If You Were to Bring Smooth Jazz Back to the ATL, How Would You Program It?

I am not a program director. I don't even work in AM/FM radio. I'm just an Average Joe listener. I'm aware of the format flips that have been happening across the country. Atlanta became a victim over a year ago. If you were to bring Smooth Jazz back to Atlanta, how would you program it? I'm asking because since Clear Channel is trying to make this "Groove" thing work out? They may want to flip 105.7 WWVA north of the city from Rhythmic AC to Smooth Jazz and keep the Groove name. As for 96.7 south of the city, they could either come up with another name and keep the Rhythmic AC, or come up with another format to flip it to. Another contender to potentially bring Smooth Jazz back to Atlanta could be Cox Radio concerning 97.1 the River. If Classic Hits is really getting beat out by Oldies over at True Oldies 106.7 (of course, it has been talked about on this board that the River may be seeing its potential death before the year is over), Cox could keep the River name and flip 97.1 from Classic Hits to Smooth Jazz. Either company it would be doable. On the plus side of Smooth Jazz (in case anyone didn't know), Dave Koz is slated to make a stop in Atlanta during this upcoming Christmas season as part of the Dave Koz & Friends Christmas tour. If they get a very good turnout, Cox or Clear Channel could go through with a flip possibly in January 2011. It's been talked about on both the Phoenix and Smooth Jazz boards that KYOT in Phoenix could become the next victim of the format flips from Smooth Jazz to another format. I have confidence that they will make a comeback. The problem is that too many listeners are refusing to accept that what the rotations are playing at the Smooth Jazz stations that still exist are simply the new Smooth Jazz. This is especially true in Southern California. For any listeners that are either Southern Cally residents or you may live outside of the area like I do since I live here in the Atlanta market, if anyone is bashing 94.7 the WAVE KTWV-FM in Los Angeles, my advice to them would be to please stop bashing the WAVE. I also have confidence that they like KYOT will make a comeback. The WJZA call letters could be used since Columbus, OH's Smooth Jazz station no longer exists anymore. Other call letter ideas could be either WASJ (since Panama City Beach's Smooth Jazz also no longer exists), WGJZ, WGSJ, WJZG, or WSJG. Clear Channel & Cox Radio, if anyone of your officials read these Radio-Info forums, here's how I would program a Smooth Jazz radio station:

• If possible, I would program it with mostly local DJs (morning, midday, afternoon, evening, & overnight). If I can't get someone to do overnights or any daypart at all, I would rely on BA (Broadcast Architecture) Smooth Jazz Network through the various syndicated personalities. That is what the Smooth Jazz Network is there for. This is for during the week.
• On the weekends, I would mix in local DJs if possible along with syndicated radio shows. Here's in depth detail of exactly how I would do it:

Friday Nights

• 7PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Chill with Mindi Abair (All 5 hours)
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-5AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

Saturdays

• 5AM-6AM Either Paid Programming or Public Affairs programming
• 6AM-8AM Either local DJ or Smooth Weekend with Allen Kepler
• 8AM-10AM The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler
• 10AM-12PM (12 Noon) The Dave Koz Radio Show
• 12PM (12 Noon)-2PM Either local DJ or Kenny G from BA Smooth Jazz Network
• 2PM-5PM Either local DJ or Norman Brown
• 5PM-10PM JazzTrax with Art Good
• 10PM-12AM (12 Midnight) The Sounds of Brazil with Scott Adams (if he would be willing to syndicate his show again)
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

Sundays

• 6AM-9AM Either local DJ to do Gospel Jazz or Gospel Jazz would be automated
• 9AM-10AM The Jazzspel with Eric J. Chambers of KIFM in San Diego (if he would get his syndicate license, it would work) (without the Jazzspel, Gospel Jazz with local DJ or automated would play for an extra hour until 10AM)
• 10AM-2PM The Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch with either local DJ or Kenny G
• 2PM-4PM Either local DJ or Norman Brown
• 4PM-7PM The Harmonic Lounge with Bill Harman
• 7PM-9PM Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis
• 9PM-12AM (12 Midnight) QuietMusic with Nick Francis (if he would be willing to syndicate his show again)
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

(all times Eastern)

For anyone else who wants to post their programming ideas in this thread, you are welcome to do so. The more ideas, the more chances Clear Channel, Cox Radio, or maybe an up & coming broadcasting company may take it into consideration. Thank you.

The glib, smartaleck answer is that I would program it on an HD-2 signal.

Seriously, Smooth Jazz has been doing poorly under PPM--and at least in ATL, it wasn't doing that great before. I'm not sure if other "environmental" formats, such as soft AC, share this problem.

Interestingly, Watercolors (Smooth Jazz) and Escape (Beautiful Music) do relatively well on satellite. Maybe businesses would rather pay for Muzak or biz-rate satellite with the included licensing (and no commercials) than turning on a radio and cutting checks to ASCAP and hearing Tom Shane 4 times an hour.

Putting smooth jazz back on a 100k station will not happen, period.

I'm with you, AM. Atlanta needs some station to give us die-hard smooth jazz fans an outlet to hear new smooth jazz artists and music to just enjoy the instrumental music. It upset me when ATL lose WJZZ. And I too am looking for a way a cater to those fans. I hear you, Jabba, but you can't cut off that demographic that listens smooth jazz, like Nick Colionne, Dave Koz, Boney James, etc. like the ATL did. You can't really measure that with numbers like PPM and other ratings companies do. WE, IN THE ATL, HAVE NOTHING unless you have XM radio. No way of knowing who is in town(SJ artists) and where. Sure we have a college station on FM, but they play jazz so old, it's difficult to understand(Miles Davis) or enjoy.

I made a comment similiar to this on the smooth jazz page. I guess we will have to start small, like a new Smooth Jazz venue, where people can come and sit back and just enjoy the music

GMan4341 said:

WE, IN THE ATL, HAVE NOTHING unless you have XM radio. No way of knowing who is in town(SJ artists) and where. Sure we have a college station on FM, but they play jazz so old, it's difficult to understand(Miles Davis) or enjoy.

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I didn't realize that all of the various Atalanta magazines suddenly stopped being published all at once. I guess that includes "Creative Loafing" as well.

GMan4341 said:

I'm with you, AM. Atlanta needs some station to give us die-hard smooth jazz fans an outlet to hear new smooth jazz artists and music to just enjoy the instrumental music. It upset me when ATL lose WJZZ.

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I know there a format “purist” out there who will jump all over this but, personally the old 107.5 was a good alternative to 98.5. I did not like that they seemed to play jingles between every song but the music was a good fresh break from 98.5. If I had been running WJZZ, I would have tried to position myself as an alternative to 98.5 especially after the demise of “Peach / Lite.” I would not have ever said “Smooth Jazz” on the air, just “Smooth 107.5”. The Smooth Jazz folks would have their music; meanwhile I would be gaining unsuspecting 98.5 AC listeners. IMHO Smooth Jazz should really do well in the female money demos if done correctly.

AMFMRadFan said:

If you were to bring Smooth Jazz back to Atlanta, how would you program it?

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Step one: Buy a good smartphone with service.

Step two: Find apps for ihearradio, Live365, and/or Shoutcast.

Step three: Keep the bill paid and the phone charged.

HD2 or XM or fed in on your smartphone. That's how smooth jazz is coming back to Atlanta.

Smartphone fed into my car stereo via Bluetooth sounds better than FM and better than XM's compression artifacts.

This town is fairly balkanized into defined genres. People listen to what's on the air now, or they listen to something else (see above). There isn't a mass of people clamoring for smooth jazz on a regular FM signal. A mass audience is what it takes to make broadcast work. Narrowcasting is the answer for those who want smooth jazz or Indian or Chinese or whatever.

first off, 'heard it through the grapevine' by marvin gaye and 'where do broken hearts go' by whitney houston would NOT be on my playlist - that's for sure

but the long answer is i would bring it back - and put it on a throw-away freq like maybe 102.9

sell it as part of a package deal w other stations in my cluster

no local djs, why bother. i believe the smooth jazz format is actually one of the few formats that sound good without live, local DJs

i know it failed eventually and turned into the very successful kiss 104.1, but i really did like the old love 104.7 love songs and a touch of jazz. maybe a format of that type, like maybe a light rock that aimed towards females could play 1 or 2 smooth jazz songs per hour and go at it like that

that is all

Instead I would program it with Hot Urban AC since that is the biggest hole in the market. Most people from Phoenix would be more comfortable moving here if we offered that format.

I have to agree with one post. Smooth Jazz could follow the plan of the no-defunct beautiful music stations. An unannounced format. Perhaps a minute of news each hour in Morning Drive, traffic reports as needed and the weather (today & maybe tonight) about every 30 minutes in morning drive.

Musically, drop the pop and center on instrumental and smooth jazz artists. Season with a smooth jazz cover to be familiar. Don't make it a black or white format (lots of stations would almost always only play black artists for vocals). This might sound like I'm talking out both sides of my mouth, but beautiful music stations were instrumental with perhaps 1 vocal every quarter hour.

I see Smooth Jazz as pulling in listeners from other formats and fairly varied musical tastes, so middle of the road sounds good to me.

Lengthen the playlist. Why try to sound like a top 40? Why not a "listen all through your workday and never hear the same song twice by the same artist..our 9 to 5 guarantee".

We all agree Smooth Jazz targets an older demo and higher incomes, so target your sales on more high end businesses. When KBCT in Waco, Texas was smooth jazz, they had some clients that stepped up to the plate to sponsor hours of music a couple of times a day during at work hours. You got 3 ten to fifteen second spots in that hour and everything else was music. It was great for the workplace.

I'd lay off the syndicated programming or go very limited on the programs.

Just my opinion here.

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "smooth jazz" all about the performance, not the song? Aren't smooth jazz artists best known for their personal interpretations of song, especially standards? Since that's the case, shouldn't the focus be on the artists, not the songs, and on the fact that jazz isn't a genre defined by "hits" and tight playlists. When you go to a jazz club, it's to hear how the band improvises around different songs, not to hear them play a medley of their hits. So why would anyone who wanted to reach fans of smooth jazz have any sort of tight playlist or even worry about hits.

This should be a format where the DJ is king. The DJ should be a jazz fan, knowledgeable about the genre, radio savvy enough to keep it interesting to the borderline fans, but enough of a jazz freak to be able to put together a solid show by picking which cuts to play himself.

I am not so sure the smooth jazz listener is also a jazz listener. I've heard it said that smooth jazz listeners are 'wanna be' jazz fans.

The only fear I'd have of a freeform DJ driven format is not finding the air talent that thinks enough alike to give the station a consistent sound. I'm not talking generic but I don't want one guy that centers on latin-tinged selections and then the next jock takes it another direction. I know a station that has a requirement of so many tracks per hour from various categories but it is up to the DJ to arrange the tracks to create the sound he wants.

Smooth Jazz stations were/are very "Top 40" sounding with the 'currents' in a fairly tight rotation. It seems big playlists are not found in Smooth Jazz.

Let's rethink "Hit". I think of a hit as a current release known by the majority of the listeners. Hit seems to have a tenny bopper/bubble gum (to use old terms) impression, but my use is simply as a current release the listeners know and recognize in just the same way I'd consider "Take 5" by Dave Brubeck as a base library oldie in Jazz.

bturner said:

I am not so sure the smooth jazz listener is also a jazz listener. I've heard it said that smooth jazz listeners are 'wanna be' jazz fans.

The only fear I'd have of a freeform DJ driven format is not finding the air talent that thinks enough alike to give the station a consistent sound. I'm not talking generic but I don't want one guy that centers on latin-tinged selections and then the next jock takes it another direction. I know a station that has a requirement of so many tracks per hour from various categories but it is up to the DJ to arrange the tracks to create the sound he wants.

Smooth Jazz stations were/are very "Top 40" sounding with the 'currents' in a fairly tight rotation. It seems big playlists are not found in Smooth Jazz.

Let's rethink "Hit". I think of a hit as a current release known by the majority of the listeners. Hit seems to have a tenny bopper/bubble gum (to use old terms) impression, but my use is simply as a current release the listeners know and recognize in just the same way I'd consider "Take 5" by Dave Brubeck as a base library oldie in Jazz.

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I have to confess that though I am somewhat knowledgeable about jazz, smooth and otherwise, as a musical genre, I recognize that radio formats named after musical genres seldom have much to do with the music.

I don't know that there even are that many new smooth jazz songs out there that could be known as "hits". I am not a smooth jazz fan, but based on observing my friends who are, their idea of a new "hit" is a new CD collection, and they listen to each and every cut. Their idea of a great TV appearance by a smooth jazz artist would be for someone like Michael Buble to appear on a show and sing a cover song that wasn't on any of his CD's. When they go to a concert, they're more excited about what interesting new songs are going to be "interpreted" than hearing re-hashed "hits".

But then, that's about smooth jazz, the musical genre. I don't know how that translates to smooth jazz, the radio format.

There's a reason why Smooth Jazz is disappearing from terrestrial radio, and it's because with PPM it's no longer commercially viable SJ doesn't get the cume that a successful station needs. Smooth Jazz was also age-ing out of the 25-54 demo.

So, smooth jazz fans end up like bluegrass fans, like fans of renaissance music, like fans of christian trash metal. They find new technological solutions to their dilemma, or they quit paying attention to that music.

Radio and Records, before it shut its doors, had a Smooth Jazz Chart and I'd suspect Gavin has one too. Radio Info has a chart of Smooth Jazz hits. http://www.radio-info.com/charts-and-formats

These are the 'currents' or 'hits' I'm speaking of.

I'm liking some of the responses so far. For those of you that want Smooth Jazz buried or you're undecided, you're not helping. I did some research on Beautiful Music/Easy Listening through listening online to Easy 105.9-100.7 FM WEZV-WGTN along the Grand Strand of the South Carolina coastline in N Myrtle Beach, Andrews, & Georgetown only to find that they do mix in some Smooth Jazz. I had heard Etta James' "At Last". I didn't stick around after that, but the songs I was hearing prior to Etta James' "At Last" were indeed smooth. There was a Contemporary Jazz song by Diana Krall mixed in. WEZV-WGTN is the only BM/EZ station that I like. Do I think BM/EZ may at any time make a comeback in Atlanta? Most likely, no. The Atlanta radio market just isn't the market it was back in the '70s & '80s. Plus, even though BM/EZ did contribute to the existence of Smooth Jazz, BM/EZ is too old school yet there are 37 of them that still exist in the U.S. How do they manage to continue to exist all this time? It's that format that should be dying, not Smooth Jazz. Of course, there are about 32 Smooth Jazz stations that still exist in the world. There may be a 33rd station somewhere in Australia. I don't know for sure. For any of you who know 94.9 The Bull's history, it was in 1977 that they flipped from being a Christian station to BM/EZ, and they changed the call letters from WAVQ to WPCH. They kept BM/EZ until 1983. 1983 was the year that they flipped to AC, and adopted the name FM95 WPCH. It wouldn't be until 1991 that they would change their name to the heritage name Peach 94.9. Jazz Flavors 104.1 FM WJZF signed on the air in '94. That was most likely the year Peach & Jazz Flavors would develop a partnership with each other. In this partnership, Peach had mixed in some Smooth Jazz artists in their rotation. How else would I along with others had been exposed to Kenny G, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, & Brenda Russell (those 4 in particular)? I rarely listened to Jazz Flavors WJZF when it was on the air. I most of the time listened to Peach as well B98.5 FM. If B98.5 had anything back then that came close to being smooth, it would have been "Atlanta's Love Songs" with Rebecca Stevens. The partnership between Peach & Jazz Flavors lasted until '98. Peach would make a slight name change. Instead of being called Peach 94-9, they added the decimal point to the name alas Peach 94.9. Also in '98, Urban AC Majic 107.5 FM WAMJ would sign on the air. In 2000, WJZF ends up flipping to KISS 104.1 FM WALR. The same year Majic would flip to the no longer existing Smooth Jazz 107.5 FM WJZZ. In December 2002, Peach would change their name to 94.9 Lite FM. KISS kept Urban AC until 2003, and flipped to Urban Oldies. As for B98.5 with "Atlanta's Love Songs", it wouldn't lose the smooth factor until 2002 when Charles McPhee, "The Dream Doctor" became the successor. One year prior in 2001, Michael Mitchell succeeded Rebecca Stevens thus giving "Atlanta's Love Songs" another shot throughout that entire year. Of course, "The Dream Doctor" came to an end in 2004 thus Charles McPhee retired. I'm not going to bring up everything that happened during the 2004-2009 period except the fact it was that 5-year period that Grown Folks Radio was successful at the 102.5 frequency. What were they doing that made it so successful? If anyone in this forum knows what kept Grown Folks going along with what BM/EZ stations are doing to continue to exist, please feel free to post below in this thread.
Anyway, there are some minor corrections I would like to make from my post. I mentioned that Dave Koz was going to come to Atlanta this Christmas for the Dave Koz & Friends Christmas tour. The tour name in case anyone didn't know is called "Dave Koz & Friends: A Smooth Jazz Christmas". Dave will be joined by Jonathan Butler, Brian Culbertson (or as Dave calls him by a nickname "Culbe"), and Candy Dulfer. Can anyone say Thanksgiving weekend? That's when Dave & Friends will be in town on Saturday 11/27 at the Cobb Energy Centre. This just so happens to be the same weekend as the annual Georgia/Georgia Tech game in college football. The concert will kick off at 8PM that night. As for the Georgia/Georgia Tech game, time is TBD. Surely, the still existing Smooth Jazz fans don't like college football more than they like Smooth Jazz. If Dave & Friends don't get a good turnout because of the game, it will be confirmed then that Smooth Jazz will never return to Atlanta. But if they do get a good turnout, I would be looking for a potential format flip either when it gets closer to Christmas, anytime in 2011, or anytime in 2012. If we make it to January 2013 and Smooth Jazz still hasn't returned to Atlanta, then would be the time to finally realize that Smooth Jazz will never return to Atlanta.
Here is a revised schedule of how I would program Saturdays & Sundays:

Saturdays

• 5AM-6AM Either Paid Programming or Public Affairs programming
• 6AM-8AM Either local DJ or Smooth Weekend with Allen Kepler
• 8AM-10AM The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler
• 10AM-12PM (12 Noon) The Dave Koz Radio Show
• 12PM (12 Noon)-2PM Either local DJ or Kenny G from BA Smooth Jazz Network
• 2PM-5PM Either local DJ or Norman Brown
• 5PM-10PM JazzTrax with Art Good
• 10PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Musical Starstreams with Forest
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-2AM The Sounds of Brazil with Scott Adams (if he would be willing to syndicate his show again)
• 2AM-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

Sundays

• 6AM-9AM Either local DJ to do Gospel Jazz or Gospel Jazz would be automated
• 9AM-10AM The Jazzspel with Eric J. Chambers of KIFM in San Diego (if he would get his syndicate license, it would work) (without the Jazzspel, Gospel Jazz with local DJ or automated would play for an extra hour until 10AM)
• 10AM-11AM Gospel Jazz block (continued)
• 11AM-3PM The Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch with either local DJ or Kenny G (tape-delayed if Kenny G hosts it)
• 3PM-6PM The Harmonic Lounge with Bill Harman
• 6PM-9PM Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis
• 9PM-12AM (12 Midnight) QuietMusic with Nick Francis (if he would be willing to syndicate his show again)
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

(all times Eastern)

Here's how it could be done with all local DJs and fewer syndicated shows:

Mondays-Fridays

• 6AM-9AM Local DJ
• 9AM-10AM Commercial-Free Music Hour with Local DJ
• 10AM-12PM (12 Noon) Local DJ
• 12PM (12 Noon)-1PM All-Request Listener's Choice Luncheon with Local DJ
• 1PM-3PM Local DJ
• 3PM-7PM Local DJ
• 7PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Local DJ
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

Saturdays

• 6AM-7AM Either Paid Programming or Public Affairs programming
• 7AM-9AM Smooth Weekend with Allen Kepler
• 9AM-11AM The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler
• 11AM-1PM The Dave Koz Radio Show
• 1PM-4PM Local DJ
• 4PM-7PM Local DJ
• 7PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Chill with Mindi Abair (All 5 hours)
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

Sundays

• 6AM-8AM Smooth Weekend with Allen Kepler
• 8AM-11AM The Harmonic Lounge with Bill Harman
• 11AM-3PM The Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch with local DJ
• 3PM-6PM Local DJ
• 6PM-9PM Gospel Jazz with local DJ
• 9PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Either local DJ or Maria Lopez

(all times Eastern)

Here's how it would be done via BA Smooth Jazz Network:

Mondays-Fridays

• 6AM-10AM Brian Culbertson
• 10AM-2PM Miranda Wilson
• 2PM-7PM Dave Koz (Smooth Afternoon Ride Home Edition)
• 7PM-5AM Smooth Jazz Evenings & Overnights with Maria Lopez

Saturdays

• 5AM-6AM Either Paid Programming or Public Affairs programming
• 6AM-8AM Smooth Weekend with Allen Kepler
• 8AM-10AM The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler
• 10AM-2PM Kenny G
• 4PM-7PM Norman Brown
• 7PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Paul Hardcastle
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Smooth Jazz Weekend Overnights with Maria Lopez

Sundays

• 6AM-8AM Smooth Weekend with Allen Kepler
• 8AM-10AM The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler
• 10AM-2PM Kenny G
• 4PM-7PM Norman Brown
• 7PM-12AM (12 Midnight) Paul Hardcastle
• 12AM (12 Midnight)-6AM Smooth Jazz Weekend Overnights with Maria Lopez

(all times Eastern)

For those of you who are suggesting HD-2 and/or Internet radio via Live365 or last.fm, bad idea because on HD-2, it would be commercial-free unless you programmed it like WNWV-FM-HD-2 in Cleveland, OH. They actually have DJs. Smooth Jazz can't be confined to strictly the Internet. BM/EZ is better off on HD-2 commercial-free, satellite radio, and Internet radio. Commercial-free automated music is strictly for those who want to fall asleep as well as for anyone going on vacation. If you're wanting to stay awake, you need DJs to help you stay awake. Plus, if you're not at a computer listening online, you need someone to tell you what song recently played. I apologize for this post being so lengthy. I'll close with this. Please don't give up. We will get a Smooth Jazz station to come back to Atlanta. If broadcasting companies can't afford it because of the economic downturn, we may have to wait until we are completely out of the economic downturn. We can't continue to keep saying on these boards that "Oh! Smooth Jazz is going to die!" We can't even be thinking it. If we're saying it and/or thinking it, we will have what we say. I gave you 3 program schedule alternatives. Anyone is welcome to post any more ideas in this thread. You are also welcome to post your opinion on which 1 of the 3 alternatives you like. Thank you very much.

Peach was still doing BM/EZ as late as 1985, at least for overnights.

We have a winner for longest post ever that was not written by someone from Phoenix.

RTibbs said:

We have a winner for longest post ever that was not written by someone from Phoenix.

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At some point, it would be far easier just to start a blog. Or a novel.