Would jockless variety work?

[Tee Man 82]

Anyone think with the sterile direction so many stations are heading in that a "we play everything" type format like Mike in Boston might work for someone. Totally jockless with no pretenses of being anything but an ipod that appeals to all of the people some of the time?

 

[Numo]

Anyone think with the sterile direction so many stations are heading in that a "we play everything" type format like Mike in Boston might work for someone. Totally jockless with no pretenses of being anything but an ipod that appeals to all of the people some of the time?

Not for me and here is why. Radio needs to think outside the box they are getting into or get back to basics to where they were successful. Ask yourself these simple questions. If you were inclined to listen to a jockless ipod as you put it, I would just get an ipod and it would appeal to me all of the time.

Radio has to set itself apart from everything else. It is why i hate when they syndicate everything. If I wanted to listen to a syndicated show or a show that is not catered to my immediate area it is much better for me to listen to Satalite where I dont have to listen to commercials. It is unfortunate the direction that radio is going but I dont see it being uber successful for them. Dont get me wrong radio stations are not going away but I think they will just get more and more venilla as time goes on.

 

[Moonstruck]

With very little happening in the Providence market in terms of anything new happening in radio I think this kind of format might make a splash. What would happen in the long run is another matter. MIKE-FM is 11th in the Boston PPM but that's 12 plus. Still, it must be working out for them or by now they would have flipped. It's a matter of who in Providence would need to flip and before anyone says Coast, a variety station would be too much competition for B101 in the same cluster.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Although it's a nice little luxury...99.7 is not really essential as a simulcast partner for 630. Given that 630 has...hands down...the BEST AM signal in the market, it doesn't really "need" a simulcast partner. So...If I were Citadel, I would try jockless variety on 99.7. After all...it's a low overhead operation, so what would they have to lose?

Another possibility would be IF (and this is one heck of a big IF).....WJFD were to find a place on the AM dial to park the Portuguese language programming (790?....920?....a fixed-up 990?)....thereby freeing up 97.3 for something in English. It would be the perfect place for a newly-converted English-speaking 97.3 to start.

Aside from these two possibilities...I really don't see much else out there.

 

[Skynet74]

I Love jockless radio. When 99.7 The Edge was here in the mid 90's, people were talking about it being the best station on the dial! I loved it! But then they made the mistake of adding jocks and then the ratings declined. They should have stayed jockless and they may have still been around today.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

I guess it depends on the market, but I hate jockless radio and I am very glad to see there is no more Jack fm in my neck of the woods.

They tried the whole "no dj" thing and it failed sooooo bad, it's not even funny!

I happen to enjoy hearing a music formatted station that employs someone to entertain the listener in some unique way that reminds us all that we're not listening to an iPod.

(and I DO mean radio personalities, not 1 voice over guy just trying to be funny. lol)

 

[DToTheJ]

When 99.7 The Edge was here in the mid 90's, people were talking about it being the best station on the dial! I loved it! But then they made the mistake of adding jocks and then the ratings declined...

I believe their predecessor "The Beat" worked in the same fashion, and with miniscule stopsets. "Just one commercial and then you're back on the beat!"

And for argument's sake, didn't The Edge always have at least one "jock" (Mancow)?

 

[Skynet74]

Mancow wasn't on The Edge until it was around for a while. In it's original form the station didn't have any jocks at all. That is when it was at it's best.

 

[Runrigger]

I like the unpredictability of Mike's format but even though I'm not an impatient person who constantly fishes around to hear a song I want to sit through, I'm more apt to be that way with a format like that. When I'm listening to a station with an actual music format I know there's a better chance I'll like the next song. With Mike there's always the danger the next song will be something off the wall, although those songs are probably few & far between. Their imaging is clever & the last I heard, they were sticking with one main identifiable voice for the station but I still don't like jockless radio.

 

[ScottBurns]

Mancow wasn't on The Edge until it was around for a while. In it's original form the station didn't have any jocks at all. That is when it was at it's best.

Actually, the Edge was jockless only during its start-up during the early summer of 1995. By the end of that summer, the station was fully staffed, including, I believe, live overnights. Nic Carter, prior to returning to Boston, even worked mornings before Mancow was on the station. Other jocks included "Johnny Anonymous" and "Diana Dax." The latter also worked at WGBH at one point...

 

[wknd92]

I was thinking about this a while ago and didn't think so; but seeing as even at #11 in Boston still pulling a decent 12+ number and a very large *** (If I am not mistaken, #7 in the market), it might be something that CC plays around with at B or Coast when they do their next "tweak", which should be coming in 2 months when Thanksgiving rolls around.

 

[DToTheJ]

There is a significant letter missing in the above post. I'm not going to say where, though...

 

[rapking]

but seeing as even at #11 in Boston still pulling a decent 12+ number and a very large ***

L O L !!!!!!!!!

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

There you have it folks!!... Reply #10 is proof that radio really IS a "stimulating" business...LOL.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

But seriously now! ...back to the topic at hand......Will "Jockless Variety" work?

Well.....for lack of anything else to do with its air time....it seems that 990 WALE has kinda "stumbled" into the format. It's kind of a "half-baked" version of the variety format...but it's there.

Just give a listen...the place sounds like it's literally being run off of somebody's ipod set on "shuffle"...LOL.

Will it work?....We'll find out soon enough...LOL.

 

[MissAM]

It might work if there was an organization to it. Like morning rock, noon classical, afternoon jazz. What WALE is doing now it too schizophrenic for me!
What about an information station... like shows on cleaning tips, car repair tips, health tips... but just the info and no call ins. The call ins get so boring with the same callers in an endless loop...

 

[MissAM]

It might work if there was an organization to it. Like morning rock, noon classical, afternoon jazz. What WALE is doing now it too schizophrenic for me!
What about an information station... like shows on cleaning tips, car repair tips, health tips... but just the info and no call ins. The call ins get so boring with the same callers in an endless loop...

 

[riradio02842]

Mancow wasn't on The Edge until it was around for a while. In it's original form the station didn't have any jocks at all. That is when it was at it's best.

Actually, the Edge was jockless only during its start-up during the early summer of 1995. By the end of that summer, the station was fully staffed, including, I believe, live overnights. Nic Carter, prior to returning to Boston, even worked mornings before Mancow was on the station. Other jocks included "Johnny Anonymous" and "Diana Dax." The latter also worked at WGBH at one point...

99.7 The Edge was a great station. It probably would have stuck around much longer if it didn't have to compete with WBRU. Personally, I don't remember a jock overnights, but I do remember the others you mentioned. But what really made that station, besides the music, was the station imaging, featuring Red Decker.

 

[ScottBurns]

The Edge also debuted during what was arguably the height of the Alternative music phenomenon. Certainly, that helped their initial numbers. Unfortunately, the station never stuck to a consistent format; they went Active Rock and even AOR-ish before settling back into Alternative music. The Providence market, we learned, just could not support two Alternative outlets, especially one with a weak signal.

 

[wknd92]

The Edge also debuted during what was arguably the height of the Alternative music phenomenon. Certainly, that helped their initial numbers. Unfortunately, the station never stuck to a consistent format; they went Active Rock and even AOR-ish before settling back into Alternative music. The Providence market, we learned, just could not support two Alternative outlets, especially one with a weak signal.

And Pro-FM leaning heavily Alternative/Grunge at the time, too (along w/ WHJY) gave people more options and hurt the bottom line at 99.7.