diff --git a/cmd/circolog-tail/main.go b/cmd/circolog-tail/main.go
index 4d13950..1ca05af 100644
--- a/cmd/circolog-tail/main.go
+++ b/cmd/circolog-tail/main.go
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ func main() {
 	addr := flag.String("addr", "localhost:9080", "http service address")
 	querySocket := flag.String("socket", "", "Path to a unix domain socket for the HTTP server")
 	backlogLimit := flag.Int("n", -1, "Limit the backlog length, defaults to no limit (-1)")
+	var format formatter.Format
+	format = formatter.FormatSyslog
+	flag.Var(&format, "fmt", "Output format [syslog|json]")
 	var filter filtering.ExprValue
 	flag.Var(&filter, "where", "sql-like query to filter logs")
 	// TODO: change to color-mode=auto/no/always
@@ -120,10 +123,12 @@ func main() {
 			if !filter.Validate(parsed) {
 				continue
 			}
-			if err := formatter.WriteFormatted(os.Stdout, formatter.FormatSyslog, parsed); err != nil {
+			if err := formatter.WriteFormatted(os.Stdout, format, parsed); err != nil {
 				log.Println("error printing", err)
 			}
-			fmt.Println()
+			if format == formatter.FormatSyslog { // oops
+				fmt.Println()
+			}
 		}
 	}()