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Smooth jazz back on in Cincinnati...

C

ChrisInMI

...but you may be surprised as to which station is doing it... I know my mouth dropped open when I found out.

According to Radio & Records, it's WCIN-AM 1480, and they're using the Jones format. So it appears the "Pulse of the City" Urban AC format is no more.

With WMOJ now doing UAC on FM in Cincinnati, I suppose it was only a matter of time before WCIN changed to something else, but I wouldn't have expected it to be Smooth Jazz. Then again, there was a period a number of years ago when they tried playing classical music!

How many other AM SJ stations have there been? I can only think of two off the top of my head, it was AM 850 in Statesboro, GA, a Jones station which now airs ESPN Radio. The other is 1350 WEZS in Laconia, NH, which used to be Beautiful Music/EZ but has transitioned to SJ (though I don't know if it's a satellite format, as their website has no mention of any DJs; could be local automation).
 
I saw that jaw dropping news about an AM SJ station in Cincinnati. I don't think it's gonna hurt Smooth Jazz Saturday Night on WRRM any! But really Smooth Jazz is done as a live and local format. In America consider there to be two over-the-air Smooth Jazz stations. Jones and BA. With the "carriers" being the radio stations. There is absolutely NOTHING that can be done on the local level to save this format. A PD with guts enough to return to presenting this music as a specialty show with more adventurous music (you can do that when you PRESENT it as a "special" show). The problem is this music as a FORMAT. As a weekend or nightly SHOW it can work. But as I posted when the BA Network was announced (ironically on 9/11/06 in R&R) we would see a huge change in the landscape of this format in terms of on-air talent. And it happened. And the remaining "live and locals" should consider themselves as "on notice." It is SO easy and inexpensive to replace ANY Smooth Jazz jock currently on the air. If I were on, I'd be looking at other options while hangng on as long as I can. I really loved this format as recently as three to four years ago. Around 2004-5...something happened and it rapidly deteriorated to what we witness now. The networks can have it. Even dreams of Web casting this format are gone, with the new increased royalty rates. I love songs on the CDs that are out now by SJ artists that aren't playing on the radio. Every once in a while I play a game. I put my favorite songs on the boom box...stare at it and imagine those songs are on the radio, and how great that would make me feel. Some of these songs eventually get on about six to eight months later though. But nothing like hearing it fresh. Look for more veterans to get blown out this year in the format. Like Nancy Wilson sang on a 1968 hit of hers; "Face It Girl, It's Over."
 
The thing that all the displaced SJ people have to remember is that with the BA network taking over there is very little airplay for new music, new artists, artists who don't have the Paul Brown sound, artists whose labels can't afford expensive "promotional considerations", and any instrumental music that doesn't reference an old pop hit. In short, 99% of the music that is out there. And that's the good stuff that needs to be heard! There are an increasing number of ways for smooth jazz exiles to use their skills to support and promote the music and for this music to thrive everyone's contributions are needed. Whether it's creating or writing for a website, producing podcasts, helping with marketing, supporting non corporate concert promoters, putting up an internet station..whatever. Ask any artist you know what you can do to help. That will give you some ideas. It's hard for people who have been radio-centric for years to flip their script to "exploit everything but radio", one way to get on that track is to watch how younger people spread the word about their music now. That stuff works for us too. It just seems harder for people who have been set in their ways to realize that those ways are over. Don't leave the field, don't leave the music, just turn the page and step into the future. As the first artist I interviewed shortly after I flipped from sound to print said "times a-wastin'. Scootcha booty.
 
Another Cat, wow! What a brilliant essay on the state of the Smooth Jazz format. As a fan of the music I'm just aching at the chance to expose the good music as you described. Early on in radio it was a rush to play the things that fit that you believed in, then found that the listeners AND the ratings agreed! I'm rolling with the flow now doing it the best that I can and working in ideas that fit with the direction we're going in (not in this format) but you're right, I need to help do something for this, the format I really believed in until things fell apart. It takes the even temperament of passion and business/programing sense to make this work. It's funny when I was in a hotel recently. I had been listening to a Smooth Jazz station then went in the hotel and they had their piped in contemporary jazz music on---and every tune made me stand there and listen. I went back to the radio in the car and my good mood was killed so much I turned to an Urban station to get away from the huge, huge researched hit that sold hundreds of thousands that people recognize the world over; "Open Your Heart" by Niteflyte (apparently the only song they ever recorded) and Richard Smith's "Sing A Song" (I have his CDs, I know we can hear more than this from him). It is excruciating, Another Cat, to sit by and watch the demoralization of this format take place and seem powerless to do anything about it. I have the new Four80East CD and love it to death, even "Noodle Soup." But those who aren't moved by that tune probably would go for any number of appropriate other tunes on it (like "En Route") and would BUY it like I did. I liked the group for their past works, so I took a chance on the purchase. This is the fun, legal, easy way to share good music. I did it for years playing music on the air like that, music that I bought with my own money in any cases. I'm saving your post for reference, because it makes so much sense. Thank you for that.
 
AnotherCat said:
with the BA network taking over there is very little airplay for new music, new artists, artists who don't have the Paul Brown sound, artists whose labels can't afford expensive "promotional considerations", and any instrumental music that doesn't reference an old pop hit. In short, 99% of the music that is out there. And that's the good stuff that needs to be heard!
Click to expand...

I love the payola-like arrangement, with Paul Hardcastle, Norman Brown, Kenny G and others getting paid AND playing their own music on the air. As long as they're on BA, their music offerings will NEVER stiff.
 
The Four80East CD didn't do anything for me. I like songs and hooks more than mood and grooves. Not into chill at all. To each their own I guess. The one that is blowing me away right now is the new Hiroshima. It has all these nuances from pre-smooth CJazz and even back to fusion. On the more mass appeal side there is some tasty stuff on the new Kashiwa and Euge Groove. The manufactured stuff leaves me cold. I kept putting Paul Brown's CD on and not even noticing it was playing, and Jakiem Joyner sounded like it was execution of formula via protools with a sax player plugged in as an afterthought.

The weekend musician DJs on The Network sound terrible. They are reading smartjock prep sheet content almost verbatim and trying to sound sincere (N.Brown - reads blurb about Simply Red doing a concert in England then saying how much he hopes they come over here, that it's one of his favorite bands. fakefakefake. Before Brown does his talk breaks they play this riff of him scatting w. guitar. It gets old fast. They may have sold people on this idea like these guys were going to do a hanging out in the living room talking music and sharing thoughts and stories type thing. Nope. Liner cards. A good spin beats substance any day. Kepler could sell heaters in hell. They're that good at marketing and sales.
 
I heard Norman Brown do that while driving out and about on Saturday afternoon. We could pick up a Dayton station. I think even the average listener can tell they're reading and not really speaking thier own words. Even my wife who was with me got caught by the scat thing. Whenever she hears something weird she goes, "OOO-KAAAY." She did that several times during that show. Weekends are hard to take but you can't resist listening to hear what's going on on the Network. I like chill/world/alternative and that's why Four80East appeals to me. Paul Brown has the only SJ song I really like to hear that's on the radio stations I can access. We disagree on those artists and that's good because I don't think there is any other discussion on this music happening on the board. And it would be great if radio were inventive enough right now to spark such discussions. Thanks, 'Cat! I'll be in Cincinnati next week so I'll get to hear "Smooth Jazz Saturday Night" on "Warm." They have a different host than when I was last there so I'll see what's up as far as their selections. I think it's great that an AC has such a feature. I think it should really be done across the board. The Smooth Jazz format is so vulnerable right now I think the shows could have sizeable and impacting audiences.
 
<<I think it's great that an AC has such a feature. I think it should really be done across the board. The Smooth Jazz format is so vulnerable right now I think the shows could have sizeable and impacting audiences.>>

The main thing that has to happen there is that the show hosts have to be open but not self indulgent. You have to play for your audience, which means being mass appeal. But not lowest common denominator. It is not necessary to dumb down as much as BA has. On the other hand when they took over there were stations that were playing 150 currents (!) We have about reached the tipping point with overfamiliarity. People are finally starting to get tired of songs they have been hearing for 30-40 years. A AAA consultant did a good piece in R&R on this and it is equally relevant to SJ. I've heard hours go by on The Network where every song is either over 20 years old or references a song that is over 20 years old.


I did smooth jazz shows on A/C stations for a long time along with doing a regular show on the station. It was much more fun than working a fulltime SJ format because you didn't have to be stuffy or pretentious. I could go on during my midday A/C shift and say "come hang out with me on Sunday morning and listen to this other music that's a lot of fun. And mention artists that we played who also had instrumental trax out. Braun and Golub touring with Rod Stewart, Craig Chaquico, Botti with Sting etc). I may pitch a local A/C station because they are sponsoring a series of free SJ concerts this year and when they see the reaction Steve Oliver and Warren Hill get from "real people" it's going to open a lot of eyes. That's why I wish we weren't stuck with the word "jazz" which I actually rarely used. It really niches the music and the segment of the music that I am drawn to and my listeners were drawn to is pop/rock/R&B instrumentals. Great songs with no words.
 
The main thing that has to happen there is that the show hosts have to be open but not self indulgent. You have to play for your audience, which means being mass appeal. But not lowest common denominator. It is not necessary to dumb down as much as BA has.

-----

Right you are about the hosts. One of the things broadcasters and consultants have been petrified of for years has been the host who wants to push his or her tastes on their audiences, vs. having the programming sense or feel for the music that appeals to the audience. I've had the pleasure of doing the same thing you did, catering to a station's regular audience with contemporary jazz. About 70% of the music I played I wasn't that crazy about, but they were hits that the audience clamoured for. But I really had fun with the 30% that I picked that had similar textures as the other music, but was adventurous enough to keep them glued. And they LOVED it for years. I still get e-mails about it. You can't play one unfamiliar song after another or stuff that alienated the audience. I remember a jazz show on a Northern Ohio rock station on Sunday nights back in the 70s and early 80s. It was hosted by a real jazz cat. He put the station's rock audience to sleep with long piano solo music and other really great jazz songs...but are you going to keep a rock station's audience glued? The listeners became increasingly annoyed and the program was gone after a while. The jazz shows that survived on those rock stations played Stewart Copeland, Jonathan Cain, Sting, Steely Dan amid Grover, Herbire , George and others. Those shows lasted for years until corporate structures moved in and micro-managed every programming aspect and said, no we can't let you do this...we know how to build ratings and revenue with established shows.

Someone like you is going to have to prove it, Another Cat. Restoring the faith in the music will come from radio restoring the faith in those who possess the programming/business sense to structure such programming, like many successful ones who already had done before. It really can be done at a lower risk as specialty programming, considering the expensive format-of-the-month failures we've seen over the last couple of years. Of course, presentation and respect to brevity and other dsciplines used in regular radio programming will be key to such show's successes.
 
I am basically a pop/rock person who got hooked on instrumental music in the 70s when I realized I liked the guitar and sax solos better than the vocals, especially since a lot of the lyrics were really bad poetry. I love CHR and hot A/C and I love instrumentals..I basically programmed my brunch show like a Hot A/C with no words, didn't play two songs in a row that sounded alike, went with the "wave" for tempo and texture (hot/med/slow/med/hot) but every song had a structure, was short, had a melody, hook and little or no improvisation. That's why it was easier for me to bring my listeners into this territory. I never pushed the "jazz" thing. It was more like "you like the sax solos, well here's a really long one because nobody sings. That and that I talked the same way on my brunch show as I did on my Hot A/C shift. I didn't lecture, I had fun. So did they, I was #2 in the daypart 25-54. Sold out with a waiting list.

My story is the same as everyone elses. Big corp bought the station and eliminated everything local. Put us on liners, music scheduled at the home office and obviously no local specialty shows.
 
'Cat, sounds like your listeners lost one hell of a show. I'm a pop-rocker as well and I'm sorry to hear you had the same ending. I'm checking out the CDs you mention in your post. Again you do such a great job describing the music it makes me want to go out and get it. And I will. You must have made a lot of your listeners broke because I know they went after what you played. So much more of that could still happen today. Had it been so all this time maybe the music industry wouldn't be so hard-pressed to recoup their losses with these new royalty rates.
 
You Gentlemen (CKLW and CAT) have some very insigtful views and discussion on the format. I do, however, disagree that this music cannot be done as a format, and should be relegated to specialty. I think that the best example of it working quite well is WNWV in Cleveland. I believe that failures as a format have come from failures in the sales departments for the various organizations who have tried it full time.

I do agree that live and local is the best approach...as it is with almost all formats, PD's need to have the guts, power, and market/listener knowledge to program, and that the emergence of WCIN as a 24/7 SJ outlet in Cincinnati will have marginal if any impact on WARM Saturday night. Particularly given we are talking AM vs FM, and reduced power for the AM during much of the "competitive" overlap. Would love to talk shop on this more, but since I OM/PD WCIN...well you know the drill.
 
<<I do, however, disagree that this music cannot be done as a format, and should be relegated to specialty>>

Believe me, I agree with you. But we have to go back to our roots and rise out of the ashes now and the best way to do that is as a specialty show in a fairly obscure daypart like Sunday AM where if you get the ratings and your show generates the revenue you will not be tied to liner cards and will be able to connect emotionally with your audience and the music, and connect the audience emotionally with the music. You can't do that with a music log created by the home office and downloaded into the studio and liners scripted by a VP who visits your hometown once a year.

The B/EZ approach, using that aesthetic and those formatics, doesn't work anymore. It just isn't relevant to anyone under 60. My thing has always been treat it like A/C with no words. Get rid of the announcer voices, pretentious and stuffy sounding sweepers and stagers, dump the adjectives, tighten up the jock breaks quit with the forced small talk conversation, it's clutter and it's not relevant and balance "smooth and relaxing" with uplifting and entertaining. And shift the emphasis from groove/mood to melody. How many people really want to hear lengthy sets of noodly riffing? There are some great songs out there, play them!

BTW..I'm not a guy. Thats probably why I have no allegiance to tradition and status quo. When you are female and don't live in LA you're always going to be a little out of bounds when it comes to the SJ powers that be ;)
 
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