Welll, I guess we knew it was coming... more changes at KTWV. It's clear they're still trying to hold onto as much of their Smooth Jazz audience as they can, while moving the format to a more Urban AC sound.
--Nearly all vocals are by African-American artists that cross over to pop. Many of the songs and artists are still the same from the Smooth Jazz days... Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael and Janet Jackson, Rhianna, Lionel Richie, Beyonce, Anita Baker, Sade. And a few Latin artists who also score on the pop charts. But almost no White artists who work in the rhythmic or jazz-flavored field. No Madonna, no Sting, no Basia. Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love" gets played but I think most listeners don't know he's white. They do play three Robin Thicke songs, after he had such a big hit this summer. The funny thing is Thicke used to get played as a Smooth Jazz vocalist, from his previous CDs.
--There are still two Smooth Jazz instrumentals per hour. That's down from three per hour a few months ago. So they're not totally changing the format as some previous Smooth Jazz stations have done, such as in Las Vegas and Phoenix. In this day and age, virtually no one plays instrumentals anymore. Even Oldies/Classic Hits and AC stations won't play instrumentals that WERE hits some years ago.
--The music still goes back to the 70s. EWF, Santana, Barry White, Donna Summer all get mixed in. So they're still going for the upper end of the 25-54 demo.
--On the DJ photos on the website, it looks like veteran evening host Keri Tombasian is missing. She's been with The Wave for decades. Sorry to see her go. In my opinion, she has the best voice of any female DJ in the business, and a very nice personality. She had even done mornings at one point in Wave history.
--Several new DJs have been added, all African-American men. (The Wave had all women hosts from 5am to Midnight for the last couple of years, with a couple of white male weekend/fill in DJs.)
--The jingles are still the same: "94-7 The Waaaaaave." But the DJs call it "Smooth R&B, 94-7 The Wave."
--The station's ratings haven't been bad. They hover between #8 and #12 in most ratings and get a boost during the Holidays by playing Christmas music, including jazz flavored and traditional Christmas songs from mid-November to Dec. 25. But David tells us the demos are really old and that's what counts.
Maybe this is a way to keep some memories of the old Wave alive, so that CBS doesn't pull the plug and switch to The Fan 94.7 Sportsradio.
--Nearly all vocals are by African-American artists that cross over to pop. Many of the songs and artists are still the same from the Smooth Jazz days... Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael and Janet Jackson, Rhianna, Lionel Richie, Beyonce, Anita Baker, Sade. And a few Latin artists who also score on the pop charts. But almost no White artists who work in the rhythmic or jazz-flavored field. No Madonna, no Sting, no Basia. Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love" gets played but I think most listeners don't know he's white. They do play three Robin Thicke songs, after he had such a big hit this summer. The funny thing is Thicke used to get played as a Smooth Jazz vocalist, from his previous CDs.
--There are still two Smooth Jazz instrumentals per hour. That's down from three per hour a few months ago. So they're not totally changing the format as some previous Smooth Jazz stations have done, such as in Las Vegas and Phoenix. In this day and age, virtually no one plays instrumentals anymore. Even Oldies/Classic Hits and AC stations won't play instrumentals that WERE hits some years ago.
--The music still goes back to the 70s. EWF, Santana, Barry White, Donna Summer all get mixed in. So they're still going for the upper end of the 25-54 demo.
--On the DJ photos on the website, it looks like veteran evening host Keri Tombasian is missing. She's been with The Wave for decades. Sorry to see her go. In my opinion, she has the best voice of any female DJ in the business, and a very nice personality. She had even done mornings at one point in Wave history.
--Several new DJs have been added, all African-American men. (The Wave had all women hosts from 5am to Midnight for the last couple of years, with a couple of white male weekend/fill in DJs.)
--The jingles are still the same: "94-7 The Waaaaaave." But the DJs call it "Smooth R&B, 94-7 The Wave."
--The station's ratings haven't been bad. They hover between #8 and #12 in most ratings and get a boost during the Holidays by playing Christmas music, including jazz flavored and traditional Christmas songs from mid-November to Dec. 25. But David tells us the demos are really old and that's what counts.
Maybe this is a way to keep some memories of the old Wave alive, so that CBS doesn't pull the plug and switch to The Fan 94.7 Sportsradio.
