They want to make you say ‘oh wow’

When 11-year-old classic-rock station KCBS-FM (93.1) changed formats, it went from an arrow to a shotgun.

The playlist for the new station, dubbed “93.1 Jack FM,” is so scattered -- by design -- that listeners can hear current heartthrob singer-songwriter John Mayer following ‘80s heavy-metal band Def Leppard, for example.

“It’s like the ultimate CD collection on shuffle. Everything from the Rolling Stones and Bob Marley to Dave Matthews and No Doubt,” said Kevin Weatherly, senior vice president of programming for Infinity Radio, parent company of KCBS and six other stations in Los Angeles.

The new format, which has also been compared to an Apple iPod, or a barroom jukebox, kicked off at 5 p.m. Thursday playing Devo’s “Whip It,” then “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones, then C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).”

“It’s built around a lot of train wrecks,” KCBS General Manager Jeff Federman said of the playlist, “but that’s the magic of the station -- a lot of ‘oh wow’ records.”

The old format, in which the station called itself “Arrow 93,” has been the target of rumors about a change for years, and Weatherly said they pondered several more conventional formats before settling on Jack’s eclectic mix about seven months ago. Work began in earnest around the beginning of the year.

“Arrow 93” debuted in September 1993, and initially grabbed 3.2% of the local audience, good for 11th place in the market. But by 1997 it had slipped to 2.7% and 13th place, and fell to 2.2% and 19th place in 2001. In the latest ratings available, polling listeners from September through December, KCBS finished tied for 19th place with 1.8% of the audience.

Arrow played what it called “classic rock” by artists such as Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Eagles and the Beatles. Jack FM is still drawing heavily from that roster but also promises to play tunes from the 1970s through today. Weatherly said the station would start with a library of 1,200 songs, about four times what most stations play.

Infinity has already tried this experiment in Dallas, where it changed a contemporary hits station to the Jack format last July. In the most recent ratings, KJKK took 2.9% of the audience, up from its previous 1.9%.

“It’s a calculated risk, but it’s something we think will shake up the L.A. market and be a big success,” Weatherly said. “It’s the opposite of all the things that people say they don’t like is going on with radio right now. Radio stations have become so niched, with tight playlists.”

For example, KCBS’ sister station, oldies outlet KRTH-FM (101.1), sticks to a relatively short playlist of familiar, enjoyable staples of Motown and ‘60s rock, careful to play nothing that might drive a listener to change the channel. Weatherly and Federman acknowledge they risk that any given song on Jack might have people lunging for either the volume knob or the tuning dial. But, to use the barroom jukebox analogy, they hope listeners enjoy the tunes someone else is picking, instead of heading for the exit without ever hearing the song they wanted.

The new station’s motto is, “We play what we want, and don’t tell us what to play,” and it made a point of saying it doesn’t take listener requests.

The station’s on-air staff did not survive the transition, and Weatherly said KCBS would play without DJs indefinitely. Morning host Jonathon Brandmeier, who arrived with much anticipation last April, remains under contract, Weatherly said, but won’t be on the air.

“It’s kind of like Muzak with an attitude,” said Uncle Joe Benson, KCBS’ morning host for seven years before moving to afternoons with Brandmeier’s arrival. “Will there be an audience that wants to listen to an ‘80s jukebox with nobody to interrupt it?

“It’s kind of sad that Arrow’s dead. They changed the mix and it didn’t work, so they changed it again. That’s just the business,” said Benson, who said he had been on the air almost continuously since 1968, and hopes to land somewhere else soon. “It will be interesting to see how it evolves, but I won’t be paying attention to it.”