Blogging For Jack

The key to any successful website is its content. Without updated information what good would that website be?

With the advent of the digital revolution every radio station has to have a website. For 104.3 JACK-FM there's iknowjack.com. One of the duties of a promotions intern at the station is to update the station's website with up-to-date relevant content. The following are links to some of the stories I've written for JACK:

Former Skid Row Singer Arrested

Devo Releases New Web Video

Brazilian Clown Wins Office But Cant Read

Crater Materializes Overnight In Germany

Man Robs Bank Then Offers $1,000 For A Ride Home

Tylenol Caplets Recalled

Homer Simpson Cited As An Ideal Catholic

Ozzy Osbourne Pays Tribute To John Lennon

Snack Thieves Nab Little Debbie Truck

The goal behind writing these stories was to create interesting content that would garner page views to the main website. Was I successful? I'd say yes.

KNOB and WILV

In 1985 Ron Cutler Productions had the wonderful idea to create a new spin on the AC(adult contemporary) format. KNOB-FM in Long Beach became the first client of the love song format, according to the October 12th, 1985 edition of Billboard. The station featured an almost equal mix of ballads and uptempo songs along with audiotracks from hit famous movies with love scenes. KNOB also did promotions that reinforced the theme of love, i.e. dinners for two, wedding related gifts, etc.

Almost 20 years later, on November 5th, 2004 WILV-FM in Chicago debuted as 100.3 Love Fm. Playing a similar mix of uptempo love themed songs as KNOB did in the mid 1980s. It seems that WILV is doing what KNOB has done, but with a twist. By nixing the amount of ballads and emphasizing the upbeat songs, Love Fm is playing what the people with the PPMs are listening to. AllAccess.com reported that for the October 2010 ratings period, WILV rose from 7th to 4th in the Women ages 25-54 market share.

WKRL-FM

Sunday January 1st, 1990 marked the day that Stairway to Heaven played for 24hours straight on WKRL in Clearwater, Florida. The promotional stunt was the first step in creating an All-Led Zeppelin "artist flip". For the next two weeks 97.9 WKRL , owned by Great American Broadcasting, spun nothing but Led Zeppelin's nine studio albums and double live set. In its entirety the band's music library clocked in under 10 hours in length. That's one reason why the format lasted such a short time.

At the time of the flip WKRL general manager Dan DiLoreto thought the format would last longer. Other Industry folk though otherwise. Charlie Logan, music director at competitor station WYNF-FM had this to say in the January 3rd, 1990 edition of the St. Petersburg Times:

"I don't think this is what the station plans on doing (long-term). It's a weird signal to send, but is probably a stopgap thing until they get into whatever format they do choose. I'm surprised it has lasted this long."

Charlie Logan was right. After two weeks getting the led out, WKRL added more classic rock their music rotation. On January 18th, the station switched call letters to WXTB and rebranded itself at "98ROCK". The first non-Zeppelin song played was AC/DC's Hells Bells. Today 'XTB is still going strong, and in January of this year the station celebrated their 20th birthday.

WKDC-AM

Stranger things have happened, but this one's pretty weird. Here's the story of WKDC Show Radio 1530, a suburban radio station that, from 1981 to 1983, played Broadway show tunes all day long.

Back in 1980, the head of a small broadcasting company, Snyder Broadcasting, had plans to make millions by purchasing the small 250-watt AM station in Elmhurst. Agreeing to pay a million dollars and 15% cash upfront, broadcaster and former Roosevelt University Professor Robert Snyder, thought he could turn the fumbling station's ratings around. According to Robert Feder in the April 6th, 1983 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times that wasn't the case.

WKDC had had trouble keeping above the bottom line since its sign-on in 1974. Advertisers and listeners were not able give the station enough support for its quirky format. The money was not there and the station could not find a niche. Eventually the former owner of WKDC sued Snyder for the $850,000 he still had to pay. Snyder filed for bankruptcy and an attorney from Lombard, William Lester, was assigned to take control of the station until a new owner could be found.

More information about the station can be found on their "unofficial" facebook fanpage.

Travel Information Format

What's the best way to revitalize old AM stations? Do something interesting and different with them. In 1993 Billboard magazine reported that nine radio stations in the United States were doing just that. KXNO, WDDQ, WFVR, WHRD, WMJK, WNFO, WTKC, WTKX, and WXLS were all programmed with a Travel Information format.

What these nine stations were best at was helping their communities. The bare basics of the format at these stations was to present information on attractions and sights to see in each city.

One of the more profitable stations, WTKX-AM in Pensicola, Florida, did more with the format. Branded as "Florida Information Radio", WTKX broadcasted local football play-by-play along with fishing reports, and nationally syndicated programming.

The November 10th, 1993 edition of Radio World quoted staff member David McDonald as saying the format is a hero in the eyes of community leaders because the station content brings people into the town and boost the local economy.

Comedy radio revisited

Comedy radio has been done before (see WJOK-AM) and 24/7 Comedy Radio is giving the quirky format a new try. On September 27th of this year 24/7 Comedy Radio, a syndicated radio station, went terrestrial with their first affiliate KFNY 1440 AM broadcasting from suburban Los Angeles.

Before the station featured the comedy format, KFNY-AM hosted a Spanish Oldies format with the call letters KDIF. With a multitude of similar stations in the area cluster it's no wonder Clear Channel, the current station owner, agreed to make the switch. As reported on allaccess.com:

"On AM radio you have to find a niche -- something special that no one else is doing -- and with a high probability for success," said CLEAR CHANNEL RIVERSIDE Market Manager BOB RIDZAK. "24/7 COMEDY RADIO is something no one else is doing in RIVERSIDE, and everyone loves to laugh."

Even if everyone loves to laugh, not everyone may laugh at what's airing on KFNY. Only time will tell if KFNY will succeed or go the way of WJOK.

JACK-FM

Programming a radio station with jocks behind the microphone is a tradition. In contrast with this, Jack FM branded stations do not utilize disc jockeys or any on-air talent. Their “gimmick” in the age of i-pods, satellite radio, podcasts, and the internet is to “play what we want.” Another is "Jack FM. Radio that breaks all the rules." They do just that. That means that the station does not even take listener requests. The station itself acts as one large i-pod, segueing from song to song with an edgy and somewhat witty voice tracked character “jack” saying a line or two.

On June 3rd, 2005 WJMK-FM flipped from Oldies to the Jack Fm moniker. Playing a mix of adult variety hits, or oldies for a younger generation as I like to say, the station leans towards airing hit songs from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Still going strong today, WJMK has Jack in its future for now. That is until the dollars stop rolling in.

Why Do Formats Work?

How does a station programmer make their station stand out from the rest? They cater to a specific demographic of listeners and "narrowcast" to them. This is called niche programming. One specific radio network that has been successful with niche programming is Pacifica Radio. The oldest public radio network inside the United States has, since the 1960s, offered a number of programs specifically catered to the LGBT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community.

For example, IMRU has been on the air since 1971. According to the show's twitter account the show is the longest running LGBT radio program. The show has been locally produced since its inception. Branching out elsewhere in the industry, one of the shows founders, Greg Gordan, helped to develop similar programs up until the early 1990s(See Queer Airwaves: The Story of Gay and Lesbian Broadcasting). In the same vein WXPN-FM in Philadelphia launched a similar program Gaydreams. The program was one of radios most noteworthy and enduring programs.

This type of narrowcasting is ideal for marketing and advertising, as the mass audience does not exist in radio.

WJOK-AM

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.dcrtv.com

The first all-comedy based radio station debuted January 31st, 1983 in the Washington DC market. WJOK-AM, broadcasting at 1150 am, played comedy routines and humor based content 24 hours a day. In between 2-4 minute comedy bits "joke jockeys" would report news and weather The New York Times reported WJOK had eighteen months of air-able material to play without repeats. In that same article; WJOK's station manager was inspired by the old Dial-a-joke service provided by the telephone company. He's quoted as saying, "If thousands of people would all up and pay to hear one joke, I figured they'd love to hear hours of jokes for nothing.''

That's entirely true. People do love jokes, but WJOK was unable to stay afloat. Broadcasting from Gaithersburg, Maryland, the station's weak signal was seen as a handicap. Perhaps no one was ready for the format? Maybe the programming formula wasn't right? No one can answer for sure.

Today, the former WJOK now goes by WMET and broadcasts Catholic religious programming. The call letters WJOK have since been reassigned to an AM Christian radio station in Kaukauna, Wisconsin

WCVG-AM

Journalist Richard Phillips wrote in the Chicago Tribune in 1988 about a Cincinnati radio station announcing an interesting new format. On August 1st, 1988 WCVG-AM in Cincinnati became the first ever all Elvis radio station, playing nothing but Elvis Presley's music 24/7. Previously formatted as a country music station, the switch was make to boost ratings. For a little over a year, listeners of the station heard nothing but the king of rock'n'roll's 90 recorded albums and 659 singles. On August 16th, 1989 WCVG ceased the all elvis format and flipped to a 24 hour business news station.

More information about the All Elvis phenomenon can be found online here. In case you're wondering, that link points to Former General Manager Rod Williams's website.

Video News footage of WCVG- Going off-air on the 12th anniversary of the king's death: