Smooth Jazz

[willow]

I've worked in a lot of markets, and every one seems to have a Smooth Jazz station.
Your thoughts on why it's never made it here?

 

[Lucylu]

'Cause it sucks?

 

[rapking]

I've worked in a lot of markets, and every one seems to have a Smooth Jazz station.
Your thoughts on why it's never made it here?

Boston Radio owners think.. that this format... is only for African American . Urban Format, Gone ! Urban A/C ,Gone ! Smooth Jazz ,Gone ! Black Gospel , Uncle Radio One is trashing that AM station to Death . Smooth Jazz can work here in Boston , only if the Boston Radio owners, can get there heads out of there a-- ,and stop thinking, only about rock formats .

 

[Lucylu]

Poor comma use; is it Boston, or Boston Radio Owner's, who's heads are up their A--? Please advise.

 

[JustinT]

I've worked in a lot of markets, and every one seems to have a Smooth Jazz station.
Your thoughts on why it's never made it here?

For one, it is true that the African American population is quite small compared to other large markets with successful smooth jazz stations. But it has been said on this board that one of the reasons that Greater Media flipped WSJZ 96.9 to talk in 1999 was that they did not know how to sell the format.

But one of the biggest problems could have been the presence of the former 102.5 WCRB. In the past, WCRB was consistantly the P1 of listeners looking for instrumental music, but with the station now playing a dumbed-down playlist, new personalities with no background in the genre, and the lousy 99.5 signal to top it all off, the time is right for someone to give SJ another try. And with the new BA smooth jazz network launching soon with Ramsey Lewis in mornings (out of WNUA/Chicago) and Dave Koz in afternoons (out of KTWV/L.A.), it wouldn't necessarily be a very expensive format to operate; plus, with WMJX leaning upbeat, the station could become a likely P2 or P3 for some of Magic's listeners.

(are you listening, WXRV and WPLM?)

 

[Mickey37]

Smooth Jazz does to the ear what biting into brick does to your teeth.
The result is not pretty, in either case.
Jazz, now there's something else altogether.
None of this Yanni-related pan-flute-playing junk, though.
Smooth Jazz was tried here in Boston. It died a smooth, easy sounding death.
It's not a format that many took to here. No need for someone else to try to make a go of it in Boston with Smooth Jazz.
I think I'd rather hear Al Franken reading the collected speeches of Gerald Ford before I'd turn the dial to Smooth Jazz.
Just one man's opinion.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

(are you listening, WXRV and WPLM?)

I recall that WPLM tried Smooth Jazz for a few years. Their ratings went down from their Gold/Standards leaning E-Z/Soft AC format, and didn't come back up. A lot of their listeners wanted them to go back to their old format, so they did.

Northeast seems to want to specialize in AAA for their few FM stations. I doubt we'll see WXRV change.

 

[JustinT]

I recall that WPLM tried Smooth Jazz for a few years. Their ratings went down from their Gold/Standards leaning E-Z/Soft AC format, and didn't come back up. A lot of their listeners wanted them to go back to their old format, so they did.

Yes, they did. I seem to recall that they dropped their relatively-mainstream AC as "Variety 99.1" to go with the format in the early 90s; soft AC/standards returned as "Easy 99.1" on 1/1/99. But it should be noted that WPLM's smooth jazz stint was at the same time that Oasis 99.5/WSJZ were doing the format, so the satellite-based programming of 99.1 didn't stand much of a chance. WSJZ dropped smooth jazz 9 months after WPLM became "Easy".

Northeast seems to want to specialize in AAA for their few FM stations. I doubt we'll see WXRV change.

I highly doubt it as well. And WXRV does seem to pull decent numbers in Southern New Hampshire last time I checked, although their numbers in the Boston market really use a boost (of course, the 92.5 signal is probably the biggest barrier).

 

[ssetta]

Smooth Jazz was actually tried in Boston 4 times. Before WPLM did it in 1995, there was a station from about 1990 (or so, I'm guessing) to 1993 that did it. The call letters were WCDJ, and it was on 96.9. And believe it or not, I think we actually have a demo tape of it somewhere, when it was a brand-new station.

However, I wouldn't mind 99.5 picking up Smooth Jazz.

 

[HD_Ready]

Smooth Jazz is on Magic 106.7 HD-2

 

[JustinT]

Smooth Jazz was actually tried in Boston 4 times. Before WPLM did it in 1995, there was a station from about 1990 (or so, I'm guessing) to 1993 that did it. The call letters were WCDJ, and it was on 96.9. And believe it or not, I think we actually have a demo tape of it somewhere, when it was a brand-new station.

However, I wouldn't mind 99.5 picking up Smooth Jazz.

Oh yes, WCDJ "CD 96.9"... which at least was carrying on the instrumental legacy of WJIB-FM. If Emmis didn't have that ordeal with the Seahawks, maybe it would still be here... of course they sold WCDJ to Greater Media, forming a duopoly with WMJX under which 96.9 became WBCS, one of the two decendants to WKLB 102.5.

(interestingly, Greater Media appears to have not only killed smooth jazz in Boston twice, but they also have also killed smooth jazz in Boston twice on the 96.9 frequency! If you've got an HD Radio, however; 106.7 HD2 isn't terrible.)

 

[raccoonradio]

Isn't there smooth jazz on Sunday mornings on the Cape? ...WQRC I think.

WMWM's Sunday afternoon jazz show has smooth jazz whenever Brian Vita's on. Aircheck:

http://wmwm.250free.com/Podcast/moodswings12306.mp3

 

[starchild]

Good point Rapking!

 

[starchild]

I've worked in a lot of markets, and every one seems to have a Smooth Jazz station.
Your thoughts on why it's never made it here?

Boston Radio owners think.. that this format... is only for African American . Urban Format, Gone ! Urban A/C ,Gone ! Smooth Jazz ,Gone ! Black Gospel , Uncle Radio One is trashing that AM station to Death . Smooth Jazz can work here in Boston , only if the Boston Radio owners, can get there heads out of there a-- ,and stop thinking, only about rock formats .

Good point Rapking!

 

[Mickey37]

Smooth Jazz can work here in Boston , only if the Boston Radio owners, can get there heads out of there a-- ,and stop thinking, only about rock formats .

I think if Smooth Jazz could have worked here in Boston, it would have. Boston is not, thankfully, a haven for faux jazz.

I second Lucy's comments re: punctuation and commas.

 

[Infidel]

Lucy,

If you wanna get technical -- it's "whose" ;D

 

[Lucylu]

Hence the joke ;D

 

[argytunes]

Lucy...

Why doesn't a jazz-oriented radio station try an entirely different approach? They could even use the slogan:

"OUR JAZZ MUSIC IS SO ROWDY...IT'S GUARANTEED TO P**S YOU OFF WITHIN 15 MINUTES!"

argytunes

 

[brightonboris]

I've worked in a lot of markets, and every one seems to have a Smooth Jazz station.
Your thoughts on why it's never made it here?

Because people in Boston know better. It's crap, not a radio format.

 

[Mickey37]

I was intrigued by 96.9 FM when it first became Smooth Jazz.
I quickly got over it.
So did most of the Boston audience, apparently ;D