Contract on 95.7 JACK FM about to expire. . . .

[RadioGaGa75]

October 5, 2008 will mark the three-year anniversary when South Central Radio Group dropped Oldies 95.7 & 106.7 for JACK FM.  Considering it has been a major flop in K-Town, one can only imagine the folks on Sharps Ridge are not going to renew their contract on JACK FM and go with a new format.

So assuming Jack's gonna "hit the road," anybody got an idea what the new format might be? 

[RMarino]

How do you know it's been a "major flop"?   For a station to get any ratings at all for airing (and paying) no live local personalities, having no programming staff to pay, and no original imaging to produce sounds like a major success to me. 

But to indulge the fantasy that 95.7/106.7 will have locally produced formats again, I think strategically, they would have to go Hot AC to take away some of Star's adult numbers and to help flank B-97.5

[BRice16]

Hot AC? Tried and failed on that frequency. Twice.

I don't see SS trying to make the third time a charm.

[AlbumOldies]

Actually, I've gotten to where I like Jack FM.  For me, 93.1, Jack, and 98.7's oldies (and occasionally WQBB AM 1040) pretty well fill my music needs on Knoxville radio.  I just cannot get into B97.5,  I have never heard anything on Star 102 that I like, and classic rock WIMZ drove me away a couple of years ago with their repetitiveness and redneck personna.   Most of my listening time goes to True Oldies 98.7 and News Talk 100.   

[tennvol]

Beat the rush, go Christmas in October 

[sss]

If SC was to flip the format, what about AAA?

[BRice16]

If SC was to flip the format, what about AAA?

They'd have to hire a full knowledgeable staff and do it right for it to be successful, see WOKI in the Dick Broadcasting era. Otherwise, it will fail miserably, see WOKI in the Citadel era.

[RMarino]

Hot AC? Tried and failed on that frequency. Twice.

I don't see SS trying to make the third time a charm.

What was the competitive situation at that time?  You have to remember, this isn't about one station getting ratings.  It's all about synergy within the cluster.  How will it help the cash cow?  If they do a Hot AC on 95.7 and get a 2.0 share, yet succeed in stealing 2 shares of Star's 25-54 numbers, and help protect B-97.5 from a potential competitor, that could be considered a success.

That's why I say Jack-FM might not be the disappointment that you think it is.  But I guess we'll see if South Central thinks it's worth keeping.  They might do what some other stations have done when their "Jack" contract ran out.  They simply dropped the "Jack" imaging but kept the "adult hits" format, programmed it locally, and just called it something else.

[SoCentralChik1]

JACK is very inexpensive to run, but still they have a little income.  I'm not so sure anything will happen on that signal...unless something happens with WNFZ, and that is moved over some time soon. 
If they went AAA, I'd like to see Shane run it again.  I do miss the old River (when it was good). 
We'll see. 

[BRH]

I would also like to see a Hot AC format come back to Knoxville.  Also South Central has moved B97.5 in much more of a gold based direction the past couple of years so there might be room for a Hot AC or Adult CHR in their cluster.   Also,  personally,  I would like to see a rhythmic AC (Movin') type format too.  That might be an option,  but it might be to close to B97.5s flashback tracks.