Arrow' Fired, 'Jack' Hired (March 18, 2005)

"Arrow 93" jumpin' JACK flashed a format flip to JACK/fm late yesterday afternoon. The flip followed a day of non-stop U2 music since 10 a.m. Thursday morning in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. At 4 p.m. the Jaws theme music kicked off an hour of stunting that included JACK related movie sound clips, JACK Webb Dragnet drops, Jumpin' JACK Flash, JACK Nicholson lines, Close Encounters of the Third Kind theme, and a calliope sound of a JACK-in-the-box.

You might ask what all the fuss is about. Jack is a format that promises to relieve listener frustration over narrow playlists and it sets out to expand on the rigid corridors that fm music has found itself in over the past 25 years.

At 5 p.m. yesterday the imaging voice announced: "Happy St. Patrick's Day. For those of you sober enough to care, this is ninety three one, JACK/fm. We're the new station for L.A. and the OC. And we're gonna play what we want. We're kinda like your iPOD on shuffle. We're declaring our independence from all those radio stations with little playlists, big repetition, and boring djs. Welcome to the new 93.1 JACK/fm. We have two simple rules: 'We play what we want, and don't tell us what to play.' This makes it incredibly easy for you to listen. Enjoy."

The first song was Devo's Whip It. It could have been Jumpin' JACK Flash (it was the second song) or JACK and Diane.

The station's diverse playlist includes a combination of more than 1200 songs from the past four decades. Among the many artists that will be featured on the station include: The Rolling Stones, Prince, U2, Aerosmith, No Doubt, Tom Petty, Bob Marley, The Cure, Dave Matthews Band and The Police.

Kevin Weatherly will continue to serve as pd of the station. "We are thrilled to launch the next great radio station in Los Angeles," said Jeff Federman, vp/gm of KCBS/fm. "Tremendous variety and less repetition go against traditional wisdom, but it is the key to success with JACK/fm and we're confident listeners will embrace the station as they never have before."

"Launching JACK/fm is a natural evolution for the station following the incredible run of Arrow 93.1," said Weatherly. "With a massive library of songs and an irreverent attitude, we're going to have a lot of fun and shake up the Los Angeles radio landscape."

JACK was first heard in Vancouver and grew throughout Canada. In the past, programmers would segregate among Classic Rock, Alternative, Hard Rock, CHR 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.

The "Arrow" staff was let go yesterday, most of them by phone with Federman, Weatherly and a human resource person on the line. The djs were thanked for their service to "Arrow" but the station was now going in a different direction. Losing their jobs: Maggie McKay, Mary Price, Lily Sheen, Joe Benson, and Chris Taylor. Apparently staying on will be Jonathon Brandmeier in an unknown capacity, Chris Abbott, apd, and Clark Macy.

"Literally for three years they've been trying different things to pump life into the 'Arrow' format," said Federman by phone last night. "We knew it was running on empty from our own research and obviously from the biggest research, Arbitron, that we just couldn't do anything to move the dial on it. We brought in JB [Brandmeier] to try something different and the format is just a dying format."

Even though current morning man Jonathon Brandmeier has two more years on his contract, Federman said they were committed to being jockless for the foreseeable future. "We don't know what the station will evolve to." Dallas has been running the JACK format for nine months without jocks. "When they talked about putting jocks on it was like a body rejecting a body part from an organ donor. The audiences just didn't want it."

Weatherly is in charge of the JACK music in L.A. "One of Kevin's strengths is picking the hits," said Federman. "We have a different logo and a completely different look from the other JACKs. The music is obviously geared to Southern California. It is much different than anywhere else. The music is influenced by KROQ and KROQ was such an important part of anybody in that 35-44 demographic," said the 37-year-old Federman. Many of those 80s records that you won't hear in Dallas will be heard here. You'll hear more Depeche Mode and The Cure. Those artists will be more important to us than the JACK listener in Dallas or Vancouver."

'Our business cards are playing cards and they say 'none of us have titles, we're all jack of all trades.'" A huge marketing campaign to support the launch of JACK/fm will kick off in early April. http://931jackfm.com

Arrow Origins. "The 93.1 FM frequency in LA was resurrected on 9/10/93 when Tommy Edwards, myself and an amazing staff of people of passion launched a new format known as ARROW 93 FM," emailed long-time gm and originator of the "Arrow" format Dave Van Dyke. "It blew a hole in the market, went from 21st to 4th with 25-54 adults in less than 3 months and spawned many world-wide imitators. It lasted 11 years, 7 months, 7 days. It's unfortunate that it had to go; it outlived its usefulness but I certainly understand why the decision had to be made. For the last 7 months Bridge Ratings had the station with a 1.2 12+ Favoriteness share. Its loyalty conversion was down to 10%. Something had to be done. I'd just like to say thanks to every single staff member of the original Arrow for helping us make radio history," concluded Van Dyke.

Source: radioandrecords
Source: All Access (registration required)
Infinity's KCBS-FM/L.A. becomes 'Jack FM'

After 11 1/2 years as "Arrow 93.1," Infinity Classic Rocker KCBS-FM/Los Angeles has flipped to an eclectic Adult Hits presentation as "93.1 Jack-FM." Promising to "play what we want," KCBS-FM takes on an unconventional format that mixes hits from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the last five years.

SVP/Programming Kevin Weatherly will be directly overseeing the station's relaunch.

Core artists include the Rolling Stones, Prince, U2, Aerosmith, No Doubt, Tom Petty, Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Cure and Dave Matthews Band. The station's first song: "Whip It" by Devo.

SVP/Programming Kevin Weatherly will be directly overseeing the station's relaunch.

Originally called "Arrow 93," KCBS-FM was the first station to air "All Rock & Roll Oldies," sparking a rise in "Arrow" sign-ons and format flips to Classic Hits throughout the U.S. during the mid-1990s.

The flip followed a day of non-stop U2 music since 10a this morning in celebration of ST. PATTY's DAY. At 4p, the U2 music abruptly ended with the theme from "JAWS," followed by an hour-long montage of movie film clips with stars named JACK, bits of THE ROLLING STONES' "Jumpin' Jack Flash," sound effects approximating the music of a jack-in-the-box, and other "JACK" related sounds.

At 5p the montage ended, followed by a test tone, followed by a countdown sequence to the launch, and then the following proclamation: "For those of you who are still sober, Happy St. Patty's Day. This is THE NEW 93-1, JACK-FM." The promo continued, announcing, "We're gonna play what we want -- kind of like your iPOD on shuffle. We're declaring our independence from all those stations with little playlists, big repetition, and boring DJs. We have two simple rules: 'We play what we want, and don't tell us what to play.' The new 93.1 JACK-FM." The first song was DEVO's "Whip It."

"We are thrilled to launch the next great radio station in LOS ANGELES," said KCBS-F VP/GM JEFF FEDERMAN. "Tremendous variety and less repetition go against traditional wisdom, but it is the key to success with JACK-FM and we're confident listeners will embrace the station as they never have before."

KEVIN WEATHERLY, who will continue to serve as PD of the station, said, "Launching JACK-FM is a natural evolution for the station following the incredible run of ARROW 93.1. With a massive library of songs and an irreverent attitude, we're going to have a lot of fun and shake up the LOS ANGELES radio landscape."

Regarding that "massive library" that WEATHERLY mentioned, you can expect core artists at JACK to include THE ROLLING STONES, PRINCE, U2, AEROSMITH, NO DOUBT, TOM PETTY, BOB MARLEY, THE CURE, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, and THE POLICE.

While ALL ACCESS has learned that the entire ARROW airstaff was let go today (most of them by phone), morning host JONATHON BRANDMEIER remains under contact with the station. JACK-FM will be jockless on a temporary basis.

The station's website -- 931jackfm.com -- is already live.