Where is the music?

[Nock]

Subject title is based on some interesting observations I have made the past couple of weeks. Full time gig has me working in a very busy hospital with many visitors to my office. I stream The Wav a good 10 hours each day. If I had a nickel for how many people the stream has stopped in their tracks. Comments like, Where can I hear this music, How long has it been out there and so on.

Here is another great comment from a visitor this past week from Birmingham Alabama. Same comments as above however this time I told here there was a radio station in Birmingham that played the format 24 hours a day. Samford Universities WVSU (they do a very nice job) Girl can not wait to get back to Birmingham to listen. She has lived there for 5 years and did not know the station existed.

I mention this because I believe folks want the music however most folks are not educated musically or technically the way we are and do not find the music as easy as we do. Told a girl today my show was on 91.1. She responded is that AM or FM

I Believe, there is a major education needed to the music through involvement in the communities, network opportunities etc to spread the word. I believe the average person who want this music needs help finding it. So as much as we need to move the needle forward, let's make sure folks know what is going on. How can you do this economically? I Have found the social networks to be very beneficial to attracting new listeners.

Eduardo / Gleason please stay out of this thread as this is forward thinking and not looking in the rearview mirror.

Nock

 

[passtheword]

Subject title is based on some interesting observations I have made the past couple of weeks. Full time gig has me working in a very busy hospital with many visitors to my office. I stream The Wav a good 10 hours each day. If I had a nickel for how many people the stream has stopped in their tracks. Comments like, Where can I hear this music, How long has it been out there and so on.

Here is another great comment from a visitor this past week from Birmingham Alabama. Same comments as above however this time I told here there was a radio station in Birmingham that played the format 24 hours a day. Samford Universities WVSU (they do a very nice job) Girl can not wait to get back to Birmingham to listen. She has lived there for 5 years and did not know the station existed.

I mention this because I believe folks want the music however most folks are not educated musically or technically the way we are and do not find the music as easy as we do. Told a girl today my show was on 91.1. She responded is that AM or FM

I Believe, there is a major education needed to the music through involvement in the communities, network opportunities etc to spread the word. I believe the average person who want this music needs help finding it. So as much as we need to move the needle forward, let's make sure folks know what is going on. How can you do this economically? I Have found the social networks to be very beneficial to attracting new listeners.

Eduardo / Gleason please stay out of this thread as this is forward thinking and not looking in the rearview mirror.

Nock

I'm near Birmingham here. WVSU has been one of my favorite stations to listen to, when they switched to smooth jazz about 10-15 yrs ago. We are really blessed to have a smooth jazz station and with it being non-commerical. I find it more difficult to listen to the station than I previously had, as I'm now in the fringe area of the station's signal, so I stream it when the signal isn't all that great. Here's the link. Enjoy!

http://sc2.dal.llnw.net:80/stream/bdcast_samford_wvsu-fm.pls
http://www.wvsu.sonixtreamsupport.com

 

[AC Tones]

Nock, as always, thanks for listening. Great to have sharp listeners out there like you and JT, who know what they like.

Your point is both timely and valid. We have MANY obtacles to overcome, and it cannot be done overnight, especially if we are looking to recruit a younger generation of listeners. We are trying to go after folks who were pooping in their diapers when the Rippingtons "Tourist In Paradise" was at the top of the Smooth Jazz chart. The fact that we are also trying to increase exposure for a genre that has a swiftly shrinking number of terrrestrial outlets and has earned a reputation amongst the same group of people as "elevator music" makes it an even more daunting task. I think guys like you who are broadcasting at colleges and universities are a GREAT way to get to these listeners. Listener-supported KSBR-FM (Saddleback College) is another prime example of an outlet that can reach out to the younger generation. The Blake Aaron Radio Show, which I am fortunate enough to carry on Friday nights, is produced there. Of course, the Internet seems tailor made to help combat the "learning curve" you speak of, but we HAVE to get out there. Social networking is certainly a cost-effective way of marketing this format. But what I mean by getting out there is also partnering with and being visible at local establishments where these "potential" listeners hang out---talking to them, handing out chotchies, etc. Nothing really new or ground-breaking. Just good old fashioned, grass-roots marketing at the local level. I realize the Internet is global, but "darksoldier" nailed this months ago right on this very board. It is going to take re-establishing connections with our respective communities and putting a "face" on our product. I have seen how well my listeners have responded to programs where a human being is on the other end. The "diehard" listeners of this music desperately want that "connection" with station operators, syndicated hosts, and programmers. Just spinning good music is not enough. The only way we are going to be able to "educate" is through good old fashioned conversation at the local level.

 

[Nock]

To follow up on my original post, what I stream in my office is very visible or audible. I don't ever hear, "this music sucks, it's elevator or dentist office music." What I hear is "how can I get this on a regular basis and who is this?" I believe when C Jazz was at it's height, we were still missing a large part of the listening public that loves the music and did not know it existed. Being fortunate enough to currently (and it is in jeopardy) be on a strong signal has made me realize how many people just don't know where the music is. I am constantly bringing new listeners to the show. It is not as simple as just playing the music and they will come. Especially in this day and age when radio is dead and there are so many other alternatives.

Over and out

Nock

 

[majaman78]

To follow up on my original post, what I stream in my office is very visible or audible. I don't ever hear, "this music sucks, it's elevator or dentist office music." What I hear is "how can I get this on a regular basis and who is this?" I believe when C Jazz was at it's height, we were still missing a large part of the listening public that loves the music and did not know it existed. Being fortunate enough to currently (and it is in jeopardy) be on a strong signal has made me realize how many people just don't know where the music is. I am constantly bringing new listeners to the show. It is not as simple as just playing the music and they will come. Especially in this day and age when radio is dead and there are so many other alternatives.

Over and out

Nock

People have been so dumbed down by terrestrial radio's lack of ingenuity over the last 15 years or so (putting out the cheapest, worse sounding product strictly for the bottom line) most don't know this format even exists and what it should sound like.

If they listened to BA's horrible watered down version of the format, they would say it just sounds exactly like the rest of the riff-raff all over the dial.

At least back when BA totally buried smooth jazz WSJS-FM here in Jacksonville FL....most people who listened indicated to me personally that it sounded like an oldies/AC station when they flipped from Jones.

And I agreed.

EDIT: Nock good idea regarding this thread...we need at least a moderated subject here...I'm sick and tired of listening to some self righteous corporate cheerleader talking down to us about how they can do no wrong.

 

[AC Tones]

To follow up on my original post, what I stream in my office is very visible or audible. I don't ever hear, "this music sucks, it's elevator or dentist office music." What I hear is "how can I get this on a regular basis and who is this?" I believe when C Jazz was at it's height, we were still missing a large part of the listening public that loves the music and did not know it existed. Being fortunate enough to currently (and it is in jeopardy) be on a strong signal has made me realize how many people just don't know where the music is. I am constantly bringing new listeners to the show. It is not as simple as just playing the music and they will come. Especially in this day and age when radio is dead and there are so many other alternatives.

Over and out

Nock

No doubt. I was speaking specifically of the younger generation we need to cultivate. It wasn't particularly easy for me to get access to this music back in its heyday. Baltimore had NOTHING. All I had was a Sunday Jazz Brunch show on a Washington DC Soft Rock station, and the only way I knew about the show was because my older brother and parents would tune it in. Jazzy 100.3's signal was very weak, and WJZW did not launch until 1994. To be honest, the old WTMD (Towson University) was my best option when they were broadcasting their NAC format. Not until WSMJ came along in 2004 did Baltimore have a true Smooth Jazz station, and as majaman78 already noted, by that point, the format had long been degraded into a "mass appeal" product.