jazzfm.com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| jazzfm.com | |
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| Broadcast area | West Central Scotland International (Internet) |
|---|---|
| Slogan | For real jazz heads |
| Frequency | 11C - ScoreGLASGOW (DAB) |
| First air date | 7 June 2005 |
| Format | Jazz |
| Owner | GMG Radio |
| Website | www.jazzfm.com |
jazzfm.com is a smooth jazz radio station and a specialist jazz website operated by GMG Radio. The radio station broadcasts on the Internet as well as digital radio in the United Kingdom on DAB in West Central Scotland. It used to broadcast on DAB in Yorkshire, South Wales, the Severn Estuary, the West Midlands and on Sky Digital. The DAB service carries jazzfm.com at a higher bitrate free-to-air than the website stream does.
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[edit] History of jazzfm.com
In order to appease many of the traditional jazz fans who were getting dismayed at the ever growing 'dumbing down' of Jazz FM, the Guardian Media Group launched a new free website dedicated to pure jazz fans called ejazz.[1]
The website launched on the 12th of July 2004 promising more than 200 specially commissioned programmes exclusive to the website,[2] with five new programmes being added each month from Jazz FM's presenters such as Sarah Ward, Campbell Burnap and Peter Young, as well as jazz news and features, including the ejazz.fm artist of the month.
The website was heavily promoted via the Jazz FM website and through advertising on Jazz FM.
The ejazz.fm website was renamed to jazzfm.com on the 7th of June 2005, alongside the change of 102.2 Jazz FM to 102.2 Smooth FM. It was on this date that the radio station appeared on DAB in Yorkshire, South Wales and the Severn Estuary and on Sky Digital.
[edit] Radio station history
It was announced that on Monday April 10, 2006 that the service will no longer be available in Yorkshire on DAB from the Summer of 2006 after a deal was reached with Leeds United and the multiplex owner, MXR Yorkshire to launch a new sports and music radio station, Yorkshire Radio, which has taken over the space formerly occupied by jazzfm.com. The Yorkshire jazzfm.com service closed on June 26, 2006 to make way for Yorkshire Radio test transmissions to take place, ready for its launch on July 10, 2006.[3]
The station was also carried on the Sky Digital platform across the United Kingdom, but on Wednesday the 3rd of May 2006, jazzfm.com was removed from the electronic program guide, and did continue to be broadcast from the Astra 2B satellite, one of the satellites which provides part of the Sky Digital service, for a short while after.
GMG Radio said that the money saved by pulling the plug on the Sky Digital and DAB services will be re-invested into the website.[4] The jazzfm.com Blue Room stream would still be available on the website.
In March 2007, GMG Radio purchased and rebranded all the Saga stations.[5] In the West Midlands, Saga 105.7 FM and Smooth Radio both broadcast on the MXR West Midlands DAB ensemble.[6] Smooth FM and Saga 105.7 FM merged to become Smooth Radio and the spare slot formerly used by Smooth FM was replaced with jazzfm.com. The service also replaced Saga 105.2 FM on Monday March 26 on the Score Glasgow multiplex as Smooth Radio is already broadcast on the Switch Central Scotland ensemble.[7]
Panjab Radio has replaced jazzfm.com with Panjab Radio and Asian FX in the West Midlands on November 1, 2007 after a deal between the station and multiplex owner MXR was reached.[8]
GMG Radio was also looking to sell its other DAB slot currently held in South Wales and the Severn Estuary since the closure of jazzfm.com in Yorkshire.[4] The South Wales and the Severn Estuary service was earmarked to close in late 2006, but continued to broadcast after this date. However, in an Ofcom radio broadcast update for August 2007, it was confirmed that the South Wales and the Severn Estuary service would close at an unspecified date to allow the launch of two stations from United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) in a separate deal with MXR.[9] The station left the multiplex on September 28, 2007 to be replaced by UCB UK and UCB Inspirational.
[edit] Relaunch of jazzfm.com for the return of Jazz FM
On February 28, 2008 GMG Radio's chief executive John Myers made an announcement that Jazz FM would be brought back in London, the North West and the West Midlands[10][11] on DAB. The service would be a relaunch of the current jazzfm.com service with presenters on DAB.[12] Myers also said that he believed it would make more sense for there to be a dedicated radio station for jazz listeners than the current 45 hours of jazz to be played on Smooth FM, as required by the licence granted to them by Ofcom.[13] The closure of theJazz on Digital One was also part of the reason for the return of Jazz FM.[14] The relaunch will happen later in 2008.[15]
[edit] jazzfm.com Playlist
Today, the DAB service and website relays one stream of a mixture of music from the red and blue room streams at 32Kbps for free and with a subscription for a higher bitrate. The jazzfm.com radio station on DAB is relayed at 128 kbit/s joint stereo MPEG-1 Audio Layer II encoding. At the top of each hour, a news bulletin produced and provided by Sky News Radio is broadcast. [1]
The website however, used to have two dedicated stations, the Red Room and the Blue Room. Neither station has DJs on its output. On the website, both feeds were available free at 32 kbit/s stereo and at a higher bitrate with a subscription to RealMusic. The website is the second most listened to smooth jazz Internet radio station, behind AOL Radio's smooth jazz radio station, and the fifth most popular Internet radio station in the United States, according to Arbitron ratings in June 2003.[16]
[edit] Former streams
[edit] The Blue Room
The Blue Room played more smooth jazz and funk. The Blue Room feed was the one that was played on the Sky Digital and DAB feeds as smooth jazz is more commercially viable and popular with listeners. From March 2006 the Blue Room used to carry advertising immediately after the news bulletin, though this no longer occurs.
[edit] The Red Room
The Red Room played all styles of modern jazz from the fifties up to the present day. The Red Room's jazz output was continuous and uninterrupted, without advertising or news bulletins.
[edit] Website
| jazzfm.com | |
|---|---|
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| URL | http://www.jazzfm.com/ |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Music |
| Owner | GMG Radio |
| Created by | GMG Radio |
The jazzfm.com website has a number of features carried over from the ejazz.fm website alongside its radio stream.
[edit] Club ejazz
Club ejazz features jazz programmes produced exclusively for the website. Programmes are updated on a monthly basis on the first day of each month. Programmes extend across the spectrum of jazz, from blues to swing, cutting edge to smooth jazz.
[edit] Jazz FM Recommends
Every month, jazzfm.com profiles a different artist and album recommended by the experts at jazzfm.com.
[edit] Event Listings
A regularly updated database of events and gigs in the world of jazz, compiled with help from Jazzwise magazine.
The website also features a chart rundown of the top jazz albums and promotional features linked to jazz.
[edit] Current Presenters of Online Shows on jazzfm.com
- Django Bates
- Campbell Burnap
- Mike Chadwick
- David Freeman
- Dr Bob Jones
- Rosie Kendrick
- Kevin Le Gendre
- Helen Mayhew
- Brian Priestley
- Sarah Ward
- Sarah Weller
- Peter Young
[edit] See also
- 102.2 Jazz FM
- 100.4 Jazz FM
- Jazz Radio UK
[edit] References
- ^ JAZZFM launches dedicated web service for jazz fans. GMG Radio (2004-06-29). Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ jazzfm.com. GMG Radio Sales. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ News from Yorkshire MXR multiplex! Published by MXR Ltd. Accessed October 12, 2006
- ^ a b jazzfm dot gone from sky Published by Radio Today on May 5, 2006. Accessed October 12, 2006
- ^ The Smoothest radio re-brand?. Radio Today (2007-03-20). Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
- ^ [http://www.wohnort.demon.co.uk/DAB/uknat.html DAB Ensembles Worldwide United Kingdom & the Isle of Man]. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
- ^ [http://www.wohnort.demon.co.uk/DAB/ukloc.html DAB Ensembles Worldwide United Kingdom & the Isle of Man]. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
- ^ Panjab secures MXR space. Radio Today (2007-09-01). Retrieved on 2007-09-01.
- ^ Radio Broadcast Update August 2007. Ofcom. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
- ^ Plunkett, John (2008-04-23). Ofcom tells Smooth Radio to keep jazz. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ West, Dave (2008-04-23). GMG to press ahead with Jazz FM on DAB. Digital Spy. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ Jazz FM set to return. Radio Today (2008-02-28). Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Andrews, Amanda (2008-02-28). GMG in talks with Ofcom about Jazz FM return. The Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ Chapelard, James (2008-02-28). GMG jazzes up digital radio. Crain's Manchester Business. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ Jazz FM to return as digital station. Marketing Week (2008-02-28). Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ America Online's Radio@ Network Is the Top-Ranked Network According to Arbitron Internet Broadcast Ratings. Arbitron Inc. (2003-06-26). Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
[edit] External links
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