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TechnographPlaying what we want or just plain weird?
By Martha Spalding
Posted: 8/24/05 Section: Features
The Isley Brothers, Paul Simon and Warren Zevon are hits from 1975, 1982, and 2003 respectively. These artists each had their songs played on the same radio station. This new type of radio station, called variety hits, is hitting the airwaves across the United States and Canada.
These stations, most prominently JACK-FM, claim they are playing what they want.
What is played is not just decided by the station heads, but also by the listener according to Bob Perry, president of Big Sticks Broadcasting Corporation and the man responsible for creating JACK-FM.
"Instead of a short, narrow play list of a certain genre, we gave JACK-FM hit music from a lot of different sources," he said via e-mail. "We took requests from our listeners on the Internet and actually played them."
With a play list of over 1,200 songs, JACK-FM is meant to be different from other radio stations on the air. It is targeted toward 18-54 year-olds.
JACK-FM's website in Chicago claims its station is "a dramatic change from traditional radio formats ... it's like your IPod on shuffle." This format allows the company to have more listeners.
That's exactly what Bob Perry was aiming for when he started JACK-FM in 2000.
"I like to think JACK-FM is for anyone with a radio and/or pulse, no one really listens to one kind of music," he said via e-mail.
Lou Pickney, a radio show producer in Tampa, FLa, agreed.
"The whole you never know what you'll hear next factor I think is the most appealing thing about JACK-FM," he said via e-mail.
Besides a larger play list, three times the songs of most other stations, JACK-FM stations usually only play music, without weather and traffic. It also typically has shorter commercial breaks than its competitors. The variety of music attracts a great number of listeners, Pickney said.
"Looking at the results so far, the TSL (Time Spent Listening) tends to not be as high as in other formats, but the cume (Cumulative number of listeners) tends to be high, since it appeals to such a broad base," he said.
These stations, most prominently JACK-FM, claim they are playing what they want.
What is played is not just decided by the station heads, but also by the listener according to Bob Perry, president of Big Sticks Broadcasting Corporation and the man responsible for creating JACK-FM.
"Instead of a short, narrow play list of a certain genre, we gave JACK-FM hit music from a lot of different sources," he said via e-mail. "We took requests from our listeners on the Internet and actually played them."
With a play list of over 1,200 songs, JACK-FM is meant to be different from other radio stations on the air. It is targeted toward 18-54 year-olds.
JACK-FM's website in Chicago claims its station is "a dramatic change from traditional radio formats ... it's like your IPod on shuffle." This format allows the company to have more listeners.
That's exactly what Bob Perry was aiming for when he started JACK-FM in 2000.
"I like to think JACK-FM is for anyone with a radio and/or pulse, no one really listens to one kind of music," he said via e-mail.
Lou Pickney, a radio show producer in Tampa, FLa, agreed.
"The whole you never know what you'll hear next factor I think is the most appealing thing about JACK-FM," he said via e-mail.
Besides a larger play list, three times the songs of most other stations, JACK-FM stations usually only play music, without weather and traffic. It also typically has shorter commercial breaks than its competitors. The variety of music attracts a great number of listeners, Pickney said.
"Looking at the results so far, the TSL (Time Spent Listening) tends to not be as high as in other formats, but the cume (Cumulative number of listeners) tends to be high, since it appeals to such a broad base," he said.
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