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May 26, 2009

Smooth Jazz: Death by a thousand (self-inflicted) cuts

WNUA After a twenty year run, it looks like Smooth Jazz is running out of steam. WNUA is the latest high profile station to drop the format. The format defections have been attributed to PPM, but the story is far more complex than that. As we have pointed out several times in this space, Smooth Jazz was on the road to self-destruction even without PPM. We first warned of problems in June 2008, well before the mass exodus. We again warned of fundimental issues with the Smooth Jazz format in September 2008.

A format is like an organism. Every organism lives in a competitive and dangerous environment. Every station operates in a competitive and dangerous environment. To survive, an organism has to constantly adapt, to stay one step ahead of its predators. To survive, a format has to constantly adapt, to stay one step ahead of its competitors.

Smooth Jazz found a winning formula and stuck with it. When everything’s working, why change? And like many other struggling formats, it discovered too late that keeping everything the same works for a while, and then stops working.

Every organism evolves or dies. Every format evolves or dies. How are you going to evolve today?

Posted by on May 26, 2009 at 09:19 AM |

Tags: branding, smooth jazz

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