Editing Jack FM (section)

===2000–2003: Origins===
:"Perry launched JACK-FM on the internet in 2001 at jack.fm<ref>{{cite web | url=https://tunein.com/radio/Jack-FM-s320825/ | title=Jack FM &#124; Free Internet Radio }}</ref> (where you can listen to it streaming for free at 128 kbps quality). His company, Big Sticks Broadcasting Corporation, owns the service marks to "JACK-FM" and "Playing What We Want" in the United States."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.varietyhits.com/variety/history.shtml | title=Variety Hits - History of the Format }}</ref>

In 2000, the first originator of New York's Jack FM format was radio programmer Bob Perry, the president of Big Sticks Broadcasting Corp.,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1495989/Jack-and-Jill-dump-the-DJs-in-Americas-all-music-radio-revolution.html | title=Jack and Jill dump the DJS in America's all-music radio revolution | date=August 11, 2005 }}</ref> on a United States–based [[Internet radio]] [[streaming audio|stream]] in 2000. Perry named the station after a fictitious persona, "Cadillac Jack" Garrett, "a hard-living radio cowboy". The back story created by Perry for the original web stream was that Garrett, a disc jockey who had worked many "big sticks", finally got his own radio station, and after years of being told what he was to play on-air was creating a station where the motto was "playing what we want".  

[[Rogers Communications]] claims that the only thing taken without permission, for the Jack FM radio station, in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia, Canada, was the name and the tagline. Pat Cardinal, one of the first Jack program directors, says that he was unaware of the type of music on the American website and that "Jack" was one of several names that were considered for the format. Rogers Communications came to an agreement with Perry for the use of the Jack FM name in Canada soon after the launch. The original web stream is still live to this day.

Jack was also inspired by the success of [[CHUM Limited]]'s "[[Bob FM]]" brand on [[CFWM]] radio in [[Winnipeg]]. Program director Howard Kroeger was inspired to create Bob FM after hearing a mixtape at a friend's 40th birthday party. Other Canadian broadcasters copied the concept as well, adopting such brands as [[Corus Entertainment]]'s "[[CJDV-FM|Dave FM]]" and "[[CKNG-FM|Joe FM]]". In 2003, an [[Ottawa]] station launched "Frank FM" as a one-day [[Halloween]] [[prank]]. (The prank's name was possibly also inspired by the Canadian satirical magazine ''[[Frank Magazine|Frank]]'', and probably the [[New England]] stations known as [[Frank FM]].)

[[File:Jackfmcrownlogo.png|thumb|First Jack FM logo, often used on [[Infinity Broadcasting Corporation|Infinity-CBS]] stations.]]
Beginning in late 2002, several Canadian [[radio station]]s owned by [[Rogers Communications]] starting using the format. The first Jack station was Vancouver's [[CJAX-FM|CKLG-FM]], which quickly shot to the top of the city's [[Bureau of Broadcast Measurement|BBM]] radio ratings. The format was consequently adopted on other Rogers stations in 2002 and 2003. The format proved popular in many markets where it was introduced, although its success was not always as dramatic as it had been in Vancouver.