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The Eagles, on sale at Walmart
The world's flagship for smooth jazz, San Francisco's KKSF-FM (103.7) got a jolt Monday, when owner Clear Channel replaced the mellow tunes with a station called "The Band," which plays newcomers such as Elton John, the Doobie Brothers, the Eagles and yawn, Fleetwood Mac.
I'm no smooth jazz fan so no loss here. But do we really need more 70s retreads on the dial? Someone wake me up when the oldies format reaches the 90s. That should be around the time I reach my 90s.
Smooth jazz was done in by the new People Meter measuring system, which is skewing many stations to play harder music. Notice how KUFX, the Fox, has toughened up its playlist, moving into the same territory as the Bone, KSAN?
Now smooth jazz moves up a notch to smooth Eagles. Will KQED replace Brahms with John Cage?
Comments
Just another reason to set my dial to KPIG 1510 AM. The only real radio station I can find in the Bay Area
I wasn't sure what happened yesterday, I hadn't changed the station; thought someone had changed it as a joke. IT WAS NO JOKE. Shame on 'Clear Channel'. I hope 'The Band' flops...one more drop of salt water in the ocean.
What happened? I turned my radio on and listened for 2 days saying to myself "my radio MUST be on the wrong station!" Then, I logged on and saw the news...no more "Smooth Jazz." Well, no more "Smooth Jazz"...no more me!
I AM VERY ANGRY I LOVE KKSF SMOOTH JAZZ
ARE THERE ANY SMOOTH JAZZ STATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO ?
I can't believe my ears!!!! I listen to this station in my classroom, at home, and in the car WHAT HAPPENED! Aren't there enough rock stations? I am angry and upset with this move my Clear Channel! There are too many jazz listeners in the Bay Area!! What is going on??????????????
I still can't believe it! I've been listening to KKSF for the past 15 years. I think the clear channel progam director should re-think this decision, because it is a bad one. The people that listen to KKSF will not continue to listen to the BAND.
Thank goodness for Internet radio, where smooth jazz can still be found. But now I can't get the ID jingle out of my head... "K-K-S-F, one oh three point SEVEN!" What a loss.
what is this! man, you guys bring to da bay some smooth jazz and then like a thief in da night you take it away!And you call yourself da Clear Channel group!!! you guys no can think Clearly.
Whats this!You guys bring to da bay some nice smooth jazz and then like over night take'em away.You guys call yourself Clear Channel,I think you're not thinking clearly!!!! Looong time KKSF listeners
A sad day indeed. This was one of the best stations around. I'll boycott the new station since I don't care to hear more of this type of music already playing on other stations.
come on clear channel, pull your head out of your ass and leave good music alone
Come on clear channel. Pull your head out of your ass and leave good music alone. Your just driving people away.
Holy cats, what a loss. Ah well, thank heavens we still have fm 91.1 for all sorts of jazz (but without listener support, they could fade away too). What a bloody wasteland the fm dial has turned into!
Only privately owned stations play the format now it seems. Check out krvr.com and stream it... sounds better anyway.
KKSF was Outstanding ! It had to be making money as they had great advertising. jazz people will not stay with the new format. Lot's of luck starting from scratch as just another 7os - 80s what ever. So Hello KCSM 91.1 JAZZ!! O! Clear Channel BIT ME ! :0)
Thank God that Classic Hits are back!!! There hasn't been a station that plays this excellent genre of music ever since KFRC went away several months ago!!!! But, I will continue to listen to JV's EXCELLENT morning show on WiLD 94.9!!!! Maybe someone else will flip a station to KKSF's old smooth jazz format, say Alice or KDFC?
You've got to be joking. Another 70's station shoved down my throat?
Clear Channel execs must be a bunch of 70's groupies.
Thanks for nothing.
I thought I had accidently done in my radio settings. Then I realized that someone had radio-napped my jazz station that had REAL PEOPLE and MUSICIANS on it! Not the canned crap I am hearing now. I like rock, but if I wanted to listen to re-tread rock, I would have been listening to hundreds of other bad stations. Smooth Jazz was different. That's what I liked. I don't believe there's a live human being at this Muzak Rock noise. This is insane. My fingers are walking right off 103.7 to something more real and more human. For Shame, Clear Channel. You screwed up.
I say...good riddance. When KKSF first started out in the 80s...they played interesting, innovative modern jazz by artists who weren't afraid to take risks. Over the years, smooth jazz became watered down to appeal to the lowest common denominator...essentially just instrumental pop. It gave people who know nothing about jazz something to listen to and say to their friends, 'look how sophisticated I am...I like jazz!' while Kenny G plays in the background. YUCK!! People, take your radios, and turn to 91.1, and find out what REAL jazz is all about. Listen to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and other true artists show you what jazz is supposed to sound like.
Iam going to miss the jazz format u had. I was listening to it every morning on my way to work. hope u do see a change for the worst, the music u hav now is not happening.
What? Have you gone mad? Now what station are the smooth jazz listeners suppose to listen to? This STINKS!!
Is there any other smooth jazz stations in the bay area other than KBLX?
I thought someone had played a bad joke on me.
Bad move Clear Channel. Do not like the Band at all. Will not be listening at all!!!
wHAT UP WITH THIS WACK MUSIC. THIS IS BAD FOR THE BAYAREA. WE LOVE OUR SMOOTH JAZZ. PLEASE BRING IT BACK. BAD DECISION CLEAR CHANNEL OR WHATEVER
I want my Peter White, Richard Elliot, Mindi Abair, Fourplay, Grover, Marc Antoine, Brian Culbertson and the list goes on. Big mistake, you've lost a daily listener, I can listen to the BAND music up and down the dial. My seek button will jump right over 103.7. Smooth Jazz has many followers throughout the bay!
The Portable People Meter did it?!? Its also Hubble's fault Pluto is no longer a planet.
I thought something was wrong with the station
I had to go on the enternet to find out that the last day for my favorite station had been cancelled. Oh my what am I to do after me listen for the last 10 years I want my KKSF back.
This is an awful loss, I've been a fan for 20 years. The odd thing is I've found exact station, under different call letters and numbers, all over the country, even Green Bay, WIS. This is a nationally syndicated station, how can we not have it in the Bay Area (which seems like it's birthplace)? It must come back!
I have listen to KKSF from it's first month of existence in or about 1987. But over the last decade it has lost its way. Now I listen to the Sampler if I want to listen to KKSF. Narrow in music selection, I know, but TRUE to its origin.
I knew that when Clear Channel took over that it was a matter of time before corporate narrow-mindedness would supplant the original format. After all, Clear Channel employs Michael Savage... corporate greed and incompetence always trumps local desires...
sadly, like many, I thought the channel frequencies were mixed up....a momentary glitch. what a shame to find out it wasn't a snafu....'KKSF Smooth Jazz' will sorely be missed.......
I am with the majority of listeners who are mourning the loss of the KKSF format, music, DJs, etc. This is a big mistake by CC. Monday was sad day for the Bay Area radio scene, which is getting worse with almost every station format change. I hope "The Band" format backfires and CC brings KKSF back ASAP!!
I must comment on dublinmike's comment though: "After all, Clear Channel employs Michael Savage... corporate greed and incompetence always trumps local desires..."
Firstly, Michael Savage brings a fresh, in your face truth to the public air waves and secondly, I hope you are not insinuating that all corporations are greedy and incompetent and/or that the Government is not greedy and competent??
I was very sad to hear the news about KKSF. My wife and I would listen to it every time we traveled to the Bay area. It was a great station, one of the true pioneers for contemporary jazz on radio. For those of you in the Bay area looking for some alternatives, I welcome you all to check out my stream at www.wavjazz.net I am completely not-to-profit, and run the station purely as a passionate hobby from my home computer. I play a lot of classics from the 80s and 90s, but also keep everyone current with the best new stuff out there!!! Hope to see you stop by soon.
Peace,
Chris
www.wavjazz.net
"The .wav"
Another corporate greed cowardly decision. Without any advance notification you pull the plug on a well to do station that played an alternate choice in music. Do we need another 70's classic rock station? I enjoy the choices we already have in the Bay Area. I kinda wonder what will happen after the 10,000 songs play out. Guess it will just be another commercial plagued FM station. I took a listen to the Band. A lack luster, emotionless station. Got pretty old after a days listen. I am back to KFOG for the morning. I will miss KKSF New Age program. I hope Clear Channel bites the big one on this decision. Loyal listeners are slapped in the face. Thanks Clear Channel, you show some real class (NOT).
Maybe they should tear down the building that broadcasts the 103.7 signal and put in a Starbucks! We could really use another one of those too.
Maybe the new format will appeal to some, but if I really wanted to wake up to Lynard Skynard, I'd most likely listen to one of the other many established rock band stations.
I do question the "exhaustive market research," which may have been towards something other than broadcast radio. And "extensive economic considerations", well, that's a trendy excuse that usually pertains to other motives. If the underlying goal is to drive the demographics of KKSF Smooth Jazz listeners to XM radio, as tried in Chicago and Austin, good luck.
While you may be making more money off subscriptions for XM radio versus advertising money on broadcast radio, I really tried to give XM a chance through DirecTV and individual service and it just didn't do it for me! I'd rather listen to elevator music.
Broadcast radio stations such as KKSF Smooth Jazz bring more to the table than the great music they play. I'm really going to miss listening to Dave, Miranda, Maria, Ramsey, and all the others who really did smooth out the day for me! What a loss for the Bay Area.
It was unnecessary to kill off an icon radio station that was truly one of a kind and enjoyed by so many. For $17 per month, you aren't going to attract me to XM's version of Smooth Jazz. I'd rather put that money towards owning the music of the Smooth Jazz artists by buying the songs on iTunes. After all, it is tough economic times!
To parodize a television commercial from the '80s:
"Hey man, is that Re-Done Rock?
Well turn it down, man!"
How can a city like San Francisco not have a smooth jazz radio station? I want my smooth jazz!!! Bring back smooth jazz!!!
this really sucks,all you big bad CEO'S REALLY MESSED THIS ONE UP.WHY DON'T YOU GET SMART AND BRING BACK THE SMOOTH JAZZ
Just another reason Bay Area radio sucks. Classic Rock is fine, but do we really need to hear the same 3 Eagles songs every day? If they would explore the depths of artists catalogs, it would be fine, but they play the same 3 songs from each artist.
Like all the previous comments, i think CC made a bad move for the Bayarea. As much as I am a true jazz lover, smooth jazz has been an alternative in difference settings. To me it is the bridge between R&B and jazz, which is the true composition of the bayarea. 103.7 new format isn't for me and CC will see thru it's people meter, that lots of people feel the same way. I bet in 6-12 months (when revenues start falling) CC will switch back to smooth jazz format.
I have a large Smooth Jazz library with all the major artists. Contact tangentsradio@gmail.com if you're interested in acquiring some or all titles.
For all looking for an outlet for smooth jazz with the loss of KKSF...check out www.ijazzglobal.com. The way smooth jazz was meant to be heard, with lots of other cool features like video on the site as well.
With Cheap, er, Clear Channel divesting itself of K-FOX, it makes sense they'd flip KKSF to Classic Rock -- I guarantee you they move Greg Kihn to 103.7. Now that he's made himself a darling of the right with his anti-gay-marriage comments, "The Band" can position itself as the station for all those people who complain that KFOG's morning show is "too lefty". Meanwhile, CC also flipped Chicago's WNUA from SmoothJazz to Spanish today.
Yes, please bring back KKSF, but the early version. Years ago I stopped being a loyal fan when they became "urbganized" I like KBLX somewhat but why did KKSF need to move that way?
I can't believe that KKSF is gone after all these years. And I certainly don't believe the line on their website about smooth jazz not being popular enough to keep around in the Bay Area.
This is happening all over the country. Smooth jazz stations are being taken off the air and replaced by stations that are just like many other stations in the area. People complain bitterly and then give up and get a satellite radio subscription or listen to smooth jazz on the Internet. Well, the Bay Are
Clear Channel is heavily invested in XM/Sirius Radio. And like I keep saying, I'll believe there is no market for smooth jazz when XM/Sirius takes it off their line up (which they WON'T because it IS popular!)
It's getting pretty bleak out there in the world with the economy being so bad, foreclosures ruining people's lives, people losing jobs, and now we're losing our choices in so many things: stores, health care, housing, jobs. Even the music we love that used to float to us on the airwave
I have listened to this station since the time it first became KKSF with its eclectic rock influenced format (didn't last long). I'm really going to miss Ramsey Lewis's show in the morning as well as the Sunday morning show. He had a great mix of jazz and R&B and the show had a positive vibe unlike most morning radio shows.
What the heck?! Are you kidding replacing smooth jazz with more boring music. There's a dozen other stations playing the same music. I like all types of music but I will not tune into 103.7 any longer. This was a bad decision.
Unbelievable. One of the nation's largest markets with no Smooth Jazz station. I have been a KKSF fan since 1988. Guess I am changing my dial to KCSM 91.1 (traditional jazz)...I am definitely NOT gonna listen to "The Band."
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and we recently lost our favorite smooth jazz radio station (honestly, the ONLY station I listened to for many, many years). Now, what am I supposed to do?
No more KKSF on the clock radio to wake up to. No more KKSF playing on the house intercom. No more KKSF on our car radios, no more KKSF on the shop radio. No more KKSF on my home stereo. Terrible!
Just the other day, I couldn't take 'the band' any longer (actually, all six of my car radio buttons
Just spent the entire week-end in the Bay area from Phoenix and spent all the time traveling in the car- trying to find KKSF--trying to remember was it 105.7, 103.5--No luck--- and now we know why---what a shame- something we could both listen to and yet still have a conversation- back to my classical station-- hope John finds another Jazz station he likes or it's yet another Amazon order for more CD's
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