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102.2 Jazz FM

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The Jazz FM logo in use until 2002.
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The Jazz FM logo in use until 2002.

102.2 Jazz FM was a local station for London launched on the 4th of February 1990 with an 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. [link] The station was based at Castlereagh Street in London. 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. [link]

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.

Contents

jazzfm.com

The station still broadcasts under the Jazz FM name on the [Internet] and on DAB in Yorkshire, South Wales and the Severn Estuary. The DAB service carries the Blue Room feed from [jazzfm.com] at a higher bitrate.

Playlist

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.

Criticism and Rebranding

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. [link]

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 RAJAR figures prompted the decision in 2005 by GMG to drop the jazz name completely and rebrand Jazz FM to Smooth FM. Chief Executive of GMG John Myers said: "As sorry as we are to say goodbye to Jazz FM, it’s a sad fact of life that it has never made a profit in its 15 years of existence." Another reason given for the rebranding was that the Jazz FM name was putting people off listening to the station, as well as the station not playing enough jazz for the purists. The latter situation was solved by GMG Radio by adding additional investment into the ejazz.fm website and changing the name to jazzfm.com 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. [link]

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. [link] 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 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.

Bring A Pound To Work Day

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 auctions 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.

Former Specialist Programmes on Jazz FM

Many of the programmes that formerly played on Jazz FM are still available on Smooth FM or on the [jazzfm.com] website.

Former Presenters on Jazz FM

Jazz FM Records

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.

Jazz FM Records Discography:

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. [link]

Jazz FM Events

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

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. [link]

Trivia

See also

External links

 

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