Smooth Jazz loses another major market

[AmpedNow]

This time in Houston.

The original station...

http://www.khjz.com/

...is now CHR.

http://hothitshouston.com/

Sounds pretty good.

But I think Smooth jazz is officially dead as a radio format.

[AmpedNow]

Just noticed the XM/Sirius merger story in their website's RSS news ticker...

Oh well...

[jag]

So, what we're saying is that the same music that has been played on "smooth jazz" stations will now be played under some other equally inane label on some station with equally bland programming?

Yeah...that's progress.

[AmpedNow]

Oh, it's worse than that...

When the station flipped, it invited listeners to "help them build a new radio station by telling them what they want to hear". We all know this is a bunch of patronizing bull crap to make listeners fell special, for the most part.

It's clear by listening for a few minutes that this station was well-researched before it came on the air. They're leaning rhythmic, to undercut the younger demo of the existing CHR station in Houston.

Plus, the logo and imaging is reminiscent of another CHR that we are more familiar with...

Overall, though, it sounds like a true CHR should. I just think it's disingenuous to invite listeners to "build" an already over-researched station.

See, Smooth Jazz is so dead, we can't even stay on topic here...

[Dr. Whiplash]

But I think Smooth jazz is officially dead as a radio format.

I'm not so sure - ratings in at least a few markets show it doing pretty well. WNWV Cleveland, for instance. I really have no idea why but I can say that WNWV sticks to more instrumental and legitimately jazz-oriented music than the ultra-light-soft-rock-jazzlike AC mush increasingly heard elsewhere.

[Arp2]

San Diego and Chicago immediately come to mind....