The Isley Brothers, Paul Simon and Warren Zevon are hits from 1975, 1982, and 2003 respectively. These artists each had their songs played on the same radio station. This new type of radio station, called variety hits, is hitting the airwaves across the United States and Canada.

These stations, most prominently JACK-FM, claim they are playing what they want.

What is played is not just decided by the station heads, but also by the listener according to Bob Perry, president of Big Sticks Broadcasting Corporation and the man responsible for creating JACK-FM.

“Instead of a short, narrow play list of a certain genre, we gave JACK-FM hit music from a lot of different sources,” he said via e-mail. “We took requests from our listeners on the Internet and actually played them.”

With a play list of over 1,200 songs, JACK-FM is meant to be different from other radio stations on the air. It is targeted toward 18-54 year-olds.

JACK-FM’s website in Chicago claims its station is “a dramatic change from traditional radio formats … it’s like your IPod on shuffle.” This format allows the company to have more listeners.

That’s exactly what Bob Perry was aiming for when he started JACK-FM in 2000.

“I like to think JACK-FM is for anyone with a radio and/or pulse, no one really listens to one kind of music,” he said via e-mail.

Lou Pickney, a radio show producer in Tampa, FLa, agreed.

“The whole you never know what you’ll hear next factor I think is the most appealing thing about JACK-FM,” he said via e-mail.

Besides a larger play list, three times the songs of most other stations, JACK-FM stations usually only play music, without weather and traffic. It also typically has shorter commercial breaks than its competitors. The variety of music attracts a great number of listeners, Pickney said.

“Looking at the results so far, the TSL (Time Spent Listening) tends to not be as high as in other formats, but the cume (Cumulative number of listeners) tends to be high, since it appeals to such a broad base,” he said.

Pickney said he thinks the success JACK-FM has received is simple.

“The broad range of musical genres appeal to a wide mass of people,” he said via e-mail. “Because so many genres are covered, more people are going to be inclined to put variety hits into their car radio as a preset.”

Even though JACK-FM and other variety hits radio stations have enjoyed success, plenty listeners dislike the new format.

Amanda Yee, senior in Business, said JACK-FM is random and she doesn’t really get what type of music they are trying to play.

“I just don’t like (JACK-FM), she said. “If it was a better station I don’t think I would mind it.”

Yee listened to the new JACK-FM in Chicago that replaced the oldies station 104.3. She said she liked the oldies music and was upset to find JACK-FM had taken over the station. She also said none of her friends like the station and they have stopped listening to JACK-FM as well.

“We all don’t understand the station,” she said. “It’s weird. Where did all these songs come from?”

Even though some listeners disagree with the new format, Pickney said he thinks JACK-FM will continue to be successful if the stations are executed properly. Of all the stations throughout the United States and Canada, only two have died off: one in Sacremento and one in Honolulu.

“Trying to find what unrelated songs will work together best in a given set without too much 80s or new music or rock or pop in any one stretch of time … that is difficult,” he said via e-mail.

With all the conflicting opinions, Perry is optimistic JACK-FM will remain on the air for years to come.

“JACK-FM is designed to grow and change,” Perry said. “You can never break the format if you are ‘playing what we want!'”