SJ.COM: Why are there two sets of calls?

GW: The way that radio signals were allocated here in Columbus is very strange. Most of them reach outside of the city. One of our signals covers the north and one covers the south. We used to actually run two separate sets of commercials for each side of town, but it became too confusing.

SJ.COM: How long have the stations been playing smooth jazz?

GW: The owner, George Scantland, picked up on this format right from the beginning, which was 7 years ago this month. George is a music enthusiast. He’s the kind of guy who was listening to cool stuff like Brubeck and all that great music back in the 50’s.

SJ.COM: Gary, you've been in the format a long time (Santa Fe, etc.), is "Smooth Jazz" still doing it for you after all these years? Are you still feeling the passion for the music?

GW: More than ever. Think about all of the original artists of the format that now have a deep history in the format and an extensive catalog. Every day you come and you say what’s the latest stuff going to sound like from these great artists. And there’s this tremendous growth going on with new artists that have been spawned from the founding artists. There’s a viable format now. 15 years ago it was a mish mash of different artists that we pulled together to create a sound. Now there is a signature sound, a synthesis if you will, from all of the many sounds that originally made up the format.

SJ.COM: What about some of the founding artists that are no longer considered ‘hot’ and don't garnish airplay for their new music?

GW: Broadcast Architecture has such influence on the format and for whatever kind of wisdom they put together to determine what and who still gets played and doesn’t get played, this seems to trickle down to stations that aren't even working with BA.

SJ.COM: Are you guys playing enough new music? And are you happy with the direction of the new stuff that's coming out?

GW: Our Program Director, Bill Harman, does things with our music that are different from the other stations playing smooth jazz. So I would say we play plenty of new music. BA would say that we’re playing too much.

I think there’s a fine line with new music in our format. Our listeners need to feel comfortable most of the time. Comfort is the nature of our format. BA’s whole thing is about "texture" and "office listening", but we feel that spice is also necessary as we think it keeps the format in a forward moving pattern.

New music is something that you are always battling in commercial radio. You add too much and listeners complain. You don't add enough and the sound isn't fresh enough.

SJ.COM: We're hearing a lot Smooth Jazz radio out there playing a good amount of Adult Contemporary songs and artists. What do you think about that?

GW: Chasing another format is not the best way to program a radio station. Smooth jazz does not need to play AC cross over tunes. However, I understand the logic. Successful AC stations are getting a huge share of the ratings/advertising pie and you think what's it going to take to get a little more of that? Playing some of their songs and artists?

SJ.COM: What artists do you think will be the next core artists in the format?

GW: Again, Bill is the one that works closely with the music here, so he'd have a better idea of what artists are next in line from our perspective. But I think Joyce Cooling is just great. Euge Groove, Down To The Bone, Marc Antoine are all making great music.

This format has so many great artists like Chuck Loeb who has something like 10 albums or more and people still don't know who they are.

Instrumental artists probably have more of a challenge becoming known than pop artists.

SJ.COM: If you could cross over any sound or artist into the format without concern of risking ratings, who or what would you introduce to Smooth Jazz? Why?

GW: The way Bill picks music here is that he doesn’t hesitate to mix in different kinds of music. We're really trying not to let this format become complacent and we are looking for those off-shoot sounds and artists.
I'm convince that NAC artists started writing for this format when they discovered a formula and now we all know what that formula is. We're trying to keep things interested and fresh while maintaining that comfort that the format provides our listeners.

SJ.COM: What advise would you give new Smooth Jazz artists that are trying to break in and get heard?

GW: The most important thing I can offer an artist that is trying to go for radio airplay is to listen. Listen to who's getting played and what there production sounds like. There is an inherent formula, and while I hate to refer to it as a formula because I think it cheapens things, musicians should listen to those artists that are doing well. Then get involved in the recording and production. We’ll get a demo from somebody and they’ll say, "I think we have this great song." And well, no it’s not really.
If you’re objective is to make music for yourself and satisfy your creative senses then do it. If you want to make music for radio, then listen to what’s getting played.

We play only a couple of local artists, Urban Jazz Coalition is a big favorite here. We also play a lot from Kim Pencil and we found a track from another local, the legendary Tony Monaco, he’s huge in the mainstream Jazz world.

SJ.COM: Are you doing anything in Columbus that's unique to the format?

GW: Well, we are producing our own concert series, there was an article in R&R a couple of weeks ago on what we're doing. We even sell our own tickets over the phone. The concerts are featured on a closed circuit channel and on cable tv at home on the night of the show. We can run these several times after the concert is over and keep the excitement alive.

SJ.COM: How do you get the artists to agree to the TV thing. Their contracts almost always forbid filming.

GW: That is something that I just don't handle at all.

SJ.COM: Your Web site is quite unique in that you market "Columbus Jazz" (columbusjazz.com), rather than your call letters and frequency dot com. You seem to almost have a magazine concept.

GW: We’ve gone to such an effort to be the authority on not just Smooth Jazz, but Jazz. We have mainstream Jazz fans going to the Smooth Jazz concerts and the Smooth Jazz fans going to the mainstream Jazz concerts. I'm glad you like the site. I am the guy that does it. I try to make it easy to move around and navigate your way through. Losing the streaming hurt us as the signals are not strong in the city, none of them are here. People were listening to us on-line. But now at least we can refer them to Smoothjazz.com Radio while their working.

We have a sales manager that really sees the value of the Web site and I am definitely pursuing a magazine format with it and hopefully turning it into another strong source of revenue. We have huge ideas, but only so many hours in the day. The pages that are hit the most are the ones most recently updated.

Once we make more money with the site we'll be able to do more. We're a very small staff that wears a multiple hats. We return every single email though and people really appreciate it.

SJ.COM: What was the last show you caught live?

GW: Our own concert with Craig Chaquico & Joyce Cooling. We have a great arrangement with Wendy's corporate headquarters here in town. They allow us to use their huge lawn area (like a beautiful park field) for our outdoor events.

SJ.COM: What CD do you have in your player?

GW: Pat Metheny's latest. He's my god.

SJ.COM: What else do you like to do besides radio?

GW: Because of this job I have become a computer geek and I spend a lot of time on computers. I play games and love to rip off other Web sites by finding out how they are doing stuff. The Internet is so wide open isn't it? There's so much there it's almost too good to be true.

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