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Smooth Jazz in Boston?
- Thread starter SoftRock
- Start date
WLEV said:
Smooth jazz seems to do best in markets where rhythmic and R&B music are popular. Boston is also the exception in these areas, not even having one urban contemporary, urban AC or rhythmic AC station. Smooth jazz has been tried in the market, but it just didn't do well enough.
Boston has historically been a rock town and 'smooth jazz' generally isn't jazz - it's light rhythmic music. It's a format that does particularly well with affluent black audiences, a population group that is much smaller in the Boston area than in those other markets that you've listed. On the other hand, Boston is filthy with AC outlets - which is the 'light' music of affluent whites. It's just demographics, in my opinion.
M
mariner77
Guest
Already here: WMJX-HD2
Once a month or so Brian Vita plays smooth jazz on Mood Swings Sun 3-6 pm on WMWM 91.7 (..if you
can pick it up)
can pick it up)
L
Laurence Glavin
Guest
Channel 3 on Comcast, my cable provider, occasionally runs a "smooth jazz" program on weekends. I only view and hear snippets when I go to program or play my VCR, or play a DVD and I'm not impressed by it. Hyper-dumbed-down-pseudo-classical stations like WCRB offer uninvolving, instrumental music for background use and are a substitute for "smooth jazz". Maybe if WCRB keeps declining in the ratings, Nassau will flip it to "smooth jazz".
E
Ed101
Guest
BRNout said:mariner77 said:
Well, yeah, but that's with an asterisk*. I don't think that he meant HD - which is still only heard by about 21 people in the market.
The other issue is ... their playlist seems to be rather limited, not to mention the fact that they tend to play a little TOO much of the material they normally play on their "regular" signal...
C
ciao99
Guest
BRNout said:
Boston is a minority majority city. Plus, just listen to the format of the pirates that proliferate on the dial. They ain't playing rap, rock or light rock.
So much for being a consultant!
S
sp113
Guest
WLEV said:
It's accessable to anyone that wants it.
Just get a radio.
(1) This topic came up about a month ago, if anyone wants to review it:
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,78739.0.html
(2) In addition to the HD-2 channel (smooth jazz 24/7), WMJX does "Sunday Morning Jazz" on the main channel from 8 am-noon (similar to what they play on the HD-2).
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,78739.0.html
(2) In addition to the HD-2 channel (smooth jazz 24/7), WMJX does "Sunday Morning Jazz" on the main channel from 8 am-noon (similar to what they play on the HD-2).
Ciao said:
So what? That would be just awesome if the market extended only to 128. But it doesn't now does it?
Let's confuse things with a couple of facts about population:
Boston DMA (Arbitron survey area, Market Rank: 11): 3,838,800
City of Boston (U.S. Census, 2003 estimate): 581,616 [source: US Census Quick Facts database, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25/2507000.html]
That makes Boston's population a grand total of 15% of the market. In other words, 85% of the marketplace lives somewhere else. According to the 2000 census, the white, non-hispanic population of the City of Boston was 54.5%. This has probably shrunken to around 50% by now - as the city's population shrinks by about 0.5% per year. The majority of that population loss represents whites moving to the 'burbs.
If it is a "majority-minority" city, it just barely is. And, it doesn't matter anyway because this city represents a small minority of a marketplace which remains about 83% non-hispanic white. This isn't a market like San Diego or Oklahoma City or Jacksonville where the majority of the market lives IN the city. In fact, Boston is quite the opposite. A big market with a relatively small central city (populationwise). It would require the city to become significantly majority black or hispanic before any major stations take notice. That is very far from happening. At the moment, each group is fractionalized in the numbers - and that's in the city itself.
The suburbs (where most residents of the market live and where most money is) remain lily white.
This is why there is no urban AC station on FM in Boston. This is why there is no urban contemporary station on FM in Boston. And this, combined with poor power ratings, is why there is not yet a Spanish language station on FM in Boston (though that may come in a few years).
That's our lesson for today.
Ciao said:
I doubt that I'll be looking at your resume any time soon. ;D
D
DrPicky
Guest
get a radio...or listen ot it online. http://tuner1.dc1.sonixtream.com/solon/media/tuner/Tuner?aff=wmjxsmoothjazz&useSame=true&type
by the way, there is hardly any playlist overlap between WMJX HD-2 and regular WMJX.
by the way, there is hardly any playlist overlap between WMJX HD-2 and regular WMJX.
R
rapking
Guest
This is why there is no urban AC station on FM in Boston. This is why there is no urban contemporary station on FM in Boston. And this, combined with poor power ratings, is why there is not yet a Spanish language station on FM in Boston (though that may come in a few years).
That's our lesson for today.
I doubt that I'll be looking at your resume any time soon. ;D
[/quote] There no Urban A/C because Radio One F--- The damn thing up . Nash WILD-AM 1090 was doing great ( even with a am Daytimer weak signal ) until Nash made a big mistake by selling it to Radio One . Radio One got Cheap and laid off almost all Wild/Wbot D.J's ( Only Dave H. and Reagie Beas on weekdays ) and made WILD almost like a urban Jack Format ( Awful Mike Type ) . Radio One also made WILD Listeners confuse, because Radio One change WILD/WBOT Format to Half Urban A/C and Half Urban Mainstream ( That =Total Mess ) . Radio One ( Boston ) Junk will not work in New York,Shreveport LA,Norfolk VA, New Orleans LA, Chicago,or anywhere on Earth .
That's our lesson for today.
Ciao said:
I doubt that I'll be looking at your resume any time soon. ;D
[/quote] There no Urban A/C because Radio One F--- The damn thing up . Nash WILD-AM 1090 was doing great ( even with a am Daytimer weak signal ) until Nash made a big mistake by selling it to Radio One . Radio One got Cheap and laid off almost all Wild/Wbot D.J's ( Only Dave H. and Reagie Beas on weekdays ) and made WILD almost like a urban Jack Format ( Awful Mike Type ) . Radio One also made WILD Listeners confuse, because Radio One change WILD/WBOT Format to Half Urban A/C and Half Urban Mainstream ( That =Total Mess ) . Radio One ( Boston ) Junk will not work in New York,Shreveport LA,Norfolk VA, New Orleans LA, Chicago,or anywhere on Earth .
rapking said:
Well rapking, I agree with you! The 97.7 signal was one of the best suited in the area for an urban A/C or urban contemporary format (the other being 101.7 - which is a different story). Some of the signal issues that long plagued 97.7 have now been dealt with - making this a bigger shame. It's really too bad that the opportunity was squandered by Radio One, which is one of the most poorly managed owners in the industry. Now, the "WKAF" signal is pretty much wasted as a repeater for WAAF. A real shame, as it removed one more choice from the marketplace.
Based on the area demos, none of the full-powered signals will likely head urban - at least not for a while. But, one of the class A's could have. Unfortunately, thanks to the ownership structure of stations in the market and a dearth of signals, it isn't on the horizon.
Frankly, music formats in Boston are extremely boring. I love the area, but not because of its radio offerings. Most are pretty lackluster.
R
rapking
Guest
Yeah you are right about that . All my out of town Family members ( and Friends ), always tell me that they love The Boston Area ,But hate The Boston radio dial . 97.7 was perfect signal for Urban A/C format and Sloppy Radio One found away to F--- it up.BRNout said:
rapking said:
It's very true that Boston has a pretty boring and limited dial. There seem to be two really big factors in this. First off, the presence of so many other markets to Boston; most notably Providence, Worcester, and Manchester. Look on radio-locator at the map for WWBB 101.5: if there didn't happen to be a city called Providence on the map, then that station would obviously be targeting Boston. 95.7 WZID, 96.1 WSRS, 93.3 WSNE, 92.3 WPRO, 94.1 WHJY, and 101.5 WWBB could easily target Boston with their coverage. But rather than see B101 do Urban AC and WSRS do Smooth Jazz to pull low numbers in Boston, WSRS would rather be the #1 station in Worcester, which has a unique-enough culture to make the station work... after all, fans of soft rock in Worcester County could just listen to Magic, couldn't they?
The other issue is that of stations that don't belong to the "survival-of-the-fittest" game. In New York, it's 94.7 WFME. In Chicago, it's the "Nine FM" stations. But Boston has seemingly a ton of stations in this category that are not really subject to the rules: as long as they're making some money, the owners aren't going to mess with them. 92.5 WXRV, 99.1 WPLM, 99.5 WCRB (though that one could be changing), and 101.7 WFNX all fall into this category. 92.9 WBOS seems like they're in a similar but different group, something like "sitting-around-until-Greater-Media-comes-up-with-something-better-to-do-with-it".)
encarta95 said:
Are you familiar with how the FM dial actually sounds in Boston, or are you just looking at (theoretical, predicted) coverage maps from somewhere outside Boston?
WWBB does not cover Boston at all because first adjacent WFNX 101.7, which transmits from downtown Boston, blows it out of the entire urban metro with adjacent channel interference. Because of WFNX, WWBB cannot be heard at all in downtown Boston or any of the densely populated immediate surrounding cities and towns. Predicted coverage maps do not take interference from other stations into account, they only display the theoretical signal of the station you're looking up as it would appear if there were no other interfering stations, which is unrealistic in many cases.
Due to WFNX, WWBB can't be heard consistently until you're out in the suburbs at least ten miles south or west from downtown Boston, and even then, only on good quality radios. It's not a signal that would come in on cheap radios such as Walkmans, Boom-boxes, most portables, or clock radios until you get fairly close to Rhode Island, so WWBB could never claim to cover Boston.
The other stations you mentioned don't have first-adjacents right in Boston, but downtown Boston and the surrounding area for at least a few miles around is subject to severe intermodulation interference from the seven Class B (50 kW equivalent) FM stations all transmitting from the top of the Prudential Tower. On all but the highest quality tuners, those stations you mentioned are buried under a sea of intermodulation for a few miles around the city. Coverage maps don't account for any of that.
The FM-128 tower in Newton is another secondary source of intermodulation interference 12 miles west of Boston with five more Class B FM's on it. Besides all that, those stations don't come in consistently well in a moving car around metro Boston, they're all subject to fading, multipath, picket-fencing, etc... you really have to be at least ten miles out in the 'burbs toward the direction they're coming from to get solid, steady signals, or signals that would come in at all on the kinds of lesser quality radios I mentioned above.
Though all those signals can get some listeners out in the 'burbs in their respective directions, none of them could be seriously competitive signals in the Boston market metro, regardless of what the coverage maps may look like.
Eli Polonsky said:
Agreed. I didn't really word that very well, and yes, WWBB is probably the worst example I could have picked. What I had meant is that if it were not for the presence of substantial markets less than 50 miles from Boston, stations with decent signals in the Greater Boston area (exempting downtown and most of the city itself) like, say, 96.1 and 93.3, would be masquerading as "Boston" stations rather than serving their local markets that would not otherwise exist. If these signals were targetting Boston, they would almost certainly end up with niche formats and would thus increase the amount of diversity found on the Boston radio dial.
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