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"We Belong Together"/Mariah Carey on WJJZ

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eGillCVI

Guest
I just heard "We Belong Together" on WJJZ, which I think is a little bit ridiculous. What does this song have to do with Smooth Jazz? What are they trying to do over there?

And why does Clear channel want four of their five FM's in Philly playing the same song?! Imagine George Benson (any George Benson) into this song. Am I nuts or does that just not make any sense?
 
Smooth Jazz has never been about Jazz. It's just a branding thing. It was alway's a new generation of a mind-numbing easy-listening sountrack to one's day. The fact is that if they called it Beautiful Music or Easy Listening today, their audience would have run away screaming. Think of the current generation. They won't buy Diet Coke, but they will buy Coke Zero. It's the new boss, same as the old boss, only different.

> I just heard "We Belong Together" on WJJZ, which I think is
> a little bit ridiculous. What does this song have to do
> with Smooth Jazz? What are they trying to do over there?

>
 
I don't know. Smooth Jazz is definitely its own format in my opinion. Folks like Brian Culbertson, Paul Hardcastle, Jeffrey Osbourne, Chris Botti, Walter Beasley, Fourplay, David Benoit, Dave Koz and so many others are clearly "Smooth Jazz artists," so to speak.

I can see where most songs by Sade, and some by Anita Baker, and Hall & Oates can fit in (and I can even understand "My All" by Mariah)...but "We Belong Together"? It's a CHR/Urban/AC hit for sure but I just don't see how it fits at Smooth Jazz.


> Smooth Jazz has never been about Jazz. It's just a branding
> thing. It was alway's a new generation of a mind-numbing
> easy-listening sountrack to one's day. The fact is that if
> they called it Beautiful Music or Easy Listening today,
> their audience would have run away screaming. Think of the
> current generation. They won't buy Diet Coke, but they will
> buy Coke Zero. It's the new boss, same as the old boss, only
> different.
>
> > I just heard "We Belong Together" on WJJZ, which I think
> is
> > a little bit ridiculous. What does this song have to do
> > with Smooth Jazz? What are they trying to do over there?
>
> >
>
 
Im a little out of touch here...

...is Mariah Carey's version a remake of the 50's R&B song by Robert & Johnny, later done by Art & Arron Neville?<P ID="signature">______________

AOL IM: wnjoldies or jamminoldies105
CBS-FM lives at http://67.83.125.155:8010
Oldies Board co-moderator</P>
 
Re: Im a little out of touch here...

> ...is Mariah Carey's version a remake of the 50's R&B song
> by Robert & Johnny, later done by Art & Arron Neville?
>
I heard We Belong Together on both WBLI 106.1 and WJJZ 106.1 at the same time during a tropo opening, and it sounded weird.<P ID="signature">______________
17-year-old radio geek
Location: Princeton Junction, NJ
AIM: KewlDude471</P>
 
It's not the music that I'm referring to. It's the format. Whoever owned 106.1 at the time didn't say "let's program a station based on a specific genre of the Jazz discipline". They were looking for a easy to digest format which would appeal to a certain demographic. By calling it "smooth jazz" they associated it with a hipness that didn't exist with B/EZ radio. And of course, programmed music that appealed to that hipness. I don't know if Smooth Jazz is necessarily a type of music. I've always though of it as a radio format more so than a music type. But, I've been wrong before.

> I don't know. Smooth Jazz is definitely its own format in
> my opinion. Folks like Brian Culbertson, Paul Hardcastle,
> Jeffrey Osbourne, Chris Botti, Walter Beasley, Fourplay,
> David Benoit, Dave Koz and so many others are clearly
> "Smooth Jazz artists," so to speak.
>
> I can see where most songs by Sade, and some by Anita Baker,
> and Hall & Oates can fit in (and I can even understand "My
> All" by Mariah)...but "We Belong Together"? It's a
> CHR/Urban/AC hit for sure but I just don't see how it fits
> at Smooth Jazz.
>
>
> >
> > >
> >
>
 
When the whole New Adult Contemporary format started in the early 90's at "The Wave" KTWV, it was Contemporary Jazz, New Age and selected Adult Alternative vocals. George Winston, George Benson, Lee Reitnour, Yanni, Enya, Dave Lanz.

The ratings were great at first. Then as alternatives such as Classic Rock came along vying for the same demos, the ratings fell. The Wave had syndicated the format, but that died also. So a major "tweaking" of the format took place. If you read dj bios on station web sites (back when the stations had real live dj's) they would always give their definition of "Smooth Jazz". And it was always the same. Hmmm? "Contemporary Jazz with the best of R&B vocals. The target demo switched from a hip white audience to an Urban audience. Keeping white listeners who had grown to love the format, but dropping Adult Alternative vocals completely. And dropping Enya, Winston and Yanni.

They label it Smooth Jazz. It is in reality, NAC. For us in Philly, it is WDAS-FM with instrumentals thrown in. This is not what the format was to be, but with the changes, it has hung in there. That does not mean I have to like it, and I don't!

> It's not the music that I'm referring to. It's the format.
> Whoever owned 106.1 at the time didn't say "let's program a
> station based on a specific genre of the Jazz discipline".
> They were looking for a easy to digest format which would
> appeal to a certain demographic. By calling it "smooth jazz"
> they associated it with a hipness that didn't exist with
> B/EZ radio. And of course, programmed music that appealed to
> that hipness. I don't know if Smooth Jazz is necessarily a
> type of music. I've always though of it as a radio format
> more so than a music type. But, I've been wrong before.
>
> > I don't know. Smooth Jazz is definitely its own format in
>
> > my opinion. Folks like Brian Culbertson, Paul Hardcastle,
>
> > Jeffrey Osbourne, Chris Botti, Walter Beasley, Fourplay,
> > David Benoit, Dave Koz and so many others are clearly
> > "Smooth Jazz artists," so to speak.
> >
> > I can see where most songs by Sade, and some by Anita
> Baker,
> > and Hall & Oates can fit in (and I can even understand "My
>
> > All" by Mariah)...but "We Belong Together"? It's a
> > CHR/Urban/AC hit for sure but I just don't see how it fits
>
> > at Smooth Jazz.
> >
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
 
> [WJJZ] is WDAS-FM with instrumentals thrown in.

But...they're instrumentals by Smooth Jazz artists! This whole discussion is confusing to me. LOL. How come people want Smooth Jazz to not be a format? I mean, sure it's been tweaked along the way but...so has everything else, right?
 
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