When Star 100.7 turned into JACK three years ago, I was
doing the afternoon drive show on 103.7 The Planet (now known as Sophie@1037).
I remember hearing almost everyone at the Planet saying, "JACK? What a stupid
concept! What a stupid name!" (This from current and former employees of a
station calling itself Sophie?)
Yes, I am
employed by JACK as their weekday afternoon traffic reporter, but I'd have been
a fan anyway, because I really love what they play! I've always been a sucker
for great pop music.
ALL the
songs JACK plays are upbeat and catchy as hell!
So I find
myself playing air guitar or singing "air vocals" to great one-hit wonders by
Gavin DeGraw, Sister Hazel, and Diesel, with their immortal "Sausalito Summer
Night!"
The musical
mainstays of JACK's programming include the Cure, AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Cheryl Crow, Depeche Mode, Foo Fighters, Rolling Stones, the Go-Go's, KC and
the Sunshine Band, and U2 . The format truly is, as they hype it, "like an iPod
on shuffle."
JACK plays
a good percentage of classic rock hits as well, but not many of the
burnt-to-a-crisp numbers you hear on KGB, like "Stairway to Heaven" or "Bad
Moon Rising." They dig deeper, spinning lesser- known semi-hits like "Black
Betty" by Ram Jam and "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour, both of which I
heard on a recent Thursday afternoon. JACK plays tunes by Joe Jackson, Jack
Johnson, Joe Walsh, Jackson Browne, Johnny Hates Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World,
too.
As a guy
who was on KGB during its heyday from 1976 to 1990, I think that, in modern
terms, JACK best personifies that station's credo at the time: If it's popular,
we'll play it! During my tenure, that included John Denver, Black Sabbath,
Donna Summer, Led Zeppelin, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Jeff
Beck, the Beatles, the Stones, Can, Velvet Underground, B.W. Stevenson, and
George Benson. (KGB's mid-1970's playlist totalled almost 10,000 songs!)
I'm sure
that JACK plays far fewer tracks than that, but they're still San Diego's most
adventurous commercial radio station.
Try it at
100.7 on your FM radio. Tell ‘em J.M. sent ya.