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Will Smooth Jazz Return to NYC?

H

Howard Dean

While CD 101.9 wasn't a ratings superpower house they did a whole lot better then XRP is doing. It seemed like the station at leaste had listeners.

Would CBS take 92-3 Smooth jazz? They could sell it with 102.7.
 
Smooth Jazz gets numbers, but they're older numbers. The demos are too tough to sell. I wouldn't hold my breath for a new smooth jazz signal in New York.
 
to quote my most-often used phrase on this Board....stranger things have happened in NYC radio over the last 18 months - i wouldn't rule out anything anymore....but here again, if the smooth jazz format is gonna be brought back on any station, it's gotta be done with mega-publicity and mega-bucks - so who knows??

Andrea
 
Howard Dean said:
While CD 101.9 wasn't a ratings superpower house they did a whole lot better then XRP is doing. It seemed like the station at leaste had listeners.

Would CBS take 92-3 Smooth jazz? They could sell it with 102.7.
Click to expand...

There is a slight chance that would happen, but it's doubtful. The reason is doubtful is because the smooth jazz format was showing no growth, old demos, and very low revenue in New York, and that on an established station with 20 years on the air.

It's a logical fallacy to say that smooth jazz was a successful format in the end because the format that replaced it is obviously not successful. Just because RXP has failed so far doesn't make what came before it a winner.

to quote my most-often used phrase on this Board....stranger things have happened in NYC radio over the last 18 months - i wouldn't rule out anything anymore....but here again, if the smooth jazz format is gonna be brought back on any station, it's gotta be done with mega-publicity and mega-bucks - so who knows??
Click to expand...

Indeed, stranger things have happened. However, I don't see anyone investing mega bucks and mega publicity into a format like smooth jazz when there's 20 years of track record to prove what the format can do in this city. And not with the economy and the radio industry the way it is. Besides, specifically for CBS Radio, I don't see them wanting to compete directly with their own stations in CBS-FM and Fresh, as a smooth jazz station would probably eat away at both stations' audiences.
 
With the numbers

To say the least. CD 101.9's lowest was a 2.6. It doesnt matter the demography, the station still pulls in the numbers.

Demography are too deceiving nowadays and that's what hurts stations the most.

If Emmis were to flip 101.9RXP back to CD 101.9, the number may come back. But CD 101.9 needs a fresher playlist to get back into the game.

From one man's opinion.
 
I bet smooth jazz works in los angeles because of all the actors and models going to there castings and auditions and something to chill to in there cars in new york city the actors and models listen to there ipods on the subway on the way to there castings and auditions.
 
Re: With the numbers

BJ Steigner said:
To say the least. CD 101.9's lowest was a 2.6. It doesnt matter the demography, the station still pulls in the numbers.
Click to expand...

When it went away, the format was 15th in 25-54 numbers

Demography are too deceiving nowadays and that's what hurts stations the most.
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Demographics is very simple. If a station does not have a sizable 25-54 or 18-49 or 18-34 audience, they will generate little int he way of sales. WQCD was falling in the sales demos, and increasing in the nearly unsalable 55+ audience range.
 
Exactly. The station was not being heard "where it counts" (rightly or wrongly). I was always amazed at the lack of exposure CD101.9 seemed to have, for an "office-friendly" station. I never really recall hearing it in any offices or businesses...exposure which would have helped it with the money demos and in the ratings.
 
andreajesus said:
... if the smooth jazz format is gonna be brought back on any station, it's gotta be done with mega-publicity and mega-bucks ...
Click to expand...

If the smooth jazz format is gonna be brought back on any station, it's going to be on a frequency to the left of 92.1 FM.
 
I wouldnt hold my breath there too much ,smooth jazz is the now elevator music station and people nowadays really dont tune to fm for that anymore.If you want numbers its hip hop and hits.I cant beleive fresh is still around honestly.I was in supercuts the other day,that station is so bad I walked out,i couldnt take it.
 
Exactly. The station was not being heard "where it counts" (rightly or wrongly).
Click to expand...

For years, if the taxicab in which you were riding were not playing something in an exotic language, or 1010 WINS, it was playing Smooth Jazz.

Had Emmis waited for the PPM to be real instead of theoretical, a theoretical solution to a theoretical Radio future would not have seemed like such a trendy, sexy option.

Remember: those trendy, sexy theoreticals are what buzz around boardrooms (along with the gossip about interoffice romances and the new Beemer that Chip just bought). Every Suit on the make wants to be the one to have Done Something Big. So periodically, they Do Something Big. Something. Anything, actually.

(How's that generally working out, for all these Radio groups, these days, hm?)
 
magicjellybeans said:
I cant beleive fresh is still around honestly.I was in supercuts the other day,that station is so bad I walked out,i couldnt take it.
Click to expand...

So in your case, you went to "SuperCutAndRun"! :D
 
Classic Puker said:
Had Emmis waited for the PPM to be real instead of theoretical, a theoretical solution to a theoretical Radio future would not have seemed like such a trendy, sexy option.
Click to expand...

They had PPM pre-currency data going back to summer of '07.
 
They had PPM pre-currency data going back to summer of '07.
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Which, I presume, didn't also tell them that they'd be in the Thomas C., worse than when they were doing tha Smoov Jass, if they ever ditched the format and went to Whatever That Is They're Doing Now... ???

Yeah, that would be the basic problem with "research", wouldn't it? It never tells you what it all means. It expects you , the Suit with the right to have his or her finger on the button, to have the rudimentary smarts to do the right thing... or at least, not to botch it all and make a terminal mess of your company.
 
Classic Puker said:
Exactly. The station was not being heard "where it counts" (rightly or wrongly).
Click to expand...

For years, if the taxicab in which you were riding were not playing something in an exotic language, or 1010 WINS, it was playing Smooth Jazz.

Had Emmis waited for the PPM to be real instead of theoretical, a theoretical solution to a theoretical Radio future would not have seemed like such a trendy, sexy option.

Remember: those trendy, sexy theoreticals are what buzz around boardrooms (along with the gossip about interoffice romances and the new Beemer that Chip just bought). Every Suit on the make wants to be the one to have Done Something Big. So periodically, they Do Something Big. Something. Anything, actually.

(How's that generally working out, for all these Radio groups, these days, hm?)
Click to expand...

Most taxicabs I've been in going back to the 90s had 1010 WINS or Lite FM playing. I can't say I remember hearing CD 101.9. It really wasn't a very visible station.

And again, while RXP may be a failure, it doesn't mean that the decision to ditch smooth jazz was the wrong one. The decision that came after it was the incorrect one.
 
Which makes me think...

is the station, or the format at large, marketing itself incorrectly?

Clearly there is a core of people who want relaxing, laid-back music at least some of the time.

It marketed itself as smooth jazz, but should it have marketed itself as more of a competitor to WLTW?
 
I think it should have. I think the "smooth jazz" phrase implies something that is not quite as mainstream or familiar as what one would hear on Lite FM or CBS-FM or Fresh or other office-friendly stations. Especially when what CD101.9 (and most smooth jazz stations) played really has nothing to do with jazz. Not when you would regularly hear the likes of Phil Collins or "Green Onions" on the station.

It may have been a good idea for them to keep the air staff and rebrand themselves as a "light" competitor to Lite and Fresh. The *only* problem is that they would risk the demos staying high, however, if they managed to get played in enough offices, they would likely show up in the younger demo brackets as well, especially with the PPM encoding whatever is heard now instead of relying on recall (and, quite often, personal preference).
 
Howard Dean said:
While CD 101.9 wasn't a ratings superpower house they did a whole lot better then XRP is doing. It seemed like the station at leaste had listeners.

Would CBS take 92-3 Smooth jazz? They could sell it with 102.7.
Click to expand...

There is Jazz on the radio. It's called Jazz 88.3. It's from Newark. Big deal. get over the new York arrogance.
 
Ciao said:
There is Jazz on the radio. It's called Jazz 88.3. It's from Newark. Big deal. get over the new York arrogance.
Click to expand...

Most jazz aficionados would not consider "smooth jazz" to be anything remotely near pure jazz. And I really doubt that the smooth jazz listeners want to hear Coltrane and Monk. In fact, stations are starting to call themselves "smooth AC" to make a better distinction in the industry.
 
At what point do we stop blaming the age of the audience?

There might be some validity to that theory.

But does anyone consider the fact that at some point the music being played is the MOST IMPORTANT reason why a station succeeds or fails?

If smooth jazz radio had a playlist like internet smooth jazz radio, that certainly would help in the ratings--- at least a little bit!

When you have to endure the same songs over and over.... well it's just my opinion!
 
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