Callers to the new Jack FM radio station in San Diego are greeted by a smug voice with this message: "If you want to request a song, call somebody else. We play what we want."
A radio station telling listeners to buzz off would have been heretical a few years ago. Now it's just business. As satellite radio and digital music players such as Apple's iPod steal listeners from conventional radio, stations are trying to capture the best of those new technologies -- the variety and seemingly random order of the songs.
Already, more than 5 million people -- fed up with the endless ads and repetitive playlists of broadcast radio -- have signed up for the virtually commercial-free programming of XM and Sirius satellite radio. And Apple has sold 15 million iPods, which allow people to listen to what they want when they want.
The radio industry's best response so far is called Jack, a format that 12 U.S. stations have adopted in the last year, including KCBS-FM (93.1) in Los Angeles, which formerly featured a rock oldies format and called itself "Arrow." The new identity means a vastly expanded playlist of 1,200 songs, culled from the hits of the last four decades in all genres, from pop to R&B to classic rock to Motown. It also means no DJs, no promotions or contests and fewer commercials.
"Jack is a revelation," said Chris Butterick, general manager of Jack FM in Jackson, Miss., who sounds as though he has undergone a religious conversion. "Radio had forgotten what its purpose is. People want to hear music and variety. Jack is all about the listeners."
But radio consultants critical of the format say research shows that listeners want to feel a connection with a station -- and that comes through on-air personalities.
"I always ask people to name a station that stayed successful without personalities, and nobody has come up with one," said Robert Unmacht, a longtime radio programmer and consultant based in Nashville. "Radio is about the music, and it's about doing radio with personality."
Nonetheless, at least in the early going, Jack stations are attracting attention. Butterick's station, which used to play "classic hits" and was sixth in its market among nonurban stations, has been either first or second in the last two ratings periods, according to Arbitron Inc., which tracks ratings for stations in the U.S. and Mexico.
