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Bob and Jack and the hole in the market

M

McCall

Guest
now that RRK has gone Jack with Bob, it has me wondering if or when our area will see that format. I think the variety hits format is a passing fad, but then back in 1993 I thought Froggy was a passing fad too.

on an unrelated or maybe just slightly related note, is there a hole in the market and where does everyone think it is? Altoona doesn't have an AC. State College has two CHRs down from three, two ACs of one stripe or another, three rock stations, two news talkers, countless religious outlets, and one big country station.

If you were given a station in State College or Altoona, what would you do with it?
 
> now that RRK has gone Jack with Bob, it has me wondering if
> or when our area will see that format. I think the variety
> hits format is a passing fad, but then back in 1993 I
> thought Froggy was a passing fad too.
>
> on an unrelated or maybe just slightly related note, is
> there a hole in the market and where does everyone think it
> is? Altoona doesn't have an AC. State College has two CHRs
> down from three, two ACs of one stripe or another, three
> rock stations, two news talkers, countless religious
> outlets, and one big country station.
>
> If you were given a station in State College or Altoona,
> what would you do with it?
>
Altoona AC for sure. No one has done it since WHPA. They had a good thing going till Forver decided to kill the thing for a variation of the Jack Format (remember Majic 104 DOT Nine...YUCK) State College is much more complex, as the various formats are indeed well served. Perhaps a more "younger" leaning Oldies doing the music of the late 70's to early 90's much like Star 100.7 in Pittsburgh. That is about the only format I can see that is not really served. It used to be in 3-WZ, but now that they lean more HOT-AC, they have moved away from the music that was their core. Country perhaps...but Froggy would be a tough act to beat.

Definately not Jack though. I think that format may have short-term success, but it'd only be good for a 2-3 year run and then it'd die off totally.
 
I was listening to Glenn Beck this morning, best of actually and he referred to this "jack" music. What is it? Sounds like a radio station set up to play a bunch of songs that are nothing alike?

If I had my own station, I'd do oldies and it would have an Elvis show once a week and a Sinatra show once a week. And I'd like to have the old live Rat Pack clips played too. No DJ's under the age of 45 working for me either. Youth is wasted on the young.

> > now that RRK has gone Jack with Bob, it has me wondering
> if
> > or when our area will see that format. I think the variety
>
> > hits format is a passing fad, but then back in 1993 I
> > thought Froggy was a passing fad too.
> >
> > on an unrelated or maybe just slightly related note, is
> > there a hole in the market and where does everyone think
> it
> > is? Altoona doesn't have an AC. State College has two CHRs
>
> > down from three, two ACs of one stripe or another, three
> > rock stations, two news talkers, countless religious
> > outlets, and one big country station.
> >
> > If you were given a station in State College or Altoona,
> > what would you do with it?
> >
> Altoona AC for sure. No one has done it since WHPA. They
> had a good thing going till Forver decided to kill the thing
> for a variation of the Jack Format (remember Majic 104 DOT
> Nine...YUCK) State College is much more complex, as the
> various formats are indeed well served. Perhaps a more
> "younger" leaning Oldies doing the music of the late 70's to
> early 90's much like Star 100.7 in Pittsburgh. That is
> about the only format I can see that is not really served.
> It used to be in 3-WZ, but now that they lean more HOT-AC,
> they have moved away from the music that was their core.
> Country perhaps...but Froggy would be a tough act to beat.
>
>
> Definately not Jack though. I think that format may have
> short-term success, but it'd only be good for a 2-3 year run
> and then it'd die off totally.
>
 
> I was listening to Glenn Beck this morning, best of actually
> and he referred to this "jack" music. What is it? Sounds
> like a radio station set up to play a bunch of songs that
> are nothing alike?
>
> If I had my own station, I'd do oldies and it would have an
> Elvis show once a week and a Sinatra show once a week. And
> I'd like to have the old live Rat Pack clips played too. No
> DJ's under the age of 45 working for me either. Youth is
> wasted on the young.

Sounds like a neat idea in theory and please do not think this is a slam, but no one would listen! In radio formatics, MASS APPEAL wins hands down. Stray much from that and it just does not work. Think of THE BUS before they went Classic Rock. They were unique and different and the audience just was not there. Trouble is, the type of people who like Sinatra are not Elvis Fans and so on. And if you ask most people who the RAT PACK are today...they'd think its some Punk Rock Band outta the 80's (No offense to Dean Martin, Sinatra and company of course)...Bet you are surprised I know that aren't you???

As for Jack, think of it as an IPOD on shuffle. The format is essentially 100% jockless (usually maybe a mid-morning news cast for flavor but that's it). Lotsa liners and prerecorded callers saying "This stuff is Great". Its pretty much all the biggest of the big hits from say the mid 60's to today. Its not uncommon for Jack to play CHICAGO into RICKY MARTIN into ZZ TOP and so on...and that is the fatal flaw of the format. The person who loves the Ricky Martin track or the ZZ Top Track probably HATES the tune on the flip side. Jack's big slogan is WE PLAY WHAT WE WANT and that is definately the truth. Its the most excentric mix of music you could ever encounter.

Jack usually does well short term and its usually a replacement for a dying oldies station. They are cheap to run since its all done off a hard drive and a PC (no human intervention required). Most markets see their Jack-FM's make a big splash out of the box but history is starting to show that over time, they seem to fade away. I mean, why listen to an IPOD with commercials when you can just go buy one without???

If you have Dish Network TV and you have the CD Audio Channels, there is kind of a Jack on there. Its a Channel called DECADES and its all music from the 60's to today. Give that a whirl and it will give you a taste of what Jack is all about.

Hitman
 
What would Nick do?

" If you were given a station in State College or Altoona, what would you do with it?"

I guess I'd curse my luck and find a religious outfit to LMA the damn thing--Nick Galli.


Ha, ha. Just kidding. Kinda. But it does say something about the market when an experienced broadcaster like Mr. Galli sees absolutely no opportunity for an FM stick (107.9) that was ranked #1 in the market just two years ago. Too many stations for not enough people?

As far ad defining "Jack," programmers are now calling it "Adult Hits." Think of it as "Classic Hits" or "Hot AC" with a broader playlist. The success stories have come from markets without an existing Classic Hits/Hot AC; the failures have come in markets where existing stations have been playing those tunes for years. For locals who bounce back and forth between 93.7 and 95.3, Jack/Bob/Sam wouldn't seem like anything new or different.
 
Re: What would Nick do?

> " If you were given a station in State College or Altoona,
> what would you do with it?"
>
> I guess I'd curse my luck and find a religious outfit to LMA
> the damn thing--Nick Galli.
>
>
> Ha, ha. Just kidding. Kinda. But it does say something about
> the market when an experienced broadcaster like Mr. Galli
> sees absolutely no opportunity for an FM stick (107.9) that
> was ranked #1 in the market just two years ago. Too many
> stations for not enough people?

Does anyone know how long Galli HAS to keep something viable off of the 107.9 frequency? I am kind of expecting to see WBLF make a play for it. Then they could simulcast their new Talk format on the FM stick also where it could be heard by more persons

Its just a theory...but that would seem to make sense as a wise move.
 
Re: What would Nick do?

> Does anyone know how long Galli HAS to keep something viable
> off of the 107.9 frequency? I am kind of expecting to see
> WBLF make a play for it. Then they could simulcast their
> new Talk format on the FM stick also where it could be heard
> by more persons


FM Talk? I don't think it will fly.

The talk I heard was that 107.9 will be up before the end of this year.<P ID="signature">______________
JabberJacker</P>
 
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