(also known as '''London Jazz Radio''' and '''JFM''') was a local
Jazz and
Soul Music Station for
London run by
GMG Radio . The station was based at Castlereagh Street in
London .
As well as broadcasting on platform on
October 30 ,
2002 . Both launches were preceded by test transmissions. Jazz FM was also available on
DAB Digital Radio on a number of MXR multiplexes across
England ,
South Wales and
Central Scotland (excluding MXR North West, which hosted the defunct
100.4 Jazz FM service for the North West) and the Switch Digital multiplex covering
Greater London .
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 and on .
When Jazz FM launched, the station played a mixture of mainstream
Jazz , with the daytime schedules originally dedicated to
Smooth Jazz , and some
Soul programming. Specialist programming from
Jez Nelson and live
Concert s were broadcast in the evening and at weekends.
1 In 1992, the policy changed and all non-jazz programming was taken off the schedules.
To counteract a downturn in listeners to Jazz FM, from 1998, smooth jazz and soul music was more integrated into the core playlist of Jazz FM.
2
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.
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. Jazz FM launched on the
4 February 1990 with an
Ella Fitzgerald concert at the
Royal Festival Hall in
London .Hobbs, Steve.
"DJ Profile's - Steve Hobbs." Solar Radio. Accessed August 17, 2006.
In 1992, Jazz FM was bought by Golden Rose Communications.
3
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 in the autumn of 1995 however, the name reverted to Jazz FM. Poole, Denis.
"The Secret Garden." Published February 12, 2000. Accessed August 17, 2006.
On December 12, 1999, Golden Rose Communications changed its name to Jazz FM plc.
4
Jazz FM was purchased by the
Guardian Media Group in July
2002 for £41 million from Jazz FM plc. In December 2002, GMG moved its sales operation from
Clear Channel Radio Sales to the
Chrysalis Group , inline with the sales operation for other GMG Radio stations.
5
Plans for a Jazz FM . Accessed
September 5, 2003 .
Kay Garner, a British ) produced by the Willox Ambler Rodford Law
Advertising Agency 6, "The Rhythm Of The City" and afterwards, during the GMG era, "Get It On", which was swiftly replaced on-air by "Smooth Jazz and Classic Soul". The Bespoke Music Company created the Jazz FM jingles which were in use since the
1st Of January 2003 , until 102.2 Jazz FM was relaunched as
102.2 Smooth FM . A sample of the jingles used can be heard from their website.
7
Ever since the station launched in 1990, many fans of traditional and modern on
March 3, 2003 . Accessed August 17, 2006.
Professional British jazz musician and former Jazz FM presenter,
Digby Fairweather in 2006 wrote an article on the, at the time, upcoming British jazz radio station,
TheJazz . In the article, he said that Jazz FM had turned into a "tragic and swift disaster story" and that the change of playlist later on was "responsible for both the attempted rape and (fortunately abortive) re-definition of the music" to which no-one within the Jazz FM coverage area would forgive.
8
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
15 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 . Accessed August 17, 2006.
The North West version of Jazz FM was the first to rebrand on the . Accessed August 17, 2006. During the last few weeks before the launch of Smooth FM, Jazz FM changed its jingles slightly from "Smooth Jazz and Classic Soul" to "London's Smooth Favourites" as an indication to listeners of the change to come.
Jazz FM in its previous form closed on Friday the
27 May 2005 with the last track played being, rather fittingly,
Ella Fitzgerald's '
Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye '.
9 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
7 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 did continue to be broadcast for a while on
Smooth FM and still are made available for
Download on the
Jazzfm.com website.
- A three hour show on Saturday afternoons featuring Soul music alongside soccer updates and scores. The show continues on 100.4 Smooth FM but is now entirely playlisted, and musically mirrors the station's normal music output.
- A six-part series which was commissioned in early 2003 following GMG's purchase of the station which saw vocalist Alison Moyet profiling well-known figures within the jazz industry.
- An occasional series which tended to air on Saturday lunchtimes between 1pm and 2pm - famous figures within the jazz/soul industry were invited to play their favourite songs.
- '''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 Jazzfm.com website.
- A jazz chart show which was originally broadcast on Saturdays but which moved to Sundays in 2004, and became the 'Jazz 40', 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 . Accessed August 17, 2006.
