Musicians Protest Jazz Cuts at WGBH Radio

[notlob]

http://notlobmusic.blogspot.com/2012/07/musicians-protest-at-wgbh-radio.html

 

[carmen]

i guess theyve not heard of Antennas. theyre useful in picking up stations from Worcester. im sitting here on the boston harbor listening to 90.5 using my phone's FM reciever, so you probably don't need anything fancy.

in fact, WICN has so much time to blow on jazz.. about 95% of their schedule, that theyll sit on air and talk with artists for hours about their careers, insight into performance styles etc. i highly recommend it..

 

[Eli Polonsky]

i guess theyve not heard of Antennas. theyre useful in picking up stations from Worcester. im sitting here on the boston harbor listening to 90.5 using my phone's FM reciever, so you probably don't need anything fancy.

I'm surprised that you're hearing WICN on a radio at Boston Harbor. I would think that it would be wiped out by WSMA in Scituate on the same frequency (90.5, Christian programming) coming up over the water from the South Shore. Here in Somerville I get both of them about equally, depending on which way I face the antenna I can null one out and hear the other, but that's a few miles closer to Worcester and farther from the coast that brings up the WSMA signal. They are both weak fringe signals here, though.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

The reception situation can be particularly frustrating here in the western half of the South Coast. Depending on the tuner and antenna location....one can either pick up BOTH WSMA and WICN....or NEITHER.

At my particular home location....Its' usually neither.....and in the car...it's always both!

That's what makes the WGBH Jazz cuts particularly painful....and NO....I'm not quite ready to run out and buy some internet wi-fi radios.

 

[TheBigA]

Several threads have pointed out that there's regular daily jazz programming available at WHRB. It seems to me that the efforts of these groups would be better spent supporting, promoting, and advocating an existing service than whining about one that's already gone. Maybe if WHRB received more support, they'd EXPAND jazz coverage. There's a novel idea.

 

[notlob]

http://notlobmusic.blogspot.com/2012/07/musicians-protest-at-wgbh-radio.html

What, may I ask, do the several immediate prior posts about WICN reception and WHRB programming have to do with the topic,
Musicians Protest Jazz Cuts at WGBH Radio
Hundreds attended the funeral held Thursday, July 5 outside the studios of "public" radio station WGBH in Brighton, organized by community/independent college WMBR producer/host Ken Field. The jazz funeral was held in conjunction with Eric Jackson's final weekday evening program (after 30 years, Ken's weeknight program is being eliminated, his hours reduced to those formerly filled by Steve Schwartz, who, after 27 years, has been fired)....

???

 

[WNTIRadio]

The posts are to show that WGBH wasn't/isn't the last place on earth to hear jazz, or in Boston for that matter.

I'll say what I said when I cut jazz programming at WNTI years ago... if the people actually supported it during membership drive time, it would still be there. The fact was that it made almost zero money, and public or not, bills still have to be paid by the radio station. Jazz doesn't get listener support. Jazz concerts don't get much support. So why would a radio station, that is a business after all, continue to devote the air time to a music form that is on life support.

All of that being said, I REALLY like jazz!! I listen to Coltraine, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Monk, Brubeck, and so on... on my iPod. It was hard being a fan of music that you're cutting from a schedule, but at the end of the day, the bills need to be paid so it had to go. The AAA format that is there now was doing well when I left in 2009 and is still going so I assume it's still doing well.

Even "Jazz 88", WBGO in NYC is mostly R&B on weekends and lots of blues during the week. Not 24/7 jazz. Why? Listener support. It's not cheap to keep an antenna on top of 4 Times Square.

The point about supporting the jazz programming on WHRB is an excellent one. If the audience and also the financial support shows up, then perhaps the programming would expand.

 

[TheBigA]

What, may I ask, do the several immediate prior posts about WICN reception and WHRB programming have to do with the topic,
Musicians Protest Jazz Cuts at WGBH Radio

The fact is that jazz is not dead, and focusing attention on a station that never had a commitment to jazz does nothing to promote it. WGBH has always been a classical station that paid lip service to jazz. It's death should be celebrated, not mourned. You can whine and complain about things that are no longer around, but it's more productive to focus on the jazz that still exists and promote it. Otherwise you'll have another funeral soon. Rather than criticize the competition, Ken Field would be more useful if he worked to expand jazz programming at WMBR.

The fact is that someone has to pay for this. It's time to mobilize financial support for jazz, and do what the classical people have done so much better for so much longer.

 

[uncamark]

What, may I ask, do the several immediate prior posts about WICN reception and WHRB programming have to do with the topic,
Musicians Protest Jazz Cuts at WGBH Radio

The fact is that jazz is not dead, and focusing attention on a station that never had a commitment to jazz does nothing to promote it. WGBH has always been a classical station that paid lip service to jazz. It's death should be celebrated, not mourned. You can whine and complain about things that are no longer around, but it's more productive to focus on the jazz that still exists and promote it. Otherwise you'll have another funeral soon. Rather than criticize the competition, Ken Field would be more useful if he worked to expand jazz programming at WMBR.

The fact is that someone has to pay for this. It's time to mobilize financial support for jazz, and do what the classical people have done so much better for so much longer.

And let it be noted that the man who made the OP of both WGBH jazz threads has a bone to pick with GBH over them dropping programs dealing with two music genres that he cares about more than jazz and even though it's been well over a year since those shows were dropped, he's going to find an excuse to rag on GBH whenever possible. I have the feeling that if "Blues on GBH" and "Folk on GBH" were still on the air, someone else would've had to post a thread about the jazz shows.

 

[carmen]

Even "Jazz 88", WBGO in NYC is mostly R&B on weekends and lots of blues during the week. Not 24/7 jazz. Why? Listener support. It's not cheap to keep an antenna on top of 4 Times Square.

in March 2011 in Lakewood NJ, heard Jazz 88 on every frequency minus one or two from 88 to 92 - googled it, and apparently the whole network has been dismantled/sold. no idea if any of the new owners are airing any jazz, but i suspect jazz coverage was lost down there as well

 

[WNTIRadio]

They were on overnights on the NJN radio network. They didn't own the stations, NJN ran it as "overnight filler".

 

[fybush]

They were on overnights on the NJN radio network.  They didn't own the stations, NJN ran it as "overnight filler".

And it was hardly at "every spot on the dial between 88-92," either. From Lakewood, you might have heard NJN on 88.1 (WNJT Trenton/WNJS Berlin), 89.9 (WNJM Manahawkin), 90.3 (WNJO Toms River), and maybe 89.7 (WNJN Atlantic City) or 89.3 (WNJB Bridgeton) if conditions were exceptional, and WBGO's main signal on 88.3 was probably coming in as well. But there were never any NJN Radio signals at all above 90.3 on the dial, and with duplication of frequencies around the state, the network's nine stations only ever occupied six FM channels. (In addition to the five above, there was 88.5 in Sussex, which wouldn't have made it to the shore.)

 

[iyiyi]

WGBH runs Classical on their HD2. Why not Jazz on their HD3?

WGBH would then be consistent. They could maintain their heritage Jazz programming on the HD3 just as they maintain(ed) their heritage Classical format by simulcasting WCRB.

Problem solved!

-

 

[raccoonradio]

Listener comments on WGBH facebook:
--WHERE IS ERIC IN THE EVENING???
--The jazz decision was a bad decision and is likely to to decrease listenership.
--Bring the jazz back you jokers, nobody wants to hear the The Diane Rehm Show at 10pm while they're trying to relax on the couch.
--I am disappointed about WBGH jazz being reduced to the weekends. Eric and Bob are scholar treasures with their knowledge and passion for this American music.
-- Boston needs diverse music on the radio, not more talk. My kitchen radio has been tuned to WGBH for jazz almost every evening for years. No longer, I'm afraid.

http://www.facebook.com/wgbhradio

 

[uncamark]

Listener comments on WGBH facebook:
--WHERE IS ERIC IN THE EVENING???
--The jazz decision was a bad decision and is likely to to decrease listenership.
--Bring the jazz back you jokers, nobody wants to hear the The Diane Rehm Show at 10pm while they're trying to relax on the couch.
--I am disappointed about WBGH jazz being reduced to the weekends. Eric and Bob are scholar treasures with their knowledge and passion for this American music.
-- Boston needs diverse music on the radio, not more talk. My kitchen radio has been tuned to WGBH for jazz almost every evening for years. No longer, I'm afraid.

http://www.facebook.com/wgbhradio

Were any of these people subscribers to GBH and how much money did they give?

 

[TheBigA]

Were any of these people subscribers to GBH and how much money did they give?

Good point...they all talk about being listeners, but that only matters for stations that sell audience numbers to advertisers. WGBH has a different agenda.

Jazz listeners need to become the same economic force as classical listeners. That means organizing, fund-raising, and attracting sponsors. Radio stations aren't going to do the work. The listeners have to do it.

 

[mgpt6]

Dont think jazz would cut it in mono on GBH's HD-3. Also, their Cape stations are on the HD-3 now.

 

[carmen]

Jazz listeners need to become the same economic force as classical listeners

saw this amusing tidbit when wiki-ing 107.5 (classical station on the cape):

"The stock market crash of 1987 had a devastating effect on the Cape's economy, and WFCC lost significant advertising revenue. As a result, stronger rated classical music programming replaced the evening folk and jazz shows."

so it seems the Cape was just about 25 years ahead of boston in doing whats only right

 

[carmen]

And it was hardly at "every spot on the dial between 88-92," either.

if you want to get pedantic about it, every spot on the dial that wasnt gaussian background noise due to a lack of signal. and some of them were probably 455kc images of other statoins. in any case, all you got was WBGO simulcasts everywhere - the lack of diversity on this part of the dial was shocking. perhaps now that there's 2 owners there are more choices over night - maybe some BBC, or NPR ..

 

[carmen]

I'm surprised that you're hearing WICN on a radio at Boston Harbor.

the quarter-mile long row of metal-buildings along Port Norfolk's west side are magic (along with the foothills of the blue hills) extending NEward from the park boundaries toward the shore - Faxon Park, Mount Wollaston - are magic at keeping Scituate in its place