The Infinite Dial

With Bob- and Jack-FM being five years old, we've been visiting their evolution from time to time. For all of the format's variety image, we've already asserted that they were, at the core, Classic Rock formats for those who grew up in the late '70s/'80s and have poppier sensibilities. Cumulus' WJJK Indianapolis has already segued to Classic Rock, while keeping the Jack-FM name and logo but not a lot else.

Now, Rogers' CJAQ (92.5 Jack FM) Toronto has gone head-up against heritage Classic Rocker CILQ (Q107) with a format that can best be described as "everything that Jacks." The music is still heavily '70s/'80s based, but including some currents (mostly Canadian, but the new Springsteen as well) and going as far back as "Brown Eyed Girl." The '80s MTV aspect of the format is gone. And there's not a lot from the late '80s hair era, even though that's been a calling card for some otherwise similar stations.

Unlike WJJK, which had a very good initial surge before levelling off, CJAQ never became the market-consuming Godzilla that other Bob- and Jack-FMs were in Canada. Now, the "Playing What We Want" slogan is still there, as is voice-of-Jack Howard Cogan, although much of the imaging seems more straightfoward (the adjacent Web ad notwithstanding). There are also some shots at Q107 every now and then.

Here's Jack/Toronto at 10:30 a.m., today:

ZZ Top, "Sharp Dressed Man"
Nickelback, "Photograph" (CDN)
Deep Purple, "Smoke on the Water"
Rush, "The Pass" (CDN)
Third-Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life"
Neil Young, "Needle and the Damage Done" (CDN)
AC/DC, "Shoot to Thrill"
David Wilcox, "That Hypnotizin' Boogie" (CDN)
Goo Goo Dolls, "Name"
Boston, "More Than A Feeling"
Bryan Adams, "Kids Wanna Rock" (CDN)