Variety Hits News
May 7, 2008
The Jack FM Variety Hits format has been dropped from New York City's 101.1 WCBS-FM HD2 sub-channel effective today, nearly one year since it was jettisoned from the primary spot by the return of oldies/classic hits "101.1 CBS FM" to the spot. According to multiple published reports, CBS Radio is now operating a currently unbranded "80-centric" Variety Hits format in its place.
May 6, 2008
Panama City has its first station in the format, as Double O Radio abruptly dropped sports from 105.1 WASJ (which went to sports in January of this year in place of its previous Smooth Jazz format) to become 105.1 Bob FM.
April 30, 2008
All Access confirms what it teased last week, as Cumulus flipped Hot AC B-103 (KBIU) today to the satellite-fed version of JACK-FM in Lake Charles, LA as 103.3 Jack FM. The website reveals that while the KBIU call letters remains for now, they will be changed soon to call letters that closer match the Jack name.
It's interesting to note that this is the first Cumulus-owned station to put the satellite-fed version of Jack FM on the air. It inherited the Susquehanna Jack FM stations in Kansas City and Indianapolis in May 2006; the Indy station later evolved to Classic Hits (and ultimately dropped the Jack name).
However, in August 2007, Cumulus licensed Jack FM for a rimshot station covering the Houston market. And that, coupled with the addition of Jack FM in Lake Charles, may be a sign of the company finding interest in the Variety Hits format, particularly with the Jack FM branding.
April 18, 2008
Entercom has divested itself of Fickle 93.3 WFKL in Rochester, NY, along with two other stations it owns in the market, to comply with FCC-mandated market ownership limits that Entercom exceeded when it purchased the CBS Radio stations in Rochester in August 2006. According to All Access, WFKL is being put into a trust with WRMM and WZNE that is being run by David Pearlman.
April 7, 2008
Gapwest Broadcasting has brought Variety Hits to Yakima, WA, where it dropped Spanish "La Preciosa 99.3" on KQSN and replaced it with "My 99.3". It debuted on 4/1/2008 by playing 5,000 songs in a row. KQSN belonged to Clear Channel until Gapwest officially acquired it in February 2008, and the new owners didn't waste much time in putting a new format on the air on the signal.
This is the second Variety Hits station to go on the air in Yakima, the first being New Northwest Broadcasting's 105.7 Bob FM (KRSE).
March 31, 2008
NextMedia's 98.7 Will FM in the Wilmington, NC market has been moved to a much-weaker signal in the adjacent New Bern/Morehead City, NC market.
The call letters for 98.7 Will FM changed from WILT to WLGD on March 16, 2008, which served as a hint that something was up there. Then, effective March 31, the Will FM format went to 104.5 WSTK, a Class A signal with a Spanish format that recently upgraded to Class C1. The move saw Spanish move to 98.7 as "La Gran D", with the idea that the signal will cover a range with a population of 130,000 Hispanics.
In a related note, NextMedia had a Variety Hits signal on in New Bern/Morehead City, NC with SAM 105.1 (WSSM), which flipped to Standards as "105.1 The Coast" on November 1, 2007.
March 28, 2008
The Odessa/Midland, TX market has a Variety Hits station, as classic rock "102 FZX" (KFZX) switched changed formats to pick up the satellite-fed Jack FM format on March 1, 2008.
February 29, 2008
KSCB-FM (B 107.5) in Liberal, KS shifted from Hot AC to Variety Hits effective February 1, 2008. The station falls into one of those "tweener" positions that is difficult to pin down, but it passes enough tests (Adult Hits listing by 100000watts.com, use of Jack-like phrasing as "80s, 90s, and whatever" on its website, etc.) to make the cut for this site.
February 20, 2008
The satellite-fed version of JACK-FM will be moving from ABC Radio Networks to Dial Global Digital effective March 31, 2008. The move, which should be transparent to listeners, will happen without a disruption of service for affiliates.
Bob FM is on in San Angelo, TX, where K-Lite 98.7 (Hot AC) flipped to Variety Hits as 98.7 Bob FM on February 18, 2008.
February 7, 2008
Tom Taylor reports that CBS Radio has opted not to renew Howard Cogan for voiceover duties for the WCBS-FM HD2 stream of JACK-FM in New York City. He is being replaced by voiceover talent Pat St. John.
There have been an unfortunate number of cuts in the radio biz recently, and today it hit a Variety Hits station. According to All Access, CBS Radio PD/MD Craig Powers is out from KKJJ/Las Vegas (100.5 Jack FM) as part of sweeping cuts institued by the company today in major markets across the country.
February 5, 2008
According to All Access, Variety Hits simulcast 104.9 WYNA and 100.7 WGTN-FM, known on-air as 104.9 Bob FM, will be sold by Coastline Communications to Qantum Communications. Qantum has operated the station via an LMA, but this move will give them possession of both licenses.
January 18, 2008
All Access reports that 106.9 KZY (WKZY/Ocala-Gainesville, FL has transitioned from Variety Hits to Hot AC, putting an emphasis on contemporary hit music (in the Hot AC mold). In one of those unusual twists that happens in radio sometimes, the station has picked up "Jayne FM" (a female-oriented Variety Hits music service) for the 7-11 p.m. weeknight timeslot.
Jack FM is on the air in Russia. This link takes you to the station broadcasting on 89.9 FM in Moscow and 91.1 FM in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida.)
January 9, 2007
Connoisseur Media has improved the coverage of Bob FM in Wichita, KS, supplementing 100.5 KIBB (a class C3 signal without good metro coverage west of Wichita in Sedgwick County, KS) with new move-in 97.1 KGGG, a Class C2 move-in with great coverage from the west, as a simulcast partner as of December 26, 2007. This may be a transition as opposed to a full-fledged simulcast, as the station's website is promoting a "move" to 97.1.
January 4, 2008
Bob FM has a new affiliate in Salina, KS, as Adult Contemporary "OZ 05" (KQNS) flipped to Variety Hits on December 1, 2007 as 95.5 Bob FM and landed new call letters KVOB.
December 28, 2007
It's a late Christmas gift for Omaha, KS! Waitt Radio brought the Variety Hits format back to the city the day after Christmas, almost one year after dropping it from the same market. Waitt dropped Bob FM from 106.9 KOPW-FM on December 31, 2006, but it brought it back (albeit in a new form) on December 26, 2007, replacing AC KLTQ "Lite Rock 101.9" with "101.9 the Big O" -- two days later (today), the station picked up new call letters KOOO.
December 26, 2007
More than a year after dropping the Variety Hits format (shifting to Classic Hits), Cumulus' WJJK/Indianapolis has dropped the Jack FM name and associated imaging and now is known simply as 104.5 WJJK.
December 7, 2007
Lafayette, IN (the home of Purdue University) landed the Variety Hits format on December 6, 2007, with 95.3 WLFF dropping its "Wolf Country" format to become 95.3 Bob FM. The old Jack FM in Indianapolis (WJJK) was a distant rimshot at best to the area, but its flip to Classic Hits last year negated any potential problems there.
November 6, 2007
Variety Hits KJXK (Jack FM)/San Antonio PD Mark Landis signed a multi-year deal with Border Media Partners which puts him in charge of English Programming for BMP, including oversite of the company's JACK-FM stations nationwide (so far KJXK in San Antonio and KJAV in McAllen, TX.) Jack debuted in McAllen on September 14, 2007, replacing the Rhythmic Oldies format there (Digital 104.9.)
November 5, 2007
The rumors proved true in Dayton, where Main Line Broadcasting flipped legacy CHR Z-93 (92.9 WGTZ) to Variety Hits as Fly 92.9 at noon on Friday, November 2, 2007. This is the second station that Main Line has flipped to the format; in Richmond, VA, Main Line put the format on as Liberty 98.9 more than two years ago.
November 1, 2007
Could Variety Hits be coming to Dayton, OH? That's the hot rumor; Main Line Broadcasting recent acquired the Dayton cluster from Radio One, an acquisition that included Z-93 (92.9 WGTZ), which has been engaged in a head-to-head CHR war with Clear Channel's WDKF. The Dayton Business Journal breaks it down in this article.
Z-93 is currently stunting with an automated countdown. It is expected to debut its new format tomorrow at noon EDT.
© Copyright 2005-2008 Lou Pickney. All Rights Reserved.
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