WJMK (FM)

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WJMK (104.3 FM) is a rock leaning Adult Hits radio station in Chicago, Illinois. The station is known as Jack FM. The station adopted this format on June 3, 2005 after spending 21 years as an oldies station. WJMK is a CBS Radio station with CBS and Viacom as parent companies.

History

The station signed on in 1961 as WJJD FM. By the mid-1970s the station was known as WJEZ. They had played Country by the mid-1970s as well. The station was co-owned with WJJD by Plough Broadcasting. In the early 1980s 99.5 FM took a Country format. At that point WJJD 1160 adopted a pop standards format and became known as "Music Of Your Life". WJEZ remained Country. In 1983 Infinity would buy WJJD and WJEZ 104.3.

In 1984 WJEZ became "Magic 104.3" WJMK and began playing an Oldies format. Initially it was similar to what RKO's WFYR was playing except WJMK played more 1950s and early 1960s music. WJMK initially also played 1970s and 1980s music along with a new song every hour. By 1986 though the current product was dropped and the 1980s songs were gone by 1987 as well as 1970s songs past 1972.

The station focused heavily on 1964-1969 with a good amount of 1950s music as well. Into the 1990s they only played a 1970s song every 90 minutes and it was an early 1970s song with a couple exceptions. In 1992 Infinity would buy 99.5 WUSN the Country station. In 1996 Infinity was sold to CBS and then CBS/Infinity owned several AM stations in addition to WJMK 104.3 and WUSN 99.5 Country. CBS also had WCKG 105.9 then a Classic Rock station, 107.9 a 1970s Oldies station, WBBM a CHR Rhythmic station on 96.3, and Triple-A WXRT 93.1. As a result Infinity/CBS had to sell 1970s Oldies station 107.9 to Spanish Broadcasting and that station became WLEY with a Mexican music format.

This left CBS/Infinity with its limit of 8 stations; 5 FM and 3 AM stations. WJMK droped the "Magic 104.3" by 1998. At that point they began to mix in more 1970s music to the format cutting off at about 1975 and playing 2 or 3 1970s oldies per hour while still playing 2 or 3 1950s an hour as well as a total of 4 or 5 pre 1964 oldies an hour.

In 1999 with the competition of Jammin 103.5, WJMK added a few disco songs and played 3 or 4 1970s songs per hour and playing songs throughout the decade from 1970-1979 in the mix. They also added several dozen 1980s in music songs playing about one every 2 hours. They cut the pre-1964 songs to about 4 an hour with one to two 1950s in music songs per hour still being played. They also began a 1970s and 1980s rock based show on Saturday evenings replacing a more traditional 1950s and 1960s Oldies show.

Other than that the station stayed the course with oldies well past the demise of Jammin 103.5. In 2001 they further cut back on the pre-1964 oldies playing down to one to two per hour and very few 1950s songs. By 2003 the pre-1964 oldies were just about eliminated and WJMK now focused on 1964 to 1979 oldies playing just under 50 % 1960s and just under 50 % 1970s oldies with 2 or 3 % of the music pre-1964 or post-1979. Ratings stayed decent but nothing great. The amount of songs was also trimmed over the years since 1999.

Finally Infinity opted to put an adult hits format on stations in many markets. They dropped oldies on WQSR Baltimore and classic rock from KCBS FM Los Angeles. The format was known as "Jack FM". On June 3 at 5 PM an hour after flipping long-time oldies station WCBS FM New York, WJMK Oldies 104.3 became Jack FM.

Thus far Jack FM has no local personalitites in Chicago but they are considering eventually changing that. Jack FM is a format featuring mostly rock songs that appeal to adults. Jack plays about 2,000 songs. They play about an equal balance of 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in music rock music hits with some rhythmic and dance and R & B upbeat songs mixed in. They also play some recent hits from the past few years and a couple current hits. They also mix a handful of uptempo late 1960s songs. Jack has elements of Classic Rock, Hot AC, Modern Rock, and 1970s/1980s Gold making up the format. The variety of the music makes it quite unique though rock music is the main force driving the format.

While "Jack FM" is on the analog FM station on 104.3, the old format of 1960s and 1970s oldies airs on a digital subchannel in which can only be received with an HD FM radio which is just becoming available now.

The former WJMK airstaff has been taken off air as of July 13, 2006 as a result of CBS radio cutting costs at their stations across the country, as may as 115 positions. The oldies format will continue streaming online and on HD2 DJ-less along with Jack FM also, DJ-less.. Oldies also returned to analog FM radio on 94.7 WZZN owned by ABC.

External links

FM Radio Stations in the Chicago Market

By frequency: 88.1 | 88.3 | 88.5 | 88.7 | 88.9 | 89.1 | 89.3 | 89.3 | 90.1 | 90.5 | 90.9 | 91.5 | 91.9 | 92.3 | 92.5 | 92.7 | 93.1 | 93.9 | 94.3 | 94.7 | 95.1 | 95.5 | 95.9 | 96.3 | 96.7 | 97.1/96.9 | 97.9 | 98.3 | 98.7 | 99.5 | 99.9 | 100.3 | 100.7 | 101.1 | 101.9 | 102.3 | 102.7 | 103.1/93.5 | 103.5 | 103.9 | 104.3 | 104.7 | 105.1 | 105.5 | 105.5 | 105.9 | 106.3 | 106.7 | 107.1 | 107.1 | 107.5 | 107.9

CBS Corporation

1Will Become The CW Television Network>The CW Owned and Operated Television Stations on September 18, 2006

2Will become affiliates of Fox Broadcasting Company>Fox's My Network TV in September 2006

3Will become Independent station>independent stations on September 18, 2006 Annual Revenue:

.54 billion USD (2005) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [CBS] | Website: [www.cbscorporation.com]

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