Oddity Archive: Episode 239 - Radio Stunting

[@vwestlife]

A few people have tried to claim that "Jack FM" in NYC was a deliberate ploy to drive away the older listeners that were loyal to WCBS-FM's Oldies format, so that their (ultimately highly successful) quick return as a Classic Hits station would attract a younger audience -- basically the same kind of defense as that "New Coke" was a conspiracy to cover up the switch from cane sugar to HFCS, rather than a disastrous blunder. Philadelphia still has a fairly successful "Jack"-type station, called "Ben FM" (named after Ben Franklin).

[@battra92]

I suspect like New Coke it was just a colossal screw up.

[@RageTVHTX]

@@battra92 came to make a comment referencing New Coke also

[@rockvilleraven]

In DC briefly we had George on 103.5 before WTOP moved there. It was there after Classical WGMS agreed to moved their format to DC Public Radio WETA FM and donate their music library to the station that picked up that format.

[@daniell8387]

Weird side note: When my son who is now 10 was a toddler, I binge watched a bunch of OA, and I used to catch him humming the tune to pavanned whenever I started one of your videos.

[@ChuckD79]

Smart kid, and he probably also has an ear for music!

[@33skoalbandit]

What a great episode. Back in the early 2000s, I remember hearing a station play Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like an Eagle" on repeat for over 24 hours, with some guy coming on in between plays of the song saying "This is where The Eagle is gonna live!". The station later became 104.1 "The Eagle", a relatively boring classic rock station.

[@CrowTRobot-ni7zu]

The worst one in my opinion was when WVMV 98.7 changed to a shitty top 40 station. At first, they gave the impression that WLLZ (our historic rock station) was back, and in the middle of Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle,” they interrupted the song with Kanye West’s “Imma let you finish” speech, and then started playing Beyoncé, instead. And so, Amp Radio 98.7 was off and stumbling. On a happier note, I am so proud that the Fox got its own special segment on today's show! Detroit's radio history is so deep. 99.5 is also known for having been home to Detroit's first rock station, WABX, from the late 60's to 1984.

[@wendyokoopa7048]

I'd rather the rock. Can't stand a lot of top 40

[@yournostalgiareloaded]

Agreed surprised that Ben didn’t cover this one. Surprisingly though the format that AMP replaced Smooth Jazz V98.7 is still around on HD-2 while the main channel has flipped a few times since 09 and is currently alternative

[@CrowTRobot-ni7zu]

@@yournostalgiareloaded The flip to alternative was surprising. I was upset that the DJ’s were not told about it. I actually worked at the station when they were “The Breeze,” so I knew all of the on-air staff. I had since moved on to another job when the switch happened, but I reached out to all the on-air staff to express my sympathy for them suddenly losing their jobs.

[@OddityArchive]

@Nostalgia Reloaded Too many potential copyright issues.

[@arintherodeoclown6316]

Isn't WLLZ 106.7 now? 98.7 isn't so bad now, but it was awful a few years back.

[@HappySnoutHour]

The whole 99.5 Fox routine reminds me of something that great radio personality Phil Hendrie would have came up with.

[@visaman]

It actually started in Vancouver in 1979 on C-FOX. 99.3. The Fox Rocks!!

[@MrBeardsley]

15:00 There’s actually a radio station in my hometown of Portland, ME called Frank. A friend of mine works there, I’ve asked her several if they can change the slogan to “Turn your crank to Frank!” but no dice.

[@Aquatarkus96]

Man, as an audio engineer I have always just loved that booming massive radio voice. I kinda want to get a job at a radio station just to figure out how to get that kind of sound. Same goes for those idents with the vocal harmonies, I just really enjoy the sound of those. Our local Jack station in Amarillo died and the frequency was picked up by a real station with actual local DJs and a decent classic rock playlist. THEY ACTUALLY PLAY YES

[@visaman]

I wanted to learn that voice technique too. It's called puking. I went to a broadcasting school in the early 80s, but my stuttering got in the way, and they refunded me the tuition after one class. The musical jingles were done in Texas by PAMS.

[@ceddyharris6340]

It's just lots and lots and lots of compression. When you pump that signal into the transmitter at 100% modulation, anyone would come out on the other side with a big booming voice. Bonus points if you add an almost imperceptible amount of hallway echo on the signal before the compressor. Oh yeah, and talk really close to the mic. If you're talking about the voice itself, whiskey and Marlboro Reds.

[@firewalker1372]

Speaking of that booming voice, I remember listening to wrif out of Detroit and Arthur P’s deep voice BABY!! Drew from “The Drew and Mike Show”. Talked about how they got that particular sound, a lot of it came down to the Mics they used. They used a certain mic and it just gave the DJ that “Sound” so to speak. Drew also stated he wanted to find the same mics to use for their podcast.

[@BeeKay5150]

Ben, I am beyond honored that you used an air check from my page!

[@bibberly]

I live just north of Tampa and just heard Mason Dixon on Q105 yesterday. They've changed formats a few times (country was first when 93.3 buried them in the ratings), but they are now an 80's station. That means they are playing the songs they used to play as the current Top 40 back when they were a Top 40 station, but now it's retro. And Mason Dixon is back announcing the songs I used to listen to introduce back in the late 80's when I was in elementary school. 93.3 still plays Top 40. They dropped the Power Pig name in the 90's but kept the playlist - most people I knew still called it Power Pig for a while afterward, but of course the kids of today don't know it by that name.

[@RobPryme]

I remember when Jack failed, especially on WCBS-FM in the NY market. It replaced probably the most famous oldies format and swiped away the DJ lineup that generations grew up listening to. You can't do that to that demographic and expect it to work. They were lucky that they were able to rebrand back and reclaim the listeners that they lost.

[@ZachHighwind]

We have a Jack FM here in lovely downtown Dayton, same format I think

[@JMFabiano]

Except the changes to the playlist were inevitable. With more 90s and 00s music, CBS IS Jack...only with better hosts.

[@RobPryme]

@@JMFabiano you're not wrong there, but wiping away all the classic DJs and shows, the sound cues and idents, basically the whole identity of the station all at once was ripped away from longtime listeners who depended on that station always being there.

[@JMFabiano]

@@RobPryme Well yeah, at least it resembles CBS-FM having DJs, shows, etc. etc. We shouldn't have expected things to go back to and stay at 1972-2000-ish though. To that end, the protests were futile. To get rid of the soulless Jack format, on the other hand... I mean now, 2000s music is pushing 20 at its oldest now. That's as old as the 50s music was when CBS-FM started. And 80s music is OLDER. I think if Jack was put anywhere else we wouldn't bury the idea so much. It's that it killed an iconic station that it became Public Enemy No. 1 in NYC.

[@JMFabiano]

I will say I hope Howard Cogen is somewhere strung up still by his little toes.

[@RocketboyX]

I love the fake radio bits. So many people do not realize how many pre-packaged bits there are on their local station.

[@ABCEasyas--]

Including the “prank calls” done by the morning DJ’s

[@CommodoreFan64]

Agreed, some of them are like a Godfree Ho movie, where you know it's crap, but yet still entertaining enough you don't want to turn it off, and you still laugh at some of it.

[@chattingesque372]

I found out from listening to Opie and Antony's Jocktober over the years

[@JepMasta]

@@chattingesque372 thanks to my dear friend, the late Jim Williams, and Opie and Anthony I am now intimately familiar with the term “radio Puker voice”

[@bree9272]

I remember in the 90s a Baltimore station was changing formats and they decided to play certain songs on a loop before the switch. So for one weekend you heard Copacabana by Barry Manilow, You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone, and Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus. We also had Baltimore oldies legend WQSR change to JACK because oldies apparently wasn't hip anymore. So many people called the station saying they didn't want JACK. Over 20 years later, we still have JACK. All these dumb stunts and the downhill slide of corporate radio make me a little glad I never used my broadcasting degree. I planned to be a radio station DJ as my career.

[@RickinBaltimore]

That station was B104 if I remember right that was playing the songs on a loop

[@bree9272]

@@RickinBaltimore I think it was. I can't remember if it was when they got rid of Brian and O'Brian.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

@@RickinBaltimore *correctly

[@JSSMVCJR2.1]

You can always broadcast from the Web.

[@rockvilleraven]

I thought it was 100.7 the X, that stunted as “Polyester 101” that weekend, playing Disco, even Shakedown Street from the Grateful Dead, before becoming Country “Froggy 100.7” the following Monday.

[@Musicradio77Network]

The one station that I recall back in 2021 was WQQQ where they pulled the plug on WSHU Public Radio and loads of NPR programming replacing with a stunting of an oldies format, but it lasted a few months until October when WQQQ now carries WAMC and brought public radio back to its roots along with a return of NPR programming.

[@jason3fc]

As a native of Tampa, I wasn't surprised to hear two of our famous stunting events covered. Tampa was always a hub of radio personality for some reason. I seem to recall another station here which was a Rap station came online with a stunt acting like it was a pirate radio station sometime in the late 90s. It was eventually revealed to be an actual licensed station.

[@ceddyharris6340]

Wild 98.7 WLLD Holmes Beach. Yeah when I was a kid, the other kids thought that was real. For years after that I remember meeting people who still thought it was a pirate station. The stunting started by playing Ton Loc's Wild Thang on an endless loop for several days. Then after awhile "Josh and Bryan" started cutting in. They claimed to be two teenagers on their dad's boat out in the Gulf of Mexico. It was so stupid, but it really got a lot of attention, so it worked.

[@sirmojo4537]

Without a doubt, the most annoying stunting was in 2001 when WSHE in Orlando changed into WEBG BIG 100.3 by playing the last two minutes of "Hey Jude" by The Beatles in one continuous loop from 5pm Friday til 7am the following Monday. But it was basically the exact same format.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

idk how true this was (or still is?), but I remember hearing that 'Hey Jude' is played on average around once every 5 minutes on radio worldwide. Given that 'Hey Jude' runs for around 7 minutes, this means there's at least one radio station in the world playing 'Hey Jude' at any given time, and it's been this way since the late '60s.

[@eascec8374]

The WEBG launch actually happened in 2004, not 2001.

[@Tornado1994]

The Most memorable Stunting I recall was January 2,1999 when Q 93.3 Seattle(Which was a Country Station) Transitioned into R&B. They on News Years Day 1999, they played Prince's "1999" all day and then in the middle of it, revealed that they were dropping Country all together in favor of R&B and Neal Soul. Q 93.3 also revealed that they would play Mainstream Pop on the Weekends only.

[@eascec8374]

Only a few stations in the United States have stunted with "1999" *IN* 1999 (with Kansas City and Boston to name a few). Notably enough for the question: "Whatever happened to radio on Millennium Doomsday?"

[@Tornado1994]

@@eascec8374 Seattle Did, on January 1,1999. Q93.3.. They played 1999 by Prince for 24 hours straight. The Y2K stuff came later that year.

[@michaelcarpenter2498]

We had one station in our market played Stairway to Heaven for seven days straight. They went from a hard rock to a AOR rock format. 95.7 the ride is still in that format, usually automated from an office building. Tgis was a very good episode. Hopefully you are only off for a week. See you Friday.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

*an

[@SuperCrazyDiscoKangaroo9001]

Another oddity related to broadcasting can be considered a form of stunting are annoucements of frequency changes played on a loop after a station changed to that new frequency. Most recent example I know of is 2XL Cooma, Australia when it switched from their old AM 918khz frequency to their current FM 96.1Mhz frequency back in December 2019.

[@tgheretford]

We have Jack FM in the UK. Technically two separate entitles running stations under the Jack name. The national one under the Union Jack (get it?) branding went into administration taking all its DAB services off air without warning. The Oxford Jack FM service is still going. In terms of Radio Stunting in the UK, it does happen but its rarer and tame in comparison. Jazz FM when it was actually on FM in the early 2000s changed to Smooth FM (nothing to do with smooth jazz, it was mostly a soul and easy listening station at launch) over the course of a few weeks and most recently, a lot of local radio stations were purchased by Bauer and changed to Greatest Hits Radio as a pseudo national brand with a few weeks of promotion on the purchased stations.

[@zetametallic]

I never realised it was called 'stunting' or even if it is referred to this in the UK? When visiting Swindon I noticed Sam FM on the dial (not my kind of music) and you can pick up Jack FM from Oxford. I liked Jazz FM actually and used to listen to that, shame it went. Lots of ILR stations have become Heart offshoots (Shart)🤣its dire.

[@yournostalgiareloaded]

Our area in Shreveport has done this kinda stunting a few times and coincidentally almost always flipping to the same format being Top 40. First in 1985 with the launch of KTUX 98.9 playing “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” on loop then 11 years later with the AM simulcast of KWKH flipping to Top 40 which remains to this today looping “Atomic Dog” and lastly when our Hot A/C station moved frequencies in 2005 they stunted with “Swimmers Splashdown” til officially launching

[@Tornado1994]

In Seattle, Country Station Q93.3 Stunned by Playing 1999 by Prince ALL day on New Years Day 1999 and then the very Next Day(Saturday January 2,1999) revealed that they would Play R&B all day during the Work week at Mainstream Pop during the Weekend. On November 27,1998, Classic Rock Station 104.1 Houston, transitioned into both a Local and Mainstream Hip Hop and R&B Station by stunting the Transition by using Anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. They aired an STD PSA using Asuka Langley and Shinji's English Voice Actors(Tiffany Grant and Spike Spencer). I'm DEAD Serious.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

My favorite one of these was when I lived in Milwaukee and one of the rock stations (who had been alternative/modern rock, then kinda became hard rock, and was now changing back to modern rock) became "Quick 102" for a day, where they only played 5 seconds of each song before going to the next one. The morning crew (Kramp & Adler) allegedly locked themselves in the booth as a protest (so who was playing the 5 second songs?), but they kept it to just a few hours (from, I think, the end of the morning show until like 5pm) so the gag didn't completely wear out its welcome.

[@eascec8374]

Seattle and Fargo also had a similar stunt format throughout the 2000s, as Seattle started the big stuff first.

[@Tornado1994]

@@eascec8374 KUBE 93.3 "1999" by Prince ALL day on the Radio nonstop 1/1/1999.

[@r66fplaysgames]

I've read that in March of 1995, when 106.5FM, in Kansas City, MO, switched from Country Music (As KKCJ - CJ106.) to Smooth Jazz (As KCIY - Smooth Jazz 106.5 The City.), they stunted, for 20 days, by playing Polka music, Hootie & the Blowfish & Modern Rock. According to some sources, they actually got decent ratings when they played the Polka music.

[@bluestorm9651]

The gaps between new formats were a common thing in my area in the late 90s. I remember one station playing Prince's "1999" for a week straight, another doing Led Zeppelin for about a week and sayingthat it was a 24/7 Zeppelin station, then playing a bunch of songs from each classic rock band in its catalog as it rebuilt from scratch just to go back to playing it's same stuff.

[@Tornado1994]

KUBE 93.3 Seattle! On January 1,1999!

[@sa_exploder]

This has to be about the most boring, mundane topic I could possibly think of. But somehow, it’s fascinating. Props to you, Ben.

[@RageTVHTX]

I’m surprised by this topic. I love hearing format changes. Back in the 90s I kind of got into recording them. I still have a few of those tapes

[@JSSMVCJR2.1]

"With "Hack"~ I mean, Jack..." Looks like Ben is on war with stunting.

[@CoyoteSeven]

Best send-off of a radio station I ever listened to was for KNAC in Los Angeles. They went down with style.

[@lexfacitregem]

Okay. So this episode really plunged me deep down into the depths of a MASSIVE Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. So I grew up in Tampa in the 80s, 90s... and last week, I started reminiscing with a childhood friend about the Power Pig and Q105's morning zoo. Those memories just popped into my noggin out of seemingly nowhere. Okay, so far, so good. Then the following day, I randomly stumbled upon a documentary about the Power Pig. Okay, that was weird... then yesterday, I randomly stumbled on an online news article about 93.3 Flz. Okay.... that was really bizarre. And today, yeah. There's this. And by the way, sorry to bring this up again, but I hope you know that this whole 'mouth hiding' schtick of yours is really exacerbating my OCD. This is exactly why I couldn't stand watching 'Home Improvement'. Okay. Guess that preserving your 'continuity' is more important than the mental health of your audience. You are so lucky that you put out decent content! But seriously... CONTINUITY BE DAMNED... you should DEFINITELY do a 'mouth reveal' to celebrate a milestone on your channel, or put it behind a Patreon paywall or something....ANYTHING. That is all I need to assuage my irrational anxiety.

[@MacrossSD]

A few years ago (actually, closer to a decade ago, when I think of it), here in Los Angeles we had a radio station called Indie 103 (103.1 FM), which was an indie music station, probably best-known as the radio home of the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones, who had a noon-time "Jukebox Jury"-style show known as "Jonesy's Jukebox". It ended up changing ownership and format to Mariachi, Banda and Norteno music (which was actually a return to form for the station, as before it was Indie 103, it was a Latin music station), but there was a week interregnum between formats. So, the station decided to play a set list of about six songs on a continuous loop... one of which was Sid Vicious' cover of "My Way". And they broadcast it uncensored ("You c**t, I'm not a queer" and "there was f***k, f**k f**k all else to do" were unbleeped). The only thing I can think is that their thought process was "we've already stopped operations, what realistically can the FCC do? Let's go out burning the place down!"

[@AzraelEnterprise]

Leadbelly, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin have released music in the '40s, plus Robert Johnson released music in the '30s.

[@astrosci8864]

KLAK is getting stronger - going up to a mean 50 Watts! 🙂

[@ChuckD79]

Great episode...you actually alluded to stunting way back in the "Cable Bulletin Boards" episode, where that 1978 Cablevision BB clip featured music from NYC's WYNY-FM, then stunting with an all-Beatles format before going to MOR. Also, after NYC's WNEW-FM dropped their "hot talk" format in early 2003, they stunted for about 3 months with CHR music, albeit on an extremely limited playlist of approximately 50 songs (P!nk, Eminem, Bowling for Soup, Avril Lavigne and Nelly were among those featured), along with nightly simulcasts of The Late Show w/David Letterman and occasional coverage of NY Yankees preseason games, while sounders during that period teased how "a new station" would be coming in the spring. Unfortunately, "Blink 102.7" failed in its attempt to bring an LA-type station to NYC, so after a brief switch to mainstream AC that fall and an all-Christmas music format in December, it became "Mix 102.7", originally also AC before gradually migrating to classic dance. It finally found success beginning in early 07 as "Fresh 102.7", which was originally AC before migrating to Hot AC by 2011, and they've kept said format/solid ratings since its 2018 rebranding as "The All-NEW (get it?) 102.7". Oh, and as always, your commentary never fails to crack me up! 😂

[@vinylstudsfavorites]

Being a radio guy, I really appreciate this episode! Also pretty cool to see one of my uploads used in an Archive episode!!

[@ABCEasyas--]

There were three unannounced format changes in my market in the last year. No stunts, no promotions, just new branding at the top of the hour

[@Traumaqueenamy]

I didn't know what radio stunting was until now and it reminded me that I was tuned into a radio station on my walkman when one took place. I just looked up to see if I could find any mention of it. I had just graduated from high school in the summer of 2000 and I was taking a graphic arts class at what was then Mid-Florida Tech. I had to take an Access Lynx van since I don't drive due to a learning disability. I could be in the van (with others) for an hour or so waiting to get to my stop. I was usually picked up around 10:00-10:30 and be dropped off at the school around lunch time. I'd listen to the radio sometimes and it was apparently Halloween of 2000 and when going through stations I tuned into 105.9 that was playing on repeat this same instrumental 80's dance music followed by a DJ saying "Listen to 105.9 at noon today...or die" with wolves howling similar to the radio station at 7:15 which funnily enough is also from Orlando FL. This was on loop until 12:00 when it went on air as O-Rock 105.9. I remember being curious as to what was going on. I think because I had it on there for at least a half hour total during periods of commercial breaks on other stations I listened to to hear if anything changed, I still remembered it. I haven't yet found any uploaded recordings but I did find a mention of it from the station's Wikipedia entry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOCL

[@zorak1704]

BOOGER! Dr. Johnny Fever, 1978.

[@GatorGirl]

Man, there are a lot of Florida stations in this one. I guess it's good that the guy in Tampa knows that Lynyrd Skynyrd is a Florida band, but they're not from Tampa. They're actually from my hometown, but I guess it's close enough. And I've heard of that Florida Man Radio before, on a DXing channel by a guy in Orlando doing a local bandscan. I hadn't heard about a guy going to a convenience store to trade an alligator for beer, though. I have heard about a guy taking a gator to a convenience store with him to buy beer (that also happened in my hometown, or close to it). Let's just say living in Florida is an adventure.

[@JoeysKat1127]

I had a pirate radio station with my ex in Orlando 😆

[@r66fplaysgames]

That "DX'ing channel" is likely Ryan Grabow's "Florida TV DX" KZbin channel.

[@GatorGirl]

@@r66fplaysgames Yep, that's it.

[@roselima1741]

It seems that they put more effort in the "stunts" than a actual programming.

[@dylaninpieces2]

My older sibling just caught me watching Oddity Archive.

[@OddityArchive]

Scandalous.

[@dougdrazga4461]

I know Pittsburgh had two of these in the mid 2000s. One switched from classic rock to a "Bob" format on Halloween evening with no warning -- I know the afternoon drive-time guys were saying "we don't know who Bob is either" after they were let go. Another played a similiarly-themed "NewsRadio" episode three consecutive times during Friday evening rush hour and changed ... well, not much of anything.

[@mrawesome3915]

Q92, WLTJ?

[@themoley91]

When Indie 88 here in Toronto started in 2013 (the frequency was previously a college radio station), they played Never Gonna Give You Up on a loop for a week before going live.

[@Mistertbones]

Whenever a new episode is posted, I click. I always love these radio episodes.

[@dylaninpieces2]

Over in central Kentucky, we have WLXX 101.5 FM that, as of this comment, runs on the Jack FM format.

[@thekidfromiowa]

The robot voice at beginning sounds like Stephen Hawking doing an Abe Simpson impression

[@JL-sm6cg]

I was crazy enough to actually listen to that every once in a while as it counted down.

[@chrisjamesr77]

Oh wow, I'm from the Detroit area, I totally remember that thing with "The Fox"! I actually listened to it for some of the week inbetween the "countdown" and the "FM talk" format, they played a 6-hour loop of novelty songs over and over. I was 15 at the time, I guess that was my kind of humor back then, lol

[@JL-sm6cg]

I was 17 myself, and I enjoyed it.

[@Mechanicoid]

This makes me want to go listen to some Jam Productions promos.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

I'd unironically buy a CD of Jam Productions' greatest station IDs.

[@Mechanicoid]

@@TheKnobCalledTone. I'm there with you. I blame Negativland for my love of that style of radio. Sure, it's manufactured, but it's so good.

[@klafong1]

Format change stunting has an extremely long history. The earliest example of which I am aware happened in early 1959, when KVAN Vancouver, WA changed its call letters to KISN and its format to Top-40. The station played the song "Teenage Bill of Rights" by Robby John and the Seven-Teens for a full day before starting the top-40 programming.

[@eascec8374]

The earliest stunt I can find dates back to the first quarter of 1955, when WNOE-AM New Orleans, stunted with a loop of “Shtiggy Boom” by The Nuggets for more than two days, which lasted for almost 59 hours, before launching its longtime Top 40 format.

[@OddityArchive]

@EAS CEC I read about that one. Shame there's no footage. Did go and listen to that tune though, and, it would've driven me crazy too after awhile.

[@eascec8374]

I just found more information about the WNOE-stunt according to various newspapers. Yes, it does feature news headlines, disc jockeys, the weather, and commercials before each repeat of the song (similar to what Terry Young did in the infamous July 1982 WCAU-FM backlashing stunt of "Valley Girl"). Since the past 24 hours since the stunt began on February 14, 1955 at approximately 6:00 AM, the station had swamped with various calls being sent to the station. The gag was planned and played by Bill Stanley and Bill Elliott (with James Gordon doing the station identification). It was unclear on how crazy the station was at the time due to lost audio throughout time, but KISN may've gone a lot more into Droopy-mode with their "Do you want a revolution" bill in the bag. My best guess on the platform may have been a mishmash of sound bites and echoes (like what the one-and-only "somewhat hypocritical and pretty intoxicated" Dan Ingram had in common). The staff of KISN may've been angry about the stunt and Top 40 launch, as I think its pretty suicidal despite being on the top listings across the Portland metro for at least a bit more than a decade. The way KISN stunted is pretty much ironic, which had a connection, and is somewhat similar to Tampa's "super-stunt". I literally called Tampa the "Stunting Capital of America" despite the "dead Z-93" had conduct one of the most epic stunts in all of radio.

[@JL-sm6cg]

I'm from Detroit, and was HOPING like hell you would include the charade that was them flipping over from 99.5 The Fox to Wow-FM (then eventually to country, where it is to this day BTW). I didn't hear the beginning of this at all, just flipped on my radio Christmas morning and heard the countdown (which from my understanding was from a C64 speech synthesizer). When it was all over, it played comedy clips similar to what one of the other stations played you showed earlier. Funny enough, when the format finally changed over, the comedy clips (known locally as "goofy loops") were brought back for a few hours every Saturday or Sunday (I don't remember which) because they were popular enough! Great times, Benny-boy! EDIT: The guy doing the Fox killing thing is actually Dr. Don Carpenter, who if you noticed was working at that oldies station in Florida you showed. Dr. Don had actually been around Detroit radio and TV for quite a long time. He used to be the voice of the morning and afternoon before/after school block of cartoons WKBD TV-50 did in my youth.

[@andrewluchsinger]

I have worked in radio since over 35 years. There is so much in this video that is more then true.

[@daftoptimist]

Here in northern NC, we’ve got a station named “Simon,” which is in exactly the same format as the “Jack” stations you describe. They’ve been around as long as I can remember and their oh-so-creative tagline, “We play everything!” is especially egregious when I once heard them play “1999” by Prince twice in a day, because it seems to be the only Prince song, or indeed the only ‘80s song they know. It’s best played in an office, where the superficial variety cuts down on musical complaints from coworkers, and the mixes are boring enough to fade into the background.

[@elizabethmancini4037]

In February 1988, Pittsburgh talk station WWSW switched to an oldies format. To hype the change, they played nothing but "Louie Louie" for two weeks. And not just the famous version, either. Every style, genre and language they could get their hands on. My dad had it on nonstop. I HATED it. About ten days into the stunt, I did something minor. (Don't remember what.) At the end of my talking to, my parents joked that if I ever did it again, they would force me to listen to nothing but "Louie Louie." I burst into tears, apologizing profusely and swearing that I would never do it again. My parents explained that they were joking. No one, they said, deserves that level of punishment.

[@racecar_spelled_backwards868]

I was there!!! I never realised Tampa radio was THAT exciting! I was there when "Fathead and Mark" of the Power Pig started kicking Q105's Mason Dixon's butt on "Morning Drive" on Arbitron. It was so bad that during the "country rock" craze (Garth Brooks, Billy Ray, etc.) in the early 90's (it was REALLY popular in Tampa at the time with young adults, several line dance clubs were in the area) Q105 switched to country (WRBQ 104.7), so the Power Pig really did kind of live up to their self-hype. Power Pig got big by being rude and edge-y and with personalities like "Bubba the Love Sponge" (Todd Clem). Power Pig RULED young adult through about 94 or 95. Infighting and bad management (the sales weasels weren't getting the money the numbers deserved) killed the Power Pig. Also, "Bubba" threatened MJ's (Mark of Fathead and Mark) wife on air (a death threat! She was an assistant FL State attorney and Clem got arrested and blamed her) and there was a defamation suit against Clem. It was really nasty. Worth going down the rabbit hole if you want to see behind-the-scenes radio drama. Just another day in Tampa bay. I switched to talk about that time to "cool my jets." You know it's bad when Limbaugh was a way to step it down. I know a bit more and if anyone is interested, so I can elaborate a bit.

[@bibberly]

Q105 did a stunt of their own when they switched to country. They played only Garth Brooks for a week (I think it was a week), but it was rare live stuff that wasn't widely available at that time. My mom recorded several tapes' worth of it, which she called her Garth bootleg tapes. This was the first time we heard the "extra verse" in "Friends in Low Places" where Garth says "You can kiss my ass."

[@CrackzTV]

What about Ron and Ron

[@bunnybismuth]

I've heard two stations doing stunting in my lifetime. When I was young (maybe 8?) a local oldies station took to playing "Louie Louie" in a loop. When I was in my 20s I heard a station start by playing nothing but Pachelbel's Canon in D. They were signing on as a classical station, naturally.

[@jimbeedle679]

klak was licenced to lakewood, colorado--i used to work there part time when i was in the air force--jim beedle

[@TheRealPentiumMMX]

I never realized this was a widespread thing; in my area, it felt like most stations would just change over in the middle of the night with little to no fanfare. The one time I do recall a station doing a stunt to promote their change was when I was in middle school; the top 40 station my sister usually listened to began hyping up that "things are changing on [date] at noon" and began only playing sappy love songs in the lead-up. Then they changed over...and all that really changed were new DJs and a new corporate owner; they stayed a top 40 station.

[@imrustyokay]

I wonder if you're planning on doing affiliation switches soon? I don't know if there's much in the way of info on them, but there's some interesting stories, like the irony of WAGA-TV 5 in Atlanta marketing itself as never changing affiliates...10 years before they changed affiliations. Oh and there's A Television Fable from Knoxville, Tennessee, of course: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHbFqp5_rqyfbac

[@eascec8374]

Since that is a pretty fantastic idea, it was all up on Benny’s head to decide. It will be a great possibility, and yes I consider that as a whatchamacallit somewhat typical stunt.

[@newstarcadefan]

Ah yes, one of the biggest things to happen in TV especially from 1993-1995. Miami and Atlanta has been through two. Even Minneapolis been through this in 1979.

[@r66fplaysgames]

There has been, at least, 2 affiliation switches, in my area (Kansas City, MO.), in the last 30 years. I think it would make for an interesting OA episode.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

Do affiliation switches with channel changes count? This happened once in Australia in 1987, where two commercial TV stations in Adelaide (ADS and SAS) had to switch channels as part of switching affiliations. This was on account of commercial networks down here at the time being tied into their respective frequencies (we had 7, 9 and 0-10 with the latter becoming 10). Allegedly it was the first time in the world this had ever happened.

[@newstarcadefan]

@@r66fplaysgames The Affiliation switches actually are my favorite part of TV history. The big ones happened in 1979, 1988, and 1994.

[@psychospacecadet]

I live in an area with one of those named channels. Chuck FM, and I think clear channel owns about all the stations now, except for public broadcasting, and the like

[@KanawhaCountyWX]

I think that countdown might have been generated by the speech cartridge for a Tandy color computer, the voice definitely sounds the same as the one demonstrated by the 8bit guy in his video on speech synthesizers

[@astrosci8864]

I'm surprised that you did not mention the most famous and obvious one: WNBC AM, which switched from a top-40 and talk format (with the much younger Howard Stern and Don Imus) to a sports fan station in about 1984 or so.....

[@OddityArchive]

Unless I'm mistaken, there was no real stunting involved in the switchover.

[@stevieg7672]

Wasn’t that back on the 7th of October 1988? That was a historic day here in the NY area as NBC Radio was leaving the air and was replaced by WFAN, the aforementioned sports station. Ben is right, as there was no stunting, but a memorable sign off!!

[@Tornado1994]

And Q93.8 KUBE Seattle (Now Kube 93.3) Which played 1999 by Prince for 24 hours straight ALL day on New Years Day. They were mostly a Country and Classic Rock stationed, but on New Year's Day '99, they transitioned to an R&B Station and Weekend Pop Station.

[@RageTVHTX]

Are you sure you’re not thinking of WABC switching from top 40 to News Talk? That happened in 1982. WNBC was sold to Emmis and moved WFAN to 660am in 1988.

[@eascec8374]

KUBE is the leading Top 40 station in Seattle at the time. It has to be a different station you mentioned.

[@DanZero77]

I was never a fan of WCBS-FM 101.1 but even I agree that JackFM format change was the worst thing they could have possibly done and New Yorkers were livid - rightfully so! 2 years later they returned to their original format. Of course we could also discuss 92.3 WXRK-Rock trying to directly compete with Z100 for a brief period of time... fortunately they also realized their mistake. It was also nice to see the WXTB and WRBQ stories now that I'm based around here. As of right now Mason Dixon is still on Q105.

[@azumanga111]

Z93, at the time of conversion, competed with another oldies station, U92. The original Q105, unable to beat the new Power Pig, flipped to country, but keeping the Q105 name. In the late 1990s, U92 and the country Q105 would change stations -- after a time as Oldies 104.7, they would become, once again, Q105, as a an oldies / classic hits station -- practically Z93's old format. Despite the changes, Q105 remained a strong brand in Tampa bay radio.

[@JMFabiano]

If we're talking about NYC radio, how about the revolving identity crisis of 102.7? It settled into Fresh 102.7 for awhile, then changed again.

[@DanZero77]

@@JMFabiano Ah yes the once revered WNEW AOR then classic rock then modern rock then all talk then CHR then whatever else they could think of!

[@JohnPascavageFishing]

I live in Central PA and am familiar with the WPHB and WTRN stations.

[@bluenowait]

The Bob 100 segment relates a bit to the Portland, Maine radio market since we do have a station here named Frank, they play classic hits, and the Bob 100 logo looks pretty similar to the one for a country station here, WPOR.

[@WitherWing59]

About 30 years ago 97.3FM in Sioux Falls blew up their well-respected Top40 station and did Robot voices doing jokes for about a week. It came back as one of the endless numbers of country stations in the area. It barely lasted 2 years and limped back to "Hot AC," never recovering its ratings.

[@newstarcadefan]

Yeah, my local radio DMA has 3 country stations. Funnily enough 105.1 is the strongest and still most popular one.

[@luisreyes1963]

I remember the day that a Chicago radio station fell victim to stunting when they abandoned the Oldies format for manufactured Pop Music, becoming JACK 104.3. I can't recall when it happened, but 104.3 dumped JACK & became WBMX aka 104.3 Jams. 📻 Oh & Thanks for the MST3K reference, Benny! 😁

[@jessecoffey4737]

Paul Simon should've sued the Z93 assholes for using his hit "Slip Slidin' Away" as a weapon against Q105.

[@sawbonesquad4876]

Good episode. In addition to KBPI as a CO native, I think of all the oldies stations that became AC/"variety" stations and lost people like my dad overnight practically in the early 00s.

[@Commanderraf]

I don't know if I'm glad or saddened that here, in Mexico, we don't have this kind of stuff. The only times I remember a station changed frequencies and format was first in 2016, when XHFO-FM (broadcasting at 92.1 FM and with a classic rock format) and XHRED-FM (a mainly news centric station, broadcasting at 88.1 FM) swapped frequencies. Three years later, now the classic rock station at 88.1 partially changed its format again, now to include news broadcasts at morning, noon and early night. On both times, the only "stunt" was that they announced the frequency change/format change at the end of every song and at half-an-hour intervals for something like a month before the change took place. While informative, this got grating and annoying quickly.

[@battra92]

I think I'm with you on getting angrier as the show went on. I miss dignified radio

[@Z3R0FiR3]

I remember a few years back a station became popular for having a format change.. but before that they played Nelly's song "Hot In Herre" on a continuous loop for a week or a month. The station also got a spike in listeners from media coverage linking the site for people to listen in.

[@danthemainman1]

I feel like the owners of WCBS got the last laugh. They reverted back to WCBS, but I’m pretty sure the playlist today is more like it was during the Jack FM days (at least, it sounds more like the Adult Hits station I had back home than the oldies station it had been) than before the format change. The earliest format change stunt I remember was an out of market (but still strong enough signal locally) college/modern rock station (the only place other than the Dr Demento Show where I heard They Might Be Giants) that switched to a more conventional classic rock station. They stunted by playing a week or so of just It’s The End Of The World As We Know It by REM, punctuated with a few sketches featuring a fake Governor Jesse Ventura (despite not being anywhere near Minnesota, so that gives you a good idea of the time period). I missed the modern rock format, today it looks like they’re a pretty typical country station, a distant second place compared to the dominant country station in that market. (Before they were a modern rock station, they were apparently an eclectic small town folk and prog rock station, it would have been fun to hear in that format. Though such niche stations actually weren’t too unusual in that part of the country, we even had a small town easy listening holdout.) And Wikipedia informs me that the format change to country occurred to prevent the station from competing with the co-owned Top 40 station that was the bane of my existence growing up.

[@AzraelEnterprise]

As far as i'm concerned, both version are bad formats.

[@JMFabiano]

Yep. CBS-FM 2007-date IS Jack. Only with better DJs. I guess it was inevitable. 00s hits are now, tops, as old as the fifties music was when CBS-FM started. 90s music is OLDER than that. The protests couldn't prevent that. They did get back the DJs and such but you can't restore the pre-2000s format. I listen to WMTR 1250 AM for that, and to a lesser extent, WOLD (which also has 90s music + now...)

[@vr6swp]

A number of good stations I listened to in the over the air days have gone online. KNAC (metal) is now on Spotify. They used to have their own streaming deal, not sure what happened to that. KROQ (station that all the 90’s X stations were copying) is still on the air and streaming. WUOG (University of Georgia) and WREK (GA Tech) both stream live 24hrs.

[@americasevilgenius]

A Dr. Don Carpenter sighting on the z93 stunt! I used to hear Dr. Don on Rock 99 out of the Springfield Missouri market as a teenager. To this day (over 35 years later), he is far and away the funniest morning host I've ever heard (he blows Howard Stern out of the water). This must have been either right before or right after he was in Springfield.

[@flclfan85]

I wish I could remember the frequency it happened on, but when I was living in New Jersey some years ago, there was a station that was undergoing an unwanted format change and they decided that they'd kinda voice their displeasure to this. So since the new station would be know as "Sunny" whatever frequency it was on (if there's anyone from the Philadelphia/South Jersey area who can jog my memory, I'd greatly appreciate it), they spent their last days on the air playing "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles on a loop in protest

[@freakfoxvevo7915]

I looked it up and it was WLCE in Philadelphia (now WRFF, an alt rock station) in 2002

[@tylerbrocato3700]

We have a Jack FM station here in Fargo, ND 101.9 and also had a station change from classic country to another classic rock to simulcast take station in a month in 2021. I'm annoyed by that cause it was the only classes country station here and we have several classic rock stations, didn't need another one so explains why it didn't last. That frequency is 104.7

[@OddityArchive]

Our "Classic Country" station's idea of classic seems to equal 2001-2011. Bleh.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

@@OddityArchive Classic Country from 2001-2011 is not Classic Country.

[@tomcarlson3913]

You missed out on what might have been an interesting bit of stunting. Here in the Milwaukee market at least 3 different stations (mostly oldies which leaves me little I care to listen to) switch to Christmas music and back between Thanksgiving and new years. Oldies 106.9 switched formats midnight on thanksgiving....They have a wide variety of tasteful bumper commentary, and vintage commercials that make it feel like a live station (if you don't listen for an entire day straight) despite being essentially fully automated. Well when they switched formats they either had a technical difficulty or intentionally didn't configure their music library...From midnight when Thanksgiving transitioned to Black Friday 2021 until I gave up and went to sleep around 2AM they ran nothing but their holiday themed bumper library (commentary and vintage commercials), and actual current commercials...With brief silence periods like it was trying to find the music. If it wasn't intentional then I'm sure some poor engineer either didn't get good sleep or got chewed out the next morning or both. Part of me wishes I had recorded it, but I didn't feel like cobbling something together to record some weirdness that I'd probably never play again. I've got over 1000 LPs of Big Band/Swing Music of the 30's and 40's...There's a lot of good music on that format I could probably rattle off over a dozen artists if I felt like it.

[@OddityArchive]

I did have the out-of-season Christmas Music stunt in the running, but the episode was already running pretty long.

[@JoeysKat1127]

You're back!!

[@Wolfspiritzero]

Good old Power Pig was very much the epitome of Shock Jock radio in the Tampa Bay area. Stunts escalated to the point where it got a lot of local disc jockeys in a lot of hot water. It was a wild time but WFLZ is still kicking though not my thing anymore.

[@imrustyokay]

I have mixed feelings on Jack FM's format...it's just eclectic music, and occasionally they play something I like... although I'd rather listen to the oldies and alternative rock station...which the original one in my area, 94Z, WNFZ 94.3, got replaced by Jack in 2019...yea the format's still around for some reason. Luckily WVLZ 106.1 came on the scene and it actually is locally owned, and we don't have to deal with corporate jack.

[@Hogstuff]

I blame the execution, as the concept itself has so much untapped potential. But if you think your Jack FM station is bad, I know which adult hits station is the worst of all. I know this because it's local to me

[@visaman]

The Jack format started in Vancouver, so Blame Canada!

[@brendanthebomber.]

21:04 sounds like mc chris

[@fragdude4450]

I experienced this in Sacramento. 107.9 used to go by the end1079. Until a botched radio contest. They went off the air and was empty for awhile, years. Until another company bought the frequency and started doing just this STUNTING. They started playing what your smart speaker hears then transitioned to random music formats. After a month of random ness. Until it was named kiss 1079. Pop music of the 90s and 2000s.

[@JL-sm6cg]

I'm now wondering what went wrong with the radio contest. EDIT: Never mind, I found out it was the "hold your wee for a Wii" contest that took the life of someone for water intoxication.

[@visaman]

The JACK format started in Vancouver on JACK FM. It started out as 80s hits, but they play 90s now.

[@xaxman]

I heard a format change heralded in my area by 72 hours straight of ‘I Am the Walrus’. Interesting at first, then becoming irritating, and ended up being music to go mad by. I swear I wanted to crawl in a corner and cry.

[@georgeprice4212]

We had Jack in Houston as well…for three months. N O B O D Y listened!

[@georgeprice4212]

And these days, the term power p*g means something ENTIRELY different!

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

@@georgeprice4212 Power pog?

[@georgeprice4212]

@@TheKnobCalledTone. huh? 🤔

[@Tornado1994]

Houston has ALWAYS had 102.1 Maqic, 104.1(since 1979 which transitioned from Classic Rock to Hip Hop Only in November 1998) 95.4 and most infamously, 97.9 The Box(Which was a STAPLE of Black Music during its Glory days, especially in the Mid 90s).

[@jimmymelendez1836]

@@TheKnobCalledTone. It's pig he's censoring for some dumb reason.

[@ravensoul3210]

There's a couple of radio stunts that I remembered, KEGL somehow managed to change format not once but twice before eventually returning to the rock format as both formats failed pretty badly. KDGE played Closing Time by Semisonic on repeat until it changed formats with its own little stunt it does now every year around Christmas.

[@aaronblair9583]

Still got jack fm in Seattle. 96.5......still playing what we want apparently

[@Tornado1994]

I listened to 93.3 in Seattle. Do you remember when they played 1999 By Prince on Repeat ALL day long New Years Day?

[@aaronblair9583]

@@Tornado1994 holy shit I do. Was that when they changed to the hip hop format? KUBE 93.3 I was 11 years old, spent the night at my buddies house. His mom was a new wave bhuddist. Cracked a bottle of champagne at 8 and they just kept filling out glasses. Scanning the radio and tv. Cool people. I doubt I had more than three standard drinks but still. Very fun. These memories are from new years y2k. Does that sound right?

[@Tornado1994]

@@aaronblair9583 YES! I was 16 and due back at High School in Federal Way on Monday, when I returned to Class, other Students were talking about it. I also remember Reading Disney Adventures and the Calendar read "Happy New Year, Party like its 1999!".I also had the Prince 1999 Cassette Tape, so I played the Song Several times on my Boom Box. There was even a Special New Years Screensaver! Regarding Y2K, I remember! It was 100% Marketing. There was even a False Hacking Scare on the Day Dreamcast launched September 9,1999.

[@aaronblair9583]

@@Tornado1994 hah yeah. Funnily enough, me and that buddy RENTED a Dreamcast on release day. Loved it

[@jeremycardew1750]

Florida Man Radio? Well... glad I fled Florida, man. I Would rather be forced to listen to the WCCO pre-EBS klaxon, the parody version of that, the EBS, followed by the activation tones for the EAS for 24 hours straight.

[@dylaninpieces2]

To be honest, The Fox 99.5 FM's 1992 stunt is actually pretty clever.

[@JL-sm6cg]

Also, I remember when Alice 106.7 went on the air. I actually liked that station. Funny thing was how the call letters stayed at WWWW for about a year (for the same reasons V 98.7 was WLLZ still for months after the format change; the three government shutdowns around 1995-6). Then when W4 Country was moved to 102.9 in Ann Arbor, Alice became WLLC, but when those call letters were said, they said "WLL...See" so as not to confuse us with WLLZ.

[@RazorFoxDV]

Our "Jack" station, 93.7 Bob FM (WNOB), has actually been a ratings stalwart for the better part of twenty years since its launch in 2004. On a related note, prior to the rash of stations named after people, Mystery Science Theater 3000 did a bit in 1994 where they introduced a concept for a country music station called "Frank." About a decade later, life began imitating art. It's at kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIbVZGWJfpqMiqc #Wynonna EDIT: I typed this before Ben brought up the MST3K reference, so bravo to him for catching it!

[@miniskunk]

Dumb stunts....like the WKRP Turkey Drop? ;) Sorry, that was the first thing to come to mind when you titled this radio stunting.

[@theh0r5e90]

this happened a long time ago but the day Houston no longer had a classical station I listened to the rather somber tone of the station changing formats I did this my entire ride home which was say about an hour and 30 minutes and that morning they were playing classical music like they always had and Houston only has one classic rock station to where as in Laredo they have two classic rock stations and a classical station

[@newstarcadefan]

Yeah...I remember the WCBS debacle. They were oldies, then the Jack format, now Classic Hits, because the 50s and 60s aren't profitiable anymore.

[@GeoNeilUK]

JACK FM reminds me of Union Jack Radio which was on DAB and had a rake of local stations also on FM (and DAB) They went out of business.

[@tgheretford]

Technically the Union Jack and Oxford Jack FM stations are separate entities which had the Union Jack stations go off air without warning but kept Jack FM on air in Oxford.

[@TheKnobCalledTone.]

Union Jack Radio sounds like it'd play nothing but UKIP party political broadcasts lol

[@Intabih]

So the Bob station in MSP also played along with another very elaborate stunt even after it had been uncovered.

[@ABCEasyas--]

One of the unannounced format changes in my area was from the only alternative/modern rock station left in the market to a knock off of Jack FM called Dave FM. At least the bumpers don’t have the same attitude problems that JackOff M has. A day after Dave FM got on the air, they had a six hour loop of commercials (no joke) and even reverted to a few hours of the alternative station’s broadcast from a year prior. Thanks, Dave!

[@wotintarnation8388]

Another stunting oddity that happened after this video was uploaded - Canadian station CKSS-FM in Vancouver stunted from hot adult contempoary (Formerly CHR) formatted Kiss Radio (Not to be confused with iHeart's numerous Kiss radio stations, as Kiss Radio is a Rogers owned brand) over to Sonic Radio, which broadcasts a modern rock format, with 30 hours straight of Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name", which, oddly enough, was on top of the UK charts in Christmas 2009.

[@rwdplz1]

One of the few good Rock stations in Detroit changed formats a few years ago. Then when online gambling was legalized, there has been NOTHING but sports betting ads on the radio since. I think I've listened to a total of 5 minutes of over-the-air radio in the past 2 years. Bluetooth radio and 90GB of 320kbps mp3's on shuffle works just fine.

[@Code7Unltd]

>90GB of 320kbps mp3's Try having 256GB of FLAC files instead. Sounds way better than even FM radio.

[@rwdplz1]

@@Code7Unltd "256GB of FLAC files" so about 30 songs?

[@Code7Unltd]

@@rwdplz1 >about 30 songs Hi-fidelity FLAC files aren't as big as you think they are. It only gets big with 24-bit 192khz files. I have 171GB of files across two cards, and the first card houses 2,000 tracks.

[@sf-dn8rh]

Used to be a station called kryt, in the Colorado springs area, that when it went in 1990s from classic rock (60s to early 80s) when they went to oldies they did this as well and changed to a defunked call letter kdza, now defunk.

[@lauradaly8020]

These were radio stations that didn't respect the audience that they had.

[@imrustyokay]

(I know, 3rd comment on this video. Humor me.) It's funny that Dr. Don Carpenter was involved in both the Z93 and The Fox 99.5 stunts (he was Hugh Chardon in the 99.5 stunt), and I would say he was realy clever, but last time I saw him, he had fallen into the "Twitter Conspiracy Theorist" hole. Like you said, can't out-stupid reality.

[@hordakalpha]

My market has had numerous radio format changes over the decades from one station pretending to switch over to nothing but Christmas music for two weeks before actually switching to a classic rock format to another one pretending to switch over to a station playing nothing but Kermit the Frog’s Rainbow Connection for 48 hours before the real format change. Another station pretended to switch over to become a twenty four hour finlandic music station to bringing back its original name and format for two hours to only switch over to the real format the next day. In all of the scenarios in my market the format changes usually were just underwhelming top 40 bs and nothing unique except for one station that switched over to playing classic country and still does to this day.

[@robfigures]

Fascinating and yet pretentious on behalf of the stations! I'm in a relatively small radio market where stations generally don't change formats unless they change owners, and I can't think of a pure format change by the same ownership group since 2005, and in that case, they only had a simulcasted rock format for a few months as a placeholder before switching to country, so the brand loyalty (or lack thereof) wasn't there. Our classic hits/oldies station does turn into a Christmas station in November & December, but that's hardly unique or unexpected. I do remember when CIMX in Windsor (formerly the rock station 89X) announced a format change online and admitted that existing listeners probably wouldn't like it. Given how low the ratings are for what's now Pure Country 88.7 according to Numeris, they were spot on!