About a year ago a lot of people on this board dismissed my claims that commercial radio had better wake-up. Please see the article below.


You Don't Know Jack? Programmers Aim to Introduce Listeners to an Eclectic New Format

By Marc Fisher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 2, 2005; Page N02

Radio, losing a generation of listeners to music downloading and facing threats from satellite and Internet radio, is finally starting to fight back. The nation's biggest radio companies are responding to a grousing and mercurial audience by cutting the number of commercials per hour, expanding the range of music played on the air and experimenting with new formats.

This past year brought four new kinds of stations, none of which has yet made it to Washington. They're still too new for meaningful ratings results, but all are catching on to one degree or another as radio programmers search for ways to regain their share of American ears.



Worried about losing listeners, the industry has rolled out several new formats, including Jack, whose playlist ranges from Rage Against the Machine to the Beatles to LL Cool J. (Suzanne Plunkett -- AP)

_____Free E-mail Newsletters_____

• Washington Entertainment Guide
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Movies
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Travel
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Home & Shopping
See a Sample | Sign Up Now





All of them share a theme of eclecticism:

• Jack (or Bob or Dave or, even more oddly, Nine) is a format that promises to relieve listener frustration over narrow playlists and break down some of the rigid categories that FM music stations have built up over the past quarter- century. Born in Vancouver and nurtured throughout Canada, Jack is a rock-pop hybrid, a broad format that uses a 3,000-song playlist ranging from '60s rock to current hits, including tunes that most programmers would segregate among classic rock, alternative, hard rock, contemporary hits or even country stations. Jack stations often sell themselves as "Songs You Can't Hear on the Radio," and they've revived a slew of late '70s and early '80s rock hits that are too new for classic-rock stations and too old for more hit-oriented formats.

On a typical hour of a Jack station, you might hear a series of segues that traditional radio programmers would consider one car wreck after another: the Beatles, LL Cool J, Talking Heads, Rage Against the Machine, Moody Blues, U2 and Madonna.

• A quieter eclecticism is heard on the new breed of Chill stations. Most of these are former "smooth jazz" outlets that are looking for ways to appeal to a younger audience and finally get some of the electronica and trance sounds that have been around for years onto the radio. The sound was first tried full time in Santa Fe, N.M., and on Sirius Satellite Radio, and it won its first big-city venue in November, when New York City's smooth-jazz "CD 101.9" rechristened itself New York Chill. A typical hour on the station retains much of the old smooth-jazz vibe (George Benson, Boney James, the Doobie Brothers' "Minute by Minute") but devotes about a third of its time to down-tempo acid- jazz and electronic sounds (Frou Frou, Massive Attack, Praful, Bugge Wesseltoft). The more adventuresome version of the format, as played on Sirius's Chill channel, features electronica, rock and down-tempo hip-hop, with music by Dido, Dr. Dre, Moby, Groove Armada and Coldplay.

• The other new music format is really an adaptation of programming that was a radio mainstay from the 1960s through the '80s. The old adult standards format was heavy on Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee but also featured plenty of elevator music. The new version, pioneered on "Red," WRDA-FM in St. Louis, retains enough of the Bennett, Ray Charles and Bobby Darin sound to feel classy but is also a showcase for younger performers whose melodic approach has a considerable audience but no steady presence on the radio: Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Queen Latifah (who just released an album of classic pop and soul tunes) and Brian Setzer.

Alas, none of these formats can be heard on Washington broadcast radio. The one new format that is headed this way is also an attempt at diversifying radio's offerings:

• Later this month, Clear Channel will convert its Sports Talk 1260 WRC-AM to the liberal political talk that Air America is selling as an alternative to the nation's most popular talk shows, most of which have a conservative bent. The new WRC will bring Al Franken and other liberal talkers to this market, albeit to a station with a weak signal.

Too late Luther!!! Toooo late.....
[Edited 1/4/05 8:14am]

odyssey too true...radio as we know it (or knew it, really) is totally on its death knell.

thanx, clear channel! [sarcastic][/sarcastic]

i love my xm radio and would recommend everyone getting it..it rocks!!

sosgemini said:

But remember Stern is coming to Sirus, so if you hate him, get XM and if you love him (or now of days, like him) get Sirus.

The "jack" format reminds me of the best station I've ever experienced. Mpls used to have a station "Rev" which was an FM station that was so adventurous. They'd play early Prince, They'd spin some James Brown, they'd play the current alterna-tracks, they'd play interesting 'classics' by actually digging out non-single tracks by long time bands such as the Cure, Smiths, Depeche Mode, etc.

It's be nice to have this varied of a format back on commercial radio. Sadly, I have little faith this trend will last for long.

sosgemini said:

i've been thinkin about gettin satellite radio. there's only like 3 radio stations that i listen to, and they're all the indie-type (read: not in clear channel's grubby little mitts) stations. seems that even those are growin somewhat redundant, too.

ain't the equipment sorta expensive to buy?

sosgemini said:

A good friend (who has XM) and I were just discussing satellite radio last night. After he ran down the laundry list of features, the choice became pretty obvious. (I hear you VinnyM27. Not only will Sirius have Stern, but they've got all the NFL and NCAA games. XM does have Naaaashcar, though. )

endorphin74 said:

mpls needs a free-form radio station.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Y'all should know that anytime Mpls gets a good station, it's gonna be gone soon thereafter: Rev was aweseome, V105 was awesome. They don't last here. Radio in general sucks. That's why I don't listen to it anymore.

I'm not really interested in Sirius or XM at this point. Maybe that will change. For now, I'm really happy with the $3/month I pay for the launch.com stations!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

i got it free when i bought my new honda accord v6...i got three months of service and hated it....until a friend showed me how many substations are within the mainstations...so you have specific categories like "dance", "news", "urban" and dozens and dozens of stations within each of those....so under "urban" i have found a quincy jones station that he hosts....a motown themed station....hard core rap (which i dont listen to unless my nephew is riding around with me)....there is a contemperary r&b station that plays meshell, angie stone, van hunt and a host of people i had never heard of..thats what sold me right there for life..i love that station.....they freaken played a life version of "im diggin you"..i almost fainted while driving...

OdysseyMiles said:

i do not do it for talk..i do it for the music....so i could care less about stern or anyone else they have bought...if i want talk i will listen to my beloved NPR...

oh oh oh...and dont start me on the House channel...

:swoon:


dansa, its worth it..dont know how much the cost is to buy a stereo with it..but its worth it....

sosgemini said:

Yeah, the choices you get with satellite are stunning. They even have comedy stations.
Handclaps, I think the equipment goes for a little over $100, and the subscription is like, $13/month. I have heard about $500 lifetime subscriptions too. That pays for itself in about 3 and a half years.
I'm in no hurry to get satellite radio, but I probably will do it in the next year or so, or whenever I get my next car.

sosgemini said:

Me too!

DJ506 said:

I'm a big NPR fan, but I've given it a break in the past couple of months. It got depressing and crazy-making around election time. I'll start up again soon, I'm sure.

So this is where the listeners are hiding. I asked about it on General Topics board about a week ago and only heard from one or two peeps. I'm currently listening to Sirius as part of a free three day trial. Unfortuately, I can't listen to news, sports, or entertainment during the trial period.
I don't like having to listen to an entire song and not having the option to skip to the next or have to change to another station, and not know what is coming up next. That comes from being spoiled by Musicmatch. So I guess in that sense it's still like the radio, minus the commercials. I've been hearing a couple of dj's, like the old MTV vj's. For the most part I like it, but not enough to want to buy equipment to listen to it or spend $9-$12 a month. I'll stick with Musicmatch for now.

funkyslsistah said:

musicmatch is aight (may i suggest live365.com instead? or better yet, my girlbros radio show.. ) but in all seriousness i like XM for the car....if you spend any lenght of time commutting or driving for the job..this thing is the bomb!!!

this morning i heard this song where these chicks kept screaming, "do you wanna get funky? do you wanna get funky with me"...ive heard that sampled before but never the original..it was a disco song....guy had a real boring normal name...errr, cant remember..but i was grooving, head bopping, arms moving early in the morning..it set my mood just right.

sosgemini said:

Well I'm hoping the music doesn't suck either. Sirus better not just depend on talk radio if they want to keep me. I'm going to have to look at at all the stuff Sirus offers (and how much money I got) before I go for it for sure.