BOB FM is the on-air
brand of a number of
FMradio stations in the
United States and formerly in
Canada. The BOB FM format mostly concentrates on
album rock,
alternative rock and
pop hits from the 1980s and 90s, especially those popular during the early days of
MTV when
music videos made up most of MTV's schedule. But BOB FM also features a smattering of
oldies from the 1970s or earlier and
classic hits from the 1990s or later.
Once or twice an hour, an unexpected song will get played, sometimes a
dance hit or
novelty song. BOB FM stations are quite similar to those using the moniker
Jack FM. On many BOB FM and JACK FM stations,
disc jockeys are not used or are only heard in morning
drive time. Instead of a live DJ, a prerecorded voice will make sarcastic or ironic quips between songs.
BOB FM stations in Canada were all owned by
Bell Media. Those in the United States are owned by a variety of companies. Bob FM stations are officially classified as variety hits or adult hits by radio research companies.
Origins
It was originally named for the "Best of the Best", and subsequently associated with an everyday character named "Bob." It proved very successful in its first implementation on
Winnipeg,
Manitoba's
CFWM. It inspired
Rogers Communications to license the JACK FM format at many of its stations,
Corus Entertainment's subsequent
Joe FM and
Dave FM brands, and comparable moves at other stations. Currently a syndicated version of the format is offered by Envision Radio Networks. As with Jack FM, Bob FM stations have
playlists of over 1000 songs as opposed to most other commercial stations which play about 500 songs or less.
The format was largely conceived and created by Howard Kroeger, a former programming executive at CHUM Group Radio, after attending a friend's 40th birthday party in 2000. He took the "Bob" moniker from a
country music station (then WBOB, today
KFXN-FM) that had broadcast in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul market of
Minnesota to the south several years earlier.
Slogans
Many BOB FM stations use the catch phrase "We Play Anything!" or "We Play Everything!" Most stations market themselves with the slogan "Turn your knob to BOB!" This was parodied in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 skit in which
TV's Frank creates his own radio station and exhorts viewers to "Turn your crank to Frank", satirizing commercials for
BOB 100 FM that were playing in the Minneapolis area at the time.[citation needed]
Many Bob-FM stations are imaged by Digital Sound & Video, Inc, located in Daytona Beach, Florida and voiced by Sean Caldwell.
HANK FM and DUKE FM can currently be heard in over twenty U.S. markets. The majority of these HANK FM and DUKE FM branded stations use the positioning statement of "Playing the Legends of Country" and are also distributed by Envision Radio Networks.
Stations Calling Themselves "BOB FM"
CHUM Limited's
CKLY in
Kawartha Lakes,
Ontario, adopted the format on August 21, 2005, while
WLFF in
Lafayette, Indiana, jettisoned its country format to introduce Bob to its listeners on December 6, 2007.
The first international (Non American or Canadian) Bob FM launched in early 2016 in George Town,
Grand Cayman in The
Cayman Islands. 94.9 BOB FM, Grand Cayman
ZFBB-FM of Hurley's Media Ltd.
On March 18, 2021, the remaining Bob FM stations in Canada were re-branded as Bounce Radio.[1]
The first BOB FM outside of The U.S. or Canada launched in early 2016, broadcasting from George Town,
Grand Cayman in the
Cayman Islands. '94.9 BOB FM Grand Cayman' - ZFBB FM (
http://www.BobFm.Ky ) .