I mentioned earlier that a cool classic rock station, Channel 97 in Pittsburgh, changed formats to Bob. This change is a growing trend in what is called "Jack FM"
Chances are if you haven't heard of him, you soon will. Radio's answer to ubiquitous MP3 players — the so-called "Jack" format — has hit the waves with a frenetic speed. Heavy on hits of the '70s and '80s, and minus the typical DJ chatter, the new "adult hits" stations are taking on standard formats like Top 40 — and they're making strides."Oldies for younger people" is how the genre was described by Scott McKenzie, editor in chief and managing director of Billboard Radio Monitor. He noted that although the stations promote not having a format, they really are heavily programmed. However, they use much larger playlists — up to 1,200 songs compared to the usual couple hundred — which translates to the "playing what we want" feel that they promote.
Though the idea sounds good, I can only take so much of the shuffle. To hear a song like "At the Hop" right up next to "Dancing Queen" does not appeal to me, and I can only stand so much of the constant variation, though shows like Cousin Brucie's where he plays really deep hits works because of him and his instant feedback he gets from his listeners.
In the end I think that the trick is having speciality stations that play more than 2 or 300 hundred songs. If I want to listen to oldies, I listen to oldies, or whatever. That is why I never listen to terrestrial radio anymore, and Sirius is my medium of choice.
