George comes to Washington

I had always thought that the best radio station would be one that did not stick to a set genres (just rock, just R&B, or just pop) and formula (playing the billboard top 50 in those genres). I thought if I ever owned a radio station it would play everything... well maybe not classical or "hard" country (those genres just belong by themselves).

So I was excited a while back when I first heard about "Jack FM." Sure, it wasn't exactly my ideal since they stuck to the popular Billboard 100 songs of the past 40 years, but it was a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, though, the only Jack FM radio station around here was 102.7 WQSR out of Baltimore, which didn't reach DC all that well. But finally today, DC has it's own Jack FM... sorta: The local classical station has switched to a Jack FM-like station called George 104.1.

It happened at 3 pm today... and in case you were wondering the last song played by 104.1 WGMS was Bach's "In Tears of Grief from the St. Matthew Passion." And the first song played by 104.1 WXGG? Fittingly, it was Sheryl Crow's "A Change Would Do You Good." If you were a fan of the classical WGMS... do not fret: Bonneville donated WGMS's 15k disc library to WETA, down at 90.9. And then at 8 pm WETA switched to classical. And their first song? A triumphant "Concerto for Two Trumpets" by Vivaldi.

And why the name George? Well according to the Jack FM article at Wikipedia, most Jack FMs are CBS radio stations (George is Bonneville) and the name Jack FM is licensed from Big Sticks Broadcasting. So, like BEN-FM in Philly, George in DC has to have a slightly different slogan ("70s, 80s and whatever we want") then Jack's "playing what we want."

So I'm listening... and the best part of it all? It will be commercial free for the first 104 days, which means no ads until May 7 of this year. As Borat would say, "nice!"