May 31, 2007
I like to switch radio stations, as soon as I hear a song or topic I don’t like, or a commercial, or whatever. One of the stations I like to switch through is the local ‘Jack FM’ station. Their claim to fame, in case you don’t know, is that they have a bigger playlist than normal FM pop stations. I like it because they 1) have no talk portions of the day, 2) seem to have a good attitude, and 3) play interesting songs that I like.
Sometimes, their transitions really crack me up, tho. Today I heard this one:
Takin Care of Business to “Yo, VIP… Let’s kick it!“
If you got a problem, yo, I’ll solve it. Check out the hook while DJ revolves it!
June 9, 2007 at 2:03 am
The local Jack FM station in New York is terrible.
Their playlist is about as compelling as cleaning yourself with 60 grit sandpaper.
But worse still, the station they bought out to put their crappy programming on was the one and only Oldies station in the city, WCBS FM 101.1.
Check this unfortunately long link out for some details about how the people behind these Jack stations have people in our age group pigeonholed into such a narrow musicscape. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06brucie.html?ex=1275710400&en=216d82a708daa50c&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
And the formula isn’t working, at least not here. http://www.nyradioguide.com/ratings.htm
I can only hope they bring back CBS 101, but considering the state of radio these days, it may take a total market crash for it to happen.
July 15, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Just to update this, it would seem that the rest of the city felt as I did, enough so that the execs at CBS have pulled Jack FM in favor of WCBS-FM, the Oldies station it displaced two years ago. The switchover happened at 1:01pm Thursday July 12th.
While I understand the appeal of not having to deal with crappy DJs - it’s one reason I don’t listed to much radio at all these days - WCBS-FM was (and I hope will remain) different.
The DJ’s actually like the music they play, and tend to be very, very informed about it. You get a real sense of the history of the music - what was going on in the city and the world when it was released.
I know I don’t fit the mold the top 40 stations are trying to sell to. I grew up listening to a wider variety of music that their DJs would ever be able to get away with playing, and that included lots of music from the 50’s through 70’s.