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Jack "off" again.

S

shoreliner

Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's favorite) format
JACK-FM looks like a pancake. It croaked in New York and is off in LA.
How long will we continue to endure this small-market format? Just wondering.
 
> And everytime the cheap corporate suits think about how much
> money they're saving without jocks, that's exactly what they
> do.
>

I love the format... Chicago's ain't bad, nor are the stations across the US bad. I LOVE the music. However, the average person seems to not like hearing The Bee Gees into Pearl Jam into Fleetwood Mac into Ozzy. I really don't know...

Also, as I am "moving up" in radio, while still attending school, I am starting to notice the importance of NOT having all stations Jack. If I will have any future in radio, then things SHOULDN'T all be Jack like. I hope things DON'T turn out this way, I LOVE radio.<P ID="signature">______________


Moderator, Community Radio board</P>
 
> Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's
> favorite) format
> JACK-FM looks like a pancake. It croaked in New York and is
> off in LA.
> How long will we continue to endure this small-market
> format? Just wondering.
>
are you talking about the 12+ books? you should hardly be looking at those numbers to see how they are doing. how about the other books?<P ID="signature">______________
http://natedoggairchecks.6x.to/
xxnate_doggxx (at) myway (dot) com</P>
 
> Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's
> favorite) format
> JACK-FM looks like a pancake. It croaked in New York and is
> off in LA.
> How long will we continue to endure this small-market
> format? Just wondering.
>
Seems pretty average (although lower) then the average Jack station. Probably doing at least OK in their demo.

Earlier they tweaked the playlist to make it pretty much ALL 70s-80s. As of this past weekend they're back to playing 90s-Current stuff. They just hired a new PD. We'll see what happens as time goes by.

P.S. The processing stinks. But probably because they want to make it sound more like an MP3 player/I-Pod.<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> And everytime the cheap corporate suits think about how much
> money they're saving without jocks, that's exactly what they
> do.
>


Maybe I'm naive, but I honestly don't think saving money was the main reason CBS flipped so many stations to JACK. That company has many stations with full airstaffs. Being jockless seems more like a by-product of JACK, I would guess more VH stations will eventually add some air talent in the future.

As for the ratings, there does seem to be a pattern where JACK stations come on with a bang and then slowly decline from there. Fortunatley, many of the JACK stations debut at very high levels so they can stand some erosion for awhile.

The Chicago JACK is underperforming compared to most of it's counterparts across the country. But their new PD John Sebastion is known as the "turnaround king". He has a great track record of ratings success in a wide variety of formats. He may have some tricks under his sleeve to make Jack a winner in Chicago. Maybe he will even find ways to help other Jack stations have more longevity. Then again, if he can't do it, WJMKs window of opportunity may pass them by.
 
Re: Jack "up" again.

> Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's
> favorite) format
> JACK-FM looks like a pancake.

Actually, Jack is already above the 2004 levels for 25-54 of the oldies format. They will probably be able to increase sales next year based on a nice multi-book average going into 2006.

> It croaked in New York

It had a moderate and nice increase in NY... and 25-54 is getting close to that of CBS FM

> and is
> off in LA.

Only slightly. What happened in NY is that every year Arbitron adjusts the population, and the increase in Hispanic populaiton hurt all the non-ehtnic stations (except the Christmas music on KOST). KCBS is the #1 non-ethnic 25-54 station in LA outside of the KOST Christmas pop.


> How long will we continue to endure this small-market
> format? Just wondering.

Long time, as it will evolve and grow.
>
 
> And everytime the cheap corporate suits think about how much
> money they're saving without jocks, that's exactly what they
> do.

That barely makes a dent in overall station budgets in this kind of station at this kind of billing level.
>
 
Re: Jack "up" again.

> > Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's
> > favorite) format
> > JACK-FM looks like a pancake.
>
> Actually, Jack is already above the 2004 levels for 25-54 of
> the oldies format. They will probably be able to increase
> sales next year based on a nice multi-book average going
> into 2006.

I guess it depends on how you define "pancake". If you compare all of 2004 to all of 2005, there is exactly a 0.1 share increase 25-54 overall for 2005. That's as close to "flat" as you can get without drawing a straight line, and well within statistical error.

Factor in the slow but steady DECLINE in 25-54 each month since the bump they got with the new Jack format in the summer book, plus the more dramatic declines 12+ and most other demos (except 18-34, which is showing some growth) and things don't look quite so rosy...
 
Re: Jack "up" again.

> > Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's
> > favorite) format
> > JACK-FM looks like a pancake.
>
> Actually, Jack is already above the 2004 levels for 25-54 of
> the oldies format. They will probably be able to increase
> sales next year based on a nice multi-book average going
> into 2006.
>
> > It croaked in New York
>
> It had a moderate and nice increase in NY... and 25-54 is
> getting close to that of CBS FM
>
> > and is
> > off in LA.
>
> Only slightly. What happened in NY is that every year
> Arbitron adjusts the population, and the increase in
> Hispanic populaiton hurt all the non-ehtnic stations (except
> the Christmas music on KOST). KCBS is the #1 non-ethnic
> 25-54 station in LA outside of the KOST Christmas pop.
>
>
> > How long will we continue to endure this small-market
> > format? Just wondering.
>
> Long time, as it will evolve and grow.
> >

Face it. It's a small market format.
 
Re: Jack "up" again.

>
> Face it. It's a small market format.
>

And this would by why it is the #1 non-Hispanic 25-54 format in LA (except December alone) nearly since it went on the air?
 
Re: Jack "up" again.

> >
> > Face it. It's a small market format.
> >
>
> And this would by why it is the #1 non-Hispanic 25-54 format
> in LA (except December alone) nearly since it went on the
> air?
>

And this is Chicago not LA, with a different Hispanic demo and percentage.

Question here is, WHY is it not catching up in speed in other markets like NYC, Chicago? Also, Chicago Jack is starting to pull away on WJMK musically compared to other Jack's elsewhere.<P ID="signature">______________

"Z"
Music Coordinator/Technical Support</P>
 
Re: Jack "up" again.

> > >
> > > Face it. It's a small market format.
> > >
> >
> > And this would by why it is the #1 non-Hispanic 25-54
> format
> > in LA (except December alone) nearly since it went on the
> > air?
> >
>
> And this is Chicago not LA, with a different Hispanic demo
> and percentage.
>
> Question here is, WHY is it not catching up in speed in
> other markets like NYC, Chicago? Also, Chicago Jack is
> starting to pull away on WJMK musically compared to other
> Jack's elsewhere.

Good question. I understand they did local research in each market (I know... research is in the interpretation) to adapt it.

Jack has very little Hispanic appeal. It significantly underindexes against Hispanics in LA (23% of cume vs. a market that is 43% Hispanic) so it should do better in markets that are less Hispanic, like Chicago and NY.

Personally, a station with clever liners and phoners is kind of lacking.

The key in LA is Kevin Weatherly. They have very good production guys there all day, and they use phoners to give life to the station... some are related to the song they just played. I think KCBS FM is significantly better due to him. f course, I have always been biased, as I think he is one of the country's best PDs, even though I have never met him.
 
> > Another book rolls by and once again the venerable (GM's
> > favorite) format
> > JACK-FM looks like a pancake. It croaked in New York and
> is
> > off in LA.
> > How long will we continue to endure this small-market
> > format? Just wondering.
> >
> Seems pretty average (although lower) then the average Jack
> station. Probably doing at least OK in their demo.
>
> Earlier they tweaked the playlist to make it pretty much ALL
> 70s-80s. As of this past weekend they're back to playing
> 90s-Current stuff. They just hired a new PD. We'll see what
> happens as time goes by.

The place I ate lunch at today plays Jack. While I was there, I heard two 70s songs almost back-to-back ("I Shot the Sheriff" and John Mellencamp's "I Need a Lover") with "Get Back" and Jewel's "Hands." FWIW.

And for the kneejerk no-jocks complaint--remember, they're still paying Greg Brown, Fred Winston, Dick Biondi and others to do the HD2 shifts and cut spots as their contracts wear down. So it's not exactly like they're saving a lot of money on talent.
 
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