Gcap Media, the UK’s biggest commercial radio operator, and owner of Classic FM, has decided to close its two digital-only stations, Planet Rock and theJazz. Its new chief executive, Fru Hazlitt, says that digital is not “an economically viable growth platform”, but other commentators suggest that the decision is in fact a defensive move in the face of takeover overtures from Global Radio.Whatever the reason for the closures, I will be very sorry to see the demise of theJazz. One of my great pleasures in London was to spend an hour or so at the end of the day listening to smooth jazz broadcast in perfect, CD quality. Now theJazz has gone the way of Jazz FM, and the UK has no dedicated jazz radio station.
Things are very different in the US, where most major cities have at least one jazz station. One of my most cherished memories is of driving over the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco to Sausalito one Sunday afternoon in the mid 1990s. It was, I later discovered, the hottest day ever recorded in the city.
The temperature was cooled a little by the excellent jazz broadcast on one of the local university radio stations. The presenter seemed unusually erudite. It was only when he signed off at the end of his two-hour stint that I learned his identity.
His name was David Sanborn.
1 comments:
It will sadly be one of the first of many of the DAB radio stations to go.
Despite millions of pounds worth of advertising and setting up the radio station involved are just not getting viable listening figures.
It is sad, for I was looking forward to more availability of radio stations, for where I live they are still very limited.
So I have yet to recieve the benefit of DAB, and some stations have already gone!
Ah the delights of Kenny G!
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