What is the state of Jazz Radio where you live?

[xricci]

Be sure to read AAJ's archived discussion topic: "What is the state of Jazz Radio where you live?" at http://www.allaboutjazz.com/threads/radio.htm.

[jazzpianoteach]

The state here in LA of jazz radio is that we have
KJJZ (formerly KLON Long Beach) for straight ahead
and 94.7 the Wave for smooth jazz.
Best thing about the web is that you can listen to
almost every great jazz station on your computer so you are not limited in any way as to what you can listen to if you have a computer. Many of my friends overseas listen to American jazz stations while sitting at the desks and I know a few people in LA that listen to nothing but WBGO on the east coast because they love the programming so much.
If you click on the link I am sticking in this post, you will see about 20 jazz web radio stations you can check out right away that offer many different styles of jazz.
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Music/Sound_Files/MP3/Streaming/Stations/Jazz/?il=1

Happy Listening!

[andreimatorin]

I live in Boston, and surprisingly there really isn't any all-day jazz radio (at least that i know of). I'm really disappointed, but at least i found some good internet radios... but it's not the same.

[Coypu]

I live in sweden and there is no jazz radio where I live but I have found KCUF's internet radio to be great. The Goats jazz show is excellent and worth checking out. He has a great death metal show too which is even better. www.kcuf.org

[scalle]

Here in Bogota, Colombia

91.9 Javeriana Estereo has 4 hours of jazz daily and 2 in the weekends. There are 2 hour of Latin Jazz a Week and 2 hours of Avant Garde (the most experimental stuff). [University Radio]

89.9 U.N. Radio has 1 hour of jazz from monday to friday,and one hour on weekends, this show is based on jazz history. [University Radio]

107.9 H.J.U.T Has two hour of jazz weekly. [University Radio]


99.9 and 96.5 Radio Difusora Nacional has a 1 hour show from monday to friday that air two times in the day. [Government Radio]


94.5 La F.M. Has one hour of smooth jazz an cool on weekends. [Commercial Radio].

89.9 HJCK Has the oldest show more than 40 years half a an hour daily. [Commercial Radio].

Non of this shows have the support of the record industry. Its basically what the programmers can buy or receive from the artists and independent labels from U.S. Javeriana Estereo has a significant collection thanks to the help of local stores, and R. Rodriguez from H.J.C.K collects since the 1940's.

[kpg]

In Chicago the local college stations are programming and leading the charge in standards and new artist. NPR does jazz 8pm to 5am. There is 1 smooth jazz station on fm and 1 straight ahead on am (with gospel and blues)....again, college stations for years have put out the music

[gregk]

its almost nonexistent in ann arbor. other than EMU's npr station, i wouldnt hear jazz on the radio. and thats only for a small part of the day. really sad. there must a thousand sound-alike rock stations though. same old crap

[BeBop]

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the jazz radio industry is basically dead. KCSM, "The Bay Area's Jazz Station" has probably the worst case of artistic rigor mortis ever. Nothing but smooth, pop, female vocalists and mainstream. (I've really nothing against some of this music, but there's certainly nothing challenging, ear-opening or taste-expanding about it. I, for one, listen to the radio for something new. The rest is old news; and I don't listen to the news station for old news.)

There are a few stations (KPOO, for instance) that do a little exploring.

Oh yeah, and we get dreadful KLON re-broadcasts part of the day.

[msvb60]

Here in Denver we have a smooth jazz station, that I never listen to and we have KUVO, which is about the only station I listen to. I'm listening now. KUVO is a great station as it's all jazz and on the weekends plays a bit of latin and international. I think my getting into Jazz is partly the fault :) of KUVO. I'll be paying them back with a donation next time they hold a pledge drive.

:cool:

kuvo.org they stream their broadcast too!

[jazzcook]

It seems that jazz radio(real jazz, not that smooth crap) is dying. When we had our jazz renaissance, in the early eighties, that resurgence did not include jazz radio. Many young players came into the fold at this time, but radio suffered for whatever reason. My experiences have shown me that the only "good" jazz radio can be found on the coasts, both east and west. Those stations that you do find will be public stations. It seems that the general public is gun-shy about not only jazz radio, but jazz clubs as well. Sad state of affairs we have here in the home of this great, classical music!

[jimac51]

On the surface,there would seem to be an abundant of riches here in the Lehigh Valley,Pa. A couple of college stations do an embarassing job of presenting jazz. A local NPR station has two hours in the evening. Nearby,a Scranton station on translators has an hour or so(a very good version of free-form takes up the remainder of the evening). Temple University goes straight ahead jazz from 6PM to6AM,the daytime devoted to classical music. But if it's drive time and I'm stuck in my car,it's time to pull the portable CD player out and ignore'em all because they are ignoring me. I did some volunteer broadcasting over the years and graduallly felt that I was playing my record collection for my own benefit. With cable, satellite dishes,web stations,etc. it has become to fragmented to really matter. And to think,I started listening to jazz as one of the people who lit up Joel Dorn's phone at WHAT-FM in the '60s and remember Michael Cuscuna programming from WXPN a few years later. A favorite program on Temple's WRTI is The Historical Approach to the Positive Music with Harrison Ridley Jr.,Sunday evenings. He loves this music and his enthusiasm pours over to the listener. Yes indeedy!

[champjams]

Well..here in Oklahoma we have no jazz radio at all! LOL. Not hard to believe right? But I really enjoy listening to WBGO online...as well as Jazzradio.net from Berlin. The show from Berlin has a little better programming I think, sometimes. But WBGO features great music on Sunday mornings (like 6 am).

[Stix]

Not much Jazz radio here since WUDC sold out 3 or 4 years ago. WPFW 89.3fm is about all that's left. Drive time jazz, m-f has pretty good music but there's way to much talk and far left politics from Pacifica Radio. Weekends on PFW are Afro-Cuban and other island stuff. Not my kinda thing. There area a couple of "smooth jazz stations" but that's not jazz to me.

Out of Baltimore, WYPR 88.1fm has good jazz m-f 8pm 'til midnight. Sadly it often gets bumped for news and politics. I'd think The Duke's hometown would have more jazz friendly radio. At any rate it's not very powerful and has a very short range.

[PiousBionicus]

Over in england, we have an awful jazz radio station! It is a big pile of sh*t, it doesn't even play jazz! If we want jazz, we have to listen to BBC Radio 2 for only an hour a week! Ah well, I have plenty of Oscar Peterson CDs that keep me going.

[Metheniac]

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we are very fortuneate to have a really great jazz station: KCSM 91.1 is really cool. It is mostly traditional straight up jazz, but they also highlight latin, world and other modalities. They never play the Kenny G stuff, and have really great interviews and special programming. We lost a wonderful station - KJAZZ a few years ago and KCSM is a welcomed replacement. We are also the home of SF Jazz. Twice a year intense music!
Take in the music whenever you can!

[jazzcritic]

On a local level, I'm it! I do two hours every Sunday evening; the show's been on since 1987. Bob Parlocha's late night show is available seven days a week in the wee hours beginning at midnight, and there's a late night series on a commercial station which I've never bothered to listen to. I'm never caught up listening to the CDs and LPs I keep acquiring, so listening to other's broadcasts doesn't cross my mind.

[Spoon]

In NH, the local college radio station has a show once a week, but that's it. I have to resort to internet radio and my own collection for jazz.

[3pointdeli]

overall it's awful. here in atlanta the "jazz" station plays mostly "smooth jazz" and putrid r&b (of course the only difference between those two is that one has singing and the other doesn't). they play a little bit of what i would call jazz (maybe one hour per day), but not enough to call themselves "the jazz voice of the city."

the college stations do a decent job with their daily ("just jazz" 9 am-noon 91.1) and weekly ("the blue note" noon-2pm sundays 88.5) shows, but there really needs to be a full-time jazz station that gets it right...IN EVERY CITY.

[Old Pa]

The Twin Cities jazz radio format is served only by NPR (National Proletariat Radio :p ). The station with the most jazz is staffed by prole DJs who are painfully inexperienced amateurs working from a meager play list. The special programs represent esoteric jazz music interests without general acceptance. The NPR music station plays a syndicated Saturday night program hosted by a sleazy old white guy who wants to impress the listener with how "hip" he is and how many "hip" musicians he can get on the phone. It's really beyond bad. :mad:

[ma³goœka]

In Poland there's ONE jazz station, but it's available onle in the capital. There used to be great jazz programmes in 'Trójka' - public radio, but now they're all replaced by pop music. It's silly, becouse it is said that changes are coused by the fact that young people - main listeners don't like jazz. Of course it's nonsense, but now the only source of jazz in Poland are internet radio stations.

[markvi]

wrti from temple ujiversity 6pm to 6 am, wvia from scranton about an hour a day, wjff from jeffersonville n.y. one night a week and occassional other shows. and if all is right in the world (no sun spots, no leaves on trees, no low clouds, and the gods deem it) wgbo 88.3 the great jazz radio from newark n.j.

[Bongo Boy]

I believe all the 'smooth jazz' stations in the US are fed from the same pipeline connected to a single 5000 gal barrel somewhere in Cincinatti. The same barrel is used for pickling cucumbers (in the winter) and for storing hydraulic dumpster squeezings (in the summer).

Here in Colorado Springs my spouse and I often look at each other in astonishment when indescribably vapid ilk comes over the station here, and we wonder who decided it was jazz. I'm still happy it's available though, and they usually give me enough advance warning of a Kenny G set that I can turn to another station. :D

[Joel]

two words, Clear Channel.

The US behemoth that smoooooothened out Jazz Radio. I have this feeling that it has a ripple effect to other countries too.

I often say in other boards that, are the US listeners too stressed out that they need to be bombarded by smooth snooze in order to relax?

Dont relax! Life is to precious to waste by idling away on easy listening tunes. If you want to relieve stress, swim laps in a pool.

Our station here in Sydney Australia, of which the one that can be received in my radio is community based (meaning the signal is not that great either) but has an eclectic programming, mostly mainstream or traditional jazz and thats the time I listen to them, them they've got pop music too and at times contemporary jazz of which I then turn to my own collection since i have more to choose from and are heaps better.

[markvi]

an article in the paper says that jazz funding at npr has been drastically cut. so if you are relying on national programming from npr for your jazz fix, you may find your local public broadcasting station jazz free in 2003. it's time to open up the wallets and support jazz funding when those annoying pledge drives come around, because the only jazz you may get could be that provided and produced by your local station. i don't know about you, but i find this alarming.

[clifton]

Jazz radio? Yes, I remember it well. Here in the Philadelphia area we get smooth jazz WJZZ and 6PM-6AM jazz on WRTI, the Temple University station. A little jazz on Drexel's WKDU, not much else. When I'm not listening to CD's I listen to the jazz channel on Music Choice, a digital music service provided by Comcast Cable. They play excellent stuff, mostly straight ahead with plenty of focus on new releases. You don't get much avant garde, however. I don't think jazz radio has much of a future in corporate America.

[markvi]

i checked out the schedule for the international association of jazz educators convention this week in toronto and noticed that they are devoting several seminars to jazz radio and how it can be improved. it would be nice if someone had a workable solution, but i don't see it happening in this cultural environment.

[jazzypaul]

I'd like to think things are pretty cool jazz radio wise here in chicago...:cool:

[joesilver]

Here in New York City, ostensibly a jazz mecca, we have one full-time jazz station: WBGO, which actually broadcasts from Newark, New Jersey. We also have a unique treasure in Columbia University's station, WKCR. While not a full-time jazz station, it does interrupt its regular programming several times a year to honor noted jazz musicians with birthday marathon airings of their music. Unfortunately, since September 11, 2001, this station's transmitter has been moved to a temporary location and its signal strength has been severely restricted.

Probably the most noted personality on WKCR is Phil Schaap, who, in addition to being a jazz DJ, is also a lecturer at Columbia University, and has been responsible for the sonic restoration of many historical jazz reissues, including the Columbia Records Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Hot Sevens box set. He hosts a daily morning program called Bird Flight, devoted to the music of Charlie Parker, and a Saturday evening program called Traditions in Swing. Schaap's approach is far more scholarly than any other DJ I've heard in any musical idiom, and he has a truly encyclopedic knowledge of jazz history. WKCR also has daily midday and evening jazz programming.

Both of these stations also have streaming audio on the Web. All in all, while jazz might not be as pervasive here in NYC as one might expect, we're still pretty lucky!

[liamw]

I've been listening or trying to listen to jazz in the NYC area since I was a teenager in the early 60s. There were no full time jazz stations, though jazz was regularly & frequently broadcast on WBAI, WNCN, and WRVR -- which later became almost a fulltime station, and several college stations (including WKCR). With WBGO playing jazz (nearly) fulltime, and WKCR still providing a more scholarly approach and also providing a forum for some of the more adventurous players who don't get much hearing on BGO, jazz radio has been better in the last several years than it ever was.

[joesilver]

Originally posted by liamw
...jazz radio has been better in the last several years than it ever was.

Agreed! In my last post on this subject, I forgot to mention WFMU, which also streams on the Web as well as maintaining vast archives of previously-broadcast programs on its Web site. It's not strictly a jazz station, but rather is one of the few independent free-form stations in the country. The DJs seemingly have complete freedom to play whatever they want. A few of them occasionally play some jazz, although from what I've observed, the station seems to have a bias toward pre-war jazz (e.g., Django, Billie Holliday, Fats Waller). There seems to be kind of a "record collector" mentality on this station, sort of fetishizing old music mainly because it's old.

One big gap in NYC's jazz radio programming is, for lack of a better word, fusion. (Not smooth jazz, mind you.) I know that "fusion" is a distasteful word to many; perhaps someone can suggest a better term for the kind of compositionally adventurous instrumental music created by the likes of Michael Brecker, Allan Holdsworth, Wayne Shorter, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Wayne Krantz, the late Don Grolnick, and others. At any rate, there doesn't seem to be a broadcast station here where one can hear this kind of music, except perhaps occasionally on the mostly dire CD101 (the local smooth jazz outlet - which is probably exactly like the local smooth jazz station in every other market, thanks to deregulation).

[raveniuz]

as i see, the trouble of absence jazz in radio broadcast is world wide. firstly i thought, that it is just problem of my country (slovakia). here is now special jazz radio, and almost no jazz at all in radio. just the official state Slovak radio has some weekly jazz programs... and internet is here too expensive to listen whole day net radio :( hm...

[jazzypaul]

Actually, deregulation has nothing to do with why smooth jazz radio is in the state that it is. It all has to do with the fact that the masses are asses, and the masses would rather listen to Kenny G, Boney James and Warren Hill than Trane, Jimmy Smith and Ella. I think radio in the 50's, 60's and 70's had it right: play good music. There were stations that played jazz next to pop music because it was jazz that could connect with an audience. And the thing is, that jazz still exists, and all you have to do to see that is look no further than the 1,000 and 2,000 seat halls that are filled by Soulive, Medeski, Martin and Wood and even Norah Jones. No, it's not jazz in the traditional Hard Bop sense of the word, but it's a start. Because, let's face it, you could easily segue MMW and the Beastie Boys, or Soulive and Beck. When people hear that jazz isn't some alien music that has nothing to do with what they're into, they might dig deeper. But, what do I know?

[joesilver]

Originally posted by jazzypaul
Actually, deregulation has nothing to do with why smooth jazz radio is in the state that it is.

I have to disagree, respectfully. However, I'm not referring so much to the aesthetic validity of the music played on smooth jazz stations (some good stuff does get played occasionally, after all) as to the general blandness of the radio format. This applies to stations in all genres, not just smooth jazz.

Owing partly to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, more stations are now concentrated in fewer hands. As a result, radio has become homogenized. A "lite FM" station in one market will sound virtually indistinguishable from a similar station in another market - because they're almost invariably owned by the same company! There are almost no distinctive "radio personalities" anymore. (I don't count the likes of Howard Stern, who is almost certainly little more than a cash cow to his employers.) The few that can be found are mainly on college stations or public radio. Commercial radio is programmed by suits, advised by consultants who probably couldn't recognize good music or even snap their fingers on 2 and 4 if their lives depended on it. The "DJs" are often not even live.


It all has to do with the fact that the masses are asses, and the masses would rather listen to Kenny G, Boney James and Warren Hill than Trane, Jimmy Smith and Ella.

There's some truth in this, but I think it has a lot to do with marketing. People are force-fed insipid music, so they eventually start thinking it's what they want. I admit I might be hopelessly naive and idealistic about this, however.


I think radio in the 50's, 60's and 70's had it right: play good music.

I think there's a danger of nostalgia for a "golden age" that never really existed. I remember radio in the '60s and '70s. It's true that stations tended to play a wider variety of music then, but I think there's no doubt that station owners, then as now, were mainly motivated by the desire to make a profit.

A station that was mentioned in a previous post is WRVR, which was New York's "jazz" station in the '70s. By the time of its demise, WRVR was well on its way to a bastardized format that would be called "smooth jazz" today, and the DJs were obviously chosen more for their smoo-o-o-oth voices than for their knowledge of jazz. (I remember one DJ botching Bix Beiderbecke's name in a commercial announcement; he had obviously never heard of him.)


When people hear that jazz isn't some alien music that has nothing to do with what they're into, they might dig deeper.

I think we're in agreement on this. It's tough, though, to get people to discard their prejudices.

[liamw]

It's true that, in the US at least, the absence of jazz on the radio has everything to do with the terrible state of radio in general. Even classical stations have been chaging formats or watering down their programming. Much of this goes back to the introduction of FM stereo in the mid60s, when shoestring FM stations found themselves to be valuable commodities & couldn't afford the competition or the temptation to sell out. Because jazzfans aren't seen as major contributors to the commercial economy (though I expect we all drive cars and drink beer and do other things that advertisers are interested in), jazz will always have to rely on public and other nonprofit radio stations to get heard. So if you've got a public station in your town that plays jazz, better support it if you can. Since most now are also online, you'll be helping out jazz lovers around the world ... though as an earlier post noted, maybe not as much as we think.

[bombastic]

:rolleyes: well, i'm in naples, fl. and late at night on npr there's some decent jazz. other than that, nothing but smooth sh#t! i grew up in n.y.c. in the '70's when wrvr was on the air and they actually were aware of what jazz was. you heard coltrane, davis,monk,mingus et al. on the radio in those days! now we get kenny geek and dave koz baby food passing for jazz! and it is not jazz! it's crap!:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[ppjazz]

With so-called "real" jazz garnering only about a 2.8 radio market-share these days who could expect that it would be widely present these days.

In Central PA we are treated to Temple University's WRTI programming that carries classical from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM and jazz the rest of the time.

It has been my experience that more often-than-not jazz fans will normally moan about wanting jazz to have more of a radio voice. But when it comes down to it they do little that is meaningful in supporting stations like WRTI (on NPR) when they have campaigns required by law to keep the station going. A percentage of their money must come from the public. But their appeals seemed to fall on deaf ears for much of the time as they sstruggled to meet their financial goals. It made me think of how "hypocrisy" seems to go hand-in-hand with many so-called supporters of "real" jazz.

Originally WRTI played jazz 24-hours a day but when they reached out asking for financial support from their estimated 250,000 listener audience, only about 1% of this audience would contribute any money. So when another classical music station went on the block, they gobbled it up knowing that classical music lovers always come up with more money than their jazz counterparts. And it has worked out that way since they ave included classical music.

Fortunately, there are no so-called "smooth" jazz stations in our area so when not listening to WRTI, I have equipped my home, car and office so that I do not really have to listen to the radio to hear the music I love. As far as complaints about WRTI, I have always felt the station played too "narrow" a selection of jazz, that this may well have contributed to the general lack of support for the station. Without descending into the "smooth" music market, they could surely play more Pat Metheny, Yellowjackets, Dave Weckl, Weather Report, Jean Luc Ponty, etc. music as a means of attracting listeners.

But what about the rest of you here? I'm not opening this can of worms to create controversy here, yet so often its very easy to "talk" about music.

[3pointdeli]

joesilver said: "I think there's a danger of nostalgia for a "golden age" that never really existed. I remember radio in the '60s and '70s. It's true that stations tended to play a wider variety of music then, but I think there's no doubt that station owners, then as now, were mainly motivated by the desire to make a profit."

sure they want to make a profit, who doesn't? but let's face it, what profit means to businesses now is not the same as what it once did. nowadays everything is a short term money-grab and is completely out of control. (look at concert ticket prices from just five years ago and look at them now.)

[bombastic]

:o at this point, i haven't even listened to the radio in years except very briefly. i just buy the c.d.s of the artists i want to hear. i don't judge the materiel on when it was released,but the quality of the music. if it was recorded in 1935 or 1995, who cares, if the jazz swings or is cool, let it play! popularity means nothing except to music industry pinheads! look at the current pop charts, it is embarrassing! i'm ashamed of americas lack of taste in music,art and cultural refinement.:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Frank Mullen]

60 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island there are 4 hours of mainstream jazz available on Monday morning from 10 AM to 2PM(WPKN @ 89.5M from Bridgeport,CT). That is about it unless one has a directional antenna and a good tuner to pick up WBGO in Jersey or WKCR at Columbia University in NY.

[alsa]

I got hooked on jazz in the late 80s-early 90s when I listened to Willis Conover's show on the Voice of America. He was the host there for over 40 years and is a legend (to me at least). http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/conover-obit.html

There's also a weekly show on the Russian language international station Radio Liberty http://svoboda.org

Here in Detroit the NPR has some jazz shows, but I really like the weekend late night-early morning show on 107.5 The Rhythm.

But most of my jazz music now comes from Internet stations. One of my favorites is http://classicjazzcorner.com

[gregk]

Originally posted by alsa
Here in Detroit the NPR has some jazz shows, but I really like the weekend late night-early morning show on 107.5 The Rhythm.


can you get WEMU, 89.1 where you are? Its the NPR out of EMU in Ypsilanti. They are jazz and blues and NPR programming (mostly music)

[It Should be You]

Listeners more knowledgeable than me in the Washington D.C. area can correct me, but I think there's a good station, WPFW, weekday mornings and evening drive time. But it's best on Sundays: a stringed instrument jazz show called G Strings, and Sounds of Surprise from 5-7. On off nights I have heard Latin jazz too.

Still, DC was dealt a blow with the collapse of WDCU a few years ago. The number is now a C-Span station!

Apparently I am missing a lot on radio. Some of the artists mentioned so glowingly here, Dave Douglass, David Ware, etc., are not really featured on radio here as far as I know. Well, I don't listen all the time, so I might be wrong.

My general impression is that radio is under a lot of pressure to homogenize. Shoot, I grew up in a small town in rural Louisiana and could hear Django Reinhardt Saturday nights! Hard to conceive that happening now!

Well, just name a musical genre well served by radio!

[gdogus]

Our local NPR station broadcasts "Jazz with Bob Parlocha"(a nationally syndicated show) from midnight til 5 a.m., Mon-Sat. That's it for jazz radio in Chattanooga.

[chuckyd4]

Speaking of which....

I'm trying to get more people to check out my radio show, which happens four times a week. So for today only, I'm going to replay a show all afternoon and evening - it's about 3 hours long and on a loop.

You can check it out here (http://www.sudden-thoughts.com/radio), and take a look at the normal schedule as well.

You don't need any special software or anything, just click on the link on the page above. Thanks for listening!

[solarjazzband]

In Holland, there's an 'alternative' channel, so not-commercial. Often there's very cool modern jazz. And soon there will be a new North Sea Jazz Channel :)

[LAL]

Sad to say there ain't any jazz radio stations here in Malaysia. The only thing close to jazz played on radio is as background muzak for commercials.

Btw, where can I locate the list of internet jazz stations on this website? Thanks.

[Frank Mullen]

LAL-- just to begin with-heres my sample.I'm sure that lots of other people here will add their favorites.

Riverwalk: the Jim Cullum band is a very good traditional band, but they have guest musicians from all parts of the musical spectrum. They change programs on a weekly basis.

Amazon: This is a commercial internet store that sells all kinds of stuff including a vast selection of jazz cd's. They allow free short sampling of most of them and you should be able to get a good idea of pretty nearly everybody's style ,past and present.

The BBC: Lots of jazz of all sorts that should get you started.I'm sure other members here will suggest many more websites.

Best of luck.

[jazzchick]

Indy has a "smooth" jazz station too... 100.9 WYJZ... but the best place i have found for the "old school" stuff is on 88.7 the local public radio from noon-4pm.... and then the other public radio is on 90.1 that one plays "nothing but the blues" on Sat afternoons...

[wjd]

In Kansas City we have some limited jazz programming on the public radio station in Lawrence, Kansas, 35 miles to the west, and on a community radio station. There is no jazz on commercial radio.
We used to have a lot of jazz programming on the Kansas City public radio station, but it has all disappeared in the past three years. Jazz used to be on for about 3-4 hours each weeknight. Then the show was reduced to two hours on Sunday afternoon only. Then the DJ started doing the show "the way he wanted to" and turned it into a free flowing altermative rock/country & western show. The ratings went way up compared to what they had been when it was a jazz show. He was congratulated in the local daily newspaper in a big story, for his programming triumph.

[Quatermass]

In the UK we have the so-called JazzFM radio station. It's so brilliant you can't hear anywhere expect London and around Manchester, which I suppose is an advantage because only seem to play two hours of Jazz a day, the rest of the day is taken up by bad Soul Musi and the Smooth sh*t. Except at weekends when we get a two hour show presented by campbell burnap which looks at bebop, swing etc and Ramsey Campbell's Legends of Jazz.
It's perhaps telling that up north JazzFM is renaming itself Smooth FM.

Other then that we have odds and sods on BBC Radio 2 and 3. Humphrhey Lyttelton hosts a regualr show called the Best of Jazz which is quite good. Radio 2 has various little jazz series which are broadcast differnt times in the year.
BBC Radio 3 had four Jazz programmes which frequently get cancelled for extended coverage of live classical concerts.

[gregk]

Originally posted by wjd
We used to have a lot of jazz programming on the Kansas City public radio station, but it has all disappeared in the past three years. Jazz used to be on for about 3-4 hours each weeknight. Then the show was reduced to two hours on Sunday afternoon only. Then the DJ started doing the show "the way he wanted to" and turned it into a free flowing altermative rock/country & western show. The ratings went way up compared to what they had been when it was a jazz show. He was congratulated in the local daily newspaper in a big story, for his programming triumph.

This is so sad. No wonder I am so cynical about the general population

[ethan]

Here in Boston we don't have any full time jazz, but a lot of stations do some jazz. My station does jazz 5am-1pm, a fairly eclectic mix depending on the DJ, and we webcast whrb.org

[mickey/lynn]

Originally posted by alsa
I got hooked on jazz in the late 80s-early 90s when I listened to Willis Conover's show on the Voice of America. He was the host there for over 40 years and is a legend (to me at least). http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/conover-obit.html

There's also a weekly show on the Russian language international station Radio Liberty http://svoboda.org

Here in Detroit the NPR has some jazz shows, but I really like the weekend late night-early morning show on 107.5 The Rhythm.

But most of my jazz music now comes from Internet stations. One of my favorites is http://classicjazzcorner.com Hey!! How could you not mention Ed Love's program on WDET?? He comes on M-F 7pm-10pm- He's been around for a loooong time, he plays a mix of great jazz(he REALLY favors hardbop and Horace Silver, Art Blakey Coltrane etc...) but he mixes in a lot of new music also (David Hazeltine, Eric Anderson, Bradford etc..) He tells wonderful stories about the many jazz musicians he's met over the years (he's been a staple in Detroit area music for 40 years). He also tells you who the artist is, record label, and the name of the song, unlike that a-hole on 107.5 "the rhythmmmmmm". He will play 12 songs straight---and not tell you who sang it, played it or nothing!! He must have went to the Miles Davis school for dee-jays!! I know, his playlist is listed on the radio stations website, but he should tell you after the 5th or 6th song who the artists are...

For anyone interested in listening to Mr. Love via the internet, you can check him out at: wdetfm.org. :smokin:

[drhorner]

I'm new the the AAJ fora, and it's funny that my broadcast (http://www.classicjazzcorner.com) has already been mentioned (by Alsa). How humbling.

I'm from Kansas City, and every bit of what WJD said regarding KC is true. That's one of the reasons why I decided to start my own webcast 4 years ago. I'm happy to say that since I have moved to Portland, my local jazz opportunities are much, much better (sort of a surprise, given the rich heritage I enjoyed in KC).

It seems that I can turn on our local station, KMHD 89.1, here at nearly any time of afternoon and evening and find fantastic jazz. For example, check out this amazing programming grid (http://www.kmhd.org/programs/grid.php).

Happy sounds,

Peder