From AllAccess.com

Another Smooth Jazz radio station bites the dust. I guess that format is dead.

ALL ACCESS tipped you that RADIO ONE had released the entire local air staff of Smooth Jazz WJZZ/ATLANTA, including PD DAVE KOSH and GREG FITZGERALD were out in anticipation of a format flip (NET NEWS 1/14).

The format wheel was spinning -- and has landed on Urban AC. The station is positioning itself as "THE ALL NEW MAJIC 107 5, ATLANTA'S BEST MIX OF R&B." The station voice is KIPP KELLY (www.kippkelly.com).

VP/Market Mgr. TIM DAVIES told ALL ACCESS, "we fired up the new MAJIC 107.5 last night, commercial free, playing ATLANTA's best mix of R&B. MAJIC 107.5 is a great compliment to our RADIO ONE cluster, as we build the preeminent cluster aimed at the African-American listener."

Recent songs in the mix include:

R. KELLY - I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)
MUSIQ SOULCHILD - Teachme
SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS - Hold On (Change Is Comin')
L.T.D. - Where Did We Go Wrong
MARY J. BLIGE - Be Happy
SURFACE - Happy
DUU HILL - We're Not Making Love No More

Not much of a market for it anymore, I guess?

namepeace said:

Was there ever a real market for it?

Timmy84 said:

Surprisingly, yes. I think it was mostly businesses and instrumental r&b fans kept this format alive.

I was never a big fan of the format, but I did enjoy some artists like Jonathan Butler and Fourplay.

daPrettyman said:

Ah I see...

Unfortunately, the local Snooze-jazz station (94.7 - The Wave) is still on the air here.


Relative to your other post, Brian McKnight is the co-host of their morning show...



...along with Pat Prescott.

He took the place of former co-host and Snooze-jazz stalwart Dave Koz.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Radio One? That name sounds familiar. Isn't that another one of those companies that owns a lot of radio stations? Those large companies don't want any variety to even exist on the radio. I'm telling ya, I think these companies are in cahoots with the record labels and watching each other's backs.
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[Edited 1/29/09 11:19am]

daPrettyman said:

Reminds me of when they got rid of the Smooth Jazz station in my area. They host boat rides and concerts. I hate the term but thought it was a nice alternative when I was stuck in the car without my player.

I think Sade had stock in it but you could catch lots of artists that you wouldn't catch on other stations. It was the first place I heard Jazzy Jeff's remix of EBTG's Mirrorball, Vanessa Daou's Two to Tango remix and a few other gems.

Sometimes it was mellow but sometimes they played great uptempo stuff too… Fourplay, Down to the Bone, Pat Metheny but it was also a cool play to catch up on what was going with a few varied jazz artists and vocalists. Now you won’t hear a lot or any of these folks on rdio.
[Edited 1/29/09 12:14pm]

vainandy said:

Radio One is the largest Black-owned radio outlet. They also own TV-One. They own a LOT of stations throughout the country. The funny thing is....THEY ALL PLAY THE EXACT SAME MUSIC.

theAudience said:

I don't think Brian will be doing The Wave show for too long.

daPrettyman said:

Why is this the case? Why finally get media ownership only to regurgitate the same thing? My questions are somewhat rhetorical but I just find it silly to keep catering to one or two demographics with so many diverse artists out there. Can no one break the mold?

JackieBlue said:

I don't know their reasoning for doing this. I've never heard anyone say anything but that Cathy Hughes (the owner) and Alfred Liggins (CEO) don't know what the hell they are doing.

They bought The Beat in LA and thought LA needed an Urban AC station. They then decided to do the same Urban AC type stations they have done throughout the country and it failed...big time. They tend to think that certain core songs and artists are the backbone for a format. They tend to play a lot of Luther, Teddy P, and Anita Baker on their Urban AC formats. It's sad to think that what works in North Carolina will work in LA. That's crazy.

daPrettyman said:

daP is right. Smooth jazz stations were all around a decade ago, although I don't like the style, or the term.

namepeace said:

Smooth Jazz.....what genius came up with that?

Graycap23 said:

Somebody who wanted to lend artistic credibility to R&B instrumentals and early 90's-style ballads.

namepeace said:

I think it has manifested into Urban AC now. Who ever said that all adult urban music had to be slow?

namepeace said:

They kill me with these labels.....smooth jazz, neo-soul, .....

daPrettyman said:

But all the music wasn't slow, at least in my area. Sometimes they were really jamming and they also played some classical and standard jazz.

To me anything is better than the 5 songs they play on 'urban' radio--3 of which are also played on hip hop stations so I didn't mind it. Like anything else, I'd just turn away or turn it off if I wasn't in the mood. At least there was some variety.

Does "Smooth Jazz TV" come on in your area?

I know it's syndicated out of Dallas. They also have a website www.smoothjazztv.com

daPrettyman said:

Never heard of it. I'll have to look for it.

Why are people damned confined!! Listen to all forms of music People!! Jeez.

2freaky4church1 said:

We do.
Why else would we be discussing "smooth jazz"?

daPrettyman said:

Least you post music threads...

Some post artist threads.

namepeace said:

A "marketing" one.

This was a ploy to keep from calling this genre what it had been called in the past...Easy Listening.

Not hip by their standards although totally accurate.
So they prostituted the term Jazz and got away with it.
To make sure they wouldn't get stuck having to actually play any real Jazz, add the word Smooth and you're off the hook.

And even then they couldn't stick with artists that played...choke...Smooth jazz.

A total scam.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

I agree.

daPrettyman said:

If he's got any financial savvy (and it doesn't cause a contractual snafu), in this financial climate, he'd do both and snag the extra check.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

daPrettyman said:

http://prince.org/msg/8/295001

Are there many jazz stations around? There's still one left in my area all the way at the end of the dial where most people don't go. They play Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Count Basie, Ellington, Diane Reeves and so on for jazz lovers.

daPrettyman said:

That sounds like the station we have in our area called Kixie 107 (WKXI). They were around since back in the day on AM and were known as 13 Kixie (WKXI) and played all the latest jams. Around 1990 or 1991, they moved to FM and adopted this format. Their main artists were the ones you listed and don't forget Shitney Houston, she's on that list too. They play the hell out of those artists over and over all day long with some other stuff inbetween.

They went to their "soft soul" format in the early 1990s. Back then, funk had already died and the only fast music that was out there (that was played on radio) was rap music (ain't that a switch, rap was the total opposite back then ). A lot of folks hated rap so their station catered to them. Their slogan used to be....."all soft soul and no rap"...and they had another one....."the kids have their station, now you have yours". Well, the problem is, back then, if you eliminated the rap, there was no fast music left and the only thing that remained was "soft soul". Y'all can thank Shitney Ass Houston for that because she influenced all these dull as folks who make nothing but slow music. It wasn't like that before she brought her little goodie two shoes ass on the scene.

Lately though, they have been throwing down plenty of hard funk during the Lunchtime Oldies Hour or on Saturday afternoons. Other than those times, they play nothing but Shitney Houston type music.....you know the type....late 80s and 90s slow music but it's not sexy bedroom slow jams for fucking, it's dull ass adult contemporary "just sit there and listen to it" type slow music.
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[Edited 1/29/09 14:51pm]

We still have "smooth jazz" in Chicago. In fact, I believe our station, WNUA, was the pioneer of that format. But when it first started it was called new age music, but then it got labeled as all Kenny G, Yanni, and John Tesh, so they changed to smooth jazz. Basically now it's a few slow jazz tunes with some classic and contemporary slow R&B.