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#1
12-28-2010, 08:15 PM
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Indicators of format change, radio
I didn't want to clutter up the KVI 570 thread.
We had a nice smooth jazz format on WJZL near Lansing, MI for about 5 years. Then they switched to Christmas music full time. Now they're doing "Classic Hits". I guess the real indicator of a format change to come was that the station was sold and the call letters changed to WLMI. They received a lot of negative comments about the impending change on their forum. Guess they didn't want to listen. Now I don't want to listen to them. 
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#2
12-28-2010, 08:46 PM
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Quote:
 A longshot for SJ might be WSRW, which runs SJ on a HD-2 subchannel, likely commercial free. http://maps.google.com/?q=http://www...IDS%26state=MI Another longshot, WDZH HD-2: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://www...OIT%26state=MI http://ibiquity.com/hd_radio/hdradio...9d#stationlist jr Last edited by jr_tech; 12-28-2010 at 09:19 PM. Reason: added WDZH HD-2
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#3
12-28-2010, 09:36 PM
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HD-2 sub-channel? I've been blissfully ignoring the HD radio transition. Guess I can no more.
The problem with losing WJZL for me is that I would listen to it on my Sylvania combination console. Listening to the smooth jazz took me back in time to when my dad would work on a project in the basement rec-room and listen to an FM jazz station on the Sylvania. That will be more difficult to do now. I was thinking of getting an AM transmitter for my Majestic 71. Now I guess I've have to get a FM transmitter, along with an HD capable FM receiver, if I want to listen to smooth jazz stations on the Sylvania. Well, I guess I could listen to it on AM also. The AM receiver section has pretty good fidelity. But if I do that I have to find a place to put the Zenith Wavemagnet antenna. The Sylvania needs an external loop and the Wavemagnet has just the right inductance. John Quote:
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#4
12-28-2010, 09:46 PM
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It is sad, but also related to the Seattle thread, the passing of another Smooth Jazz station on 98.9, KWJZ
http://www.examiner.com/smooth-conte...o-station-gone jr Last edited by jr_tech; 12-28-2010 at 09:52 PM.
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#5
12-28-2010, 10:05 PM
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Back in the '80's, there were a couple of smooth jazz/easy listening stations that my parents listened to. One was WHER 103.7 out of Hattiesburg and the other was WLIN 95.something out of Jackson. I think WHER dropped the format sometime in the early '90's, switched call letters, was sold a time or two, and now plays hard rock/heavy metal music. I think the old WHER call letters are now used by a Hattiesburg station at 99.3 that plays classic country. I think WLIN was sold in the late '80's and was turned in to a top 40 station. There was also a station in Atlanta, WPCH, that was an easy listening station that we would listen to when we'd visit relatives there. When we all went to SC a few months ago, we found an easy listening station there that sounded like what I remember hearing back in the '80's. That was the first time I've heard such a station in over 20 years.
As far as stations changing formats, the ones around here usually give no warning. It's one format one day and another format the next day. WYLS is an excellent example of this. They had local veteran DJ's that played a nice variety of old music that the FM stations wouldn't touch. At the end of one broadcast day, the new owner called a staff meeting, informed the DJ's that they were changing to black gospel the next day, and that their services were no longer needed. The DJ's didn't even have a chance to inform their listeners what was about to happen or to say goodbye. The only exception would probably be WMOX, a local AM station that went on the air in '46. They were a rock station during the '60's and most of the '70's. They changed to country in '78 with some rock and pop music on the weekends. I remember one weekend program called "vaults of gold" that played oldies from the '40's through the '70's. Around '89-'90, they started carrying Rush Limbaugh. Over the next few years, they continued to replace the music with more and more talk shows and I knew at any moment that the music could soon end. Finally, in the mid '90's, all music was discontinued and they announced that they were now 100% news/talk. I guess you can say that I saw that format change about 5 years before it happened. And, I don't see the format changing back to music any time soon, if ever. In fact, I was complaining to someone I know who works there. I was told that back in the early '90's, their ratings were in the tank and it was either switch to a format that would sell or go belly up.
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