It's a couple of months I've been meaning to post about the killing of Planete Jazz 91.9 FM. I was reminded when I tuned in today only to hear noise.It's a shame because it was Montreal's only station dedicated to jazz - even though it had its water downed moments. On weekends they'd play salsa for some reason.You didn't hear too much real, freaky jazz but it was passable. I listened.
The fact is jazz, from what I read (and not surprising) is too much of a niche form of music for it to be profitable. It never recovered from Elvis Presley. There are publicly funded jazz stations in Toronto, but they're money losers - surprise.
Like anything else, if you want to hear jazz the internet is your best bet. As well, some stations dedicate a couple of hours a week to jazz - it adds up to about 22 hours and usually are outside work hours - in other words, you can't listen in your car. Someone posted the schedule in the comments section in the link provided.
Jazz runs its course it seems. Even the Montreal Jazz Festival is not only dedicated to jazz anymore. In fact, it's basically an international music festival now. MJF used to offer awesome free jazz shows back in the day but now you have rock acts and international sounds part of the show. It's not the same.
I will be getting on Sirius soon. Wonder if it offers jazz. The United States is a monstrous radio market.
Anyway, getting exposure has just gotten tougher for jazz musicians.
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