Does anyone listen to WBGO?

Is it me or has the programming actually changed to mostly smooth jazz? It is practically unlistenable.


I do, but haven’t noticed a change. It’s had a soft spot for smooth jazz as long as I’ve been listening; still, a spot check of the playlist for the last hour or so has some Sonny, Shorter, Ellington and Benny Carter along with the expected Benson and Manhattan Transfer.

The expanded Rhythm and Soul Revue on the weekends isn’t making me forget the loss of Binky Griptite’s show on WFUV, but I’ll take it.


I do, been listening for close to 30 years. I like the variety. I would hate to lose that station. They’re trying to get a younger audience. Or else they will die.


I listen in my car. And, yes, it's all smooth jazz and well-known jazz hits, all the time. You'd think that a non-commercial station would have some balls. 


When they brought in Keanna Faircloth, they hoped to attract new listeners.  I guess that did not work out as well as they hoped.

This was the explanation of the change . . . I don't know which listeners they surveyed, but it wasn't anyone in our household.

WBGO's President & CEO, Steven A. Williams noted, "In my first year leading WBGO, we invested heavily in research to understand what our listeners and members love and what they would like to hear from WBGO going forward. It was imperative to the health of this public radio station to build on the strengths in our programming schedule and give our audience more of the music they love.""


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I listen in my car. And, yes, it's all smooth jazz and well-know jazz hits, all the time.

Lucky for me I was listening during what must have been the only nine-minute exception last year, an ear-riveting track that introduced me to Snarky Puppy.


I usually like WBGO, but sometimes it is really annoying. My husband asked what happened to Keanna Faircloth and they said they were not at liberty to talk about it. Wow! 

One type of jazz that I hate that is playing right now is what I call "roller skating music." Very heavy on the organ, very much something that was played while we were roller skating. I do not care for the songs/artists they decide to play constantly. But it's better than no public jazz station. And some of it is really good.


jeffl said:

Is it me or has the programming actually changed to mostly smooth jazz? It is practically unlistenable.

I have for years but only Gary Walker early morning, Monifa  Brown, or Sheila Anderson (both late night). 


When I was in Osaka and Kyoto jazz could be heard everywhere -- in taxis, restaurants, elevators -- but only from the modal jazz period of the '50s and '60s.   Jazz stops after that for most Japanese.  It's .... odd.


International Jazz Day Celebration is on Ch. 13 right now. 


I’ve listened to WBGO since when it was WRVR, like 50 years ago.  I think it’s never been worse.  Embarrassing schmaltz that they’re calling jazz.  I’m surprised they’re not interviewing Kenny G about his thoughts about the genre. I guess the best DJs have died or retired.  Of course there’s nothing else to listen to if you want to hear jazz.  


jeffl said:

I’ve listened to WBGO since when it was WRVR, like 50 years ago.  I think it’s never been worse.  Embarrassing schmaltz that they’re calling jazz.  I’m surprised they’re not interviewing Kenny G about his thoughts about the genre. I guess the best DJs have died or retired.  Of course there’s nothing else to listen to if you want to hear jazz.  

I loved WRVR! And I still miss it. 

That said, on WBGO, I hear enough just enough Joe Williams, The Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Chick Corea, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, Lester Young, Jimmy Smith, Eddie Jefferson, Ella, Mel,  Jazzmeia Horn, Ethel Waters, (but not enough Cleo Laine), and the eternal Alberta Hunter (oh, those sessions at the Cookery!) to keep me happy.


I listen to WBGO rhythm review every weekend and love it. Glad they expanded it to Sunday mornings too! 


dc9065 said:

I listen to WBGO rhythm review every weekend and love it. Glad they expanded it to Sunday mornings too! 

Listening to it right now. The funny thing is that I only know about half the songs—“A” side, so to speak. Wasn’t my genre when it was new. 


Here's the backstory...


https://www.pbs.org/video/the-wbgo-story-bright-moments-from-newark-to-the-world-erpmgf/#:~:text=The%20documentary%20tells%20the%20story,NJ's%20first%20public%20radio%20station.


Here's a clickable link for the above


metaphysician said:

 and the eternal Alberta Hunter (oh, those sessions at the Cookery!) to keep me happy.

I was fortunate enough to see Alberta Hunter at the Cookery twice. Such fun, such great charm and personality.


Listening right now and the current song is definitely not smooth jazz.

Edited to Add:  Now they are playing smooth jazz.  Not good.


I found this article from January 2020.
It sounds like the turmoil and changes go back a few years now.

Side note: I didn't realize Mayor Ras Baraka's father was one of the founders of WBGO.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/wbgo-newark-jazz.html

Here is part of the article:

"For almost 40 years, Dorthaan Kirk, the widow of the great jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was a fixture at WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station.

Considered the city’s “first lady of jazz,” Ms. Kirk organized jazz brunches and persuaded famous musicians like Regina Carter to perform at children’s concerts. Her parties at the station celebrating the art exhibitions she curated, like one featuring vintage boomboxes, were always open to the public.

In 2018, Ms. Kirk retired, just shy of her 80th birthday.

Things at WBGO quickly changed after that. The station ended the exhibitions and the parties. Then management stopped allowing the public into the building, citing security concerns. The community, it seemed, was no longer welcome at the station it helped to create.

ImageDorthaan Kirk and Bill Daughtry were longtime employees of WBGO.
Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

This development did not sit well. WBGO (88.3 FM) is arguably the best jazz station in the world, and its fate speaks to the broader challenges facing the popularity of jazz, that uniquely American idiom.

What WBGO offers is rare and culturally significant: an ongoing, ever-changing audio library of jazz, both old and new. The fact that its headquarters are in Newark, a center of black culture and activism, as well as the home of musicians like Sarah Vaughan and the saxophonists James Moody and Wayne Shorter, is no accident.

Not surprisingly, the situation became contentious. WBGO stalwarts rallied around a batch of perceived slights. Grievances cited in a petition, signed by the singer Cassandra Wilson and the pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr., pointed out the racial imbalance in WBGO’s leadership and hiring decisions that marginalized veteran employees and the community at large. An op-ed published in November alluded to a “perceived stench of racism on the part of WBGO.”


KarenMarlowe said:

I usually like WBGO, but sometimes it is really annoying. My husband asked what happened to Keanna Faircloth and they said they were not at liberty to talk about it. Wow! 

Is she no longer on the air?  Her bio is still on the website.


yahooyahoo said:

KarenMarlowe said:

I usually like WBGO, but sometimes it is really annoying. My husband asked what happened to Keanna Faircloth and they said they were not at liberty to talk about it. Wow! 

Is she no longer on the air?  Her bio is still on the website.

Her bio is still up but she is no longer listed in their lineup. I wonder what happened.


I wasn't aware of the Rahsaan Roland Kirk connection. I'm a huge fan of his music, and of the man. If you'd like a good introduction, check out his live recording "Bright Moments."  You'll be a fan, too. 


KarenMarlowe said:

yahooyahoo said:

KarenMarlowe said:

I usually like WBGO, but sometimes it is really annoying. My husband asked what happened to Keanna Faircloth and they said they were not at liberty to talk about it. Wow! 

Is she no longer on the air?  Her bio is still on the website.

Her bio is still up but she is no longer listed in their lineup. I wonder what happened.

Her Twitter account says "Former host of Afternoon Jazz on @WBGO."


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I wasn't aware of the Rahsaan Roland Kirk connection. I'm a huge fan of his music, and of the man. If you'd like a good introduction, check out his live recording "Bright Moments."  You'll be a fan, too. 

A soprano friend of mine from college is related to him by marriage. How closely related, I'm not sure, and this reminds me that I owe her a phone call.  question


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I wasn't aware of the Rahsaan Roland Kirk connection. I'm a huge fan of his music, and of the man. If you'd like a good introduction, check out his live recording "Bright Moments."  You'll be a fan, too. 

I picked up a copy of A Case of the Three Sided Dream from a cut out rack when I was in high school.  I liked the cover art, and it was really low priced.  I fell in total love with it--I still hear it resonating in my mind all these years later.  It was the first conscious jazz I ever owned, and when I compare it to what I hear on WBGO these days, well, WBGO falls very short.

BTW, the second jazz album I bought was a jazz piano compilation--Corea, Hancock, Tyner, Jarrett.  Also from the cut out bin.  Also astonishing to my young ears and another album against whichI measure all other jazz.


mfpark said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I wasn't aware of the Rahsaan Roland Kirk connection. I'm a huge fan of his music, and of the man. If you'd like a good introduction, check out his live recording "Bright Moments."  You'll be a fan, too. 

I picked up a copy of A Case of the Three Sided Dream from a cut out rack when I was in high school.  I liked the cover art, and it was really low priced.  I fell in total love with it--I still hear it resonating in my mind all these years later.  It was the first conscious jazz I ever owned, and when I compare it to what I hear on WBGO these days, well, WBGO falls very short.

BTW, the second jazz album I bought was a jazz piano compilation--Corea, Hancock, Tyner, Jarrett.  Also from the cut out bin.  Also astonishing to my young ears and another album against whichI measure all other jazz.

I think the fist jazz LP I ever got in high school was John Coltrane's DAKAR, an early, post-bop outing with Pepper Adams, Cecil Payne, Mal Waldron, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor - heavy on baritone sax. I loved it and listened to it over and over. I told my cousin about it and he said "you like Coltrane? Y'gotta hear his recording called 'Om'."  So, I found it and listed to it. Wow. Having just gotten started in jazz, and into the very post-bop sound of Dakar, I was really confused, to put it mildly, by Om. It was  like experiencing the beginning and the end of a musical journey but without the middle. It took me a long to to travel that middle and get to where Om was. 


    The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

    I think the fist jazz LP I ever got in high school was John Coltrane's DAKAR, an early, post-bop outing with Pepper Adams, Cecil Payne, Mal Waldron, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor - heavy on baritone sax. I loved it and listened to it over and over. I told my cousin about it and he said "you like Coltrane? Y'gotta hear his recording called 'Om'."  So, I found it and listed to it. Wow. Having just gotten started in jazz, and into the very post-bop sound of Dakar, I was really confused, to put it mildly, by Om. It was  like experiencing the beginning and the end of a musical journey but without the middle. It took me a long to to travel that middle and get to where Om was. 

      Funny enough, I did not listen to A Love Supreme until I was over 50 years old.  I actually stopped the car and cried the first time I heard it (CD in the car).  I think it was best that I waited until I was an older person to hear it, because it required the many years of hard-won experience to grasp what was going on in it.  Kind of like how Confucius said that no one under age 60 should try to use the I Ching.


      yahooyahoo said:

      I found this article from January 2020.
      It sounds like the turmoil and changes go back a few years now.

      Side note: I didn't realize Mayor Ras Baraka's father was one of the founders of WBGO.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/wbgo-newark-jazz.html

      Here is part of the article:

      "For almost 40 years, Dorthaan Kirk, the widow of the great jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was a fixture at WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station.

      Considered the city’s “first lady of jazz,” Ms. Kirk organized jazz brunches and persuaded famous musicians like Regina Carter to perform at children’s concerts. Her parties at the station celebrating the art exhibitions she curated, like one featuring vintage boomboxes, were always open to the public.

      In 2018, Ms. Kirk retired, just shy of her 80th birthday.

      Things at WBGO quickly changed after that. The station ended the exhibitions and the parties. Then management stopped allowing the public into the building, citing security concerns. The community, it seemed, was no longer welcome at the station it helped to create.

      ImageDorthaan Kirk and Bill Daughtry were longtime employees of WBGO.
      Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

      This development did not sit well. WBGO (88.3 FM) is arguably the best jazz station in the world, and its fate speaks to the broader challenges facing the popularity of jazz, that uniquely American idiom.

      What WBGO offers is rare and culturally significant: an ongoing, ever-changing audio library of jazz, both old and new. The fact that its headquarters are in Newark, a center of black culture and activism, as well as the home of musicians like Sarah Vaughan and the saxophonists James Moody and Wayne Shorter, is no accident.

      Not surprisingly, the situation became contentious. WBGO stalwarts rallied around a batch of perceived slights. Grievances cited in a petition, signed by the singer Cassandra Wilson and the pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr., pointed out the racial imbalance in WBGO’s leadership and hiring decisions that marginalized veteran employees and the community at large. An op-ed published in November alluded to a “perceived stench of racism on the part of WBGO.”

      I sat on a jury and was asked if I had any bumper stickers on my car.  I said WBGO.  Another woman on the jury hands me her card.  It was Dorthaan Kirk.  I started chatting with her.  Asked her what her connection was to jazz.  She told me that her husband played.  I asked if he played professionally. She said he did but that he died years ago.  And then I realized who her husband was.  What a gracious, wonderful woman. We had a lot of laughs during jury duty. 


      jeffl said:

      yahooyahoo said:

      I found this article from January 2020.
      It sounds like the turmoil and changes go back a few years now.

      Side note: I didn't realize Mayor Ras Baraka's father was one of the founders of WBGO.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/wbgo-newark-jazz.html

      Here is part of the article:

      "For almost 40 years, Dorthaan Kirk, the widow of the great jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was a fixture at WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station.

      Considered the city’s “first lady of jazz,” Ms. Kirk organized jazz brunches and persuaded famous musicians like Regina Carter to perform at children’s concerts. Her parties at the station celebrating the art exhibitions she curated, like one featuring vintage boomboxes, were always open to the public.

      In 2018, Ms. Kirk retired, just shy of her 80th birthday.

      Things at WBGO quickly changed after that. The station ended the exhibitions and the parties. Then management stopped allowing the public into the building, citing security concerns. The community, it seemed, was no longer welcome at the station it helped to create.

      ImageDorthaan Kirk and Bill Daughtry were longtime employees of WBGO.
      Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

      This development did not sit well. WBGO (88.3 FM) is arguably the best jazz station in the world, and its fate speaks to the broader challenges facing the popularity of jazz, that uniquely American idiom.

      What WBGO offers is rare and culturally significant: an ongoing, ever-changing audio library of jazz, both old and new. The fact that its headquarters are in Newark, a center of black culture and activism, as well as the home of musicians like Sarah Vaughan and the saxophonists James Moody and Wayne Shorter, is no accident.

      Not surprisingly, the situation became contentious. WBGO stalwarts rallied around a batch of perceived slights. Grievances cited in a petition, signed by the singer Cassandra Wilson and the pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr., pointed out the racial imbalance in WBGO’s leadership and hiring decisions that marginalized veteran employees and the community at large. An op-ed published in November alluded to a “perceived stench of racism on the part of WBGO.”

      I sat on a jury and was asked if I had any bumper stickers on my car.  I said WBGO.  Another woman on the jury hands me her card.  It was Dorthaan Kirk.  I started chatting with her.  Asked her what her connection was to jazz.  She told me that her husband played.  I asked if he played professionally. She said he did but that he died years ago.  And then I realized who her husband was.  What a gracious, wonderful woman. We had a lot of laughs during jury duty. 

      That’s very cool!


      KarenMarlowe said:

      jeffl said:

      yahooyahoo said:

      I found this article from January 2020.
      It sounds like the turmoil and changes go back a few years now.

      Side note: I didn't realize Mayor Ras Baraka's father was one of the founders of WBGO.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/nyregion/wbgo-newark-jazz.html

      Here is part of the article:

      "For almost 40 years, Dorthaan Kirk, the widow of the great jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was a fixture at WBGO, Newark’s public jazz station.

      Considered the city’s “first lady of jazz,” Ms. Kirk organized jazz brunches and persuaded famous musicians like Regina Carter to perform at children’s concerts. Her parties at the station celebrating the art exhibitions she curated, like one featuring vintage boomboxes, were always open to the public.

      In 2018, Ms. Kirk retired, just shy of her 80th birthday.

      Things at WBGO quickly changed after that. The station ended the exhibitions and the parties. Then management stopped allowing the public into the building, citing security concerns. The community, it seemed, was no longer welcome at the station it helped to create.

      ImageDorthaan Kirk and Bill Daughtry were longtime employees of WBGO.
      Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

      This development did not sit well. WBGO (88.3 FM) is arguably the best jazz station in the world, and its fate speaks to the broader challenges facing the popularity of jazz, that uniquely American idiom.

      What WBGO offers is rare and culturally significant: an ongoing, ever-changing audio library of jazz, both old and new. The fact that its headquarters are in Newark, a center of black culture and activism, as well as the home of musicians like Sarah Vaughan and the saxophonists James Moody and Wayne Shorter, is no accident.

      Not surprisingly, the situation became contentious. WBGO stalwarts rallied around a batch of perceived slights. Grievances cited in a petition, signed by the singer Cassandra Wilson and the pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr., pointed out the racial imbalance in WBGO’s leadership and hiring decisions that marginalized veteran employees and the community at large. An op-ed published in November alluded to a “perceived stench of racism on the part of WBGO.”

      I sat on a jury and was asked if I had any bumper stickers on my car.  I said WBGO.  Another woman on the jury hands me her card.  It was Dorthaan Kirk.  I started chatting with her.  Asked her what her connection was to jazz.  She told me that her husband played.  I asked if he played professionally. She said he did but that he died years ago.  And then I realized who her husband was.  What a gracious, wonderful woman. We had a lot of laughs during jury duty. 

      That’s very cool!

      I'd like to meet the woman married to Rahsaan.  He was such a cool, funny, interesting person. An iconoclast of the 1st degree and quite a wit, too. A master of circular breathing. (I wish I'd seen him live, but there's lots of footage on YouTube.)


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