{"id":939,"date":"2012-06-23T17:09:18","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T21:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=939"},"modified":"2012-06-23T17:09:18","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T21:09:18","slug":"news-talk-doesnt-replace-jazz-programming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/06\/news-talk-doesnt-replace-jazz-programming.html","title":{"rendered":"News-talk doesn’t replace jazz programming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of the many postings about Boston radio station WGBH’s misguided downgrading of its signature jazz coverage — managing director Phil Redo has announced the removal of long-<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Eric Jackson, jazz voice of Boston<\/p><\/div>\n

beloved prime time show host Eric Jackson to weekends only, the end of producer Steve Schwartz’s Friday night show, and the cut back Bob Parlocha’s overnight program from seven nights a week to two — the best I’ve read<\/a> is by Edward Bride in Berkshire Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

It includes interviews with public radio sources in Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Cleveland and Lansing, Michigan, who note that the substitution of news-and-talk radio and extended NPR broadcasts has, in other markets, resulted in station losses rather than gains. If the value of well-known, highly popular local voices spinning great music to impressionable (and international — WBGH streams online)\u00c2\u00a0audiences is not apparent to decision-makers at WGBH, perhaps the experience of\u00c2\u00a0stations like WBEZ Chicago which by dropping jazz sent its hard-earned listenership to the college stations WNUR, WDCB, and WHPK can be instructive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Steve Schwartz, another voice of Boston jazz<\/p><\/div>\n

In Boston, the loss of iconic programming threatens the city’s bid for recognition as a hub of contemporary jazz action. It’s home, after all, to Berklee College of Music, the most thriving jazz education institution in the U.S., and New England Conservatory, one of the most open-minded, as well as jazz ed programs at Brandeis, Wellseley, Harvard, MIT, Mount Holyoke, Clark, Amherst, U. Mass, Emerson, etc. \u00c2\u00a0It has a tenacious, historic local jazz club scene and native son George Wein invented the jazz festival (Newport RI is just a couple hours away).<\/p>\n

The grass roots support group Jazz Boston<\/a> and entrepreneurial Mass Jazz<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0website\/magazine are relatively recent additions to Boston’s jazz ecosystem, adding focus to a community that can be opaque or amorphous. The Tanglewood Jazz Festival, produced by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been cancelled for 2012, despite the BSO receiving funds in 2011<\/a> from the National Endowment for the Arts to bring NEA Jazz Masters to TJF. The 2012\u00c2\u00a0Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival<\/a>, 13 years old and now also supported in part by the NEA, is scheduled for Sept. 29, 2012. It’s a fun, community-spirited affair (I attended last year), if not on the level of the municipally-signficant New Orleans Jazz and Heritage<\/a>, Detroit<\/a>, or Chicago Jazz Festivals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So given that Boston is churning out jazz people with each graduating class, and has the educated, urban population that likes this music, it would seem to be a boon to a PBS\/NPR station a la WGBH to have highly identifiable. personable and well-connected on-air voices \u00c2\u00a0entertaining and edifying loyal listeners with America’s indigenous art form. Call-in talk shows are ok, I guess, but if it ain’t the Tappet Brothers Click and Clack telling me what’s wrong with somebody else’s car, I’m hard-pressed to identify anything especially Boston when I’m dialing ’round the dial.<\/p>\n

Of course, I’m not a Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins or Patriots or Revolution fan, and I understand Boston is a helluva sports town. Maybe if ‘GBH threw in with that<\/em> community it would see its ratings rise. Oh, already covered by the commercial stations? Hmmmm. Then how about sticking with something locally distinguished and distinctive? I’m thinking . . . \u00c2\u00a0jazz?<\/p>\n

[There are several attempts being made to get WGBH to reconsider this decision: the Facebook group Save Eric in the Evening<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0has more than 2100 members, and is the place to make your thoughts known, get in on protests, sign petitions, etc.]<\/p>\n

howardmandel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Of the many postings about Boston radio station WGBH’s misguided downgrading of its signature jazz coverage — managing director Phil Redo has announced the removal of long- beloved prime time show host Eric Jackson to weekends only, the end of producer Steve Schwartz’s Friday night show, and the cut back Bob Parlocha’s overnight program from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-about","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/eric-jackson.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-f9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3074,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2023\/04\/36-jazz-heroes-in-32-us-cities-and-there-are-many-more.html","url_meta":{"origin":939,"position":0},"title":"36 Jazz Heroes in 32 US cities – and there are many more","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Jazz Journalists Association announces the 2023 Jazz Heroes -- \"activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz,\" formerly the A Team -- emphasizing as it has annually since 2001 that jazz is culture that comes from the ground up, by individuals crossing all demographic categories, working frequently with others\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-heroes-collage-1-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-heroes-collage-1-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-heroes-collage-1-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-heroes-collage-1-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-heroes-collage-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/2023-heroes-collage-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":944,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/06\/news-good-and-otherwise-about-good-radio.html","url_meta":{"origin":939,"position":1},"title":"News — good and otherwise — about good radio","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"June 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"WNYC\/WQXR program host David Garland makes a good point, in reference to the announcement by WGBH (Boston)\u00c2\u00a0that it's cutting back its nightly\u00c2\u00a0\"Eric in the Evening\" jazz show, Steve Schwartz's Friday night jazz show and \u00c2\u00a0Bob Parlocha's overnight jazz show. Writes Garland: \u00c2\u00a0\"I wish good radio was considered a good 'story'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "about"","block_context":{"text":"about","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/about"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/david-garland1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1429,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/10\/boston-doubles-down-on-jazz.html","url_meta":{"origin":939,"position":2},"title":"Boston doubles down on jazz","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"October 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Boston -- historically stuffy but blue-blood liberal, devoted to higher education, high finance and professional sports -- is now doubling down on itself as a world-class jazz city. Berklee College of Music,\u00c2\u00a0nearly 4500\u00c2\u00a0students strong and \u00c2\u00a0an economic engine onto itself, is\u00c2\u00a0generating energy that enlivens Boston's \u00c2\u00a0neighborhoods, drawing in general\u00c2\u00a0audiences with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"beantown stroll","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/beantown-stroll.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":397,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/05\/celebrating_jazz_excellence_.html","url_meta":{"origin":939,"position":3},"title":"Celebrating jazz excellence — Awards, honors and privileges","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"May 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The NEA zeroes out its Jazz Masters program, the Grammys cuts categories so pop best-sellers regain prominence vis a vis less obviously commercial stars, but the Jazz Journalists Association's 15th annual Jazz Awards -- to be held June 11, 2011 with an afternoon gala with all star music at City\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"maria schneider &.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/maria%20schneider%20%26.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":219,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/07\/jazz_mag_revived.html","url_meta":{"origin":939,"position":4},"title":"Jazz mag revived?","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"July 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Jazz Times, the monthly which suspended publication in May, has been bought by Madavor Media and will print an August issue produced by its familiar staff and contributors, according to today's New York Times. Boston-based Madavor counts International Figure Skating, Volleyball and The Best of Northeast Golf among its \"core\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":375,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/01\/prince_plays_the_blues_-_choco.html","url_meta":{"origin":939,"position":5},"title":"Prince plays the blues – Chocolate Drops, Wynton, Clapton, too","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The blues is big-time pop again -- processed to a triumphant apotheosis by Prince at Madison Square Garden\u00a0as I detail in my new City Arts column\u00a0-- (but did it ever go away? 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