Oh for goodness sake would you people stop killing jazz radio already? You know who you are. And we know who you are, too.
In North Carolina there’s Fayetteville State College’s Board of Trustees, who sold WFSS-FM back in 2015. Of late somebody wrote into the Fayetteville Observer and asked: “The Fayetteville State University public radio station WFSS still comes on, but why did they stop the jazz section of its programming?”
Here’s the newspaper’s answer:
“WFSS, which broadcast from the campus of Fayetteville State, had featured jazz as the core format since its inception in the late 1970s. But an eclectic mix of formats were blended into the lineup, including bluegrass, gospel, blues, and African and Latin music.
Problem was, the station was losing money, operating on a deficit of $60,000 to $100,000 a year, according to Jon Young, who was provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at the time.”
Until the sale is approved by the Federal Communications Commission, the University of North Carolina’s WUNC is streaming on the signal via a Local Management Agreement. So out went the jazz format and everything else, the deficit of which cost FSC around the same as a full time faculty member. Guess that was just one professor too many.
Meanwhile Canada’s Globe and Mail reports that Toronto’s JAZZ.FM.91 removed four hosts last week, including two “high profile” personalities. The operation let five employees and two contractors, all told. A spokesperson for the station said that the changes did not have to do with a recent sexual harassment and bullying investigation.
From The Globe:
“The departures follow the exits of Garvia Bailey, a former morning show host whose disappearance from the air in April prompted questions from listeners, and Dani Elwell, who left last year. The station has not told listeners the reasons for the women’s departures.”
Gah.
In happier news, James Cridland has a fun story about how to run a fully functional DIY Internet classical radio station for around $100. Attention all jazz programmers . . .
