Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2008 > March > 25 > Entry
3/26: Whither smooth jazz?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In recent weeks, three major markets have dropped their smooth jazz stations for other formats: New York, Houston and Washington D.C. And a station in Jacksonville, Fla. dumped smooth jazz a few days ago, too.
Does this mean Atlanta’s Smooth Jazz 107.5 is in danger of checking out, too?
Naturally, the bosses there are saying it’s just fine. Wayne Brown, the GM, said there are no immediate plans to switch formats. (And even if he was, why would he tell me ahead of time?) Smooth Jazz at 107.5 has been around since 2001 and has done fairly well over the years, drawing an older, multi-racial, upscale audience.
But the numbers are worrisome. The station has seen its ratings fall off sharply the past 18 months with no real explanation why. Most of the falloff has been in time spent listening. The station ranked 13th among 25 to 54 years old last fall, down from 7th a year ago, according to Arbitron.
The station plays a mix of smooth jazz artists and R&B songs. Acts such as Kenny G, Chris Botti, David Sanborn and Fattburger blend with cuts from Hall & Oates, Stevie Wonder, Angie Stone, Sade and Earth, Wind & Fire. Many say smooth jazz is the “beautiful music” equivalent this decade, an innocuous backdrop for workplaces and waiting rooms. It takes songs with some jazzy elements but cuts out the more improvisional feel of the music heard more on WCLK-FM. The Washington Post recently wrote a more detailed piece on the format’s troubles here.
Do you like the current smooth jazz station at 107.5? Has the format played itself out? If Radio One chooses to drop the format, what’s worth replacing it? It’s a stronger signal than Grown Folks 102.5. Perhaps Radio One could put Steve Harvey on 107.5 and give Kiss’s Tom Joyner a run for his money with comparable signals. But then what would they put on 102.5, which does amazingly well for such a weak signal?
Comments
By sid
March 25, 2008 6:21 PM | Link to this
i like 107.5, but wish they would expand their playlist….why do they keep playing the SAME 62 songs OVER and OVER??…..there are THOUSANDS of great smooth jazz tunes our there…..give us some variety!
By faye
March 25, 2008 6:47 PM | Link to this
Amen, sid - that’s EXACTLY what I was going to say. I like the channel, but it overplays the same songs.
By ScreamTour
March 25, 2008 7:23 PM | Link to this
More Variety would be nice, I just expect more from a station that claims to cater to the mature crowd. It seems like they are following instead of leading…do they not have anymore records? Maybe they should get to Earwax (Now on Peters St) sooner than later!
By edge770
March 25, 2008 7:31 PM | Link to this
I tend to be more eclectic in all my radio choices, but 107.5 reeks. To me jazz can be anything from Dead Can Dance, Tangerine Dream, Django Reinhardt Chet Atkins Pat Metheny, Ella Fitzgerald or Grover Washington. The current jazz is for the overzealous politically correct crowd that offends everybody with porous musical content. XM radio has this beat and no it’s not a ad for XM, it is a view of the music and quality. Sometimes I wonder if 107.5 is owned by Cox because of their low ball playlist.
By David
March 25, 2008 8:43 PM | Link to this
I’d like some good old jazz, no R&B, but actual old jazz.
By Michael Campbell
March 25, 2008 8:56 PM | Link to this
Their ratings are dropping because people turn to that station and expect to hear… jazz.
By radiow0kd
March 25, 2008 9:24 PM | Link to this
As I live in Louisiana I’m out of WJZZ’s range. However, I am a regular XM radio listener and have noticed that over the past year I’ve stopped listening to Watercolors (XM’s smooth jazz station) for exactly the reason stated above…too narrow and predictable a playlist. Instead I opt for XM’s other two jazz stations (one more traditional, the other more avant-garde) and its High Standards station which plays Ella, Louis, Frank, Duke and the rest.
I’m thinking the problem is that Smooth Jazz is neither fish nor fowl and appeals to fewer and fewer each day.
By yogitheB
March 25, 2008 9:37 PM | Link to this
Amen to the rest of the folks above. It semms like every time I tune in they are playing the same songs!
By P
March 25, 2008 9:54 PM | Link to this
I’m from California and KBLX 102.9 was one of the best smooth jazz stations in the country. They play and excellent mix of old and new smooth jazz from Grover Washington and Spyro Gyra to Kenny G with the occasional Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny and Miles Davis thrown in for good measure. I listen to 107.5 a lot but find myself switching stations frequently because there is a lack of variety and it seems more vocal than jazz. I disagree with the less R&B statement because the only reason there is a “smooth jazz or quiet storm jazz genre is because of R&B. Let’s not lose this resourse because of a lack of programming knowledge.
By Elijah
March 25, 2008 10:14 PM | Link to this
They do seem to play the same things over and over more or less, plus they’ve injected too many of what I would call “pop” songs that barely can be called jazz. I’ve switched to WCLK 95 percent of the time now for going on 5 years. It’s mix of different jazz at different hours truly gives you the complete jazz experience. Plus those incessant commercials on 107.5 get to be a bit much after a while.
By Scott
March 25, 2008 10:19 PM | Link to this
This is the one station my whole family can agree on when driving in the car. Even my 22 month old can “sing” the call letters WJZZ when they go to commercial break. I do agree a little more variety could not hurt, however, I very much enjoy the format. I hope the trend does not hit Atlanta.
By posterchild
March 25, 2008 10:26 PM | Link to this
Please don’t take away my one oh seven point five double u j zeeeee zeeeeee… Seriously, I love that station, and I know as a 28-year old white woman, I’m probably not their key demographic. I guess Big Radio doesn’t want people in Atlanta to listen anymore, since the corporations are forever taking away stations.
By Radio Stations are terrible
March 25, 2008 10:31 PM | Link to this
Radio stations are horrible anyway. If you want variety, put an mp3 player in your car and load it up.
By lanette
March 25, 2008 10:38 PM | Link to this
i love that station………….it is great…
By lanette
March 25, 2008 10:40 PM | Link to this
i love that station………….it is great…
By Jim Ragan
March 25, 2008 10:43 PM | Link to this
I like the smooth jazz format, and I hope WJZZ does not go away either even though I do agree that less vocal music would help their cause. These days, however, much of my music listening is done over the internet, where I listen to great smooth jazz stations like KIFM San Diego (98.1), KTWV Los Angeles (94.7 The Wave) and on live365.com where I can select from many smooth jazz channels.
By Smooth Jazz Lover
March 25, 2008 11:42 PM | Link to this
I dislike the Smooth Jazz station because it plays too much R&B. I would prefer to hear more artists that play instrumentals than hearing love ballads. There are enough stations playing love ballads and not enough playing smooth jazz. The R&B artists are stealing valuable playing time from new artist or veterans of the genre. Keep it real and play smooth jazz. Better yet, let me come program your station. I can do better.
By Traci
March 26, 2008 2:37 AM | Link to this
So instead of calling Luther Vandross - Jazz.
Why don’t they just create a Smooth R&B station for Grown Folks —-
There definitely is a market for the 30-60 year olds.
Have they forgotten about us?
By Dave
March 26, 2008 4:25 AM | Link to this
They lost me as a listener after I memorized the play list and burned out on the same songs over and over. I expect they will play those same songs until the station changes format.
By kim
March 26, 2008 6:08 AM | Link to this
i am a smooth jazz listener, but the commercialism keeps the playlist limited…if i am listening local i’ll switch to 107.5, 102.5 and 104.1 depending on the time of day; however…i am an avid internet radio listener and use it as a soundtrak for my office and home where it streams all the time covering smooth jazz, neo-soul, some r & b (pre-90’s for the most part)…and some love songs formats.
mainstream doesn’t catch on until the majority of us have gone to other avenues of taking care of our pleasure principles.
By Jerry
March 26, 2008 6:30 AM | Link to this
I agree with several of the posters on here. In my opinion, the problem is 2 fold. They do infact play the same songs over and over, and they really need to expand their playlist to much more “real” smooth jazz as opposed to r&b vocals.
By EX-Navy
March 26, 2008 6:56 AM | Link to this
Limited play list on not. When the other morning stations are screaming and yelling and telling stupid jokes. It sure is nice to be able to switch to “Smooth” for a reality check.
By Jeff
March 26, 2008 7:18 AM | Link to this
Smooth Jazz format has all the zip of Muzak. Basically there is no such genre as “smooth jazz” which is part of the problem. The playlist would make Sybil Dorsett proud.
By Bob
March 26, 2008 7:42 AM | Link to this
We used to get better variety on the predecessor station WJZF. We got infinitely better and more varied Jazz When 94Q (The old WQXI 94.1) played “Jazz Flavors” with Russ Davis at night.
Formula Radio: Over researched play list. People who like this song, also like this….
The interesting/annoying thing about this format is that it is a misnomer. Old, smooth R&B or Soul usually isn’t jazz. A sax solo does not make a song jazz. I rarely listen to this station, because most of what it plays is not jazz.
By TG
March 26, 2008 8:23 AM | Link to this
The management at WJZZ should take heed to the comments on this blog. Drop the smooth jazz format, and just play jazz. The R & B selections that are part of the rotation are great to listen to, but aren’t those the songs that 102.5 and 104.1 are playing?
By jazzset
March 26, 2008 8:41 AM | Link to this
the problem with smooth jazz is evident. the top brass who are formatting it dont know the genre. simply put, what needs to be done is a complete overhaul of the playlist country wide. go back to the basics of what “contemporary music” use to be, meaning, scrap all of the luther vandross, vanessa williams, celine dion, anita baker, etc, we as an audience of jazz are more sophisticated than that. please dont water us down like house plants. incorporate what brought us listeners into contemporary music. start playing bassmen like marcus miller and stanley clarke (enough of gerald veasley with all due respect) but he is not the only bassplayer out there), keyboardest like rodney franklin and bob baldwin (enough brian culbertson already, its getting old), give us saxmen like ronnie laws, tom scott and john klemmer, flutist like bobbi humpri and alexander zongic, if you want vocalist go back to phyllis hyman, angela bofill, roberta flack and rachelle farrell. u must take it back to what made it what it is. smooth jazz has become to formulaic. the purpose of the station is to not just meet the bottom line but to enlighten the listener so that the listener can support the genre/artist, not beat them over the head with repetion and redundantcy. we are all well aware of dav koz and waymen tisdale at this point. you have driven that point home relentlessly. but when is the last time you pulled out stanley clarkes “school days, live at the greek, with najee on sax, billy cobham on drums, larry carlton on guitar and Deron Johnson on keys. when is the last time you heard joshua redmen cover the beatles “elenor rigby”. when is the last time you heard michelle ndegeocello on vocals team up with marcus miller on bass on “i’ll rush over”. im not saying that the newer artist need to be eliminated from the scene. what i am saying is u must infuse both, equally. dont try to commit an hour of the day to do this. infuse it completely, dont sell the listener short on what this genre is about. this music that i speak of will have the listener tapping her foot just a fast any everette harp record that you play, with all due respect to everette. lastly, in order for this genre to survive you must take it back to basics, not necessarally as far back as coltrane and monk because some listeners may not be ready for that (but i could be wrong) but at least take it back to what brought us into the so-called smooth jazz groove to begin with, and that dates back to a lot of the artist that i mentioned. like a great football, basketball or baseball team, smooth jazz…you must get back to basics. you have lost your way and obviously a lot of you audience. come back home.
By Jay
March 26, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this
I used to listen to 107.5 alot, until I got tired of all of the commercials and the repetitive songs. Another complaint is that there is far too much R&B, and not enough jazz. There are plenty of other stations that play R&B, and only one that supposedly plays smooth jazz. WJZZ is actually what I would call “Easy Listening R&B”, not a smooth jazz station.
By Saxman
March 26, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this
WIth all these other long-time “smooth jazz” stations biting the dust recently, the execs at WJZZ should be taking heed. When the ladies working at my dentist’s office tell me THEY are bored by the “same old songs”, well, things have gone seriously astray! It’s not like the station needs to do a whole lot, just revamp the repertoire! If anything, there is an over-abundance of great contemporary jazz out there. Plus, there is a great catalog of extremely high quality, & yes, quite “accessible” jazz with vocals, whether Flora Purim, or Leon Thomas, or Lonnie Liston Smith (why he gets no play, as one of THE “founding fathers” of this style of music, who knows), etc.. Also, as Jazzset mentioned above, there are numerous great artists, from Klemmer to Herbie Mann, to Ronnie Laws, to Gil Scott Heron, that would fit the “flow” and would provide a huge boost in quality, AND listenership! There are lots of potential & past listeners out there, who would flock to the station, if only…..
By Saxman
March 26, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this
WIth all these other long-time “smooth jazz” stations biting the dust recently, the execs at WJZZ should be taking heed. When the ladies working at my dentist’s office tell me THEY are bored by the “same old songs”, well, things have gone seriously astray! It’s not like the station needs to do a whole lot, just revamp the repertoire! If anything, there is an over-abundance of great contemporary jazz out there. Plus, there is a great catalog of extremely high quality, & yes, quite “accessible” jazz with vocals, whether Flora Purim, or Leon Thomas, or Lonnie Liston Smith (why he gets no play, as one of THE “founding fathers” of this style of music, who knows), etc.. Also, as Jazzset mentioned above, there are numerous great artists, from Klemmer to Herbie Mann, to Ronnie Laws, to Gil Scott Heron, that would fit the “flow” and would provide a huge boost in quality, AND listenership! There are lots of potential & past listeners out there, who would flock to the station, if only…..
By Tkenner
March 26, 2008 9:17 PM | Link to this
Has anyone ever heard of the music of Andreas Volenweider’s “Down To The Moon”? Great music. It would sound so great on the “jazzy” stations.
By E Floyd
March 26, 2008 11:06 PM | Link to this
I live in the Macon area and I cannot get Smooth Jazz 107.5 as we have a 107.5 in Dublin that plays classic rock. Whenever I drive north on 75 I actually look forward to picking up 107.5. Yes, they can do better, but this station is suffering from corporate programing and corporate bottom line. Radio One is nothing but a black version of Clear Channel.
I used to enjoy the Smooth Jazz format and it was tried in this area and failed twice. First it was on 107.1 and when Mike Roberts purchased the station he turned it into a hip-hop station and it has remained steady with that for a decade. Then Clear Channel offered Smooth Jazz on its 102.5 in Warner Robins/Macon. It was repetitive voice-tracked CRAP.
Other than satalite radio (of which I happily subscribe to) the only real decent jazz programing most of us get is the few hours a week provided by GPB radio stations around the state.
What would be great is if a true music oriented and knowledgeable person could start up a radio station with a strong signal completely devoid of corporate influence.
By Bud
March 27, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this
Wither smooth jazz!
By Joey Mills
March 27, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
Radio One should flip the format to free-form alternative.
By Brian
March 27, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this
We got infinitely better and more varied Jazz When 94Q (The old WQXI 94.1) played “Jazz Flavors” with Russ Davis at night. Block programming doesn’t work on commercial radio. “Jazz Flavors” played a huge role in the death of 94Q and nearly capsized Star 94 before management finally got some sense and dropped it.
Radio One should flip the format to free-form alternative. Non-commercial music doesn’t work on commercial radio. Ask 99X. Oh, you can’t. Sorry. Pull out your CDs and listen to that crap all you want.
By Greg
March 27, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this
I love 107.5. A little more variety would be great, but I hope they don’t stop playing Steely dan. Commodores, Sade and the like. That’s part of what i like about it.
By Nothing
March 27, 2008 3:22 PM | Link to this
Hopefully someone who makes the decisions at WJZZ is reading this blog. The responders here have told you exactly what is wrong with the station - NO VARIETY. Someone in their 20’s who happens to listen to your station would think Herb Alpert recorded exactly one song - “Rise” and that Steely Dan recorded exactly one song - “Hey Nineteen”. Good grief, there are thousands of songs out there. Play something different! If I hear one Bony James again I’m gonna barf!
By Nothing
March 27, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this
Hopefully someone who makes the decisions at WJZZ is reading this blog. The responders here have told you exactly what is wrong with the station - NO VARIETY. Someone in their 20’s who happens to listen to your station would think Herb Alpert recorded exactly one song - “Rise” and that Steely Dan recorded exactly one song - “Hey Nineteen”. Good grief, there are thousands of songs out there. Play something different! If I hear one Bony James again I’m gonna barf!
By TPM
March 27, 2008 9:43 PM | Link to this
I enjoy listening to 107.5 but I do not consider them a jazz station. Jazz stations do not play the Eagles and Steely Dan.
By Alexandria Williams
March 27, 2008 11:16 PM | Link to this
WJZZ is cool but they just don’t get it. Jazz is interesting, improvisational, involving, not predicatable and “soft R&B”, which is the format that WJZZ plays.
But there is a breath of fresh air in Atlanta because there are a couple of stations that I invite you to listen to who do “get it.” One is WCLK. The morning show with Morris Baxter is as they say, “the sounds of the city.” No watered-down jazz here, only the real deal.
The other and the newest radio station to Atlanta is SmoothAtlanta.com. They truly got it with their variety of music, all in one format - jazz. And the best thing is that I’ve noticed that I hear musicians on SmoothAtlanta that I can hear when I am out on the town. The other day I heard Joey Sommerville, who does a show at Sambuca’s on Thursday night for incidentially WJZZ. Now how is it that I can hear him on Smoothatlanta.com but he is doing the Thursday night event for WJZZ but I never hear him on their station?
For those of you who seek “jazz” music, you need to change your listening choice from WJZZ to www.smoothatlanta.com or WCLK.
By Nick Wright
March 28, 2008 4:00 AM | Link to this
Like Oldies and Alternative, it needs to widen the playlist, but it definitely has a market and I see no reason for the station to dissipate.
By Sheila
March 28, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this
I agree with all the other comments regarding WJZZ. I listen to them mostly on Saturday and Sunday evenings. That way I don’t get to burnt out on the playlist. I really wish stations would go back to the “request line.” Back in the day you would be able to call your station and request the song YOU want to hear. It may not be that one song they play on the record over and over but another that is just as good or even better.
By Saxman
March 28, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this
Brian, what did you mean by this: “Block programming doesn’t work on commercial radio. “Jazz Flavors” played a huge role in the death of 94Q and nearly capsized Star 94 before management finally got some sense and dropped it.” Why was something as high quality & successful, so disastrous to the station? I wish you’d explain how this is so? Thanks….
By Brian
March 28, 2008 9:28 PM | Link to this
What I meant was that when 94Q was the dominant music station in town, they had “Jazz Flavors” as a once-a-week boutique show on Sunday nights, and they could get away with it, much in the same way that CHRs get away with playing jacked-up club mixes on Saturday nights.
Expanding “JF” to 6 nights a week was a disaster. Short-term it billed well, but the long-term damage was that they sent thousands of listeners looking elsewhere when the format changed at 9pm every night. 94Q lost what all stations need, which is a consistent sound.
By the time 94Q became Star 94, it was the lowest-rated FM station in town. More than ever, the station needed to be consistent, but instead they did the same thing all over again and stuck jazz on 7 nights a week. Only this time there wasn’t an audience to run off.
Ratings will show that two things lifted Star 94 out of the dumper: Hiring Steve McCoy and dumping “Jazz Flavors.”
By Bob
March 30, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this
@Brian
Jazz Flavors didn’t kill 94Q. The then new PD from Texas, who wanted “10 in a row” with nothing but bubble gum and dance-tracks killed the station. This combined with a severe decline in the release of trans-demographic “popular” music beginning in 1987, did it in.
Until then, 94Q played an incredible variety of “popular” music. It wasn’t an over -researched play list focusing on a particular demographic. Nor was it afraid to throw an oldie in every now & then.
By SuziQ
March 31, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this
I love the format just as it is. It is comforting music and makes for good listening in the office. I would miss it terribly. But, I also listen to country and talk radio so I am all over the dial. There is no one exclusive station I listens to but I enjoy Cool Jazz immensely and wish everyone would stop messing with Atlanta radio! Get the corporate goons who live elsewhere out of our lives.
By Bobby
April 6, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this
I think the Smooth Jazz format is very much needed in Atlanta. It is great to have this format as a choice on the radio dial. I would like to see the playlist be expanded to play a mixture of old and new school jazz. I can do without hearing Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire in a smooth jazz format.
By aftermidnight
April 7, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this
I used to be a smooth jazz artist, I had a few top songs and eventually left the format for more creative ground. The problems with SJ started about 12 years ago with the formation of “Broadcast Architecture”. A Smooth Jazz consulting company that does music testing and “recommended” play lists among other things for stations. Those that signed up became more profitable and in a very short time BA controlled the play lists of Smooth Jazz Radio and Records. They basically are responsible for turning the format into it’s present day MUZAK or Prozac happy jazz sound alike drivel.
So this is what happened, BA came up with a formula of what the SJ play list should be, they cut down the amount of new music that would be added to a play list only giving it maybe a few new songs a month and the rest is vocals and older more recognizable material. When BA started recommending covers instead of original material by artists, well that became the push from the record labels to get something, anything played and every new SJ release had to have a few covers on it there after, at least if you wanted the possibility of getting any airplay at all. Artists have become frustrated and forced to play “Mary Had A Little Lamb” simple melodies just to try to get airplay. That was when I got out. I just couldn’t do it. The artists stop being inspired and deligated to imitating instead of creating for those few instrumental openings in the play list. Listeners stopped buying the music,(because it all started sounding the same) sales followed and if labels and artists can’t survive creating and selling Smooth Jazz music then it’s just a matter of time before the pipeline gets shut down. So that’s at least a part of the puzzle, I’m sure there’s more.
By Jazz Man
April 7, 2008 9:07 PM | Link to this
Maybe WJZZ should try to emulate Chicago’s WNUA!!! WNUA consistently ranks amongst Chicago’s top 5 radio stations.
By SmoothJazzDaddy
April 7, 2008 9:51 PM | Link to this
Being a radio executive in another market who had the opportunity to program Smooth Jazz in the early years. I do have to say that Smooth Jazz is a viable format for those between 35 and 64. What’s killing the format are 2 things. 1. Way too many pop vocals (I understand the rationale behind playing pop vocals is to make the format accessible But a little goes a long way) and 2. Not going deeper into an album. Music testing is fine, but you cannot totally use music testing alone. What ever happend to using your gut? A strong PD knows his/her market and can program to the needs of the market. The BA Smooth Jazz network is boring as hell, sounds canned and totally lifeless. Jones on the other hand has a fantastic Smooth Jazz format on the bird that digs deeper into the albums and plays interesting vocals as well.
Station owners need to think outside the box and realize that a well programmed, well marketed Smooth Jazz station will generate tons of cash if owners make a commitment to give it the resources it deserves.
What boggles me is major operators like CBS dumped 107.5 The Oasis In Dallas almost 2 years ago for the flavor-of-the-month format “Movin”. Well boys and girls Movin ain’t exactly movin.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be the ONLY Smooth Jazz station on the dial, than be the 3rd country, 4th AC or 3rd Hip/Hop station.
By aftermidnight
April 8, 2008 4:50 AM | Link to this
I agree SmoothJazzDaddy cut back on the pop vocals way back, If I hear Smooth Operator one more time I’m going to loose it!!! Going deeper into albums like the old days would be a real breath of fresh air and putting back some variety like some of the Brazilian stuff that used to be part of the format and other artists that are not all about the slick production that has become part of the lifeless-ness. BA’s influence over SJ needs to go away completely but they will ride SJ right to it’s last breath and drop of blood before they look for a new ride.