Mike, Jack, it's all hot air(waves)

[Stephen Capen]

Harkening back to some posts on this subject in April: The Jack format claims to embrace blues and classical music as well -- totally absent, on the 93.7 slot at least. But even the music played on Mike skims the surface, being sold like Staples Office Supply's "That's easy" ("We play everything") when it's obviously untrue. 

A piece by Ben Fong-Torres from his "Radio Waves" column in the San Francisco Chronicle on the format points out that the Los Angeles station, formerly Arrow 93.1, fired all its DJs (ring a bell?) and adopted the Jack format, promoting it by saying "guess you won't need [an iPod] anymore." But the fact is, the playlist grew from about 400 songs to just 1200. 

It's a format devised a few years ago in Canada, and I do believe they're still  calling the shots on what's played.

As a newcomer to this group, I'd like to say greetings to all involved here, at a time when radio is heading for some tumultuous changes.

Cheers,
Stephen