However, with the majority of their day still on NPR (so much so that that's what people still call it), I don't know what branding is to be had from keeping "KJZZ" call letters when nobody calls it that.
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KJZZ finally kicks jazz to the curb
- Thread starter indieradioguy
- Start date
To clarify Keith, are you saying that jazz music is no longer played after 8:00 p.m. on the station either? Or is it just the "call letters" that they've dropped?
KJZZ 91.5 FM programming changes
On April 15, KJZZ launched a dedicated jazz music service that will provide a platform for this music genre across the Phoenix area and the state. Hear the new Jazz PHX at jazzphx.org, at 91.5 HD2 on your HD radio or streaming at the KJZZ mobile app. Instructions for all listening options are...
kjzz.org
"On April 15, KJZZ launched a dedicated jazz music service that will provide a platform for this music genre across the Phoenix area and the state.
Hear the new Jazz PHX at jazzphx.org, at 91.5 HD2 on your HD radio or streaming at the KJZZ mobile app. Instructions for all listening options are available at jazzphx.org.
Jazz PHX offers a one-stop platform for all jazz fans, combining the jazz scene from our Phoenix team and contributors across the United States.
KJZZ is also introducing several new programs to its broadcast lineup, transitioning 91.5 FM to a 24/7 news service:
Monday through Thursday, 12:30-1 p.m.: Today Explained
Monday, 8 p.m.: On Point
Monday, 9 p.m.: Latino USA
Monday through Friday, 10 p.m.: Q with Tom Powers
Tuesday, 9 p.m.: Left, Right, and Center
Wednesday, 9 p.m.: Embodied
Thursday, 9 p.m.: The New Yorker Radio Hour
Friday, 9 p.m.: The Middle
Saturday, 1 p.m.: Unexpected Elements
Saturday, 10 p.m.: No Small Endeavor"
😑
KJZZ is a joke...No community involvement, no jazz on the main channel. KUVO Denver Jazz and more! Distinctive music programming! Listen now - KUVO or Jazz 93.5 FM Radio – Local, Jazz Music Radio Station Colorado Springs are just two examples of great jazz stations.
Market demographics?
Average & median income a bit lower in market 12 vs market 17...could it start there?
They need to give up their call letters and stop pretending. At least KRDP is trying even though they suffer from a poor signal. Their plan going forward is to go out and broadcast from concert venues and support the local community.
About KRDP – KRDP Community Radio (Jazz 90.7 FM & Indie Online)
About KRDP – KRDP Community Radio (Jazz 90.7 FM & Indie Online)
So I think some of the questions require a historical answer.
- Arizona has fewer educational institutions than most states. That meant fewer noncommercial stations (this also played out in TV where there was one application for reserved TV channel 39 over a 35-year period). KJZZ, as Phoenix College's KFCA, was the only non-commercial radio station in the Phoenix area for many years (and the first FM in the city of Phoenix). No others turned up here, though I found two legal notices for filings: Maricopa County Community College District, 89.5 (1974) and Camelback High School (1977). A proposed 89.5 station (KIAI) never took off in the late 1970s despite getting a construction permit.
- ASU was planning an FM radio station at the turn of the 80s. It would have been on 88.3 and a fine arts station. But funding cuts to public broadcasting scuttled the proposal.
- The 80s broke the logjam with intense interest in noncommercial radio here, most of which turned into languishing comparative proceedings and birthed stations in the early 90s:
- KFLR-FM went on air in 1984 as our first Christian FM station.
- The 88.3 proceeding ended in a split-airtime agreement between the United Farmworkers noncom and Family Radio.
- When KONC 101.5 left the classical format in 1986, ASU and the community colleges piled into 89.5 (there were four total applications for it). That station went on the air under a joint-custody arrangement in 1993 as KBAQ.
KRDP is trying to work on adding coverage on the west side. They're asking the public for their assistance to build out KRPJ 91.9 (permitted to Wickenburg and will be broadcasting from Towers Mountain). Their only problem will be whether or not that signal will be drowned out by CSN station KVJC in Globe, which despite broadcasting 660 watts from Signal Peak near Globe, is audible in parts of the west side.
KRDP Phoenix/West Valley Expansion
KBAQ, technically a "college station," is one of the laziest stations I have ever heard - they quite literally go hours if not days playing only "de-composers" (Mozart, Vivaldi, Wagner, etc.) and rarely if ever play contemporary classical. For example, MIT's WMBR in Boston runs laps around KBAQ when it comes to contemporary classical. To put in further context, these are major universities that don't even play their own's student recitals over the air. Shouldn't they have a little more pride and sense of ownership vis a vis their own artists programs? Unlike with sports programs and the strings that come with athletic programs, it's not likely they'd have ASCAP/BMI breathing down their necks for broadcasting student-written work. That would be free publicity (since it's free to listen to KBAQ) and ASU or MCC or GCC or SCC symphonies would always be sold out. But no, let's hear some more Beethoven for the umpteenth time.
They cumed 184,900 people and are one of the top dozen stations in the market.
Why, it's almost as though they've figured out what their audience wants to hear (and will pay to support), and they're programming to that audience.
Shame on them, indeed!!
One of the advantages of WMBR is that there is WCRB which is full time classical. That allows WMBR to experiment with contemporary classical. If you are the only station in the market with classical, you have to stay with the 'hits'. Almost any station in a 'niche' format (e.g. Country in LA) has to stay with what the listeners want. Having said that, I have observed most classical stations tend to play some contemporary classical in the mid-afternoon time frame just before drive time. BTW, KBAQ in HD is one of teh cleanest sounding stations I've listened to.
Also worth noting: two LPFMs want the 91.9 frequency and are likely to end up time-sharing. School of HipHop PHX would broadcast from about 11th Avenue and Buchanan. Nothing is Greater Than Love Foundation would broadcast from a site northeast of 19th Avenue and Broadway.
I also checked the frequency in the North Mountain area, and there's a Vic Michael translator on 91.9 as well.
EDIT: The Vic Michael Translator is within the "translator interference complaint zone" of KRPJ, but Michael is known for protecting his translator real estate. The LPFMs applications, unfortunately, are outside of that zone.
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WUSF 89.7 FM Tampa is another recent public radio station that dumped a long history of jazz to go 24/7 news talk.
I'm not surprised. Jazz is a dead music genre that should never be on a broadcast frequency, only streaming. Even when I lived in Phoenix years ago KJZZ only broadcast the legitimate warhorses (Duke Ellington et al) and the lite jazz warhorses (Bob James, Diana Krall et al). No one with a brain or a checkbook listened to that crap on the radio. It's music which only belongs on a "dedicated jazz music service."
I'm not surprised. Jazz is a dead music genre that should never be on a broadcast frequency, only streaming. Even when I lived in Phoenix years ago KJZZ only broadcast the legitimate warhorses (Duke Ellington et al) and the lite jazz warhorses (Bob James, Diana Krall et al). No one with a brain or a checkbook listened to that crap on the radio. It's music which only belongs on a "dedicated jazz music service."
Well, yeah - that's exactly my point. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of this market. If you can turn a profit being as turn-key and as low-effort as possible...great, I'm happy for KBAQ, but they're seriously part of the reason why Phoenix still isn't a "destination" market for the arts. Gammage and Mesa Arts Center - insert air quote - "should be" sold out whenever the ASU Symphony is there. They're not. What's wrong with expecting more from your listeners?
I noticed that Those Lowdown Blues w/ Bob Corritore is still airing on Sunday night. It's celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Not exactly a small feat for a weekly 5-hour "specialty" show.
Congrats Mr. Corritore. A job well done!
..
Congrats Mr. Corritore. A job well done!
..And the blues audience is even more niche than traditional jazz.I noticed that Those Lowdown Blues w/ Bob Corritore is still airing on Sunday night. It's celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Not exactly a small feat for a weekly 5-hour "specialty" show.
Congrats Mr. Corritore. A job well done!