Smooth Jazz lost another station this weekend. Detroit's WVMV, which had been around since December of 1995, switched to a Top 40 format this past Friday.
The ownership of WVMV, CBS Radio, was quick to put a positive spin on the format change, issuing a statement on its website saying, “new media and new technologies have given us the chance to still keep this [smooth jazz] programming on the air.”
So, how will the format be kept on the air? According to the website: “Get an HD receiver, and you'll still hear us.” Without an HD receiver, though, the only way to listen to WVMV will be their audio stream. And, be it HD radio or internet, it'll be just the remnants of WVMV, because the station no longer features a full complement of announcers.
Moreover, when it comes to a radio format, do you know what being shifted over to HD radio means? It's the equivalent of “You get to keep your job, but we're transferring you to Nome, Alaska.” As a format, when you're sent off to HD land, it's all but over for you--HD is where radio formats go to die. So, “still being available on the air on HD radio” isn't exactly the gift you might think it is.
This isn't as much an indictment of how corporate radio operates as it is just another example of how little the Smooth Jazz fan means to them when it comes to over-the-air radio. They're in the business of making money, and they obviously don't believe Smooth Jazz is a moneymaker anymore. It's as simple as that.
Thankfully, we have internet radio riding to our rescue. As conventional over-the-air radio stations have dropped the Smooth Jazz format, internet radio has rushed in to fill the gap. As a result, Smooth Jazz fans have never had more and better choices than they do right now—on the internet. Think about it. Just a few years ago, if you were a listener of WVMV (or, here in Chicago, WNUA), that was the only station you could turn to for Smooth Jazz. If they were playing songs that weren't your cup of tea, well, you had no other station to switch to. These days, by listening on the internet, you give yourself choices. Lots of them. Twelve channel choices for Smooth Jazz here at ChiTownSmoothJazz.com, for example.
So I say, let Big Radio wipe Smooth Jazz off the face of the over-the-air radio dial. The listening's better—much better—here on the internet.
I agree, Corporate does not feel Smooth Jazz has a solid listening base and sent the music and its fans down the drain.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they will make excuses even when they are wrong.
Thank goodness for smooth Jazz on the internet!