Every week we seek out compelling stories about sound and radio and share them on Twitter. Here are some of the most intriguing from the last week: Vote looms on bringing jazz radio back to MHCC“The Mt. Hood Community College Board will vote next week on whether to bring jazz radio station KMHD back to […]
The fourth installment of my Hybrid Highbrow podcast gets at a musical phenomenon that I have wanted to explore for a while: the affinity that the jazz world has for the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. In pursuit of this nexus, I’m serving up some wonderful tracks by Richie Beirach, Tabula Rasa, Oliver Haynes, the Peter […]
Although there hasn’t been much LPFM news this week, the handful of newly granted construction permits represent an interesting cross-section of community groups. As of May 7, there have been 1193 applications granted. The new grantees this week include the following: Community Action Corp (Isabela, Puerto Rico) – This group has as its mission to […]
Bay Area jazz aficionado Jim Bennett has an Indiegogo campaign going to boost his live jazz promotion work. Bennett has been producing acclaimed jazz programs for decades. He was a long time jazz deejay at KPFA-FM in Berkeley and its general manager during some of the station’s turbulent years in the late 1990s. Then he […]
For Super Bowl weekend SiriusXM’s Real Jazz channel 67 is featuring Radio New Orleans with music founded on the roots of jazz from the game’s host city. This special programming was put together in conjunction with community radio WWOZ, which focuses on Jazz and New Orleans heritage music. WWOZ is broadcasting live on Saturday from […]
There are reports that the license for Bethany College radio station WVBC-FM is in the process of being sold to Pittsburgh Public Media for use as a jazz station. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The nonprofit Pittsburgh Public Media (PPM), which owns a local online jazz radio station, has signed an agreement […]
Jazz fans upset about programming changes at Boston public radio station WGBH have planned a Jazz Funeral for 8:00 tonight in front of WGBH headquarters at 1 Guest Street in Brighton, Massachusetts. Musicians will play jazz songs appropriate to the occasion. According to the event invitation on Facebook: “WGBH Radio’s management has recently demolished its […]
Editors’ note: Since the publication of this article the smooth jazz format has returned to the Chicago airwaves. Read this December 31, 2014 update for more details. My post about the demise of Chicago smooth jazz station Smooth 87.7 two weeks ago continues to gather comments lamenting the station’s passing. Many of the commenters express […]
NPR asked its jazz listeners to rate their favorite songs, and gleaned from those responses a list of the top ten Jazz songs of all time[1]. What is interesting about the lists is not that they can establish what is “best,” whatever that might mean, or what is most popular (sales records, etcetera, show that). Looking at […]
A survey of 505 public radio stations from 2001 through 2010 indicates that a fifth of them abandoned classical music formats during those years. Many also let go of jazz, and even more discarded world music during the same time period. The statistics were submitted to the Federal Communications Commission by National Public Radio in […]
