Sounds exactly like i92.9 in its last few months - basically Hot AC masquerading as CHR. Without offering a true alternative to KFR, there's no reason for listeners to switch. A rhythmic lean would have been better.
Could not have said it better myself.
This new station is very underwhelming. It's basically WKFR without the slick imaging and without KFR's older songs. The song choices are bland and scream "this is a station designed with young kids in mind." Anything the least bit risqué is avoided.
The WMU crowd won't have much use for this station (they likely have little use for FM radio in the first place). Millennials and Gen Z will have little use for this station unless they have young kids in the car who might prefer this to 103.3.
I also question if MWC did a good enough job informing its incumbent Jack FM listeners of the move to 106.5! Did these morons not learn from Cumulus' country debacle in Grand Rapids? Simply switching the frequency mentions from "96.5" to "106.5" in the laid back Howard Kogan voiceovers and mentioning twice an hour that the station has moved to 106.5 isn't enough. Those voiceovers are "background" and 90% of the audience pays no attention to them on a station like Jack.
A louder voice telling listeners to "reset their presets" should've been used repeatedly last week. The radio station should've also been reaching out to area TV stations - especially WWMT - as well as MLive to publicize the changes. I saw ZERO coverage.
I'm worried Jack's ratings at 106.5 will be no greater than they were at 96.5, and that Hits 96.5 will earn only about a 3 share in ages 12+ (and less than that in A25-54).
The two mitigants preventing further damage are the fact a decent percentage - perhaps half - of Jack FM 96.5 listeners probably already had 106.5 as a preset (especially female listeners of Jack FM), and some prior listeners of FM 106.5 might find enough material they like on the new Jack 106.5 to warrant keeping the station as a preset.
Some radio companies do such a MISERABLE job marketing their own brands that I'm not sure why any third party business would ever want to rely on these same radio stations to develop a marketing campaign for their own business!
For those who have a decent receiver or live on the west side of Kalamazoo, Live 99.9 from South Bend is a superior station for top 40 hits.
The new 96.5 sounds like a station developed by white guys in their 50s who know nothing about the audience they are trying to target.
Morgan Wallen is a piece of garbage.