[ratnobMember]

Bloggers in the USA are suggesting that stations are starting to abandon the JACK format – eg:

“Another Jack just flipped back to Oldies today… West Virginia Radio Corp.'s WKAZ-FM (107.3 Miami-Charleston WV). The Owner of the station came on the air and basically said “We made a mistake flipping 107.3 away from Oldies, and we want to undo that.” The station is using Tom Kent's “Classic Top 40″ format 24/7 for now, but the implication was made that a local morning show and personalities will come in a few weeks.”
http://www.musicradio77.com/wwwboard/messages/309533.html

Ratnob of Suffolk

[mbMember]

Time to get the JAM CBSFM Jingles on the air!!!!

[LenGroat]

.. at last.. a light at the end of the Tunnel …

Even the Mayor of New York complained about them closing WCBS FM….

..but who are these 'radio people' who ruin great stations…?

.. and where will they go next?

The ephemeral fashions in format and jingles (and these awful double-headed breakfast shows) had led radio 'by the nose' for far too long… Only the listeners were wise enough to see (and hear) it was going nowhere..

let's

“Do it Again' !!

[OnyxPaulMember]

There are more stations picking up the Jack Format, technically known as “variety hits” than dropping it. You can read all about the comings and goings here
http://www.varietyhits.com/variety/
In the USA heavy formatting has been around for a long time eg The Drake-Chenault format of the 70's, Hot Hits in the 80's and the morning Zoo craze of the 90's, Although I agree with Len that the British obsession with double headed breakfast shows is well pasts its sell by date, it will be interesting to see what they make of the first UK Jack which launches in Oxford on 6th April (although their license application seems far removed from the US format)

[johnnyg]

I hate heavily formatted radio, which is why I rarely listen to conventional radio if I can help it. I know a good format works and can appeal to listeners, as Wonderful Radio London in the 1960's or Laser558 in the 80's proved, but they were different to the norm. One reason I personally always tended towards stations like Caroline was the looseness of its format.
Two-heaed or zoo format breakfast shows and the like get me hitting the off button quicker than a lightening bolt! Even Terry Wogan went part way towards that stye with the noises off from his producer. I enjoyed his breakfast show in the past when it was just himself. Nowadays I stick with Radio 4 ! (Odd for a jingle collector :p )

I think one of the reasons why certain online oldies stations are becoming so much more popular is that there is little alternative in most places on mainstream channels.

[ratnobMemberAuthor]

Yes, have to confess I'm the same – Classic FM in the very early hours, then Radio 4 on the way to work. Oh dear – this may say more about our age than the state of radio formats!

[IainJohnstonMember]

For those in the UK that might like to see how “The Cousins” feel about WCBS-FM/Jack and other good rants about corporate radio etc in the States, the following is one of many US radio forums!…

http://www.musicradio77.com/wwwboard/

(Any similarities to moans & groans on similar UK radio forums about similar topics
will show you just how Americanised our radio stations, jingles, etc have become )

[Barras]

“The iPod of radio…100.3 JACK FM”

“You know that little voice inside of you, tell it to quiet down..you`re listening to “JACK”

“JACK FM…just like satellite radio, well, except we`re free and you don`t have to install that goofy thing on your car and there`s no tuning thro` trucking music, to get to the song you like…other than that”

I take on board what people have said in this post but when I first heard JACK on my FM radio in Dallas in 2004, I was quite happy with the mix of music and to this day, IMHO I think it`s some of the best “voice” imaging (love the “sarcasm” in the tone of voice) and jingles (TM Century & JAM) I`ve ever heard…(although Z100`s mix of Dave Foxx liners & Reelworld jingles still sounds good !).

JACK played music from the likes of Nirvana, Cameo, New Order, Free, Wang Chung, Peter Gabriel, ZZ Top, Undertones…this montage will give you an idea of what JACK originally sounded like in 2004.

http://www.4shared.com/file/12933893/3e0dac7f/JackFM_Music1.html

David Barras

[johnnyg]

Thank you for the airchecks David.
I can tell from listening to those I'd hate the station! “We Play What We Want”? I'll bet! I've little time for DJs who whaffle but I like to know a little about what I'm listening to, otherwise I'd stick a CD on. Sounds so much a computerised formula without real people to me.

I'm picky anyway – nobody plays “what I want”. If they ignore the great roots of the 50's they can't ever be right for me :p

[Author]

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