J-Wave
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J-Wave is a Japanese FM radio station based in Tokyo. It was founded in October 1988 by Fumihiko Imura, featuring Japanese and American music of various commercial genres. Its callsign is JOAV-FM.
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[edit] Features
J-Wave touts itself as providing "the best music on the planet". The DJs are known as "navigators" (nabigētā).
Hundreds of different jingles separate the programs from commercials. All are played at the same high decibel level, and most are based on the same melody. There is also a radio station that transmits J-Wave all over Japan, by satellite.
[edit] History
On December 10, 1987, J-Wave was incorporated and started test broadcasts on the FM band at 81.3 MHz from August 1, 1988. On October 1st of that year, it started transmission from Tokyo Tower. J-Wave was rated 27th nationwide at the time, and second in Tokyo. While other radio stations focused more on presentation, J-Wave adopted a "more music less talk" format that originated in the United States.
The station had a large fanbase because of its unusual programming style, playing music non-stop except for jingles and breaks for news, traffic and weather. The law in Japan at that time stipulated that programming had to be maximum 80% music, and minimum 20% talk and continuity.
J-Wave coined the term "J-pop", which is only vaguely defined. However, as the years went by, the station lost influence. Sponsor after sponsor pulled their ads because of the growing irrelevance of the programming to what they were selling.
Around 1995, J-Wave hired new personalities in an attempt to rejuvenate itself. Its term "J-Pop" became synonymous with commercially palatable Japanese music from across the spectrum, except for traditional Japanese music. Specials started to air around this time, and the station took steps to attract a listener base desirable for higher ad revenues .
The format J-Wave introduced to Japan, "more music less talk" almost disappeared during reorganization in early 1997, when DJ banter became more pronounced.
Today, J-Wave has changed dramatically since its first broadcast. The station acquired a solid listener base who were less interested in a pretense of social rebellion. Nonetheless, J-Wave has never hit the Number 1 rank in ratings in the last ten years in the Tokyo region.
On October 1, 2003, J-Wave moved its head office to the 33rd floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Minato-ku (Tokyo).
[edit] JFL (Japan FM League)
J-Wave is the flagship station of JFL (Japan FM League), a commercial radio network.
JFL's main ideal was to respect the operation of each of its affiliates, letting each affiliate flourish under its own terms. The network is a co-operative, with each affiliate offering its resources when useful. So for example when J-Wave wants to air a concert or ask for interviews when a group tours in Nagoya, it can easily borrow the studios of ZIP-FM (the JFL affiliate there) to help produce what's needed.
[edit] Tokio Hot 100
J-Wave has set up its own airplay charts [1], which tallies the songs were played the most during that week on its own station. Note: These should not be confused with the Japanese single charts, Oricon. Oricon has its own national airplay charts here.
[edit] External links
- J-Wave - Official site (in Japanese)
- Japan FM League - Official Japan FM League site (in Japanese)
