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Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Discussion pertaining to Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek, Big Rapids, and Michiana
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MWmetalhead
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Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 02, 2018 6:29 am

The alternative format on Z96.5 is kaput.

At Midnight, it flipped to 96.5 Jack FM.

I think this is likely a good move. 96.5 earned good ratings in years past as a Rock AC and Classic Hits station. Jack plays a decent amount of material from those sectors.

96.5 had erratic ratings but generally mediocre ratings more often than not with alternative. Advertiser interest was light. I'm surprised Z96.5 lasted as long as it did.

This leaves Townsquare's 104.9 The Edge as the only alternative formatted commercial radio station in the state outside of Metro Detroit. (Despite its branding, I consider 105.5 in Port Huron to be more of a Rock Hits station than anything.)

Jack, if successful, will likely hurt K102.5. Might that station flip to a simulcast with 104.9?

Perhaps 102.5 is partially responsible for 106.5's recent ho-hum ratings.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by JeremyAndrews » Fri Nov 02, 2018 8:03 am

Despite their branding, WHLS in Port Huron is basically Alternative.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by TVC_DX5678 » Fri Nov 02, 2018 8:20 am

Would 101.5 Manistee count as "alternative"?



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by JeremyAndrews » Fri Nov 02, 2018 9:10 am

WMTE is AAA. WQKL in Ann Arbor is also AAA. Not the radio format Alternative. More friendly on the Adult acoustic type, singer songwriter, some Classics.

WHLS calls itself “Rock 105.5: Port Huron’s Alternative” Basically Alternative (Lots of Twenty One Pilots, Muse, Gorillaz, Cage The Elephant, U2, Garbage, X Ambassadors, etc) Also plays a lot of pop Rock (Creed, Nickelback, Evanescence) but those artists were also considered Alternative at one point.

And then there’s Alt 106.7 in Detroit which is generic Alternative.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by Deleted User 12201 » Fri Nov 02, 2018 11:05 am

They aren't fools over at 104.9 - they pretty much took over the thread announcing the format switch, over on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Z965FMKalamazo ... %22O%22%7D



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by craigrussell100 » Fri Nov 02, 2018 12:02 pm

I'm just surprised they actually paid to switch it to "Jack"...and didn't come up with some workaround...I'm looking right at you "Mike" and "Joe" in Lansing and Saginaw...Duke-FM Is obviously taken, but maybe "Steve" or "Jeff" FM could have worked...


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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 02, 2018 12:36 pm

105.5 in Pt. Huron has made a lot of changes to its playlist if what I read above is true.

They used to play a lot of 90s and 00s stuff that received considerable airplay on active rock and mainstream rock radio back in the day. That, and big crossover hits from the alternative genre. When I've listened in the past, they've taken a cautious approach on adding new music. They do have affinity for Cage the Elephant. That much I remember! :)



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by hunterw » Fri Nov 02, 2018 3:33 pm

https://radioinsight.com/category/headl ... t-changes/

Seems like lots of station are flipping to this format and similar logo. wonder if its syndicated programming and wonder the syndication is really cheap or on special right now.(Not sure how syndication on formats work and how they charge for them)



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by TheGadgetGuy » Fri Nov 02, 2018 5:04 pm

hunterw wrote:
Fri Nov 02, 2018 3:33 pm
https://radioinsight.com/category/headl ... t-changes/

Seems like lots of station are flipping to this format and similar logo. wonder if its syndicated programming and wonder the syndication is really cheap or on special right now.(Not sure how syndication on formats work and how they charge for them)
There are two ways that one can use the Jack brand. One is to license the branding only and the other is a complete syndicated format from WestwoodOne. Midwest has rolled out Jack on 4 or so stations in recent years.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by MWmetalhead » Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:32 pm

They're playing "Epic" by Faith No More right now. Consider me impressed!

The imaging is well crafted and customized. So, it does not appear they are using the Westwood One feed.

Playlist seems to be more adventurous than the typical "Jack" station. Would love a station like this in Detroit. Oh, that's right. We used to have a similar one. Until iFart unceremoniously scrapped it in favor of Fault 106.7.

We should all be extremely thankful Midwest didn't bring Tom Kent's god awful "Fuel FM" format to K'zoo. You can hear that aural abortion on 92.1 FM in the Lansing area.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by Deleted User 10525 » Sat Nov 03, 2018 2:40 am

This signal has had a lot of formats, wasn't this The Fat one at one point?



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Nov 03, 2018 7:42 am

Yes, the call letters were WFAT for many years. At times, the station would brand itself as "Fat 96.5" or "96.5, the Fat One."

The station would've been just fine had it stuck with its successful Rock AC and Classic Hits formats.

But someone at Midwest years ago - probably Duke Wright - got greedy and thought they could take on 107.7 WRKR by morphing 96.5 from classic hits to classic rock. The ratings crashed and never really recovered after that. It's been a cursed frequency for more than a decade straight.

For a time, it had a Country format that actually sounded pretty good. But the station was saddled with Bob & Tom in the morning (leftover from the prior two formats), which prevented ratings from ever reaching acceptable territory.

When the station was finally able to ditch Bob & Tom, idiotically, instead of keeping the Country format, it flipped to a most-of-the-time simulcast of AM 590 WKZO, a station that probably has two dozen listeners in total under the age of 60 when it's not carrying sports. The idea was to give the red hot Tigers an FM home in the Kalamazoo area, but the dumbasses calling the shots failed to make sure they were contractually able to carry the Tigers on their FM station! WBCK-FM in nearby Battle Creek had FM exclusivity over its service area, thereby preventing 96.5 FM from carrying the games.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by CJ » Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:57 pm

There is some cross over with Jack FM’s playlist and WVFM’s (when they aren’t playing Christmas Music). Could there be a tweak to WVFM’s format after Christmas music? They seem to be be trying to build a Morning audience more than ever with adding Curtis recently. Maybe going up against WKFR more?



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Nov 03, 2018 4:02 pm

Wouldn't surprise me if WVFM tightens up its gold library and shortens its median library song age.

If they were to do that, the station would be returning to the approach it used for several years from mid 90's into the early 00's.

During the last few years as "Q-Lite" and during its full time as "Q 106.5," the station's music always sounded more upbeat and younger than 105.7.



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Re: Z96.5 in K'zoo is now 96.5 Jack FM!

Post by Deleted User 12201 » Mon Nov 05, 2018 8:48 am

I noticed the playlist as well - almost like they worked in the best of Z965 into the typical Jack fare. No complaints for sure, though. If this takes off, maybe they can blow up the Fuel and put this on there instead.
MWmetalhead wrote:
Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:32 pm
They're playing "Epic" by Faith No More right now. Consider me impressed!

The imaging is well crafted and customized. So, it does not appear they are using the Westwood One feed.

Playlist seems to be more adventurous than the typical "Jack" station. Would love a station like this in Detroit. Oh, that's right. We used to have a similar one. Until iFart unceremoniously scrapped it in favor of Fault 106.7.

We should all be extremely thankful Midwest didn't bring Tom Kent's god awful "Fuel FM" format to K'zoo. You can hear that aural abortion on 92.1 FM in the Lansing area.



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