When you arrive at the Nashville airport, known as BNA to locals, you are immediately met with signs proclaiming, “Music City USA.”
Music dominates the scene in all seasons. It is in every honky tonk on Lower Broadway. It extends to every bar and beer joint all the way to Music Valley.
96.3 JACK-FM is a consistent market ratings leader and boasts some of the best-written imaging, which is both timely and local, that I have heard. The station recently celebrated its 20th birthday and is carrying the birthday branding through the summer.
So, how does a radio station, in particular one that does not play Country music, continue to cut through, especially in the summertime?
I posed that question to Trent “Moose” Pender, Assistant Brand Manager of 96.3 JACK-FM Nashville.
“It’s our 20th birthday celebration, we’re extending it since it was the middle of May when we actually turned 20. But we’re celebrating Jack’s birthday all summer, and of course, the key line is it’s our birthday, but we’re giving away the presents, which include free ice cream.”
“Fortunately, we have got a great company that has let us make our station vehicle an actual ice cream truck. So, we will go all around. We’re going to do it today. We’ll do it three times a week. Giving out free ice cream that’s been donated to us, thanks to Blue Bell.”
“Listeners submit online and through our app to be able to tell us where to go. We don’t take requests, but you can tell us where to go.”
And of course, in Music City, the station has a branded “Summer Concert Series.”
“Our summer concert series is a sponsorable branding opportunity for advertisers to jump on board and be a part of the best concerts that we have here all summer. We’ll give away a pair of tickets a week, but we’ll make it a big deal. And it’s usually a really good pair.”
“We started this year with Coldplay at Nissan Stadium. We’ll do everything from George Thorogood to Styx and many others. But it’s all summer long. We’ve got Bonnaroo here and CMA Fest.”
JACK’s wide playlist and variety enable the station to take advantage of shows across multiple genres.
“I’ve always described Jack FM this way because people will come up and ask me, what do you play? And I always describe it as, well, we play pretty much everything but Country. And that gets people’s attention here because there are six or seven radio stations that play Country music.”
“It’s also a good thing just to celebrate summer. What’s better than being outdoors at a summer concert? Cold beer, free tickets. Come on. Plus, concerts are so expensive right now.”
The station doesn’t make many playlist adjustments during the summer months.
“There’s not a lot of tweaking when it comes to the music formula and things like that. We just add tune-in elements here and there. I keep things the way people expect them in the summer, because our music is inherently fun. The tempo is always on the more upbeat side; we’re the best radio station to have on at the pool.”
A team of writers handles JACK’s imaging and is uber local.
“We have a team of six people that get together every single week for an hour or so, or however long it takes. We throw a bunch of stuff against the wall, whether it comes to current events, or, like right now, I’m hung up on pickles. Everything is pickle flavor. So, Jack FM is going to do something with pickles.”
“We have to get our message across and get the feeling that we are going through what the listener is going through during summer. If it’s a hot day, we’ll tweak our imaging and put in liners that are specifically made for the hottest days. And if it’s pouring rain like it was yesterday, we’ll throw in stuff that relates to being rainy.”
“The imaging and the vibe of the radio station beyond the music, is extremely important to us. Even if it’s just a simple promo, we want to have a different take on things or something that people are going to remember.”
“The hardest thing to do is to write something funny or something local and relatable and do it in less than 10 seconds. It’s hard to do. We’ve put a lot of time into that. And fortunately for us, people like it.”
Listen to 96.3 JACK-FM here.
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Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
