For a while, the Adult Hits Jack-FM format was heard in a half-dozen British markets. It also led to five brand extensions on FM and digital frequencies, including the all-UK Union Jack, one of those station names that made me jealous because I didn’t come up with it.
This week, the flagship Oxford frequencies of Jack-FM UK were sold to Bauer Media, which will rebrand Jack as well as soft AC Jack3 Chill. I took a Final Listen to those stations under PD Steve Simms, as well as online Adult CHR Jack2 Hits.
The original Jack Oxfordshire launched in 2007 (after a two-year license application process). The Jack-FM name and franchise for the UK and the rest of Europe had been sold to the station’s current owner, and will not transfer to Bauer, meaning that Jack conceivably could be back in the UK at some point.
For much of its life, Jack UK operated as a separate entity from the North American version of the format. Its current mix is roughly 10 years newer than a comparable U.S. station, with an emphasis on ’90s and early-’00s pop/rock. For an American listener, it’s a nice change of pace, especially if you’ve been streaming UK radio since it first became available here in the mid-to-late ’90s.
Among some of the imaging favorites from my Final Listens to the three stations:
- Jack-FM has a hook promo featuring They Might Be Giants’ “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” Annie Lennox’s “Little Bird,” and Lenny Kravitz’s “Fly Away” (all were UK hits), before promising to “pay no attention to tweets.”
- A Jack-FM sweeper says, “We’ve seen your Spotify playlist. That’s why we’re playing what we want.”
- A promo for breakfast host Matt Richardson, heard shortly after Wimbledon, declares, “Tennis is the most emo sport, because love means nothing.”
- The female-voiced Jack 2 promises, “If at first you don’t succeed, you’ll fit right in.”
- Jack3’s slugline is “Jack FM and chill,” but a hook promo instructs listeners to “take the red pill for music like this,” ending with “but don’t take the blue pill, that’s Viagra.”
Jack Oxfordshire’s former GM Ian Walker and PD Sue Carter are still in radio, Walker as a consultant and Carter (who also co-hosted mornings with Trevor Marshall) as Christian O’Connell’s PD at the highly successful Gold FM Melbourne, Australia. News Director Jo Summerbell also remains at the station (which runs news per legal remit at :00).
Other station veterans, Walker notes, have left radio, including national content directors Craig Boddy and Dick Stone and GSM Hamish Law. The late Paul Easton (also a recent Ross on Radio contributor) oversaw Jack music.
Here’s Jack FM Oxfordshire on July 17 at 10:55 a.m.:
- Hives, “Hate to Say I Told You So”
- Cornershop, “Brimful of Asha”
- Nickelback, “Rockstar” — the third time in several weeks of listening that I’ve encountered that song
- Texas, “Halo”
- U2, “Elevation”
- Prince, “Gett Off”
- Brandon Flowers, “Crossfire”
- Ting-Tings, “That’s Not My Name”
- Shed Seven, “Getting Better” (1996 Britpop)
- Robbie Williams, “Rock DJ”
- Elastica, “Connection” — the first of two times I heard it on Monday; the second was on Triple-A KPNW Seattle
- Metro Station, “Shake It”
- Lemonheads, “Mrs. Robinson”
- George Ezra, “Shotgun”
Here’s Jack2’s Adult CHR format at 10 a.m., July 18:
- David Guetta/Anne-Marie/Coi Leray, “Baby Don’t Hurt Me”
- SilkSonic, “Leave the Door Open”
- Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
- Sigma f/Ella Henderson, “Glitterball”
- Calvin Harris f/Dua Lipa & Young Thug, “Potion”
- Nathan Dawe x Joel Corry x Ella Henderson, “0800-Heaven”
- Calvin Harris f/Halsey, Justin Timberlake & Pharrell Williams, “Stay With Me”
- Dominic Fike, “3 Nights”
- Britney Spears, “Hold It Against Me”
- TLC, “Waterfalls”
- Adele, “Oh My God”
- Tom Grennan, “How Does It Feel”
- Pink, “Get the Party Started”
- Sugababes, “Freak Like Me” — the Adina Howard song mashed up with Gary Numan’s UK breakthrough, “Are Friends Electric?”
Finally, here’s Jack3’s Soft AC format from the same hour:
- Doobie Brothers, “What a Fool Believes”
- Berlin, “Take My Breath Away”
- Robbie Williams, “Angels”
- Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”
- Carpenters, “For All We Know”
- Billy Joel, “An Innocent Man”
- Ed Sheeran, “Thinking Out Loud”
- Cars, “Drive”
- Curtis Stigers, “I Wonder Why”
- Nina Simone, “I Put a Spell on You”
- Lighthouse Family, “Lifted”
- Kenny G, “Songbird”
