WHAT'S HAPPENING TO SMOOTH JAZZ RADIO?

Given the recent demise of two major market smooth jazz radio stations in New York and Washington, one has to wonder what’s happened to the format. A radio-industry Website recently pondered if it’s “time to sound a death knell for the format.” In New York, long-time smooth jazz station WQCD-FM 101.9 switched formats (Rock) after 20 years, and in Washington, 14-year smooth jazz station WJZW-FM 105.9 made the move to Oldies.

But let’s face it – both of these stations are corporate-owned and are in a world where it’s a numbers game. Ratings = advertising revenue = stock value – well you get the picture. It’s all actually a game where your numbers (and value) need to rise from quarter to quarter in comparison to your local competition, and if it doesn’t, then upper management looks for ways to enhance value. In these particular cases, it was determined that a format switch was necessary.

New York’sWQCD 101.9 and Washinton’s WJZW 105.9 still live on; however, you need to have and HD radio to tune in. Even if you did own an HD radio, these stations are not really what they used to be considering that they are totally automated without any radio jocks. The loss of both of these stations leaves smooth jazz listeners with really no alternative in both of those markets. Such a shame.

One bright spot for the format is a Seattle smooth jazz station - KWJZ-FM/ 98.9. KWJZ-FM has been a consistent top 10 ratings and rankings performer, according to Arbitron data. Among listeners 12 and older, KWJZ ranked sixth in fall, fourth in summer, among commercial stations in the market. One advantage for KWJZ is that it's part of a privately held company, which actually makes it less susceptible to the pressures to cut spending to satisfy Wall Street, a trend now sweeping many publicly traded radio companies. In fact, KWJZ just started a new television advertising campaign. Interestingly, those ads still use the word smooth -- as in "smooth out," the implication being that the station is an antidote to a hectic world. But neither they nor the new logo uses "jazz." The saxophone in the old logo has been replaced by a highly stylized suggestion of a sax.