Opinions On "Jack" Stations

[Michael1973]

Vacationing in Colorado last week, I got my first taste of a "Jack-FM" station and rather enjoyed it. It was nice to hear real variety on the radio for a change. I was wondering what other people on here thought of the format. Also, which Jack stations do people think are better than others?

[ZAK]

I like it in general, but of course its kinda hit and miss

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

In my SF market, we have a station called MAX-FM (it's just like a "Jack" station though).

It's an okay station. Just to get a taste of it, I listened to MAX for a couple hours. I heard a lot of obscure tracks that I didn't imagine I would hear on the radio anytime soon. At times, it felt very random.

Some of the randomness:

I heard Madonna's "Live To Tell", then Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love" and then Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town" and then Mariah Carey's "Hero".

It definitely sounded like an iPod on shuffle mode.

[tico]

I love Jack FM. Jackson was one of the first US markets to have one and it was my first exposure to a Jack station. I've listen to the one in Ft. Collins and Kansas City online, but I didn't listen enough (or to any other Jack FMs) to tell if there is one that's better than the other.

[friday]

Eh, it's OK. I remember first hearing it in Vancouver in 2002. I don't see why they can't employ real DJs instead of that annoying monotone-guy, though.

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

friday said:

Eh, it's OK. I remember first hearing it in Vancouver in 2002. I don't see why they can't employ real DJs instead of that annoying monotone-guy, though.

Some stations have a few people on in addition to the "annoying monotone guy".

[tico]

Some of the Jacks in Canada do have live jocks. Also, Jack in San Diego have live jocks in the morning. Jeff & Jer used to to do mornings there and at the predecessor Star 100.7, but they left at the end of August and will be start mornings on crosstown KMYI later this month.

[Radical347]

The one in Omaha has DJs. (Bob FM... used to be Retro. I'm seeing a lot of 80s stations flipping to the Jack format.)

The San Diego one... ehh... they play lots of cool songs that I haven't heard in a while and/or forgot existed. But I can't get past their incredibly annoying and arrogant sweepers. "Call us an tell us what you think, but don't tell us what to play"... "requests -- we've had a few, but don't bother." WTF? Why would you want to advertise that you won't play what the listeners want to hear.

[Libra]

I really enjoy the Joe FM in my area (if you couldn't already tell ). As ZAK already mentioned, it tends to be hit-or-miss, but there have been times when they've really hit (upwards of 10 songs in a row that I really like). Their sweepers tend to border on smart-ass, like this one:

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, think of what a humanitarian eats."[/font]

[tico]

mikek102 said:

I really enjoy the Joe FM in my area (if you couldn't already tell ). As ZAK already mentioned, it tends to be hit-or-miss, but there have been times when they've really hit (upwards of 10 songs in a row that I really like). Their sweepers tend to border on smart-ass, like this one:

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, think of what a humanitarian eats."

[/font][/quote]

My girlfriend listens to that station. She lives near Saginaw. I told her about Jack FM and she got a chance to hear it in Chicago last month. She liked it.

[reception]

I miss my 'Bob' FM which was at 99.5. It didn't pull in much ratings and (then) sister station KQMQ had an 80's format.

[Marv]

The one in Denver was the first one in the US, according to a front page ad in R&R a few weeks ago.

93.1 Jack-FM here in Los Angeles has really shook up the market. It soared all the way to #1 in the most desireable 25-54 adults demo, and it took a HUGE bite out of LA's worst radio station, Oldies KRTH 101, which lost a quarter of it's listeners in ONE book.

I like it a lot; yes the announcer rather dry and a smartass, but it's certainly a breath of fresh air for a market which REALLY needed it.

It is certainly the best thing to happen to Los Angeles radio since the nation's first Smooth Jazz station (94.7 The Wave) signed on in 1987.

It's also #2 in adults 25-54 in morning drive as well; Ryan Seacrest has moved up to #4 in the same daypart and category at CHR/Pop KIIS-FM, their best performance in morning drive in over three years.

Overall it's the #12 station in L. A.

[tico]

Jack is now the #2 station overall in Nashville.

[roadrunner]

tico said:

Jack is now the #2 station overall in Nashville.

I listen to this station probably 98 percent of the time. The only thing I don't like about it are a couple of the sarcastic liners (This is "our" station, not yours, so back off!") and they play just as many commercials, if not more, than the other stations.

No dj's, no news, no traffic, no weather (Jack says, "want the weather? Look out the window!) no time of day, temperature, sports, --if you ask me, they shouldn't even play commercials with all the money they're saving.

Some of the other stations have reacted to "Jack" (Oldies 97.1 and 105-9 The Rock are constantly saying "playing what YOU want") while AAA Lightning 100 has played a few Jack-type songs that they never used to play.

I love it when they play songs no one else would touch with a ten foot pole and when they play songs I haven't heard in years (With a Little Luck, Gold by John Stewart, Magnet and Steel, and some mid-70's songs by KC and the Sunshine Band.) It's Hot AC/Classic Hits/Classic Rock/Hair Bands/R&B Oldies/Alternative all in one.

[Marv]

It's REALLY going to take a bite out of a LOT of oldies stations out there, and result in some being 'blown up' (such as those in NYC & Chicago) because those stations have refused to evolve by playing the tons of music from the eighties that oldies stations SHOULD be playing.

Anybody who was in high school when Huey Lewis and The News hit #1 with 'The Power of Love' would be in their upper thirties todays, right in the middle of the ultra-desireable adults 25-54 demo which advertisers want. Oldies stations which don't add any eighties music to their libraries are facing extinction due to the aging of their audience, and their unwillingness to freshen the station by adding late seventies and eighties music.

Jack-FM stations play TONS of music from the seventies and eighties, so consequently they're really doing a number on Oldies stations everywhere.

I read an article in R&R several weeks that one format which the 'Jack-FM' format was also expected to hurt a lot would be the Alternative format, but I haven't seen any articles since then on whether or not that's started to happen as yet.

[Libra]

marv said:

I read an article in R&R several weeks that one format which the 'Jack-FM' format was also expected to hurt a lot would be the Alternative format, but I haven't seen any articles since then on whether or not that's started to happen as yet.

IMO, Alternative will be just fine (especially if this year is any indication).[/font]

[EvanJ]

In the Spring 2005 national radio station ratings, Adult Hits debuted with a 2.0 (this include "Jack" stations). Alternative was down from 3.5 to 3.0, but the Alternative listeners could have gone to Active Rock (up 0.5) and AOR (up 0.1).

[tico]

roadrunner said:

tico said:

Jack is now the #2 station overall in Nashville.

I listen to this station probably 98 percent of the time. The only thing I don't like about it are a couple of the sarcastic liners (This is "our" station, not yours, so back off!") and they play just as many commercials, if not more, than the other stations.

No dj's, no news, no traffic, no weather (Jack says, "want the weather? Look out the window!) no time of day, temperature, sports, --if you ask me, they shouldn't even play commercials with all the money they're saving.

Some of the other stations have reacted to  "Jack" (Oldies 97.1 and 105-9 The Rock are constantly saying "playing what YOU want") while AAA Lightning 100 has played a few Jack-type songs that they never used to play. 

I love it when they play songs no one else would touch with a ten foot pole and when they play songs I haven't heard in years (With a Little Luck, Gold by John Stewart, Magnet and Steel, and some mid-70's songs by KC and the Sunshine Band.) It's Hot AC/Classic Hits/Classic Rock/Hair Bands/R&B Oldies/Alternative all in one.

Jack here does the same thing as far as sarcastic liners go. They have that goes "Our name's Jack--who the (bleep) are you?" and another that goes "If you have a request, just yell it at the radio".

Not too long after Jack debuted, the AC station Mix 98.7 (WJKK) adopted the positioner "Playing what you want". They've since dropped it.

I also like the fact that Jack plays songs other stations don't play. What other stations play "Iko Iko" by the Belle Stars or "Suspicious Minds" by the Fine Young Cannibals?

[tico]

marv said:

It's REALLY going to take a bite out of a LOT of oldies stations out there, and result in some being 'blown up' (such as those in NYC & Chicago) because those stations have refused to evolve by playing the tons of music from the eighties that oldies stations SHOULD be playing.

Anybody who was in high school when Huey Lewis and The News hit #1 with 'The Power of Love' would be in their upper thirties todays, right in the middle of the ultra-desireable adults 25-54 demo which advertisers want. Oldies stations which don't add any eighties music to their libraries are facing extinction due to the aging of their audience, and their unwillingness to freshen the station by adding late seventies and eighties music.

Jack-FM stations play TONS of music from the seventies and eighties, so consequently they're really doing a number on Oldies stations everywhere.

I read an article in R&R several weeks that one format which the 'Jack-FM' format was also expected to hurt a lot would be the Alternative format, but I haven't seen any articles since then on whether or not that's started to happen as yet.

Not too long after Jack FM debuted in Jackson, our oldies station, WQJQ, began to play some early 80s music (about twice an hour or so). So far, WQJQ has yet to surpass WWJK in the ratings. There's also an oldies station out of nearby Yazoo City that will have a signal upgrade that will cover much of the Jackson area very soon. It'll be interesting to see how much 80s music they will play.

[No Brake$]

I see this as a phase with radio. By 2007 most will be gone.

[Quagmire]

Much as I like Jack FM, I was quite disappointed when they first came on here in New York (101.1) because they took over WCBS, my second favorite radio station.

[tico]

rkwo said:

I see this as a phase with radio. By 2007 most will be gone.

Despite the fact that the variety hits format is one of the fastest growing out there?

[mst3k]

rkwo said:

I see this as a phase with radio. By 2007 most will be gone.

I don't think so... unlike the dead Jammin' Oldies and dying '80s formats, Jack will be able to evolve its playlist and avoid listener burnout (if it's programmed correctly).

[Marv]

The eighties format was killed by two factors.

1)---A limit of approximately 250-300 songs TOTAL in the library, which is one-fourth of the 1,000-1,000 songs in L A's Jack-FM library.

2)---Playing much too much alternative-leaning pop from that decade, while ignoring all of the other types of music out there from that decade, including pop, rhythmic, AOR, country and VERY soft AC music.

The out-of-the-box success of several 'Jack-FM' stations SHOULD be a warning shot to PDs and the corporate types who are strangling radio's potential by VERY high commercial loads and far too much relieance on consultants and especially research.

Today's radio stations don't trust or respect their listeners as much as they used to; that's for sure.

[tico]

When KBZT San Diego was 80s (prior to flipping to the current alternative format), they sounded like an all 80s version of 91X. While I didn't have any qualms about the songs they played, at the same time, it was much too limited. With Jack, most of what I hear is rock-based, but they will also mix in other genres like old-school R&B, disco, pop and soft rock.

[tico]

Jack has arrived in Fresno, Knoxville, Savannah and Evansville in recent days. According to posts at radio-info.com, the Knoxville and Savannah Jacks (which debuted in the last couple of days) are satellited from ABC's Jack FM service.

[Jeff]

tico said:

I also like the fact that Jack plays songs other stations don't play. What other stations play "Iko Iko" by the Belle Stars or "Suspicious Minds" by the Fine Young Cannibals?

I like that, too. It's what makes our Jack FM so great.

tico said:

Not too long after Jack FM debuted in Jackson, our oldies station, WQJQ, began to play some early 80s music (about twice an hour or so). So far, WQJQ has yet to surpass WWJK in the ratings. There's also an oldies station out of nearby Yazoo City that will have a signal upgrade that will cover much of the Jackson area very soon. It'll be interesting to see how much 80s music they will play.

I don't think WYAB plays (or will play) much '80s music (since it's an oldies station).

[irock]

I wish someone would play Dr. John's version of Iko, Iko, which is a cajun song after all (not that I don't like the Belle Stars version; it was good too).

[Libra]

marv said:

2)---Playing much too much alternative-leaning pop from that decade, while ignoring all of the other types of music out there from that decade, including pop, rhythmic, AOR, country and VERY soft AC music.

I wonder what versions of Jack favor the AOR genre? That might explain why Joe up here plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" - the #1 AOR song of 1986 - a lot more than "Sledgehammer" or "Big Time", which were his bigger Pop hits (they don't play "Steam", his Top 10 from early 93).[/font]

[TheJakes]

quagmire said:

Much as I like Jack FM, I was quite disappointed when they first came on here in New York (101.1) because they took over WCBS, my second favorite radio station.

The JACK format is bombing like a putrid smell in the NYC market with ratings less than half the heritage oldies WCBS-FM they replaced. I gather the format switch really pissed off a lot of passionate radio listners and engendered lots of bad pbulicity.

Here in Toronto, Canada's largest market, the JACK format is also bombing like a bad smell. Doing a lot worse than the CHR/Pop station it replaced. I know I was pissed off at the manner in which Roger's (the radio company that founded the JACK format) canned the CHR KISS-FM here in Toronto. But I do not think that was the reason, as it might be in NYC, that JACK is bombing here.

I think JACK is bombing because the local radio market had several very strong stations appealing to the same demographic that JACK was aiming for. Stations such as CHUM_FM, a heritage CHR/Pop leaning Hot AC with a strong team of on air talent.

JACK seems to do well where there is a dearth of quality radio but in markets with good stations in formats like Hot AC and others it does not do nearly as well.