Jazz Decades

The  description below comes straight off the 89.7 WGBH website. I find it exceedingly accurate.

"Jazz Decades features traditional jazz, big band, and swing from the 20th century and earlier, including recordings from as early as 1890. Host Ray Smith has been the voice of Jazz Decades for more than 30 years, culling his programs from the more than 90,000 titles in his personal collection."

I'm bringing this up today because I found an amateur recording of Ray Smith's program from 1984. This is exactly what yard sales are for. The playlist is a mix of standards, dixieland, traditional jazz, ragtime, crooners, big band, and some tracks that I must concede qualify as smooth jazz. Presented in this format it's the first time I've ever had to contend with the possibility that smooth jazz and jazz have any audience overlap at all. Back in 1984 the abomination known as smooth jazz was in it's ascendancy. Today the radio format is on the verge of extinction. Because of that change, the playlist for Jazz Decades has changed substantially in the quarter century since this recording was made.
Ray Smith WGBH 7/24/84


The recording has a bit of warble. But the tape happens to be a genuine Radio Shack Realistic™ low noise Type-I, 90-minute cassette. In other words, it's a cheap piece of crap. I actually broke it once rewinding. Thankfully the levels are high enough I can filter off the noise. There are several mic breaks on this tape, but most of them are partial. The taper had deliberately stopped recording to maximize the tape time dedicated to music.So I've included a few of the longer truncated breaks along with the few full ones to give a better feel for the early years of the program. I also include the ad for the Newport jazz convention because it's back from when it was known as the JVC Jazz Festival. It was very cool to find it. That also corroborates the date. The fest only used that name from from 1984 to 2008.

Jazz Decades is still on air at WGBH, Sundays at 7:00 PM but only through their audio archive. Smith Ray first began producing Jazz decades in 1958 on 105.7 WKOX in Framingham, MA. The original program ran from 10:00 AM to Noon. Following it's purchase by Fairbanks Communications in 1972, WKOX flipped to a rock format and, Smith moved the program to WGBH. (WKOX is now WROR) Ray picked up drumming in the 1960s and appears on a few disparate albums. He retired in 1997 and continued to produce the program from his residence in Hilton Head, SC. Ray Smith died in at the age of 87, in 2010. More here.

*Note to researchers. There is another jazz drumming Ray Smith who owned a record shop in the UK. More on him here.

Three Islands in the sound

I have an interest in radio stations on islands. Each has the opportunity to develop a microcosm of community support. And because it's somewhat cut off from the rest of the world, it can become a tighter and more loyal crowd. There are three major islands from the mouth of Long Island Sound to Cape Cod. Moving North to South these are Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Block Island.

Nantucket has 3 radio stations. WNCK (a WGBH feed), WNAN (another WGBH feed) and WRZE 96.3 an actual CHR pop station.

On Martha's Vinyard is WMVY 92.7 (a very reputable AAA), and 93.3 WCAI another WGBH feed. I will note that a few other stations blast the island from Falmouth. A special note on WMVY, their website is loaded with mp3s from local bands. That is just sheer class. They don't have to do that. They just want to. http://www.mvyradio.com/The slightly smaller Block Island also only has two sticks on it: 95.9 WCRI a classical outlet, and 99.3 WJZS a Nostalgia outlet focusing on Big Band: http://www.wadk.com/fm/ but Martha's Vinyard.

Notice a pattern? NPR, Classical, and Nostalgia all have the same demo: over 50, with high income and as white as a new fluorescent bulb. It's a demo you can hit up for cash, and a demo that delivers the donations. That's why WGBH has three of the sticks out of the 7 I noted.

A little Fybush blurb on LP applications in that area (link below) I was not the only one that noticed all LP applications were denied. click and scroll down.
http://www.fybush.com/nerw-030210.html

Quadrophonic Radio

Quadraphonic sound was one of the earliest consumer offerings in multichannel audio, (i.e. more channels than stereo) It was introduced to the American market in the early 1970s. Quad was not a single format; but actually an array of several different incompatible formats. Quadraphonic media was available on vinyl records, eight tracks, and reel-to-reel and yes, even broadcast radio. It was uncommon, but some brave and bullish broadcasters bought into it. Some Quad Hi-Fis can be found here

In Seattle back in 1977, an experimental Quadrophonic broadcast was attempted at 92.5 KZAM and 98.1 KING. In conjunction with Windham Hill records. In a very MacGyver-ish approach, this required two separate stereos and tuners. Each station broadcast two channels of the quadrophic audio. If you did, you got to hear 360 degrees of John Klemmer. [Not sure if that's worth it] (KZAM is now KLSY)

In Chicago 97.9 WLUP broadcast one live quadraphonic concert in 1979. It featured Joe Jackson, Rainbow and the Blue Oyster Cult.
In Detroit Quadrophonic radio was attempted by several stations 102.9 WWWW, 101.9WDET, and WABX at different times.

As early as 1975 WQIV in New York City attempted full time quad broadcasting. They broadcast live concerts, including the earliest syndicated Rock Around the World shows, whole albums, and other things unusual at the time on commercial radio. It was very much a product of the free-form FM era. It eventually flipped to become classical WNCN, the calls and format it had previously. (Currently 104.3 WAXQ )

In 1969, WCRB radio in Boston collaborated with WGBH to present a series of Boston Symphony concerts live in quadraphonic sound. Two channels being transmitted on WGBH and the other two on WCRB. Oddly WCRB continued to broadcast some of its recorded music in quad for several more years.

In 1979 Amex tape did promotion with San Francisco's KRON and KIOI with KRON broadcasting the front two channels and KIOI taking the rear two channels. For this first Quadraphonic broadcast, The Greatful Dead performed. It was televised on KQED and simulcast on KSAN.

Quad was killed by the advent of the CD and completely stalinized with the birth of surround-sound. Skip Pizzi at RW online continually writes propaganda in favor of surround sound for radio. I have not bought into this cult yet. Radio has been struggling to push HD radio for 10 years now, I doubt surround sound will fare any better. Feel free to read up and judge for yourself [Link here]


...And here is the surround sound system that could have been, The Ambsonic Sound System...