Classical Formats: a Distinct Breed

The changed look of jazz. There mg Maw atuff,.@ may be as many as 37 commercial and about 45 noncommercial stations oß G°ßeAáoE 197 (many of them college stations) programing jazz. However, the number of full -time jazz stations is closer to 10. WRVRIFM) New York is a jazz station that Black radio: It's still got soul is about to change its format to rock under the new ownership of Sonderling Wider variety of music changes news on the same level as the local all - Broadcasting. But Program Director ethnic sound of R &B programing news station. Barney Lane is optimistic about the There will always be a place for black shape of jazz radio, despite WAVA'S There are approximately 225 commercial radio, even though it has become diluted defection from jazz ranks. "If anything, stations which identify themselves as with crossovers, he said, "The black com- jazz is enjoying a bit of a renaissance at black, soul or rhythm and blues formats munity is our reason for being." the moment;' with many stations at least and the trend among all these designations In Detroit, according to W1LB(AM) disk experimenting with jazz programs with- is toward a wider spectrum of music. The jockey Claude Young, disco is the last in other formats, he said. It is a "pan - preferred label is "black- oriented" for, as word in black radio. Black AM's are play- ethnic and international" format with an one program manager related, "R &B and ing jazz more than ever before, he said, audience dominated by males 18 -49 soul sound tacky." (w1LB plays three or four selections each "but not ethnic enough to be considered There is a movement toward jazz in a week), but disco dominates everything. an ethnic station. Jazz is "broadening more commercial vein that is accompanied Gospel is big, Mr. Young said, but it has its musical elements and in the base of by a move away from the earlier ethnic changed "from 'sound like you wanna die' its appeal" Mr. Lane said, and WRVR, for sound of James Brown and others. Corn - to almost a disco sound" one, has witnessed a steady growth mercialism has put a polish on some older At wooK(AM) Washington, Program since the jazz format was inplemented music types: gospel records, for instance, Director Leonard Roberts said the trend is in February 1974. The volume and type are now acceptable in discos. Artists such toward a hybrid of musical types: the in- of sales have changed, he said, from as George Benson, Natalie Cole and Nan- strumentation of jazz and the commercial retail and jazz -related businesses at cy Wilson have become commercially via- sound of disco. The station has programed first, to national and large regional ad- ble. black- contemporary or black- top -40 since vertisers. One reason why what used to The disco format itself, in the opinion of February, a unique mass appeal format be an esoteric format has now Sonny Taylor, program director of using only hit singles and selected album broadened its appeal, according to WWRL(AM) New York, has become cuts, aimed primarily at a black audience. Charlene Watts, program and music tiresome in the New York area but is still WooK plays no jazz, no gospel, but will director of WILD(AM) Boston, is that a lot fresh in Washington and Chicago. Disco sometimes play older black hits from the of artists -especially black artists - has branched out into various forms, mak- last 20 years (by the Drifters or the have become more commercially ing songs like "A Fifth of Beethoveen" ac- Shirelles for instance). The prognosis for oriented. Jazz will outlive the disco for- ceptable. disco? Mr. Roberts said, "As long as there mats or any fad format, Ms. Watts WWRL is number one of three black - are people who enjoy dancing, there will believes. "The longevity of jazz is due to oriented AM stations in New York. Its be disco music." its being straight ahead, down to earth" playlist is tight (24 singles, nine album cuts and seven disco records are played in a typical week) and its audience is 18 -49 (12 -34 is strongest), mostly women. "We lose men to FM," Mr. Taylor conceded. VN® GIET9 Black AM's are suffering from two things, he said, the influx of FM and the 04 'e2icJóoefltxt, preference of audiences for all -news stations, especially in the morning. "They don't want to boogie out of bed into the Classical formats: a distinct breed bathroom anymore" because "news affects blacks, now." 'Recession- proof' audience president and general manager of wcMS- Arnold Schorr, vice president and gen- provides amount of stability AM-FM Washington. The misnomer is fre- eral manager of KGFJ(AM) Los Angeles, to stations that often quently used to identify "the Montovani agrees that the trend is to a general market have financial headaches thing," he said, which is now classified as appeal, but thinks those "crossovers from "easy listening or background music." soul to pop still must start in black radio." The Classical Music Broadcasters Associa- "Semiclassical is a different kettle of Mr. Schorr noted three subdivisions of tion lists as members 269 concert -music fish," in the concurring opinion of Robert the black format: disco, progressive soul stations, of which all but 86 are noncom- Sherman, program director of WQXR -AM- (on FM, album- oriented and increasingly mercial. Loyalties to the format are fierce FM New York. He doesn't hide his disdain important), and the original top -40 soul in and, even though the number of stations when he describes semiclassical as the South (rapid paced, using many pro- is relatively few, the challenges to change "wallpaper music," calling it no more than duction aids, still popular in smaller mar- classical formats in some markets stir great "upgraded top -40 music." He identifies kets). animosity. WQXR'S sound as "a fine -arts service, a KGFJ, Mr. Schorr said, is "very general While classical music formats remain more thoughtful program package than top -40" because "Los Angeles is the least defiantly distinct from every other breed of the classical music jukebox others have be- traditional black market in the country." radio, the strains within the breed are come. We program the way Bernstein pro- The influx of the black population (now in somewhat vague. Concert, fine music, grams a Philharmonic concert" The major excess of one million) was from the mid - semiclassical and serious music are all ac- change Mr. Sherman has noted over the west, not the south and "they expect gen- ceptable designations, and all program past five years at WQXR is that the station is eral music appeal, they want jocks who directors will agree the sounds are difficult becoming entirely classical, edging out the speak good English." The image is 'West to define. show music and jazz, Rogers and Hart, Coast' he said, and attempts to be as "There's no such thing as semiclassical and others. "We're forever tinkering," "slick and tight as any top -40 rocker" with any more," according to Jerry Lyman, vice says Mr. Sherman -which would apply to Broadcasting Sept. 27 t 976 68 .

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