WCBS-FM to dump Jack?

[PaulO]

allaccess.com is reporting that WCBS-FM in New York will return to oldies next week. They site a well placed source plus a report in a business paper in New York. Has any one heard this?

 

[CW]

But a move back to 70/80s oldies instead of 50-70s is likely......thats ALMOST a Jack playlist....

 

[Garrett]

I think the loss of the name CBS FM was indeed a mistake. However I also think that music that JACK plays is good, as is the concept. I really like the Classic Hits based format, but too many stations blur the line between the two, and who wants to sit through doowap music to hear Sly and the Family stone or the Eagles? So I like the JACK, and when CBS FM comes back (if it's all true), the name and the image will be the only thing new (I expect).

You gotta wonder if JACK is really done in New York, or will CBS move them to another frequency. Or, will somebody else in the maket jump at the chance to have a JACK FMTM?

Gotta wonder....

 

[4dude]

Report: WCBS-FM going back to oldies

Im glad they finally saw the errors in thier ways! (I knew there was a reason they kept this format going all along )

 

[AZJoe]

I think the loss of the name CBS FM was indeed a mistake. However I also think that music that JACK plays is good, as is the concept. I really like the Classic Hits based format, but too many stations blur the line between the two, and who wants to sit through doowap music to hear Sly and the Family stone or the Eagles? So I like the JACK, and when CBS FM comes back (if it's all true), the name and the image will be the only thing new (I expect).

You gotta wonder if JACK is really done in New York, or will CBS move them to another frequency. Or, will somebody else in the maket jump at the chance to have a JACK FMTM?

Gotta wonder....

Jack plays no doo wop- ever!!

 

[PaulO]

I think the loss of the name CBS FM was indeed a mistake. However I also think that music that JACK plays is good, as is the concept. I really like the Classic Hits based format, but too many stations blur the line between the two, and who wants to sit through doowap music to hear Sly and the Family stone or the Eagles? So I like the JACK, and when CBS FM comes back (if it's all true), the name and the image will be the only thing new (I expect).

You gotta wonder if JACK is really done in New York, or will CBS move them to another frequency. Or, will somebody else in the maket jump at the chance to have a JACK FMTM?

Gotta wonder....

Jack plays no doo wop- ever!!

Whatever happens; It's over on WCBS-FM at 101.M EDT on Thursday.

 

[4dude]

Its gonna suck.........

I thought it was gonna be the ORIGINAL "GOLDEN OLDIES" format (50s - 70s)

Nothing special........

 

[cadillacjack]

As to what WCBS-FM will sound like: probably a very updated classic hits station with a small number of DJs.

Why does JACK-FM have to move off the FM channel and take over HD2 on 101.1? For the same reason I said two years ago...it was the wrong station to blow up. On 92.3FM (KROCK), it would have replaced the alt rock that wasn't getting an audience after Stern's show ended every morning. Six months later, JACK would have been 24/7 and CBS wouldn't have spent all that money on FREE-FM to drop THAT format a little over a year later. 'CBS-FM is considered "sacred ground" and the JACK format in NY has been haunted since it "killed Cousin Brucie" in 2005.

It worked like that on WBUF and on 93.7 in Sacramento, a station that was called HOWARD 93.7.

Even Dan Mason is saying nice things about the format and WHY he felt he needed to do the "re-flip":

http://www.forbes.com/media/2007/07/09/radio-arbitron-wcbs-biz-media-cx-lh_0709wcbs.html

 

[Australian Whine]

Why does JACK-FM have to move off the FM channel and take over HD2 on 101.1? For the same reason I said two years ago...it was the wrong station to blow up.

Jack says it was the wrong station. It sure couldn't have been the programming. Chin up Jack. At least you're still growing in Missoula, Kodiak, and Steamboat Springs. Hope ya been savin' your cash.

 

[davideduardo]

Jack says it was the wrong station. It sure couldn't have been the programming. Chin up Jack. At least you're still growing in Missoula, Kodiak, and Steamboat Springs. Hope ya been savin' your cash.

And #1 25-54 non-Hispanic station in LA, which is a bigger revenue market than NY.

 

[Australian Whine]

Jack says it was the wrong station. It sure couldn't have been the programming. Chin up Jack. At least you're still growing in Missoula, Kodiak, and Steamboat Springs. Hope ya been savin' your cash.

And #1 25-54 non-Hispanic station in LA, which is a bigger revenue market than NY.

Spin away, David. Jack failed in New York City. Period. Looks to me like Jack can't make it everywhere.

As for L.A., look no further than Rick Dees to learn that nothing will last forever.

Remind me David. Where has our friend Jack launched - outside of a small market - in the past year?

As radio asks, "what have you done for me lately?"

 

[cadillacjack]

Hey drongo, how's your format going?

 

[Australian Whine]

Hey drongo, how's your format going?

Just the answer I'd expect from you. Ain't google grand?

Allow me to point out something clearly obvious to even the most fleeting of readers. There's fear in that reply, Jack. Because fear is all you have left.

David, I respect. You, I don't. Jack-FM was nothing original. Nothing creative. Nothing but damaging to our industry.

You failed in New York. The slippery slope has been reached. It's all down hill from here.

Our industry is moving on. Moving on without you. Thank the radio gods.

 

[sfradio]

jack would of probably do better on 102.7 too

 

[mikesingh]

Hey drongo, how's your format going?

Just the answer I'd expect from you. Ain't google grand?

Allow me to point out something clearly obvious to even the most fleeting of readers. There's fear in that reply, Jack. Because fear is all you have left.

David, I respect. You, I don't. Jack-FM was nothing original. Nothing creative. Nothing but damaging to our industry.

You failed in New York. The slippery slope has been reached. It's all down hill from here.

Our industry is moving on. Moving on without you. Thank the radio gods.

You know what I hear in your post? Jealousy.

Jack G. never said that JACK was the remedy to radio. The many people who write articles on the format and such tried to spin it that way. Jack G. never failed in NY. CBS Radio's take on the JACK format is what failed because CBS Radio doesn't know how to program and handle the format in this market.

If JACK really did "fail", why is it experiencing success in markets all over? (big AND small ones)...and why is the format still holding it's own in most of the Canadian markets where it's been for almost 4-5 years now? That's right, because Rogers (unlike CBS) can actually handle the JACK format. Also, the fact there has been no new JACK stations in major markets is mainly due to the fact that JACK IS ALREADY on in most major markets. Most of the ones that don't have a JACK have a JACK-like station (Bob FM, Ben FM, Mike FM, Abe FM, Doug FM, Jill FM, etc)

If JACK is really the failure you make it out to be, why would a radio company in the UK license the format for some of their stations over there?

The JACK FM format shook up radio as we know it. Never in recent radio history was there anything to catch fire within the industry as JACK FM did.

Jack G. did not intend to create a format to "take over" radio... he made a nice Internet stream which got people's attention... the name and slogan were then licensed out... and those individual stations put their own spin on the format. Whether or not Jack was involved with any of those stations I can't say because I don't know.

I'd like to see what radio format you could come up with... and match half of the success Jack G./Sparknet have had with the JACK format.

 

[in3media_be1]

Some of the posts from this thread have been moved to TAKE IT OUTSIDE

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,76027.0.html

 

[davideduardo]

Spin away, David. Jack failed in New York City. Period. Looks to me like Jack can't make it everywhere.

Actually, the billing was higher last month than the old format went out with, projected to 2007. The issues were more PR than revenue. The station was top 10 25-54, and showing bits of growth.

As for L.A., look no further than Rick Dees to learn that nothing will last forever.

Rick lasted over 20 years with big success. Two decades is forever in radio. How many Top 50 market FM music radio stations have been #1 for 20 years? The answer is "one" and it is in a top 15 market. Otherwise, nothing lasts forever. Jack has lots of life left, but is probably not a "decade long" proposition.

Remind me David. Where has our friend Jack launched - outside of a small market - in the past year?

According to the sales rep for the mark, they are up to 41 markets in the US now and doing well in nearly all of them.

 

[Australian Whine]

The station was top 10 25-54, and showing bits of growth.

First, my thanks for the respectful reply, David. I probably didn't deserve it. But no semantics, please. "Bits" clearly wasn't enough for CBS. "Bits" clearly didn't meet the needed projections. In NYC, "bits" was clearly out-programmed, out-promoted, out-sold.

If Jack remains such a valid brand - if, as the fans claim, it would have done so much better on another frequency - why wasn't it moved to one? I'll gamble to say that in the long term, CBS reads Fresh and K-Rock as far safer and better performing bets.

Otherwise, nothing lasts forever. Jack has lots of life left, but is probably not a "decade long" proposition.

And here, IMHO, is where Jack's arrogance and smarm was its most offensive.

David, you know that Jack-FM was nothing new. Nothing original. Just another repackaging of the same ol' anti-radio swagger that's been around since FM discovered rock and roll.

Yet, Perry and his sycophants have played the "we're special - we're unique" game to the hilt. As if their ride on the radio roller coaster was never going to end. All the while, rubbing it in the noses of those listeners who were disenfranchised by the latest manager buying Perry's snake-oil.

Both you and I know, David, that they've topped that first hill on the coaster. And while there may be a few cheap thrills on those smaller hills yet to come, it's never going to be quite what it was for Bob Perry's rather lacking Jack character.

"Nothing lasts forever."

Jack *will* reach the end of the ride. To be escorted from the platform, and sent off to buy a few left over cut rate souvenirs. While radio moves on with whoever the next golden-boy flash-in-the-pan format-d' jour-creator is. Like a lot of talented, and untalented, people in radio's past.

Yeah. As cruel as I sound, I'm LMAO at Jack's failure in NYC. Like I will when he hits the final end of the ride. Maybe, just maybe, he's beginning to realize that it's not going to last forever. Just maybe, a little fear is setting in. Like I've said, I hope he's banked his money. Anyone who can do the job Jack has on radio and its listeners deserves it.

According to the sales rep for the mark, they are up to 41 markets in the US now and doing well in nearly all of them.

Do you really expect their sales rep to offer anything but? Please, David. You're wiser and more experienced than that. And again, where's the growth outside of the small market ABC affils? Point it out, please. I'd love to see just where.

--------------------

While I have the soapbox...let's answer a few questions from the fans in the crowd.

First, the classic chestnut of "how's your format?"

- Just fine, thank you. You see, I learned long, long ago to not hitch my wagon onto a format d' jour horse like Jack. In NYC, my format has lasted a whole lot longer than two years. Yes sir. My format is doing just fine!

Second, as for success in Canada, or expansion to the U.K?

- Ever heard not to compare apples and oranges? This is the U.S.A. Different ownership, different regulations. Let's keep the subject focused here. But just for laughs, you might want to remember that German's love David Hasselhoff.

Third, Jack is already in most markets?

- As David said, only in 41. As for all those Peaks, and Arches, and Louies? Ever wondered just why those owners went with their own game plan, and didn't buy into Jack's snake oil? Or did you ever wonder why, short of perhaps the booming radio mecca of Knoxville, there's no Jack going head to head with those Earls, Bobs or Mikes?

Sure. Perry is such a swell guy that he has some gentleman's agreement to not compete? Nope. I'll guess that it's more that he knows that he *can't* compete. And owners know full well that his game plan can't hold up head to head. Not worth the money. No ROI.

And finally, if anyone thinks that Jack-FM "shook up radio as we know it," you clearly need a solid history lesson about the industry - from someone other than Sparknet.

As for me? I'm done. Sorry to have forced the ever rockin' mods to TIO this thread. Looking forward to the laugh I'll get when Oldiescat calls me a "bitter beer face." Peace. Out.