All That Jazz - The Straight Skinny

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The views expressed by Carol Archer do not necessarily

reflect the opinions of All That Jazz. But often they do.

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The Straight Skinny

The Great White North

Also, a prescient quote from Steve Feinstein, plus reader comments

By Carol Archer

"As someone with no prior experience in radio and is merely a hobby broadcaster, this is a thrill and a tremendous personal accomplishment. Mine isn't the typical Smooth Jazz station -- far from it. While the overall programming strategy is to play the best of the old and new Contemporary Jazz out there, I also incorporate classic NAC and Chill for diversity.

"Most importantly, I utilize great vocals that very few, if any, Smooth Jazz stations (even Internet ones) touch: a wonderful live version of Dishwalla's 'Counting Blue Cars' (1995), as well as a Triple A song from the early-'90s by Darden Smith: 'Loving Arms.' Another recent addition is INXS' 'Not Enough Time,' which was overlooked back in the day, but has a wonderful vibe and works nicely with SJ.

"I integrate underplayed vocals[that] have great vibe and represent a change of pace [from] Quiet Storm, AAA or AOR, but not the usual suspects: The Dan's 'Any Major Dude Will Tell You,' 'Doctor Wu,' 'Aja,' and 'Here At The Western World;' Elton John cuts like 'Madman Across Across The Water,' 'Sweet Painted Lady,' 'Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatters,' and 'Empty Garden;' and Steve Winwood tracks from his under-appreciated 'Talking Back to the Night,' and two fantastic deep cuts from 'Back in the High Life.'" Acton exposes lesser known tunes from Firefall and Player, and Don McLean's "Castles in the Air." "It is time to take some chances to breathe new life into this format"

Similarly, smoothjazztampabay.com founder Richard Rigg suggests that educating one's self to embrace new technologies will do a world of good: Smooth Jazz radio will live on and morph into a new jazz that our children and grandchildren will love.

He says: "You do not need a Microsoft certification to listen to Internet radio, but it's not as easy as turning on your car stereo or home receiver at home. In all actuality it is THAT easy: Smart phone technology has allowed us to listen to 30,000+ radio stations around the world in our car or with a personal headset or on your pc. You can listen though a home theater pc attached to your home theater receiver or purchase a Web-enabled device that streams media, like the Squeezebox or Roku Sound Bridge and others. The 21st Century transistor radio is the iPhone and other smart phones. Europe has been all over this for years, [beating us] again."

Finally, contact awesome former WVMV/Detroit PD Tom Sleeker at tom.sleeker@hotmail.com.

If you have feedback, please send it to jazzdolphingirl@gmail.com.