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HISTORY One of the early originators of this format was radio programmer Bob Perry , on an American Internet radio Stream in 2000 . However, according to Rogers Communications, the only thing taken for the first JACK-FM radio station in Vancouver was the name and the tagline (both trademarked by Perry). JACK program director Pat Cardinal says that he was unaware of the type of music on the American website and that "JACK" was one of several names that were considered for the format. Perry named the station after a fictitious persona, "Cadillac Jack" Garrett, "a hard-living radio cowboy" whose motto was "playing what we want." Rogers Communications licensed the trademarks from Perry for their use in Canada soon after the launch. Beginning late in 2002 , the format was adopted on Canadian Radio Station s owned by Rogers Communications . The first Jack station was Vancouver 's CKLG , which quickly shot to the top of the city's BBM radio ratings. The format was consequently adopted on other Rogers stations in 2002 and 2003 . The format proved popular in many markets where it was introduced, although its success was not always as dramatic as it had been in Vancouver. JACK was inspired by the success of CHUM Limited 's " Bob FM " brand on CFWM radio in Winnipeg, Manitoba . Program director Howard Kroeger was inspired to create Bob FM after hearing a mix tape at a friend's 40th birthday party. Other Canadian broadcasters copied the concept as well, adopting such brands as Corus Entertainment 's " Dave FM " and " Joe FM ". In 2003, an Ottawa station launched "Frank FM" as a one-day Halloween Prank . (The prank's name was possibly also inspired by the Canadian satirical magazine '' Frank ''.) On July 29 , 2005 , Rawlco 's CKCK in Regina, Saskatchewan became the first non-Rogers station in Canada to directly license the Jack FM brand rather than adopting an alternate name. In 2004 , American radio stations began to adopt the Jack/Bob/Dave format as well. NRC Broadcasting's KJAC 105.5 in Denver, Colorado was the first U.S. station to become "Jack FM" on April 14, 2004. A few stations have used the names of famous locals to promote the format, such as WMHX "Abe FM" in Springfield, Illinois , named for Abraham Lincoln , and WMWX "Ben FM" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , named for Benjamin Franklin . On Wednesday, May 4 , 2005 , at noon, WQSR , an oldies station in Towson , Maryland which targeted Baltimore area listeners, changed its format from oldies to Jack FM. Listeners and staffers alike were surprised by the sudden change, because many long-time DJs and on-air personalities were considered almost a Baltimore institution. WQSR received a large amount of negative publicity regarding their format change; however, WQSR's change received nowhere near as much publicity as did the format change of one of New York City 's most legendary radio stations. On Friday, , the oldies station in New York City , switched to Jack FM without any prior warning. The switch to a more generic format has been termed "the day the music died" by New Yorkers and has drawn criticism even from non-listeners of the station, particularly due to the sudden firing of DJs of historic renown. In a partial nod to this controversy, on June 14 , 2005 , it was announced that the station would be unique among those with the Jack format in that it would occasionally include 1950s and early 1960s songs in its rotation as well as songs by performers like Frank Sinatra that are normally not part of the Jack format, though a later Web update retracted this and it seems that songs from before the late 1960s are no longer played. While this does not mean that it will be the least successful of the Jack FM stations, it definitely generated the most negative publicity of any market that switched a station to the Jack format, including a derogatory comment by the mayor himself. According to the New York Post, mayor Michael Bloomberg responded to the change by declaring he would "never listen to that fucking CBS radio ever again", which the new Jack station picked up on, making jokes about his quip ("Hey, Mayor Bloomberg. I heard you took a shot at us in The Post. What's with all the swearin' like a sailor? Fleet week is over. It's just music.") Initially Arbitron ratings did show a sharp decline. On the same day that WCBS-FM made the switch, 104.3 WJMK , an oldies station in Chicago , Illinois , changed format to 104.3 Jack FM as well. The change at WJMK didn't attract as much attention as the change to WCBS, but it still drew the ire of its listeners. All Jack FM stations in Canada and the United States (except the original webstream on JACK.FM and . Buffalo, New York 's station does not use Howard Cogan because, located at 92.9 mHz, they are trying to distance themselves from Toronto's 92.5 Jack FM ( CJAQ ) Stations using the "Jack" name are very strictly licensed by the format's owner, . On July 5, 2005, it was announced that Bohn & Associates Media and Wall Media formed SparkNet Communications L.P. as the exclusive U.S. licensor and owner of the Jack FM format. SparkNet has, in turn, licensed the format to ABC Radio Networks for satellite-based syndication to stations in U.S. markets outside the 40 largest. This satelite-fed Jack became active in October, 2005, and now serves many of the smaller Jack stations, such as Evansville and Knoxville . In late and stated why he doesn't see commercial-free iPods and satellite radio as a threat to a non-DJ format. In mid October 2005 , Entravison Radio launched a Spanish -language version of the Jack format dubbed "José" with the "We Play What We Want" tagline translated into Spanish as "Toca lo que Quiere." José went live on six FM and AM stations in Sacramento , Stockton , and Modesto, California , Albuquerque, New Mexico and Denver, Colorado . On October 25 , 2005, Infinity Broadcasting announced that it would be replacing Howard Stern with Jack FM on some of its stations. Stern left terrestrial radio for Sirius Satellite Radio in late 2005. One of the main criticisms of the Jack FM format has been that with the elimination (or at least reduction) of the role of the DJ, radio is losing its main selling point over an iPod, which is the sense that a live person is programming your music. '' Newsday '' described the format, with a lack of local programming and personalities, as "another step toward the McDonaldization of radio". VarietyHits.com is a website that keeps track of the entire genre, inclusive of the Jack brand. It lists every station in North America that carries the format, with information on each station, when it picked up the format, etc. JACK FM STATIONS Radio stations are listed here if they specifically use the Jack FM brand. Stations branded as Bob FM are listed on that article; stations using alternate brands are listed at Adult Hits . Canada
United States
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