My opinion is this:
1. All JACK FMTM's are not created equal. I've listened in to the New York Jack, Dallas Jack, the San Diego Jack, the ABC JACK, and the online JACK from Sparknet. I also have gone to San Antonio to hear the San Antonio JACK. All use the same imaging, all use the same "YOU" Jingle pack from TM Centuray, and all are consulted by the same group of people. BUT, they all don't have the same music. The San Diego JACK sounded much more AC than I expected, as did the San Antonio JACK, while the New York Jack had more of a Classic Hits sound the day I listened.
That said, all are targeted towards my demographic, 34 to whatever... I look forward to it ony because its another outlet for me to hear the music that's on Kool98 or Stars, but without having to sit through older or softer music that I don't care for. Still, I'd much rather have a Rhythemic Oldies type station like Movin' or Jamin' Oldies, because that is the music that I like more. Still good to have.
The downside is that none of the American JACK FMTM's have DJ's after the morning shift, and some do not have any at all. I think this is a mistake, and in my opinion, a bit of a departure from the original concept at the Original JACK which DOES have jocks. Then there's the fact that it will be a networked Jack, not local, although the lack of live voices to begin with will probably make that less apparent. It will be intresting to see if there will be any cut-ins from sister NewsRadio1420.
Which brings up another issue... Not having live voices takes away one element that I actually listen to radio for, a live voice. If I did not want to hear a live voice, I would just put on my MP3 player and set it to shuffle. So in that respect, I'm not sure what the point is.
A negative for the Lubbock station, KLVT 105.3, is that I am not convinced it will have a strong enough signal for anyone to noticed it; and it already has a strike against it becuase it is a move-in, and I do not expect the ownership to be heavy on promotion. (The new owner is a tight with money, promotion costs money, and is something that sister 1420 does very little of).
I also do not think anyone here sees it as a threat, since if they did, we would probably already have some other Variety Hits station (Bob, Mike, Ben, etc) jumping on the air to beat JACK to it. Compare that to Boston where CBS was all ready to go with JACK FMTM, and Entercom threw the switch on MIKE FM... That was the end of the the Jack possiblity in Boston. So far, that is not the case here.
