Jazz FM cleared by radio watchdog

Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 21:31:17 +0900
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
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http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story/0,12636,969605,00.html
Guardian Unlimited
Jazz FM cleared by radio watchdog
Julia Day
Tuesday June 3, 2003
Jazz FM has been cleared by radio watchdogs of breaching the terms of its
licence by playing too much soul and R&B and not enough jazz.
The station, which was relaunched earlier this year, was investigated
following 15 complaints that it had veered too far away from jazz by airing
pop acts such as U2 and Gabrielle.
Veteran jazz man George Melly said he had become so disillusioned with the
station he had stopped listening to it, while the culture minister, Kim
Howells, told MPs the station's output was "bland and disappointing".
However, the radio authority investigation - conducted between February 28
and April 24 2002 - concluded that Jazz FM was meeting the requirements set
out in its station format.
At the beginning of this year the station changed its schedule after its new
owners, Guardian Media Group, owner of MediaGuardian.co.uk, decided to try
to broaden the station's appeal to a wider audience.
Changes included the introduction of a nightly soul show hosted by Tony
Blackburn; a weekly jazz chart countdown; an additional hour each night on
Dinner Jazz; a weekly jazz programme presented by Ramsey Lewis; and a
documentary series looking at the work of artists including Dave Brubeck and
Nina Simone.
But although the changes have increased the number of people tuning in - its
audience rose from 1.27 million to 1.36 million in the first three months of
the year with people tuning in for longer - the changes infuriated some jazz
aficionados.
A radio station format sets out the rules laid down by the regulator
governing what a station's output must be in order for it to operate within
the terms of its licence.
Jazz's format stipulates that "at least half the music during daytime must
sit well with the label 'jazz'. The rest will be drawn from, and fully
reflect, the broader soul, blues, and R&B categories."
"We noted that since the Guardian Media Group bought the licences last
summer some changes to the schedule and presentation staff were introduced
and the daytime music policy underwent some 'fine-tuning'," said the radio
regulator.
"This maximised the amount of soul and R&B that was aired and led to a
number of listeners complaining to us about this."
It went on to acknowledge that some listeners may have been upset but said
jazz was within its rights to non-jazz music.
"We appreciated that some of the tracks being played may not be appreciated
by jazz aficionados but the stations never promised to play just jazz and
their licences, as mentioned above, have always allowed the inclusion of a
significant amount of soul and R'n'B tracks," the regulator said.
GMG radio group programme director John Simons said he was "delighted" the
radio authority had not found us guilty of any breach of format.
GMG acquired the two Jazz FM stations, in London and the north-west for
£44.5m in June 2002.