KZJK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| City of license | St. Louis Park, Minnesota |
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| Broadcast area | Minneapolis-St. Paul |
| Branding | 104.1 Jack FM |
| Slogan | Playing What We Want |
| First air date | 1962 |
| Frequency | 104.1 FM (MHz) |
| Format | Commercial; Adult Hits |
| Power | 89,000 watts |
| Class | C1 |
| Callsign meaning | JK=Jack |
| Owner | CBS Radio |
| Website | www.1041jackfm.com |
KZJK (104.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting the adult hits "Jack FM" format in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region of Minnesota. The current format took to the air on the morning of April 21, 2005, following more than four years of a 1980s-centered playlist, starting in November 2000. The station is owned by Viacom through the radio subsidiary CBS Radio.
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[edit] History
For many years, 104.1 was hampered by a badly located tower. Although the station is licensed to the west Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, the tower was located in Somerset, Wisconsin. The result was a spotty signal in parts of the metropolitan area, and it would be many years until this situation was rectified.
104.1 has gone through many format changes over the years. They were KRSI ("Request Radio") from the late 1960s, simulcasting with their AM sister station. In the 1970s, they played country music, then briefly freeform rock as KFMX. In 1978, they switched to disco, while the AM station remained as "Musicradio I-95" (which at the time played a good deal of New Wave music). KFMX gave up disco in 1980 and switched to a 'Music Of Your Life format,In 1982 it switched to country music, as "K-JO Country", with the KJJO call letters. In September 1983, after playing "Old Time Rock n' Roll" by Bob Seger for 48 hours straight, they became classic hits "K-JO 104".
In 1986, KJJO changed formats yet again and introduced a hard rock format, to go head-to-head with the tightly formatted KQRS. The new station kept the KJJO call letters, and was dubbed "Hot Rockin' 104" (later "Rock 104"). At it's peak, the hard rock format pushed KJJO into the top 10 in the Arbitron ratings. KJJO was not very consistent with the harder format, though, as they went back and forth between hard rock and mainstream album-oriented rock. In 1987 they picked up the syndicated heavy metal Z-Rock radio network affiliation for their AM sister station. By the early 1990s, as heavy metal started to fade from popularity, the KJJO started introducing alternative rock songs into the format.
By 1990, KJJO ditched the heavy metal and mainstream rock altogether and became a full-time modern rock station. At first, they called themselves "104FM", but eventually picked up the nickname "KJ104". During the station's modern rock run, the playlist became more and more adventurous. The latest incarnation of 104.1 garnered positive word of mouth in the Twin Cities area, though ratings were mediocre. The station's manager complained in local media that KJ104's listeners were not filling out the Arbitron ratings diaries, the results of which are used to measure a radio station's success.
After a couple years, KJJO announced a pending switch back to a country format, amid a large outcry from KJ104's dedicated fans. "Thunder 104.1" debuted in 1992, but could not compete with the established K102 and the soon-to-sign-on WBOB. While initial ratings jumped up from the levels of the previous format, the two other country stations trounced Thunder 104.1, knocking them down to the same level as KJ104's. To set themselves apart from the brutal competition, they evolved into a classic country format, and ratings improved somewhat.
The country fad died down by the mid-1990s, and KJJO let K102 and BOB100 continue to fight it out, flipping to smooth jazz in April 1995, with the KJJO call letters finally retired and new calls KMJZ introduced. During this time, ownership transferred several times. Nationwide Communications bought the station from the estate of its longtime owner Roy Park, then Nationwide was bought by Jacor, which spun the station off Infinity Broadcasting (which later became part of CBS, then Viacom). WXPT became the call letters in 1998 when the station flipped to a modern adult contemporary format as "104.1 The Point". WXPT evolved into an '80s hits format by 2000, and the station took the tagline "Mix 104.1". While never a ratings giant, Mix 104.1 was a modest success, as the station's transmitter woes were finally resolved by the move to KMSP-TV's antenna array in Shoreview, Minnesota, location of most of the area's big FM stations. On May 10, 2005, three weeks after the format change to adult hits as "Jack FM" as part of a corporate branding strategy, the call letters were officially changed to KZJK.
Across the country, CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Broadcasting) now has some two dozen FM stations broadcasting the "Jack" format. This includes Infinity Broadcasting's flagship stations WCBS-FM in New York City and KCBS-FM in Los Angeles. It is noteworthy and historically significant that on the same day, June 3, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting flipped to the "Jack" format in two of its large markets: Chicago's WJMK-FM and New York's WCBS-FM.
104.1 Jack FM has a much bigger playlist than typical radio stations. Most stations commonly have 200-400 songs in rotation. The Jack format brings that up to about 1,200 songs, reducing repetition.
The station's main transmitter is rated at 89,000 watts effective radiated power and is located on KMSP-TV's tower in the suburb of Shoreview, with the city of license in the suburb of St. Louis Park. An auxiliary transmission facility is located atop the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis.
KJJO-FM, simulcast with 950 AM on and off through much of its existence. 950 AM is no longer a sister station. The station was sold in 2005 and now operates as KTNF, an Air America Radio affiliate.
[edit] HD2 Station
KJZK offers an HD2 subchannel that broadcasts under the smooth jazz format. As such, it is basically a revival of the old KMJZ. (This format was also used in the Twin Cities by KJZI, which is now KTLK-FM.)
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Amy Carlson Gustafson (April 22, 2005). Goodbye, '80s; hello, Jack. St. Paul Pioneer Press.
By Frequency: 88.5 | 89.3 | 89.9 | 90.3 | 90.7 | 91.1 | 91.5 | 91.7 | 92.5 | 93.7 | 94.5 | 95.3 | 95.9 | 96.3 | 97.1 | 98.5 | 99.5 | 100.3 | 100.7 | 101.3 | 102.1 | 102.9 | 104.1 | 105.1 | 105.3 | 105.7 | 106.1 | 106.5 (day/night) | 106.7 | 107.1 | 107.9
By Callsign: KBEM | KBGY | KCMP | KDWB | KDXL | KEEY | KFAI | KLCI | KMOJ | KNOF | KNOW | KQQL | KQRS | KSJN | KSTP | KTCZ | KTIS | KTLK | KTTB | KUOM | KXXR | KZJK | K214DF | WFMP | WJRF | WMCN | WGVX | WGVY | WGVZ | WLKX | WLTE | W264BR
- See also: List of United States radio markets
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