I don't hold much hope for terrestrial radio. I've worked for big corporate radio and the restrictions the home office puts on local programming are not going anywhere. Neither is the fear of music. It is ingrained in the culture that “unfamiliar” music kills ratings and stations have to stick to repetitive replays of a small group of songs because anything a listener hasn't already heard 100 times before will cause them to run to the radio and change the station. It has been 15 years since radio became more about Wall Street than about you, the listener, but I do know that a lot of you are keeping the faith. You want smooth jazz back on the radio. You are actively trying to get stations back on the air in your hometowns and forming internet communities to help each other do just that. Go for it! But this time do not settle for less than what you want and do not -I repeat this for emphasis – DO NOT let some so-called “expert” or “authority” tell you that they know more about what you want than you do. Don't let them tell you that even if you like instrumental music everyone else doesn't so the format has to be dumbed down or ratings will drop. As it turns out the more the format traded in the original instrumentals for covers and pop oldies the more the ratings dropped. Uh...hello!!!

If you are asking for a smooth jazz station and you aren't extremely clear about stating what you really want this is what you'll get: they will hook up with the company that distributes the prepackaged smooth jazz format, put a receiver and a computer in the back closet and just let it run. Every other song will be by Phil Collins, Mariah Carey, Michael McDonald, Spandau Ballet, or Lenny Kravitz and most of the instrumentals will be slowed down covers of old Motown songs or old stuff like “Breezin” or “Rise.” Wanna hear Peter White, Richard Elliot, Rick Braun, Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor, or Marion Meadows more than once a day and more than one or two older songs? Good luck with that. Mindi, Eric Darius, Nick Colionne? Same thing. New indie artists like Cindy Bradley, Jaared, Dominic Amato? Maybe one song while it climbs the charts but then it will disappear. Faves like the Rippingtons, Acoustic Alchemy, or Craig Chaquico? M.I.A. Oh and...the voices you hear between the songs won't say anything to you about the music or your city because they are people who live hundreds of miles away and just read scripts into a computer saying they will “smoooooth out your day” or something equally generic.

Listeners quietly tolerated the de-evolution from Smooth Jazz to Smooth A/C. Why? Did we think we had no voice or choice. In truth we didn't. Everyone who shares their experiences regarding contact with these stations seems to say the same thing – the message they got back was that the station had “research” that showed they were playing what everyone wanted to hear and your tastes were just not those of the majority. So you give up and settle for sitting through a lot of songs you're tired of or could hear on five other stations in order to hear one real smooth jazz instrumental.

Be clear this time. Make demands that may seen outrageous in the current climate but are absolutely necessary when it comes making this music exciting enough for it to actually build an audience and get ratings. What have you got to lose? And how frustrating would it be to put effort into the game and again end up with a weak, watered down version of what you want?  Ask big! Ask for this:

1. Real smooth jazz music and lots of it. There are so many strong original instrumentals out there that have fallen off playlists in recent years and there is so much amazing stuff that you probably haven't heard because radio quit playing original instrumentals. There are some good cover songs out there but recently there have been a lot of rote by the numbers covers because it is the only way to get airplay. Keep the ones that are really strong but bring back all the great original instrumentals that were the original foundation of the format.
2. Programming and music decisions made by people who live in the market and care about local listeners and respect you. The human beings that live in your city, go to concerts you go to, answer your phone calls, read your emails and have some history with you know a lot more about you than some guy crunching numbers in a cubicle in NY or LA. It's one thing to share information with a consultant or peers in other markets. We all do that and it keeps us from getting tunnel vision. Having local programmers who have no role in decision making is destructive though– they lose touch with listeners and the frustration can cause them to lose touch with their own instincts and connection with the music and the listeners.
3. Live, local air personalities. I know (I said shaking my head) that this is a budget killer. The compromise here is  personalities who are not live but are still local. Better to have someone who lives where you do and knows how you live pre-record their show (it's called voicetracking) than have some guy who has a perfect ad-agency voice but no connection to the local listener robotically read a script into a computer program.
4. Real smooth jazz vocals. Enough of this Lite A/C and oldie stuff already! Sometimes smooth jazz stations sound more like oldies stations than the oldies stations do. What happened to artists like Michael Franks, Maysa, Slim Man, Al Jarreau (except for the 30 year old hit they still play over and over), Basia, and Marilyn Scott? What about the new generation of singers who are over 30 and going beyond the beaten pop-song path? They're out there and hearing them will be a lot more enjoyable than hearing “In The Air Tonight” again (and again and again).
5. Get out of the way of industry politics. Judge music on its own merits regardless of whether it is on a big label or an independent label and regardless of whether it is backed by a big promotional budget or not. This means the people at the station have to listen to the music that comes in, not just the music that is heavily promoted. There's a lot of it so it is work. It's their job and it's a rewarding one when you find the good stuff. They should also be open to listener suggestions and requests!

That's just some suggestions. I'm sure you will come up for more. Please come up with more. Internet stations are doing these things a becoming wildly successful. Meanwhile there are radio stations popping up in some markets like Denver and Chicago that are still using the same formula that the station that dropped the format used. Why? If a station is independent and locally programmed why would they still be imitating a formula that they were no longer tied to? Guess what. It's your job to let them know that.

Listen to the internet radio stations that are really playing the music. After they spoil you with all the good stuff that is out there you won't be willing to settle for less. I love these internet stations. I could live with just that because there are so many that are so good, but I know a lot of you grew up with radio and that's what you want. Just remember, there is too much really strong music in this genre for any broadcaster to have to apologize for playing it by diluting it or dumbing it down. Settle for less and you get less. Ask for more and if you keep doing it then sooner or later your voice will be heard.