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WUSF Cancels ‘All Night Jazz’ Radio Show After 56 Years


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I listened to them some during my 1990-91 stay there. Another station(?) had a night show called "Burk's Works" with a guy named Bob Burk (pop you "B"s when you say that for full effect), as well as some show that was on in the afternoon. I have a story about that one, not a happy one, but still, good music with a dumbass DJ is better than no good music at all....I think.

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39 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Saw this news posted to the Jazz Programmer Listserv.  I wouldn't be surprised if WGBH in Boston also eventually pulls the plug on its remaining evening jazz programming with the passing of Eric Jackson.

26 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I listened to them some during my 1990-91 stay there. Another station(?) had a night show called "Burk's Works" with a guy named Bob Burk (pop you "B"s when you say that for full effect), as well as some show that was on in the afternoon. I have a story about that one, not a happy one, but still, good music with a dumbass DJ is better than no good music at all....I think.

What's the story?

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Well, this sounds exciting (not):

>>>>>

WUSF’s General Manager JoAnn Urofsky told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the jazz show “will be replaced with great public radio programs beginning Monday, October 31.” Those programs include the news program “1A Plus,” the current affairs show “As It Happens” and the second hour of “Science Friday,” which highlights entertaining stories about science and technology. “The changes mean WUSF 89.7 will become entirely focused on news and information, including weather and safety, so we can better serve the residents of Florida.”

>>>>>

The article mentions Vic Hall as a frequent guest.  I remember him from the record bashes in New Jersey.  

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22 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Saw this news posted to the Jazz Programmer Listserv.  I wouldn't be surprised if WGBH in Boston also eventually pulls the plug on its remaining evening jazz programming with the passing of Eric Jackson.

WUSF has a sister station, WSMR, which is all-classical.  I wonder if they are considering programming any jazz on there and keeping their main station all news/talk programming.

Edited by Teasing the Korean
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47 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

What's the story?

It was an afternoon show. I was doing thestay-at-home dad thing with our infant daughter and 4 year old son. Baby girl was napping and on comes "Poinciana", the Jamal/Pershing version. Vernell Fournier got good to me and I started dancing all over the room, joined rather rapidly by Young Mr. Sangrey. We danced all the way until the end, after which the announcer came on and said something like, well, I'm not going to be playing any more Ahmad Jamal, that's for sure. Beeline to the phone and gave this guy a WTF? rundown (in some detail) about how important that cut was to jazz in general, and how important it had just been to both my son and myself. He had some mealy-mouth excuse about how he had never heard of Ahmad Jamal before this record, maybe he should listen to some other records besides this one, it sounded like some simplistic pounding to him, maybe he wasn't paying attention, blahblahblah. Blah. I just told him, yeah, dude, keep trying, and hung up.

Maybe I wasn't "nice", but stupidity is like bullying - if you don't stand up to it, it keeps spreading.

There were some good shows on whatever station that was, but they always came from guest hosts, like the one guy who did an hour straight of Booker Ervin and spoked knowledgably. Maybe that was a community-radio station? Seems like all the good stuff was always during a pledge drive.

 

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I remember running into Bob Seymour at IAJE back in the day. If the Jazz program had a paid host, I understand the economics of the decision. But I can't believe that the three programs that are replacing jazz are going to draw any significant audience at that time of day, while it is unlikely any of them are free.

Carriage fees were ridiculous for numerous syndicated shows by the time I retired from WUTC in 2015. We dumped Garrison Keillor a second time, as it was close to $30,000 a year, while many shows were repeats.

Bring back local radio...

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

I remember running into Bob Seymour at IAJE back in the day. If the Jazz program had a paid host, I understand the economics of the decision. But I can't believe that the three programs that are replacing jazz are going to draw any significant audience at that time of day, while it is unlikely any of them are free.

Carriage fees were ridiculous for numerous syndicated shows by the time I retired from WUTC in 2015. We dumped Garrison Keillor a second time, as it was close to $30,000 a year, while many shows were repeats.

Bring back local radio...

I'm guessing the decision was based on audience numbers and fundraising.

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I can tell you that late night programs don’t vary that much in audience numbers, in my experience, while underwriting is a hard sell for that period of the day. Most stations sell drive time, a few specific shows with bigger audiences, then everything together in a random run of schedule that covers all day parts, with no guaranteed shows or time slots. I had 26 years of experience as development director for WUTC and many membership drives. We quit fundraising live on air after 8 pm on weekdays and skipped weekends as well, it wasn’t worth the effort.

Edited by Ken Dryden
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27 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said:

I can tell you that late night programs don’t vary that much in audience numbers, in my experience, while underwriting is a hard sell for that period of the day. Most stations sell drive Tim, a few specific shows with bigger audiences, then everything together in a random run of schedule that covers all day parts, with no guaranteed shows or time slots. I had 26 years of experience as development director for WUTC and many membership drives. We quit fundraising live on air after 8 pm on weekdays and skipped weekends as well, it wasn’t worth the effort.

Interesting.  Ms. TTK has a Saturday radio show from 4 to 6 pm, and in fund drives, hers is one of the highest performing shows.

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In my early days in public radio, my show did great fundraising between 8-10 pm on a weeknight, but once I was moved to Sunday, either afternoon or evening, the numbers were dismal.

Saturday night has the potential for fundraising with right programming, but we had too many talk shows as lead ins and things died after Car Talk.

I am glad Mrs. TTK has a loyal, supportive audience. It would be great if more jazz listeners supported their station.

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Also, 4 to 6 pm is a lot easier time to get an audience vs. 9  pm to 12 midnight. 
 
I used to be amused by the Arbitron (prior to Nielsen’s acquisition) ratings. One quarter my show had a 2000 AQH audience, year the breakdown stated 80% of it was outside the metro area, which seemed unlikely to me. My wife and I filled out surveys awhile back and it is hard to remember exactly when you listened and to what station and how long unless you write it down or add notes to your phone right then. You wonder how many surveys are filled out with best guesses.

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If they're replacing it with syndicated jazz programming to save salary costs, it makes sense. My old station has been automated in the late evenings and all weekend for some time. 

Far too many public radio stations have replaced local jazz programming with pure crap talk reruns...like WGBH.

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