We watched them fall like dominoes in New York, Miami, Chicago, Phoenix, Columbus, even the Los Angeles flagship station, The Wave. The big corporations were bailing out on the smooth jazz format as listenership dropped and those who did listen moved into the 55-RIP demographic, a group advertisers don't find appealing. Those who were left on the field jumped for quick fixes like more pop songs and less new and "unfamiliar" music. Listeners kept aging and new ones were not coming in. The second wave of flips began: Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Seattle, Sacramento, and some smaller markets. We looked toward two stations that had strong local connections and less monolithic ownership to keep the flame alive - KIFM in San Diego and WLOQ in Orlando. In March KIFM's Program Director wrote a  heartfelt note to listeners explaining that they were going to have to make modifications in the format - basically playing more vocals and cutting instrumentals to one or two an hour. It was radio reality, he noted. Listenership had dropped and the owners wanted ratings and revenue, so this was a solution that would hopefully keep the staff employed and smooth vocals and some smooth jazz on the air.

WLOQ was still holding out in Orlando. Not only were they one of the last locally programmed smooth jazz stations in existence, they were one of the few large market stations in the county that did not have corporate ownership. The station was owned by human beings. the Gross family, who bought the station in 1977. As all the large and medium market signals were eaten up by huge corporations there has long been speculation about how long they would hold out. They held out until mid-July 2011 when they ended their 34 year run by selling the station for 8 million dollars to a new company that seems to be ready to spend big money to become a major ownership group. It took less than a day for word to get out that when the new owners too over on August 1 a new format would also be in place.

Smooth Jazz radio may be benchmarked by the startup of The Wave in 1987 but there were some stations playing either contemporary jazz or a mix of CJazz and adventurous vocals long before that (note I said adventurous vocals. A different game from the pop vocals the format now plays.) WLOQ started playing contemporary jazz in 1980 and has been doing so since then.  They inspired a lot of radio people to jump into this pool and offered some guidance on how to do so. They have tweaked their approach as times changed but they always hung their hat on contemporary instrumental music and on local ownership, local programming and a strong connection to their community. In the mid 90's the other Florida smooth jazz stations in Jacksonville, Miami, Tallahassee, Tampa/St. Petersburg, and Naples were all owned and programmed by the same company, Paxson, which would eventually evolve into Clear Channel. WLOQ stayed local and resisted the trend to clutter the format with a glut of pop vocals. In the early 2000's when most stations went to automation and voicetracking for at least half of their schedule WLOQ stayed live and local with high profile personalities who knew the music and the market. The amount of concerts and events they sponsored is legendary, their interaction with the music industry and the business community are too.

The first indications of erosion started when long time afternoon drive personality Dave Mills was let go, then station veteran Mick Dolan's shift was cut and automated and he moved to a few weekend shifts. Patricia James, the music director and midday show host, who had a high profile both locally and in the industry, was hit with the budget cut ax as her midday shift was automated. The station also phased out a lot of their unique instrumental and vocal tracks and went with the more conventional smooth jazz playlist. Less songs, less variety, more pop music and more repetition. Even then, though, they were playing more true smooth jazz than the other commercial stations left standing. Until the time you read this, since it posts on the day they will flip.

It has to be noted that when the corporate stations began to fear music instead of being excited about music WLOQ followed the trend. They were as guilty as the consulted stations of not playing much new music, high repetition of older songs, playing a lot of slow songs and covers, and saturating the format with pop vocals. The station I am listening to now has little connection aesthetically or spiritually to the station Bob Church and Steve Huntington programmed during its' heyday. You have to sit through a lot of 10-30 year old Adult Contemporary songs to get to the instrumentals and the instrumentals tend to be older and sound a lot alike.
Last year they were at a juncture where they were searching for a new Program Director. Some highly credentialed forward thinking innovators applied but they decided to stick to the tried and true and hire someone from the recently annihilated WAVE. Maybe they should have gone for it since they were probably already planning to sell. They could have become an influential turning point in the growth of this  music just like they were when they started. The buzz right now is that they will reincarnate as an internet station and maintain their local focus. With internet radio becoming more accessible every day it will be less of a loss for the community but they will be throwing themselves into the fray with some other very professionally run stations that are targeting the audience that wants to hear instrumental music.  Will they being to play more smooth jazz, especially 21st century smooth jazz. That's where their history is and perhaps it's time to dance with the one that brought you. We lost an award winning heritage station that was loved by the community but, sadly, it is time to evolve and move forward and sometimes that involves tough losses and tough love.