FW: A Letter From The Program Director Of Love FM (WZMR Albany NY) - The Death of Smooth Jazz in the Capitol District

[Brian Vita]

Well here's the death of the Smooth Jazz format in the Albany market.  At
least it held out longer than Boston.  I get a kick out of the comment about
nobody becoming unemployed.   What they didn't say was that the station was
entirely voice tracked with talent from other properties.  It explains why
no one was going to be unemployed.

I think that the final straw was that they bastardized the format from a
straight Smooth Jazz to a syrupy AC format.

Oh well, at least I still have XM...

Brian T. Vita, President
Cinema Service & Supply, Inc.
77 Walnut St - Ste 4
Peabody, MA  01960-5691
+1-978-538-7575 Voice
+1-978-538-7550 Fax
www.cssinc.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: lovefmmail@yahoo.com [mailto:lovefmmail@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 1:55 PM
To: brian_vita@cssinc.com
Subject: A Letter From The Program Director Of Love FM

Dear Brian,

To our loyal listners:

We would like to thank you for the four plus years you’ve been with WZMR
as the exclusive outlet for Smooth Jazz in the Capital Region.
Unfortunately, in the radio industry’s increasingly competitive
environment, WZMR was not achieving the success needed for it to survive in
the spirited business world we live in. In the latest Arbitron trend, WZMR
ranked 17 out of 21 radio stations serving the Capital Region. Still, the
dedication and time you have spent listening to 104.9 is so greatly
appreciated.  The support just wasn’t enough to sustain the format in both
ratings and backing of our advertisers that is needed to be a commercial
radio operator.

Over the four years we’ve spent together we’ve done our very best to
provide Smooth Jazz programming that would appeal to you (the enthusiast)
and the mainstream and again we truly appreciate your support.  Over the
time you have spent with the station you may have gotten to know the people
on the station that brought you the programming and may wonder what is to
become of them.  I am pleased to announce that all talent on the station
have been offered positions with our company as it is a terrible time to be
unemployed.  For instance Julie Feiner will segue to our sister station WFLY
for morning drive news duties and Don Widman will move to sister station
WYJB as on air-talent.

We encourage you to contact radio stations like WVCR and WRPI, both of which
could greatly benefit by embracing Smooth Jazz and gain you as a dedicated,
loyal listener.  Radio stations like those mentioned above are not saddled
with the same challenges as those on the commercial band and could sustain
the format.  I, like you would love to see the format offered again in the
Capital Region.  

It was a great 4 years! 


Sincerely,

Kevin Callahan – Program Director 104.9 WZMR