…with all of the rock stations on FM people have given up on AM. I can understand why with all the sports stations and Rush Limbaugh on the stations that aren't sports. Why not try jazz on some of the AM stations? You've got stations going dark because programmers are afraid to go out on the limb. - Joe
Joe’s right about the limb, but not about who’s afraid to go out on it.
Station Owners Not Jazzed
Station owners don’t want to stick their foot out on a niche format like jazz. As popular as jazz may seem to be as a genre, as a radio format it has been traditionally relegated to non-commercial and public radio stations.
Let me put this in perspective. For Fall/2007, Arbitron reported who was listening 12 and older by format.
- Listeners of Adult Contemporary numbered 15:<1 for Jazz. (15 to less than 1)
- Listeners of Contemporary Hits numbered almost 11:<1 for Jazz.
- Listeners of Alternative numbered almost 11:<1 for Jazz.
- Listeners of Country numbered 9:<1 for Jazz.
- Listeners of News/Talk numbered almost 18:<1 for Jazz.
- Listeners of Oldies numbered almost 6:<1 for Jazz.
Jazz Slips Through the Slivers
The support just isn't out there. Of course, one could argue that there might be more support if there were more stations willing to take a risk and program jazz. Is it a chicken-egg scenario?
I don’t think so. First, few people want to hear music on AM which leaves your FMs to carry the burden. Running a commercial FM radio station, even on a skeletal crew, and generating income is a cut-throat experience in today's competitive environment.
Even though most radio stations are content to program to a sliver of a demographic (Men 18-34, Women 25-54, Gnomes 115 – 145, [kidding about the Gnomes] etc.) few owners are willing to take a chance on a format that does not have a better-than-average chance of return.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some successes but jazz does not bring the income streams other formats do.
The good news is jazz is plentiful online. Search for "jazz radio" at your favorite search engine and you’ll be inundated with results. Both XM and SIRIUS Satellite Radio also offer jazz channels. XM has three different offerings and SIRIUS has two.
Jazz Picks - Internet RadioJazz 88 (WBGO.org) - publicly-supported, not-for-profit from Newark, New Jersey
Jazz-radio.fm - based in Marbella on the Costa del Sol in the South of Spain.
KJAZZ 88.1 FM - Jazz from California State University
Smoothjazz.com - Live from Monterey Bay
WWOZ 90.7 FM - Jazz from the French Market in New Orleans. This is a listener-supported, volunteer-operated station.
