Regional President, Audacy, and succeed Greg Nemitz, who is assuming a leadership role as Senior Vice President overseeing West Coast sales and operations for Audacy’s National Partnerships team.“Stacey has demonstrated incredible leadership in every phase of the game,” said Doug Abernethy, Regional President, Audacy. She builds an incredible team culture that produces results. It is an honor to work alongside her and promote her to Regional Vice President.”“I am honored and excited for the opportunity to lead Northern California for Audacy,” said Stacey Kauffman, Regional Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Northern California. “It is truly a privilege to get to work with these legendary brands and people who make a positive impact for our audiences, advertisers and community every day.”Kauffman has served as the Senior Vice President and Market Manager of Audacy Sacramento since 2018. Prior to that role, she held Director of Sales and General Sales Manager roles for then-Entercom Sacramento. Prior to joining Audacy in 2015, Kauffman held various sales roles at Hubbard Broadcasting, Radio One, and Susquehanna Radio WFMS-FM.Additionally, Kieran Geffert has been promoted to Vice President of Sales for Sacramento and San Francisco, reporting into Kauffman. In this role, Geffert will oversee sales for the Northern California region, including both the San Francisco and Sacramento markets.“Kieran has been consistently successful at every role she’s held as she’s risen through the ranks in her 30 years with the company,” said Kauffman. “I know that will continue in this elevated position and thrilled for the opportunity to both internally promote, and to partner with Kieran in Northern California.”Kieran Geffert launched her career in radio 30 years ago at CBS Radio. Prior to this role, she was Vice President of Sales for Audacy San Francisco. Other positions include General Sales Manager for Audacy San Francisco from 2015 to 2018, and Local Sales Manager, account executive and sales assistant for KCBS All News (KCBS-AM) in San Francisco between 1991 and 2017. […]

There are really two Classic Hits formats now.It has been apparent for a while that the evolution of Classic Hits has brought that radio format closer to the Bob-and Jack-FM stations of Adult Hits. Like Adult Hits, Classic Hits is now predominantly pop/rock. Adult Hits was once differentiated by playing more ‘90s and ‘00s and a few recent titles. At a growing number of Classic Hits stations, even the ‘00s are not unheard of, and you can even find 2017’s “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 on WNCT New Bern, N.C.That evolution has also brought Classic Hits closer to Adult Contemporary. So have Mainstream AC’s own changes. All AC stations are inherently “gold-based” ACs, with few true currents and only a few recent songs per hour. But a shortage in viable new CHR music that AC could co-opt, along with the resurgence of the Soft AC format, has slowed the format’s evolution toward the “millennial AC” position that some stations were chasing. The only question is whether “gold-based” means three ‘80s songs an hour or 11.The result is that even as Classic Hits leans more rock, a parallel pop version of the format has emerged — the one that plays “Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen while Classic Hits is playing “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. In some markets, such as Charlotte, new Bob & Sheri affiliate WKQC (K104.7) has been able to double as the Classic Hits station for the market for 20 years. Other stations, such as Cox’s WFEZ (Easy 93.1) Miami and WDUV Tampa, have evolved from Soft AC to a pop-based Classic Hits even though there are traditional Classic Hits stations in the market. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, gold-based ACs were faced with either going all-Oldies or losing their position to a new competitor that would. But it seems easier for stations to straddle AC and Classic Hits these days when there is no brand-new music to deal with. Also, even if a few newer songs were a vulnerability that listeners cared about, it would be harder for a Classic Hits station to emphasize a difference in era that gets blurrier all the time.Here’s a “Fresh Listen” to three stations with varying era balances that each blur the line between AC and Classic Hits in a different way. WKQC (K104.7) CharlotteThe positioning (“More Hits, Better Variety”) is AC. There was still a recurrent and two ‘00s songs in the hour I heard, but K104.7 essentially shares Classic Hits with Adult Hits WLKO (the Lake). K104.7 has been the No. 1 station in the market from December through March, when it was two shares ahead of WLKO. Now, it’s the new home of long-time Charlotte-based syndicated morning show Bob & Sheri as well. Here’s WKQC on May 7 just before 4 p.m.:Beach Boys, “Kokomo”Starship, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”Maroon 5 f/Christina Aguilera, “Moves Like Jagger”Modern English, “I Melt with You”Pat Benatar, “Shadows of the Night”Cranberries, “Dreams”Talk Talk, “It’s My Life”Lionel Richie, “All Night Long (All Night)”Dan + Shay, “Speechless”Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes”Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”Dave Matthews Band, “What Would You Say”Spandau Ballet, “True”Whitney Houston, “How Will I Know”Richard Marx, “Don’t Mean Nothin’”Lady Gaga, “Just Dance”WDUV TampaThe station was the standard-bearer for the Soft AC format for years, regardless of how the format’s fortunes were cycling elsewhere. Sister WFEZ (Easy 93.1) Miami followed its lead, then morphed to its own sort of Soft AC/Classic Hits hybrid, with a significant ‘90s component. But WDUV has evolved as well, to the point where a few Tampa Bay readers will comment if I ever refer to it as “Soft AC.”WDUV bills itself as “Continuous Lite Favorites.” You will still hear some defining Soft AC songs, e.g., “Baby What a Big Surprise” by Chicago and “What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers. But it also played “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Go’s, including a custom power-intro that positions the song as “continuous lite favorites” as well.WDUV gets to occupy this position, and the No. 1 slot in the market, despite the presence of more traditional Classic Hits WRBQ (Q105). In part, that’s because Cox also owns Classic Rock WXGL (the Eagle) and AC WWRM (Magic 94.9). This is WDUV on May 14 just before 2 p.m.:Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes”Rod Stewart, “Downtown Train”Breathe, “Hands to Heaven”Stevie Wonder, “Superstition”Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”Whitney Houston, “Saving All My Love for You”Go-Go’s, “We Got the Beat”Orleans, “Dance With Me”Taylor Dayne, “Love Will Lead You Back”Billy Ocean, “Loverboy”Journey, “Faithfully”Commodores, “Brick House”Whitesnake, “Here I Go Again”Michael Bolton, “How Can We Be Lovers”Eddy Grant, “Electric Avenue”Starship, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”WSHE (She 100.3) ChicagoEven before it became the home of the now-Brooke & Jeffrey in the morning, WSHE has always had a significant ‘90s pop component, particularly pop/rhythm. In early May, that lean became more noticeable when the station dropped its recurrent titles. WSHE is still positioned as “the best variety of the ‘80s, ‘90s, 2K and today” but the musical cutoff is mostly 2017. Here’s WSHE on May 14 just before 2 p.m. during a “9 to 5 No Repeat Workday”:Mary J. Blige, “Real Love”Avicii, “Wake Me Up”Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories, “Stay (I Missed You)”Time, “Jungle Love”Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off”Hootie & the Blowfish, “Only Wanna Be with You”Pitbull f/Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer, “Give Me Everything”Britney Spears, “(You Drive Me) Crazy”Backstreet Boys, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”  Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl”Run-D.M.C. f/Aerosmith, “Walk This Way”Ace of Base, “The Sign”Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” […]