Jack-FM and its implementation
Mar 25, 2014 21:24:38 GMT -6
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 25, 2014 21:24:38 GMT -6
This is a sub-topic from the 103.1 thread at talkingutahradio.proboards.com/thread/1274/comes-sun
As dspete pointed out, Jack's across the country have died in all but a few markets. I disagree slightly in that the Utah Jack was more of an Adult Hits station than Classic Hits like The Arrow. It's a subtle difference, but Jack was mostly (almost all) 80's where Arrow was more centered in the 70's with a few 60's and some 80's sprinkled in. It's a semantic thing and open to a variety of interpretations and that's OK.
The thing that is really annoying about the way Jack was implemented is that almost nobody anywhere actually did it the way the format was designed. Take a look at the description of the format by the guys who invented it. (http://www.jack.fm/business/jacks-story) They way it was conceived was "an energizing presentation of hit songs from the late 1960s through the 2000s." Put another way, if it was a hit we play it. It was a genre bending format. That's how the "playing what we want" tagline makes sense. The problem was in the way SparkNet licensed it. As far as I can tell, they licensed the name, tagline and snarky liners, but the actual format was left up to the licensees and they could do anything. They could put on a classical format called Jack on if they wanted to. That makes no sense, but really neither did an 80's rock format called Jack.
Who remembers when the first version of The River came out on 105.7? That was closer to what Jack was supposed to be than Jack itself was. River v1 was a rock format, but they played everything from 60's oldies rock through currents. Take that and expand it beyond just rock and you've got the real Jack. Would it have worked? Maybe not. We'll never know. I'm highly skeptical anyone will ever buy the Jack branding here again, though maybe someone will try an all-over-the-place format sometime. I'm doubtful on that even, but maybe.
As dspete pointed out, Jack's across the country have died in all but a few markets. I disagree slightly in that the Utah Jack was more of an Adult Hits station than Classic Hits like The Arrow. It's a subtle difference, but Jack was mostly (almost all) 80's where Arrow was more centered in the 70's with a few 60's and some 80's sprinkled in. It's a semantic thing and open to a variety of interpretations and that's OK.
The thing that is really annoying about the way Jack was implemented is that almost nobody anywhere actually did it the way the format was designed. Take a look at the description of the format by the guys who invented it. (http://www.jack.fm/business/jacks-story) They way it was conceived was "an energizing presentation of hit songs from the late 1960s through the 2000s." Put another way, if it was a hit we play it. It was a genre bending format. That's how the "playing what we want" tagline makes sense. The problem was in the way SparkNet licensed it. As far as I can tell, they licensed the name, tagline and snarky liners, but the actual format was left up to the licensees and they could do anything. They could put on a classical format called Jack on if they wanted to. That makes no sense, but really neither did an 80's rock format called Jack.
Who remembers when the first version of The River came out on 105.7? That was closer to what Jack was supposed to be than Jack itself was. River v1 was a rock format, but they played everything from 60's oldies rock through currents. Take that and expand it beyond just rock and you've got the real Jack. Would it have worked? Maybe not. We'll never know. I'm highly skeptical anyone will ever buy the Jack branding here again, though maybe someone will try an all-over-the-place format sometime. I'm doubtful on that even, but maybe.
