Comments on: WSMJ Baltimore Becomes "Channel 104.3″

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:33:04 +0000

It is indeed too bad that Smooth Jazz stations are going off the air. However, ratings are consistently dropping in most markets. It’s not profitable anymore. The format is DYING.

By: Juan

Juan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:53:16 +0000

And now the format has changed again… to Top 40. Boo!

By: sean

sean — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:31:53 +0000

Having been part of the B104 staff; I’ll just say the frequency should have been retired out of respect for what was once on it. It’s a limited signal even on the new stick and it’s ludicrous to think anything could be equally successful today.

By: Theodore Shorter, Jr.

Theodore Shorter, Jr. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:03:17 +0000

It is a tragedy that the smooth jazz stations are being eliminated from the radio. Just recently Chicago was hit with a catastrophic loss. WNUA 95.5 Smooth Jazz was replaced with a Spanish music format. I just could not believe my beloved WNUA 95.5 was taken away from the smooth jazz listeners without a replacement for basic life support to carry us through our day. Smooth Jazz please come back to Chicago life is unbearable without it!

By: sheri from baltimore

sheri from baltimore — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:17:34 +0000

I concur with both all three comments. When I woke up one morning and heard the smooth jazz station, I was elated. I called friends and emailed them. “Baltimore has a jazz station and the music is hot.” I did not touch my dial on my home radio nor my car radio for almost a year. I would leave my radio on all night so I could wake up to the smooth sounds. I even taped many of the all night shows and still play the tapes to this day. The music was the best because it was in fact, smooth jazz. Bill Simpson was my favorite. No matter where you went in Baltimore where music was piped into the system, WSMJ was playing. Everybody loved it. Then people started being shuffled around, other songs being added which were not so smooth. It was a people station so I thought I’d write and complain when I started hearing “Kool and the Gang”. I got no response. Not that I didn’t like them, but that wasn’t smooth jazz. Anyway, when the station died, almost every co-worker couldn’t believe it. Friends were actually crying. I am still crying. Bring it back, but the original fomat when it started. My generation needs that music. I don’t even listen to the radio much anymore. Sad to say.

By: Nick Sarames

Nick Sarames — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:28:56 +0000

When the likes of Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock and Weather Report broadened Jazz idiom to include elements of Rock, Funk and Electronic music, it was inventive and exciting. However, what passes for Smooth Jazz (which we use to call Fusion, is derivative, mediocre, disposable and arguably embarrasing. It has become more like a modern day BM, featuring instrumental recordings of the hits of the day. Clearly “corporate” radio is using the democratic (small D) process to decide what listeners want, and listeners are speaking, or more accurately put, not listening.

By: Ben from Baltimore

Ben from Baltimore — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:06:44 +0000

I can’t stand what corporate America is doing to radio. They should have left the original B104 (WBSB) alone. I was watching a video on YouTube from San Diego, CA where people were ticked off that Clear Channel was taking the only progressive talk radio station in San Diego off the air and replacing it with a sports station when there was a ton of sports stations on the air in San Diego already. If it were not for the Internet, streaming radio, and my MP3 player, I would be driven nuts by what is called music nowdays. Frank Zoppa said it best when he said that these kids (example: Justin Timberlake) who run the music business nowdays aren’t putting out good music any more.
Ben

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:31:28 +0000

What is going on? Why are all these Smooth Jazz stations throughout the country being eliminated? First in DC, Houston, Denver and now Baltimore. There is an audience for smooth jazz and now we must bombard and over-populate the market with all these similar competiting radio stations of rock, alternative and the like. This further gives me a reason to not listen to radio at all. This is awful!

By: Ricky

Ricky — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:23:05 +0000

Not only is it a sad day for Baltimore, it’s also a sad day for Smooth Jazz as a whole. In the last 12 months, we’ve lost stations in Houston, Indianapolis, Denver, Portland, New York and Washington DC. Thankfully, there are still lots of great stations to choose from, like WJJZ Philadelphia, KKSF San Francisco, KTWV Los Angeles, and my hometown station, WNUA Chicago! And you can listen online, so that’s a big plus. Anyway, as a former Baltimore resident, I express my condolences to the jazz lovers in town, and I hope that somebody else brings this wonderful format back someday. Sure, Smooth Jazz is currently on life support, but it’s certainly not dead yet! Just ask the fans in Philly. After all, WSMJ was owned by the same idiots who killed off the old WJJZ. Well, there’s hope for Baltimore, because if it could happen in Philly, then why not here? This is yet another great station that will be terribly missed.