On Friday afternoon, WCBS-FM in New York, home of legendary DJ Cousin Brucie, fired all of its on-air talent and dumped the "oldies" format in favor of the latest flavor in radio programming, known as "Jack" radio (I've also seen and heard it around the country called Ben radio and Dave radio--whatever radio consultant cooked up the naming idea deserves a special place in hell).
The idea is to replicate your iPod on shuffle. The station expands the playlist from about 400-500 songs to 1,200, goes from one format to having elements of about 10 formats, cuts down the chatter--the new Jack-FM has no DJs--and hopes to fend off you turning off your car radio in favor of whatever podcast you just downloaded.
It's an interesting strategy, obviously meant to compete not only with iPod but also with satellite radio.
Infinity Broadcasting, owners of WCBS-FM, has lately been very progressive (for radio) in trying to keep itself relevant, but this move appears doomed to failure already. By alienating basically 100% of the old CBS Oldies audience, the new Jack-FM is starting from a platform of zero fans. Wouldn't it have made more sense to swap in the format on a station where the fan base would stay and it could be expanded? Of course, the argument about CBS-FM and change is that the station wasn't able to woo attractive advertisers seeking the young demographic. The siren song of youth crashes yet another ship against the rocks.
I listened to Jack for a couple of hours yesterday, and it was okay, but if I was supposed to be getting the feeling of listening to someone's iPod, it was probably the iPod of a friend with incredibly obvious, middle-of-the-road taste. It did inspire an idea, though (in addition to this post).
If commercial FM radio really wants to become relevant again, maybe it needs to take a page out of its past as well as a page from what AM did 20 years ago when it faced extinction because of FM. Personality. Rush Limbaugh and all the other talkers out there revived AM radio. Finding and cultivating a new generation of personality jocks, the next Cousin Brucie (and Don Imus, Wolfman Jack, Frankie Crocker, etc), and firing the program directors with their rigid playlists and letting the DJs play what they want, when they want, may be the only way to create a market that doesn't suffer when compared to listening just to what you like or that's rigidly formatted by genre.
Not celebrity DJs like XM and Sirius are hiring, but real people who love music, have eclectic taste and have the ability to find and break new bands and songs, the way DJs used to. DJing as a hobby and as a profession is more popular than ever. You see DJs at hip restaurants and lounges, not just dance clubs and bar mitzvahs. Why aren't those people on the radio becoming big stars? Radio is an intimate medium. That person talking to you can become a friend, a part of the family. Why replace that with a borg spinning Steve Miller CDs?
Maybe it's crazy, but I've met Jack (and Ben and Dave) and he's no wolfman. Time for radio execs to hit shuffle again.
Related Stories: | Topics:Leadership, strategy, Radio, Media, Wolfman Jack, Science and Technology, Technology |
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Recent Comments | 75 Total
June 18, 2005 at 2:20pm by Jeff O'
I live in Philadelphia Pa. and have a station here that has been playing the same list of oldies for the last 30 years. I'm the biggest oldies rock and roll fanatic in the world and make my living as a musician performing 40's and 50's music, but I won't listen to the oldies station on the radio because I'm sick of hearing the same old songs. They are still great songs, but anybody that hears the same songs over and over again for thirty years is going to become sensitized to them. The problem with the oldies format is that there aren't any new oldies songs played, new bands promoted etc... I mean oldies songs that are brand new compositions. If there were, I have no doubt that the oldies format would Rock And Roll big time and we wouldn't have to deal with this so called Jack Radio. There definitely is a big market and fan base for this new oldies sound and I'm trying my best to contribute to this needed Renaissance by writing my own New Original 50's Songs You Never heard!
Rock And Roll Will Never Die!
Jeff O's Retro Music
50's Songs You Never Heard!
New Original Doo Wop, 50's Rock & Rockabilly songs.
http://www.jeffosretromusic.com
June 19, 2005 at 3:27am by Jeannie
It's quite obvious that Infinity Radio dosen't know JACK about what NYC listeners want to hear on the radio. For the most part, I listen to the radio in my car on my way to work and on my way home. I need something interesting to keep me awake behind the wheel in the morning and Micky Dolenz, Mike Fitzgerald, Mr. G, Karen Stewart and Brucer the Producer were the PERFECT Group. I miss them and Cousin Brucie and my honey, Harry Harrison so much more than words can ever express. All my friends are just as disgusted as I am. Infinity ripped a big part of our lives away from us and dismissed us as a non-essential part of the listening community. I hope whoever made this decision rots in Hell. The new format SUCKS. SIRIUS here I come! Thank God for my MONKEES, BEATLES, HERMAN's HERMITS, STONES, WHO, MAMAS & PAPAS, BEACH BOYS, FOUR SEASONS, TEMPATIONS, SUPREMES and so many more CDs.
June 20, 2005 at 12:04am by Barbara
GIVE ME BACK MY BELOVED COUSIN BRUCIE, HARRY HARRISON, BOBBY JAY, DON K REED, NORM N NITE, BOB SHANNON, MIKE FITZGERALD, MICKEY DOLENZ AND ALL THE REST OF THESE GREAT DJ'S. JACK, YOU CAN YOU KNOW WHAT! WHY DON'T YOU TAKE ANOTHER PLACE ON THE DIAL, THERE'S PLENTY OF ROOM OUT THERE. I URGE EVERYONE TO PETITION, GO TO 'WCBS FM PETITION' AND SIGN YOUR NAME, ALSO BOYCOTT ALL SPONSORS, A COUPLE OF THEM ARE, HOME DEPOT AND BASKIN ROBBINS CHECK AROUND YOU'LL FIND OTHER'S. BRING BACK THE OLDIES!!
June 25, 2005 at 3:31am by Rich
JACK FM is the future. I'm 18, my dad is 41. We both love it. Get used to change.
June 26, 2005 at 6:59pm by elaine giron
who ever changed the format of wcbs fm should
rot in hell. what a shame some of us can't listen
to real and good music. that jack crab is for
people on drugs!!!!!!!!!1
June 27, 2005 at 3:00pm by Linda
We don't have to get use to anything. Wait, it will happen to your music one day Rich. Jack SUCKS!
June 27, 2005 at 3:05pm by Linda
We don't have to get use to anything. This crap music you can get on any station. We want our station back! Wait Rich it'll happen to your music one day! Jack SUCKS!!
June 28, 2005 at 7:18pm by J Berk
Where is Bob Shannon? I can't believe you changed the format of your station!!! Where are the oldies? I can't stand the new Jack station! It's awful. Don't you care about the older listeners? I guess I'll be listening to other stations. So Long. :(
July 6, 2005 at 8:37pm by Vicky
Who Killed Rock 'n Roll?
One day with zero warning
A radio station change
The 'oldies' snuffed away from us
Was really very strange
Left folks like 'Cousin Brucie'
An icon of our time
Without his job and helpless
It really was a crime
No Dylan, Fats, Chuck Berry
No Supremes, no Three Dog Night
Four Seasons, Elvis, Beatles
Shut down, no chance to fight
Before these 'oldies' Rock n Roll
Did not even exist
Because 'big money' won again
These legends will be missed
July 19, 2005 at 2:08pm by june sternfels
I have listened to wcbsfm for a long time and Jack Fm is a bunch of crap. I like having DJ's on the air. The people in the age group 49 and up is the ones that support the station. We are the ones with the money. The younger kids don't have any money. I want wcbsfm to come back with the same dj's. I like listening to traffic and
weather and the joking. It makes the station more interesting.
September 24, 2005 at 11:47pm by Danny
We don't need to beg the program director or the station owners to bring back our favorite oldie station, Let the new Jack fall on their ass and lose there rateing and sponsor's money.
Any one interested in investing to create a new FM oldie station and bring back cousin Bruce,Bob Shannon and the rest of the crew ourselves, IT CAN BE DONE!!!!!
October 2, 2005 at 4:28pm by mike
I was really crushed with the sudden pull of WCBS-FM's oldies format by the new "jack" format - although I honestly think that the music selection itself by the station really isn't half bad.
Out of curiosity, I googled WCBS-FM to find out more information on this sudden switch when it had happened, and was quite surprised that their oldies format wasn't dead after all, but had just become a staple on the internet (wcbs.com).
Great! I thought to myself. I clicked on the station and sat back and listened to the music for awhile, but came away not totally satisfied from the experience. The reason? There were no more live DJs!!! Gone were Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Bill Brown, Dan Daniel, Bobby Jay, etc. as well as Harry Harrison (who retired 3 years ago but came back on saturday mornings) and his legendary fun battles with Mr. G the weatherman during the former's stint as the work week's "Morning Mayor".
wcbs.com itself is just like another jack format, but with oldies songs instead. The whole format itself is not going to last. People turning into radio want to identify with some sort of on-air personality when they tune in to a particular radio station, otherwise they would just listen to their ipods, tape decks, or cd players.
I remember roughly 20 something years ago when one of the major TV networks (I think it was WNBC) tried a similar type of experiment with television by not having announcers in the broadcast booth during a sporting event (NFL football). The experiment bombed tremendously and was never repeated again. The same thing is going to happen to Jack.
October 3, 2005 at 11:32pm by Hilary Lee Fergenson
I wholeheartedly agree with the comments that people have made about New York's 101.1 station being converted to Jack F.M. I can understand that Jack F.M. is a new format that plays a random variety of rock/pop music from different years and might be appealing to the young generation, but there are many other locations on New York's F.M. dial for Jack F.M. to be installed. Although it is nice that the oldies are only a click away on www.wcbsfm.com, and the WCBS FM advertisers acknowledged over the Internet, "We're not gone; we just moved!," my point is that we cannot always carry the computer in the car with us. I always enjoyed listening to 101.1 WCBS FM while driving, and I think that Bob Shannon, Cousin Brucie, Harry Harrison, Mickey Dolenz, Dan Ingram, Don K. Reed, additional oldies staff members, and all the wonderful, feel-good golden oldies songs should be brought back to their original home on 101.1 F.M. It is awful that the owners of Jack FM invaded the place of New York's oldies of all the spots on the F.M. dial. If the people who are in charge of Jack FM really want to have a place on New York's F.M. dial, then they should relocate themselves to a station where there was originally talking and no music, or maybe Jack FM can take the place of a former rap station, since there are already more than enough rap stations on the F.M. dial during this generation. It would be a perfect compromise for all types of listeners if WCBS FM could be brought back to 101.1 while Jack FM could be transferred to a different spot on the F.M. dial. The reception on New Jersey's oldies station, 1250 A.M. WMTR is not always clear enough, and it is preposterous for a major city as big as New York to lack an official oldies station on the F.M. dial! I am urging the media to please bring WCBS FM back to 101.1 so that my car rides will be more enjoyable and pleasurable with my favorite oldies playing in the background and getting me through the day! I am also dying to hear the cheerful and friendly voices of Bob Shannon and Cousin Brucie again some time soon! To be honest, when I first heard Jack FM on 101.1 while driving in northern New Jersey, I thought that this might just be a bad dream or some kind of joke or April Fool's Day gag! It was completely unnecessary for Chad Brown to abruptly remove the oldies from 101.1 F.M. like that. In this respect, I will have to quote other people in supporting the slogan "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!"
October 10, 2005 at 9:21pm by P'd Off
Rich is a communist radical who loves JACK FM.
October 11, 2005 at 9:22am by Linda Esparza
I can't tell you how disappointed I was to turn on my radio and not hear the oldies station that I grew up with and continue to listen to until this day. I can't believe that the management would do something like that to the men and woman who have made that radion station the success it was. They will learn that this was the biggest mistake they could have made. I understand that they wanted to attract a new clientelle but what about us!! What about the people who love this type of music - what are we supposed to do now??
Thanks a lot CBS FM for NOTHING!
October 11, 2005 at 12:33pm by F JACK FM
Blame that TOTAL AHOLE & putz puller for his c-to-c partners Cadillac Jackoff Garrett & Howard Cogan for this socialist swill, And JACK FM is for dope fiends, child molestors, child porn freaks, brain-dead failures, terrorist sympathizers (especially with their "Jack Attack" stunt to irreverently commemorate September 11th), godless atheists, Michael Swift-Style homosexuals (as opposed to the more mainstream voluntary type) & Other rejects to society.......
October 12, 2005 at 2:32pm by Truth
JACK FM has LITERALLY made fun of famous ALS cripple Stephen Hawking, Buy saying "It's Time To Change My Batteries To JACK FM" & Made light of September 11th by calling it "Jack Attack"..............What a bunch of freaking cowards. And idiots like Rich love this sh*t station.
October 16, 2005 at 3:56pm by JACK FM is excrement
And Chad Brown is also a socialist too, As well as his pet boytoys of JACK*** FM.
October 18, 2005 at 1:15pm by Dr.Pooper
These stupid csckrs NEVER learn, They say JACK FM is a "success", The sh*ttiest format around & These cesspools say it's a success, Where Bellevue????????????????, Joel Hollander's future home??????????????.
October 19, 2005 at 1:17am by Don Jennett
You'll all be happy to know that when WCBS-FM flipped to "Jack," it was the 9th rated station in the New York market. Well, boys and girls, the latest numbers are out, and WCBS is now #22. To put it into further perspective, it is the LOWEST-RATED FM in New York. Not as darstic, but still plummeting, is WJMK-FM in Chicago, which flipped the same week as 'CBS-FM.
Bravo, Jack. It only took you four months.
As David Lidsky suggested back in June, the only "Jack" in the Infinity chain doing significantly BETTER than before is KCBS-FM in Los Angeles. But pre-Jack, the station was known as "Arrow 93," a classic rock-type format. At least there was a base audience there for "Jack."
Reference: Here are the last five books for WCBS and WJMK. The figure in the center represents audience share when both stations were Jacked:
WCBS-FM 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.0 1.5
WJMK-FM 3.0 2.6 2.9 2.6 2.3
October 19, 2005 at 3:10pm by GFY Hollander & Co
The best of luck to those dheads in the alleys of Broadway.
October 24, 2005 at 5:25pm by Hilary Lee Fergenson
Attention all oldies listeners! For those of you who are as disappointed and upset as I am about the change in format to Jack F.M., have I got news for you! Stamford, Connecticut is very close to the New York area, and some of you might be as fortunate as I am to tune your radios to Stamford's oldies station, WKHL Kool 96.7 F.M. You can also learn more about this station by surfing the Internet. The reason why this golden oldies station still exists is probably because it is privately owned instead of being part of Infinity Broadcasting. Kool 96.7 still has the friendly on-air personality that we all remember hearing on 101.1 WCBS FM. Instead of badmouthing somebody like Rich who appreciates Jack FM, I strongly recommend that you all find your own pleasures by simply giving this station a try!
November 24, 2005 at 3:08pm by JACK FM IS The Turkey Of The Year
JACK FM eats turkey shytt!!!!!!.
December 7, 2005 at 8:31pm by Sam
JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!
JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!
JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!
JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!
JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!
JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!JACK SUCKS!
February 6, 2006 at 12:05pm by David Pristupa
Radio has entered a new era. Once satellite radio and stations accessible on the internet
become more accessible on portable wireless units
radio stations will have to reinvent them selves
to be relevent and viable.
The menu of programming in many major markets
doesn't reflect the interests of the community.
Stations will have to focus on local issues to be
relevant. The new media offers a better selection
of music and programming. If this sound too radical you have to remember there are a lot of people that remember listening on Crystal sets.
The whole entertainment has had abrupt change
and shake-up as people search for better choices
in CyberSpace.
March 11, 2006 at 7:26pm by Jon
This diatribe is long overdue and the CBS FM Oldies Purge is ancient news, however the anger remains fresh, I Effin deplore JACK and this whole craPod format festering the airwaves, I pray every night that the enduring lousy ratings hasten the total and complete demise of JACK and all his friends in the cities around the Nation, Why Infinity Broadcasting so biased and prejudiced against the American Disc Jockey and a format that has enjoys awesome ratings from 1972 to June 3, 2005, Cousin Brucie, Harry Harrison, Don K.Reed, Norm N, Nite and all the rest are among the many that made CBS FM a pleasure to listen to, True, Times must change and all things must pass, But Damn, Did the heavies in their fancy suits at the Infinity corparate offices need to exercise such a cruel, abrupt and uncaring demeanor toward the jocks, program director and worst of all, We, the listeners of 101.1 who provided the unabashed great ratings for 33 years?? I wish you all a lot of luck, you'll need it when Infinity lands in the potty and Chapter 11 becomes the only viable option to stay in business, REMEMBER: No deed, Whether it's Good or Bad shall not go unrewarded, The hurtful Arbitron ratings being experienced on the part of 101.1 JACK FM is the Reward to Infinity. Thank you:)
October 6, 2006 at 12:52am by Wayne Powers
Well, what now!!! Where do we go to recapture
those memories of our youth? Memories of all
my favorite oldies,and my favorite disc-Jockeys
are now all ruined because of "Jack" radio!!!
The Heart Of Rock N' Roll, and his Moonlight
Memories are something that will be etched in
my heart and mind forever. Sunday nights i used
to live for,just to listen to norman knight.
Cousin Brucey,and the love hour 1/2 hr. Bill
Brown and the "Brown Bag" . What memories!!!
October 15, 2006 at 11:02pm by john aprea
I TRAVEL TO NEW YORK CITY 4 TIMES A YEAR, THE FIRST THING I DID WHEN I RENT A CAR WAS TO PRESET THE RADIO TO CBS FM. ABOUT A YEAR AGO WHEN I TRAVELED TO NEW YORK, I WAS SHOCKED WHEN I CHOSE MY CHANNEL OF CHOICE, TO MY SURPRISE CBS FM WAS GONE.IT WAS A SAD DAY. JACK FM WHAT CRAP!!!. I GREW UP IN NEW YORK CITY, CBSFM, WPLJ,WNEWFM,ALL WERE THE CHANNELS WE ALL LISTEN TO .GREAT-GREAT MUSIC, GREAT OLDIES, I PURCHASED XM IN ONE CAR AND SERIUS IN MY OTHER CAR.I MISS DON K REED, HARRY HARRISON,BOB SHANEN,BUT I CAN STILL LISTEN TO COUSIN BRUCE AND SOME OTHER GREAT DJ THAT SOME OF US GREW UP WITH, BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME CORPORATE AMERICA MAY CALL IT PROGRESS I CALL IT JUNK. THE MUSIC THATS PLAYED TODAY ISN'T MUSIC IT DOESNT HAVE ANY MEANING.
October 23, 2006 at 2:28am by Frank
I'm not approaching my 60s, but I grew up listening to WCBS.FM 101.1. I know other people my age (30) who listened to WCBS.FM
I loved the DJs and the music. Had it not been for the oldies format, I would have never been exposed to it, and I would have no knowledge of the artists and music that subsequent musicians grew up listenting to and in whom many found the inspiration to play music. I miss Don K. Reed's Doo Wopp Shop. Sunday nights have not been the same. I hope he considers joining satellite radio. There are people who enjoy listening to oldies stations, no matter what age group.
March 10, 2007 at 12:59pm by bob
jack music sucks
no consideration for anyone, totaly eliminating oldies was not a good Idea,if they had compromised instead of just destroying it,
one way could be to dedicate one night and one day during the week could have been much better,
no doubt there are many ways you can help the oldies audiance, I guess that would be asking to much from people who put the $ sign as more important.
what goes around will come around I guess
bob
April 2, 2007 at 1:31am by Jonathon Field
This is a shame. Even at my station (KFSX FM - Fresno, CA) we know what an important example of great radio WCBS-FM is (was). I can't imagine that this is going to work for very long. People have brains, you know, and they don't like to be "jacked" around. Say a prayer for radio folks...
May 27, 2007 at 8:16pm by mark m
hello everyone ; it's nice too say jack has the fact!!! i travel 2 1/2 hours to chicago ill to work . sorry to say no radio can come close too!!! 104.3 fm called jack, they seem to play tunes that i grew up with ,where all the rest still have thier head's in the sand box!! so jack in the box keep crank'ng the tune's intill the radio pop. gotta lov it
July 7, 2007 at 4:39am by tony the doorman
I think jack radio is bad and yes i mean bad not good. the music sucks it is not the same i want my oldies BACK like so many other people. wcbs fm was the oldies station. Nobody TOPS COUSIN BRUCIE NOW THAT WAS THE MAN. I READ THAT THE OLDIES WILL BE BACK ON CBS FM I DO HOPE SO.UNTIL THEN I'LL NEVER LISTEN TO THIS STATION. O BY THE WAY IT IS TRUE WHEN THEY SAY YOU DON'T KNOW JACK,BECAUSE JACK DON'T KNO S--T.
July 7, 2007 at 11:50am by tom moulton
Its hard to imagine a day in New York without hearing I Only Have Eyes For You, Up On The Roof, On Broadway and There's A Moon Out tonight to name a few.
July 8, 2007 at 2:50am by andy phillips
Well, I was upset with CBS-FM for dumping the oldies at first...then I listened to Jack...and I actually liked the music mix, and the fact that it wasnt the same 200 songs over & over...and a lot of the older stuff in that mix was also played during the station's time as Oldies 101...now I hear that the oldies are returning, and all I can say is that they'd better be able to measure up to what they were when they had all the legendary personalities back then or this won't work any better...CBS owns 102.7, the former WNEW-FM...how about putting Jack THERE instead (I mentioned that in my previous post way back when the format change happened)? That station's been swimming in quicksand ever since they lost their way a number of years ago...if they can't bring back the absolutely great rock format they once had, Jack would at least put Fresh (formerly Blink) FM out of its misery and the people who like the variety Jack's offered would still have a place to enjoy it (or there's always the option of continuing it online)...for now I guess I'll tune into 92.5 Jack FM, where they're doing just fine in Toronto! We can have both formats if the powers that be are willing to make it so...