The Straight Skinny

 

Never Can Say Goodbye

 

By Carol Archer

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The Last Word From Lee Hansen

Entercom recently pulled the plug on Smooth Jazz at KSSJ/Sacramento after more than a dozen years in favor of Alternative. Under longtime Station Manager Lee Hansen, the station rose to No. 2 25-54 several times and was routinely top five 25-54 and top three 35-64. I remember listening to ""Baby Lee Roy" on the air at former AOR KSJO/San Jose in the sixties; now, Hansen trades in button-down shirts for faded flannel and jeans as the new outlet's APD, a move that marks his return to the format where he began his radio career.

       He says, "It was obviously hard to see KSSJ end, but easy to understand the reason. PPM showed our median age to be 65 five months in a row. It’s simply impossible to produce revenue when half of the audience is outside even the 35-64 demo. I want to pay my respect to my staff for all their hard work. John McCorkle, Lynda Clayton and Doug Thomas put their passion for smooth jazz into everything they did. We gave it our best shot."

       "Now, 94.7 is playing alternative rock, my other favorite music," he continues. I’m totally jazzed about being invited to stay and work with one of the most successful PDs in the rock world, Jim Fox. I believe Radio 94.7 is going to kick some serious butt."

       For his record of accomplishments through the years -- first programming The Wave Network, then WNUA/Chicago and KKSF/San Francisco before KSSJ -- Smooth Jazz will always be indebted to Hansen. We wish him continued success and much happiness, always.

It’s simply impossible to produce revenue when half of the audience is outside even the 35-64 demo. -- Lee Hansen

Paranoia Or Prescience?

Last week's Straight Skinny, Reinventing Wave Music, elicited a mountain of feedback. For example, Paul Harner, a St. Louis-based former production guy/producer, who has archived countless hours of early-NAC, such as you can hear on http://www.4shared.com/dir/15304719/729a4531/K_T_W_V_.html, comments: "It has been disappointing to watch the NAC/smooth jazz format get watered down and fall apart all over terrestrial radio. What was once a vibrant alternative to limited playlist radio fell victim to the same over-researched programming we've all gotten used to hearing.

       "The changes Jhani Kaye has been making do not surprise me. I'm guessing Kaye is sabotaging the station deliberately to change formats down the road (of course claiming the changes did not work)."

       Many readers also say that they have heard the same songs separated by only an hour on The Wave and grumble about music scheduling, particularly the slingshot effect of segues between texturally incompatible songs.

 

Smoothviews.com principal Shannon West, who takes an alternate, pro-active approach to Smooth Jazz, weighs in from Jacksonville, where she programs music for AC WLRQ/Melbourne, FL's highly rated Sunday brunch show, weighs in: "People don't know what is happening when they listen to a beautifully executed mix but there is something about it that just feels so good compared to a group of songs tossed on by category and rotation in a clock..