Is jazz radio being phased out in america?

[arrr&bee]

In the d.c. Area there is basically one station that plays jazz[wpfw-pacifica]and even they are changing thier format to less jazz,and it's not just here but across the country stations are cutting back on the jazz format,i don't know if it's internal politics or the youngsters aren't tuned in but something is amiss,let me hear from you all on this,do your local stations offer a jazz program or do you have to turn the knob hard to find one??

[marv2]

I would have to say yes! The one mainstream jazz station in NYC was dropped about 4 years ago.

[RossHolloway]

There is a great "jazz" station here in Atlanta called WCLK, and is located on the campus of Clark Atlanta University. You can listen to it online. I put jazz in quotes because while most of the music that they play is jazz, it is not 100% jazz, but it is really a great station to discover new artists and music.

[Doug-Morgan]

I think that's the direction jazz radio is going, Ross. We've got a great jazz station out here, Pacific Lutheran University's KPLU. Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti has WEMU out of Eastern Michigan University, and so on.

Public radio is a great home for niche formats. Classical, Alt Country, Triple-A, and other formats that are suffering from fringe viability on commercial radio are migrating to Public or Community style radio stations, where the listenership may be small, but both devoted and loyal.

[soulster]

Maybe if more people listened to jazz radio, it wouldn't be going away. It seems to me that jazz is a dying art form. Not enough interest in it with the younger generations. It's a shame.

[Jerry Oz]

Maybe if more people listened to jazz radio, it wouldn't be going away. It seems to me that jazz is a dying art form. Not enough interest in it with the younger generations. It's a shame.

Man, I made a similar statement on the main board and got BLASTED for it. I don't believe jazz is a dying art form, but it has evolved. The evolution of jazz has new artists making old school music that fossils like me used to listen to and other artists making the current wave of "modern jazz" that old farts like myself can't quite appreciate.

[marv2]

Jazz, good Jazz of every type is alive and well in Quebec, Canada. In Montreal in particular. Not only do they have several excellent Jazz stations but they also host a World Class Jazz Festival every year starting that the end of June and runs for two weeks!

[Jerry Oz]

Columbus, Ohio has a three-day jazz & rib fest every summer that draws tens of thousands. I think they have three stages; one of them is on the other side of the river from the main venue. It started out rather quaint, with just a couple of hundred people heading downtown for a weekend of the most intimate and diverse local jazz music in the perfect setting, at the perfect time of year. I looked forward to it for the first few years that it existed.

Well, anyway, I left town for a year back in the '90s and by the time I returned, it had ballooned into a monstrosity that lures major talent, but lost everything that the first incarnation made special. I guess it's still fun to a lot of folks, but I don't get the impression it's about the jazz anymore [[it's more about the ribs, actually) and I haven't been to it in more than 10 years.

[robb_k]

In The Netherlands, there is still lots of Jazz on the radio waves:
Nederland 6 [[public) [[also some Classical)
Arrow Jazz [[all the time)
There are other stations that play Jazz along with various other genres. We also get a lot of Jazz programming from the Belgian stations.

Radio Danmark and Swedish public radio both have a lot of Jazz programming [[not sure of particular stations. I seem to remember a lot of Jazz programming in The Munich and Bremen areas of Germany.

In Los Angeles, they still have KJZZ [[K-Jazz) [[mostly Jazz, with Blues programming on Sundays).

Winnipeg still has a fair amount of Jazz programming on CBC Radio, and a few programmes on commercial stations.

But, yes, there has been a movement towards more modern music and less Jazz in all my countries.

[Doug-Morgan]

Jazz isn't dying, neither is classical music. But in the modern commercial radio landscape, it just isn't a moneymaker. Ross' comment about WCLK is probably the direction jazz will go in the radio universe.

[splanky]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Jazz is not dead or dying, not even close to it. Do yourself a favor and walk out of the museum point of view. Jazz is a living art form and as
was mentioned is [[constantly) evolving. Yes, the greatest access to it is online radio stations
but here in New York/Newark metro area wbgo rules and kcr still plays a lot of classic jazz.
Also there are a number of youngsters getting in the game everyday. Girls, guys, black, white, Mexican, African, Japanese, you name it...I listen to them every single mollyfocking
day!....

[marv2]

mollyfocking day!.... Splanky? Wash your mouth out and go to your room young man!!!

[Jerry Oz]

I remember reading about what Miles Davis told Herbie Hancock after Wynton Marsalis was criticizing Hancock for making commercial music and contemporary jazz instead of session-type jazz. To paraphrase, Miles told Hancock that there's nothing wrong with progressing. They made records of the old stuff for people who still want to listen to it.

[arrr&bee]

Remember i didn't say[jazz]but jazz radio that's in trouble,in other countries as robb stated jazz radio is very popular but not so much in most of the u.s.it's easier for me to turn to the [two]jazz cable stations on my[tv]than find jazz on the radio.

[splanky]

Jai, I think most here knew you were talking about jazz radio. The discussion took a turn to
the art form when soulster stated that jazz itself was dying and some of us chose to disagree
with him...For anyone who believes that myth I can name dozens of singers and musicians
who are shredding it today...

[skooldem1]

Jazz radio? Perhaps that format is being phased out. But that is kind of like "network" TV. More and more people watch "cable" networks. My point? The point is that there are several satellite radio stations. Even if you don't have one in your car, I know many people that "Listen" to these stations through their cable/satellite providers- at home.

[arrr&bee]

Your point is well taken skooldem and you're absolutely right ,but in this age of[satelites and cable]for old dinasours like me it would be nice to turn on the radio and find some jazz being played..of course who knows how much longer free radio is gonna be around!!

[splanky]

I've forgotten, Jai, where did you say you live?...

[arrr&bee]

D.c.area splanky,and although there are lots of jazz venues not so much on the radio.

[chidrummer]

There is something to your question, arrr&bee. The only radio stations playing "real" jazz here in Chicago are owned by universities. There are still several thriving Jazz clubs that are still institutions in this city. So the music isn't dead, but it's definitely on life support.

[juicefree20]

R&B,

I can't speak for other states but here in the N.Y./N.J. Metro area, that sure appears to be the case.

We lost our last Smooth Jazz station a few years ago & in all honesty, for some years before that, just about every "old school" soul artist who had a new CD [[Anita Baker, Jeffrey Osborne, Maze, Will Downing, etc.), seemed to have their music automatically categorized as "Smooth Jazz".

As Splanky pointed out Jazz radio does exist, but certainly not like when it was in their heyday & certainly not as it existed in the 70s into the 80s.

The same can be said for DooWop, a lot of 60s & 70s Soul & even Pop & Country & Western. As our generation grows older, much of this music is rapidly losing its place on terrestrial radio & has been for awhile.

Again, I can't speak for anywhere else but here in N.Y. & nearby, that sure seems to be the direction things are going & it's been happening for some years now.

A sad commentary on what radio is becoming these days & there seems to be precious few lights at the end of the tunnel.

[stephanie]

The strange thing is that there are TONS of young people discovering jazz on youtube and they love it! Many people go to Sade concerts and living in the DC area I worked at WPFW for a few months [[for free) and its a shame that they have many listeners and their format is not as jazzy as it once was. Jazz is like the Blues you dont hear it on the radio but there are many supporters who go to the festivals and the clubs that exist. I think people are tired of this crap on the radio right now. Im sorry but with the exception of Cee Lo Green, Bruno Mars, and some country artists I cant listen to people on todays stations. There are SO many of these people you cant distinguish who is who or what is what. At least in the day when a new person came out you knew who they were [[Starland Vocal Band, Firefall, Orleans some of the lower tier groups) Even when CW McCall came out with Convoy they said his name they dont announce who is singing the song and sometimes the only way to know is the video. I thought jazz may come into play again when I heard the hit record by Digitable Planets ..Its Cool Like That. My ears perked up in the 90s when this became a hit and then the stuff just faded. Gotta give Sade credit at least she kept the sound alive although it was more pop.

[splanky]

Where Jai lives there is apparently only one jazz radio station and I know where a lot of
people live there in this country there are none but that means less than the fact that if people don't support a music actively why bemoan it's disappearance from their immediate
reach. I also disagree with the statement that jazz is on life support because evey week I'm
hearing new artists , many young adults producing their own spin on both classics and
generating new elements in the genre. Vocalists, pianists, guitarists, horn players,drummers, you name it...Christian Scott, Tia Fuller, Hiromi, Gregory Porter, Lionel
Lueke, Anat Cohen, the list is a very long one, but I'm short of time...Get out of the
museum!....