was a local
Station for
London launched on the
4th Of February 1990 with a
Ella Fitzgerald concert at the
Royal Festival Hall in
London . The station was launched as a result of a ten year campaign by musician Dave Lee, who was inspired after listening to a
Los Angeles Jazz radio station, which has since turned into a classical station. The licence to broadcast was given in 1990 to '''London Jazz Radio''' who subsequently changed their name to Jazz FM on launch.
In 1994, the name of the station was changed to JFM by the station's management in order to appeal to more listeners who may have been put off by the name "jazz" in Jazz FM. After 15 months however, the name reverted back to Jazz FM. [http://www.smoothvibes.com/Vaults/secretgarden_2_00.html
Jazz FM was purchased by the
Guardian Media Group in July
2002 for £41 millon from Jazz FM plc.
After disappointing
RAJAR figures, GMG Radio rebranded the station as
102.2 Smooth FM in June
2005 .
See Also: jazzfm.com
The station still broadcasts under the Jazz FM name on the
Internet , on .
When Jazz FM launched, the station played a mixture of
Jazz , with the daytime schedules originally dedicated to
Smooth Jazz , and some
Soul programming, until 1992 when the policy changed and all non-jazz programming was taken off the schedules.
Although Jazz FM has originally from the start played
Jazz music, more
Soul and softer
R&B music was added later on in Jazz FM's lifetime to appeal to the 25-45 year old market that Jazz FM needed to entice to the station, especially after
GMG Radio took over the running of the station.
Many fans of traditional and modern
Jazz had criticised Jazz FM for pandering to more 'accessible' music, with Jazz FM playing more
Soul and
R&B music, especially during the daytime schedules. In March
2003 the Radio Authority (since embodied into the UK governments communications regulator,
Ofcom ) investigated Jazz FM after it received two complaints from listeners who complained that the station was playing more "
Pop " music, after changes made to the Jazz FM playlist in January
2003 .
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Ofcom as part of its licence agreement with Jazz FM, stated that Jazz FM had to dedicate at least 50% of the daytime output to '
Jazz ' music. However, from the
15th Of November 2003 , as part of an agreement with the
Guardian Media Group ,
Ofcom agreed to allow GMG to change the format of the station.
John Myers , the chief executive of GMG said "The policy we are going on is ratings by day, reputation by night. Jazz is much more of a night-time listen so the changes fit well." As a result, jazz music was increased from 40 hours to 45 hours and the Dinner Jazz programme hours were increased from two to three.
Sadly, Jazz FM didn't make a profit during the 15 years it broadcasted. This, alongside disappointing at the same time 102.2 Jazz FM became
102.2 Smooth FM . Included in the investment would be including two dedicated jazz stations that still run to this day.
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The North West version of Jazz FM was the first to rebrand on the
1st Of March 2004 and then the London version (including the
Freeview and many of the
DAB feeds) on the
7th Of June 2005 .
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Jazz FM in its previous form closed on Friday the
27th Of May 2005 with the last track played being, rather fittingly,
Ella Fitzgerald's '
Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye '. GMG then played a promotion for
Smooth FM alongside music tracks to be played on the new station and live news at the top of the hour until the launch of
Smooth FM at 10am on the
7th Of June with the help of
R&B singer
Lemar and then breakfast show presenter
Jon Scragg .
Jazz FM, like its counterpart GMG radio stations, held 'Bring A Pound To Work Day' in late October/early November 2003/2004. Listeners were asked to donate and collect pound coins for a local children's
Charity -
Nordoff Robbins in 2003 and the
Lennox Children's Cancer Fund the following year. Listeners could also text message a number for donations at a cost of £1.50, of which £1 went to the charity. Jazz FM has also held
Auction s in past years to help boost the money raised for charity. Lots included a signed edition of
Harry Potter , exclusive concert tickets and even a chance to join the former breakfast presenter
Jon Scragg on his show for one day. 'Bring A Pound To Work Day' was enormously successful for the chosen charities; in 2004, enough was raised to purchase a new Lennox holiday home on the south coast of
England .
The automated Jazz FM service that exists today no longer runs 'Bring A Pound To Work Day', although the campaign remains on other GMG stations. Jazz FM's successor
Smooth FM have rebranded their fundraising effort the Smooth Appeal.
Many of the programmes that formerly played on Jazz FM are still available on
Smooth FM or on the
jazzfm.com website.
- A three hour show on Saturday afternoons featuring Soul music alongside soccer updates and scores.
- '''Dinner and Jazz .
- A four hour show playing Jazz and Soul music, included the Million Sellers at 3pm, which only played songs that sold a million records or over and the Top 3 Most Requested at 5pm, where a listener requests three pieces of music to be played in sequence on the show.
- ''' music.
- '''Legends of artists.
- A two hour programme which included many forms of Jazz from classic to Latin as well as a mix of jazz from the younger players of the day.
- A two hour show on Saturday nights featuring contemporary jazz music. The Cutting Edge is still being produced and the show can be listened to on the Jazz FM website.
- A jazz chart show which was originally broadcast on Saturdays but which moved to Sundays in 2004 between 5pm and 8pm.
- '''Peter Young's The music, including Northern Soul .
- ''' records from the archives of Jazz FM.
- A two hour show featuring Chillout grooves and Jazz .
- A show presented by Tony Blackburn featuring lively Soul and Disco music from the ages. Tony Blackburn also presented a show on Jazz FM called '''Real Soul''' between 10pm and 12am on weeknights from March 2003 for twelve months. Real Soul was replaced by a three hour show featuring Jazz , Soul and R&B music presented by Clive Warren . {Link without Title}
Jazz FM also had an established record label called Jazz FM Records, publishing
Smooth Jazz and
Soul music in line with its former music output before the rebrand.
- 101 Eastbound
- A Cellar Full of Soul
- Absolute Blues
- Brazilian Nights
- Disco Jazz
- Dreamin'
- Driftin
- Guitar, Saxes and More
- Inspired
- Inspired 2
- Jazz FM - The Album
- Jazz of the Beat Generation
- Late Lounge Presents Boudoir Beats
- Mitchell & Dewbury - Beyond The Rains
- Nu Cool
- Nu Cool 2
- Ocean Drive
- Pacific Coast Highway
- Paul Hardcastle - 1983 - 2003 , The Very Best Of Paul Hardcastle
- Paul Hardcastle - Three
- Pure Smooth Jazz
- Soho Jazz Sounds
- Soul Inspired
- Spirit Of The Street: The Very Best Of Inner City Cool
- The Late Lounge
- The Late Lounge 2
- The Perrier Jazz Award Winners
- The Soul of Smooth Jazz
- The Soul of Smooth Jazz - Volume 2
- The Very Best of Smooth Jazz
- The Very Best of Smooth Jazz - Volume 2
- The Very Best of Jazz FM
- The Very Best of Jazz FM - Volume 2
- Tom and Joyce
- Tony Blackburn - Soul Survivor
- Velvet - Smooth Moods
- Velvet - Smooth Moods 2
- Venice Beach
Jazz FM Records also brought out compilation tracks from the
Hed Kandi team before
Hed Kandi Records was set up as a label in its own right. Jazz FM Records has since been renamed Enterprise Records, which in turn was bought by the
Ministry Of Sound record label from the
Guardian Media Group for an undisclosed sum in January
2006 .
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Jazz FM Events specialised in setting up and providing events based on a wide range of
Jazz and
Soul music based on the radio stations output. This included anything from concerts to performances in bars across the UK. Major events would be publicised via the radio station and the Jazz FM website, including the famous Soul Weekender weekends.
Jazz FM Connections was a
Dating site run by people2people.com. The service required an individual to pay a
Subscription to chat and meet up with other people registered on the service. The service still runs today and is known as
Smooth FM Connections.
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- Kay Garner, a british Jazz singer, was asked by the founder of Jazz FM, Dave Lee, to sing the original jingles for the station when it launched in 1990. {Link without Title}
