Branch Charts Her Own Course
• Last Friday RAMP confirmed two major personnel departures at Entercom Hot AC WSTR (Star 94.1)/Atlanta — morning co-host Jeff Dauler and afternoon personality Mike Marino. In the same issue we linked to Rodney Ho‘s column in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported the former Jeff and Jenn morning show would be rebranded as Jenn and Friends, anchored by current host Jenn Hobby along with several new cast members. Ho also reported Mike Kannon would join for afternoon drive, and he confirmed that longtime Star MD/midday personality Heather Branch was leaving.
While Entercom has yet to formally confirm any of these moves by late Sunday, we did want to clarify an important point regarding the departure of Ms. Branch (pictured, left), as was brought to our attention by her representative Jim Robinson, who explained that Branch’s departure was her decision, arranged several months ago with management. The fact that her exit happened to fall on the day after Dauler and Marino were released was just unfortunate timing. “Heather did not ‘lose her job’ on Friday,” Robinson tells RAMP. “She told management in February of her decision to leave on her tenth anniversary, and it was the station’s decision to align their other changes at the same time.”
RAMP also made contact with Branch, who told us, “My exit has been a planned one since February, and the reason is very simple: My career in radio has been amazing! Filled with excitement and adventure that I could have never imagined or dreamed of for myself. Over the last couple of years, I realized that I’d achieved all of my goals within the biz. There’s no time like the present to take a leap of faith and my personal life has never been better. So, together with my husband, I decided that now is the time to explore a new career path outside of radio. There really is no drama behind it. It is just a personal decision, plain and simple.”
It goes without saying that we wish Heather all the best as she embarks on her next chapter. She can be reached at heatherbranch94@gmail.com.
