According to today’s R&R Online, Smooth Jazz is rebranding itself as Smooth AC. According to R&R:
The "Smooth Jazz" brand remains highly popular among listeners but "jazz" can truly be a four-letter word to buyers with visions of beatniks. So Broadcast Architecture is repositioning its 20-year old format to "Smooth AC." BA president Allen Kepler says "This new description is strictly geared toward the radio advertising community to better align us with our function and audience delivery." KTWV, Los Angeles GM Dan Weiner applauds the move, explaining "Listeners still identify positively with that description but in agencies we feel ‘Smooth AC’ is a better way to describe the format." KKSF, San Francisco NSM Marcy Mills agrees the word "jazz" has led many to mistakenly associate the format with a "limited highbrow fan base." Broadcast Architecture notes it has grown the playlist beyond smooth jazz by adding more AC artists over the years. WJJZ, Philadelphia station manager Jim Brown says "These days our station is more mainstream and mass appeal than it was years ago."
As we noted the other day here, a number of high profile stations have left the format recently. The majority of stations that remain in the format are losing listeners. Last book, two-thirds of Smooth Jazz stations were flat or down, one of the worst performing formats we track.
Rebranding Smooth Jazz is unlikely to have any positive impact on the format. The format’s current poor health is not due to its name. The format’s biggest problem is that the format is monolithic. There is a single Smooth Jazz sound dictated by BA that has remained virtually unchanged for years. While a single formula format like Bill Drake’s Top 40, or Jim Schulke’s Beautiful Music can be very successful for many years, the lack of innovation ultimately catches up with the format.
The R&R story notes that Smooth Jazz stations have moved more mainstream and mass appeal. And as we have noted, this is a period when Smooth Jazz stations lost a considerable number of listeners. Clearly, moving more mainstream has not helped. So now the format is going to rebrand itself. Smooth Jazz stations regardless of what they call themselves will need to show more independence and a greater willingness to experiment if the format is to survive.
Allen, It is good to hear that this book your clients fared better than other NAC stations, but the fact remains that the format have been in a downhill slide for some time. Formats survive and grow by evolving, and NAC is a format that has remained the same for some time. (There are other "non-evolving" formats that are in similar declines.) Core listeners find the format predictable and boring, and the numbers reflect it. You may object to the monolithic reference, but let's face it. NAC stations pretty much sound the same in every market. They play the same music, use the same promotions and contests, and run the same syndication. Every format does some of that, but it is particularly obvious in NAC
Posted by: Richard Harker | June 02, 2008 at 03:30 PM
Interesting points. However, in reviewing year--to-year data (25-54) Broadcast Architecture affiliated stations fare much better than what you are showing in your report with about 45% Flat or up vs. 55% down in ratings. Meanwhile, all but 1 of the markets who do not work with BA were down year to year. (This includes 6 markets in the top 40) This would dispell your 'monolithic' assumption, wouldn't it? Also in 35-64, among our clients 60% are up and 40% are down year-to-year.
Posted by: Allen Kepler | June 02, 2008 at 02:02 PM