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Jack Format Success a Seattle phenomenon?
- Thread starter floradora
- Start date
I flipped through Dallas, Nashville, San Diego, Baltimore and JACK was top ten in all and closer to top five so I guess its not exactly floundering to it's demise as many had predicted here and other board too...
I have not listened to it much simply because it isn't my cup of tea, but I know my sister inlaw can't get enough of it
I have not listened to it much simply because it isn't my cup of tea, but I know my sister inlaw can't get enough of it
I think that the Topic levelTalk Radio format has contributed much to the reduction if not outright elimination of the live jock in some markets. THe yelling, screaming, pissing and moaning, all done live has simply worn out many many listeners tolerance levels. Those stations helped create the giant sucking sound that pulled down many very good live jock music stations. People have grown weary of the combatitve yak yak..Talkie shows along the line of Bob Rivers are what has maintained. Sort of..
I could see where one could make that assumption, but it's not the case. If you went back through audience research over the past twenty years, you would find a common complaint from listeners; that is music radio has/had too much talk, DJ chatter, etc., interrupting their music. What a music station listener wanted and still wants is..music, lots of free music. That is of course unless the listener prefers a particular morning show banter or entertainment factor around the talk, but talent talking up a vocal or just needless self or station promotional banter is frowned upon.
Really when you think about it, from a listener point of view the new world of ratings via PPM isn't because of PPM, but only solidifying what listeners have been saying for years. Maybe radio is finally listening?
Really when you think about it, from a listener point of view the new world of ratings via PPM isn't because of PPM, but only solidifying what listeners have been saying for years. Maybe radio is finally listening?
I think Guru is right in that people who want music would rather have their music void of as much of the business of radio as possible, longer sets, fewer break etc...
The opposite side of that is talk people who could care less about the music they want in depth topic driven radio and not short topical banter broken up with a couple songs...
The only show I can honestly say that does both fairly well is The Marty Riemer Show and that is because Marty & Jodi actually do longer interviews and they are generally entertaining and quite often they have musical guests who perform several numbers which works for most everyone...
The opposite side of that is talk people who could care less about the music they want in depth topic driven radio and not short topical banter broken up with a couple songs...
The only show I can honestly say that does both fairly well is The Marty Riemer Show and that is because Marty & Jodi actually do longer interviews and they are generally entertaining and quite often they have musical guests who perform several numbers which works for most everyone...
My brother listens to Jack religiously. I have it on from time to time, but it gets old pretty quick, I have to turn Jack off and head over to KMCQ.
"I could see where one could make that assumption, but it's not the case. If you went back through audience research over the past twenty years, you would find a common complaint from listeners; that is music radio has/had too much talk, DJ chatter, etc., interrupting their music. What a music station listener wanted and still wants is..music, lots of free music. That is of course unless the listener prefers a particular morning show banter or entertainment factor around the talk, but talent talking up a vocal or just needless self or station promotional banter is frowned upon."
I strongly disagree. About 25 years ago I was involved in turning on a Super Soft AC station that was going to play a lot of New Age (smooth jazz) too. The owner-operator couldn't seem to pull the trigger on one or the other format so he tried to compromise! Because he was cheap he also didn't want any jocks, thinking the format was like Beautiful Music. Until we got up and running I agreed. So after two books (this was a medium-major ranked market, Top 25) the ratinngs are pretty lousy. So I set up focus groups to ask, whats up? You know what the number one complaint was? We talk too much.
Folks, didn't I tell you the stations was jockless, I maen completely jockless? We didn't even have a morning show, though the sister AM News guy would do 2 minutes of news in morning drive and put the weather on cart (back then you had these spinning machines) for the day.
So there was not talk, and still people complained about talk?
What gives? I am convinced people were complaining about our advertising (our spot load). It wasn't too bad. 10-14 spots an hour.
So remember the next time you hear people say "listeners hate talk", take it with a grain of salt! A completely jockless (no morning show) got the same complaint!
BTW - I finally got the owner to put a great vet in the market on in the mornings and I carried 3 hours in PM and the ratings went up......we talked more......and more people listened! I got out of there ASAP when other problems arose, but it was a solid learning experience.
I strongly disagree. About 25 years ago I was involved in turning on a Super Soft AC station that was going to play a lot of New Age (smooth jazz) too. The owner-operator couldn't seem to pull the trigger on one or the other format so he tried to compromise! Because he was cheap he also didn't want any jocks, thinking the format was like Beautiful Music. Until we got up and running I agreed. So after two books (this was a medium-major ranked market, Top 25) the ratinngs are pretty lousy. So I set up focus groups to ask, whats up? You know what the number one complaint was? We talk too much.
Folks, didn't I tell you the stations was jockless, I maen completely jockless? We didn't even have a morning show, though the sister AM News guy would do 2 minutes of news in morning drive and put the weather on cart (back then you had these spinning machines) for the day.
So there was not talk, and still people complained about talk?
What gives? I am convinced people were complaining about our advertising (our spot load). It wasn't too bad. 10-14 spots an hour.
So remember the next time you hear people say "listeners hate talk", take it with a grain of salt! A completely jockless (no morning show) got the same complaint!
BTW - I finally got the owner to put a great vet in the market on in the mornings and I carried 3 hours in PM and the ratings went up......we talked more......and more people listened! I got out of there ASAP when other problems arose, but it was a solid learning experience.
B
bill_mcneil
Guest
It's successful because it's cheap. You don't have to hire talent or board ops.
Just have the engineer setup automation and let it roll!
It works because it's friendly to the budget. Sad to say...
Just have the engineer setup automation and let it roll!
It works because it's friendly to the budget. Sad to say...
radioray said:
Geez, sorry my reply was so delayed. I hadn't checked back on this thread for a while.
With all due respect as a peer, that was admittedly 25 years ago. Sure there were CD's and cassette tapes as your main competition back then, but radio was still...radio. At least for major markets, we now have a more arguable accurate listener measuring method with PPM and PPM seems to be a game changer in that regard. Our competition has increased five-fold in 25 years with the advent of IPods and to a limited extent, satellite and streaming.
The whole discussion on the thread was why the Jack format has been successful since PPM started after having been declared DOA by some in the industry. For the Jack stations that held out, it looks like more music and less talk has been a winner so far. It appears that the research finally aligns with the actual listener results. What the listeners were saying over and over in research was indeed what they wanted.
It's not about having or not having DJs. Several of the highest rated Adult Hits (Jack type) stations
have personalities. Bob-FMs in Austin and Norfolk, Arch in St. Louis, most of the Canadian stations, and many others have at least some jocks.
Adult Hits is the oldies format for 35 to 50 year olds. A large, researched playlist of familiar songs, and well written and targeted imaging. No secret. Everybody likes Jack, sometimes. Big cume equals ratings in the PPM methodology.
have personalities. Bob-FMs in Austin and Norfolk, Arch in St. Louis, most of the Canadian stations, and many others have at least some jocks.
Adult Hits is the oldies format for 35 to 50 year olds. A large, researched playlist of familiar songs, and well written and targeted imaging. No secret. Everybody likes Jack, sometimes. Big cume equals ratings in the PPM methodology.
Wonderfulwino said:
If I want talk radio I listen to something meaningful such as Progressive AM1090. Most talking done on music stations is just a bunch of banal drivvel. I like the JACK format because of the diverse variety of music and they don't repeat the same songs throughout the day like some of the other local stations.
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