The Infinite Dial

When KJKK Dallas, the first American "Jack-FM" launched, the sign-on began with a dialogue between the imaging voice of KRBV (V100), the frequency's previous Top 40 occupant, and "voice of Jack" Howard Cogan in which, if memory served, Cogan chided the V100 imaging guy for sounding too smarmy.

So I've been spending a lot of time with WCBS-FM New York in its last days as Jack-FM, in advance of its return to Oldies tomorrow, to see how they handle Jack's last days before the format moves to the HD-2 multicast channel/Internet feed.

Last night, I heard a fairly standard promo for the switch, emphasizing Jack's new address, which also contained brief plugs for co-owned WXRK (K-Rock) and WWFS (Fresh 102.7). (The promo can be heard by opening the Jack-FM homepage.) This afternoon, I heard a more in-character promo in which Cogan/Jack-voice is delivered flowers and a telegram reading, "Have a nice cruise. See you in HD-2, signed Bob Shannon."

Shannon is the former CBS-FM afternoon host who will return to the new station for middays and, apparently, the new public face of the revived station. (That promo would have been devastating if it had been signed Cousin Brucie, but I am personally very excited about getting to hear Bob on the radio again.)

In any event, it's worth noting that CBS is learning from some of the mistakes of the Oldies-to-Jack flip. Based on all descriptions, it will be palatable for much of the existing cume. And they're also not blindsiding that existing cume with the transition this time.

And if you haven't yet seen the Ross On Radio column about Jack's departure from New York, and the fifth anniversary of Bob-FM and the formats that followed, click here.