Bob FM

BOB FM is the on-air brand of several FM radio stations in Canada and the United States. The Bob FM format features a mix of classic 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles.

BOB FM stations in Canada are all owned by CTVglobemedia. Those in the United States are owned by a variety of companies. Bob FM stations follow much the same format as the more famous (although newer) Jack FM brand, and are officially classified as variety hits or adult hits by radio research companies.

It was originally named for the "Best of the Best", and subsequently associated with an everyday character named Bob, and it proved extremely 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 Waitt Radio Networks.

The format was largely conceived by Howard Kroeger, a former executive at CHUM, after attending a friend's 40th birthday party. He took the "Bob" moniker from a country music station (then WBOB, today KTLK-FM) that had broadcast in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market of Minnesota to the south several years earlier.

Many BOB FM stations market themselves with the slogan "Turn your knob to BOB"; this was a parody from 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".

So far, Honolulu, Hawaii, Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California, are the only North American markets where Bob FM has failed. In the Honolulu case Salem Communications acquired the station and likely would have jettisoned the format, regardless of its success, due to that company's programming philosophy. In Sacramento, the owner of the station requested that listeners "vote" whether the variety hits format or an 80s format should remain, as the owners were selling the frequency which housed the 80's format. The 80s format won, and 92.1 Bob FM turned into Flash 92.1.

The newest Bob FM station in Canada, 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.

Many Bob-FM stations are imaged by Digital Sound & Video, Inc, located in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Bob FM stations in Canada

* Brockville, Ontario – CJPT
* Kawartha Lakes, Ontario – CKLY
* London, Ontario – CHST 102.3 FM
* Ottawa, Ontario – CKKL 93.9 FM
* Winnipeg, Manitoba – CFWM

Bob FM stations in the United States

* Abilene, Texas – KNCE-FM
* Altus, Oklahoma – 100.9 FM
* Anchorage, Alaska – KBBO-FM
* Augusta, Kansas – KIBB
* Austin/San Marcos, Texas – KBPA 103.5
* Bloomington-Normal, Illinois – WBBE
* Boise, Idaho – KSRV-FM 96.1 FM
* Chico, California – KBQB
* Edwards, California – KGBB 103.9 FM
* Elko, Nevada – KLKO 93.7 FM
* Erie, Pennsylvania – WXBB 94.7 FM
* Eugene, Oregon – KEUG 105.5 FM
* Fargo, North Dakota – KBVB (country format)
* Fort Myers, Florida – WJGO
* Greenwood, Mississippi – WYMX
* Gallipolis, Ohio – WXBW 101.5 FM
* Hampton Roads-Norfolk, Virginia – WPYA 93.7 FM
* Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – WRBT (country music format)
* Lafayette, Indiana – WBPE 95.3 FM
* Larned, Kansas – KGTR
* Lindsborg, Kansas – KVOB
* Midland-Odessa, Texas – KQRX
* Minneapolis, Minnesota – KLCI (country format)
* Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – WYNA
* Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – KQOB
* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – WRRK 96.9 FM
* Pierre, South Dakota – KLXS-FM
* Reno, Nevada – KZTQ
* Rockford, Illinois – WRTB
* Roswell, New Mexico – KEND 106.5
* San Angelo, Texas – KELI 98.7 FM
* Santa Rosa, California – KNOB
* Sedalia, Missouri – KSDL 92.3 FM
* Spokane, Washington – KYWL 103.9 FM
* Texarkana, Texas – KBYB
* Tucson, Arizona – KSZR
* Washington-Greenville, North Carolina – WERO
* Wichita, Kansas – KIBB 97.1 FM
* Wichita Falls, Texas – KWFB 100.9 FM
* Williston, North Dakota – KDSR
* The Woodlands, Texas – KTWL
* Yakima, Washington – KRSE 105.7 FM
* Panama City Beach WASJ 105.1 (new edition as of Tuesday,06-May 2008 dropped ESPN Radio format)

ee also

* Froggy (brand)
* KISS-FM (brand)
* The Fox (brand)
* Jack FM
* ESPN Radio
* Joe FM
* Dave FM