BY PAUL MALONEY
Part of the joy of digging through piles of old jazz records
(that'd be vinyl, thank you) comes to you before the
stylus ever hits the groove. That gorgeous artwork. Perhaps it's
the class of the jazz-buying public, or the dignity of the music
itself, or perhaps it's just a quirk from a bygone era -- but
it's obvious the the producers of these records felt it was important
to make package's outside as tasteful and becoming as what was
inside.
Someone was thinking about this when London's JazzFM's
site was designed. Have you ever taken the tutorials that come
with software programs like Adobe's "Photoshop" or Macromedia's
"Dreamweaver?" That's what the artwork at JazzFM looks
like! The site was enjoyable before we ever clicked to hear the
stream.
JazzFM broadcasts on the FM dial in London and the Northwest
of England (Liverpool), and has submitted applications to expand
on both the "analogue" and digital bands. The two existing
stations have slightly different talent and show lineups. It's
the London signal that's streamed on the Internet.
The on-air presentation is what you might expect from a
jazz station -- dignified 
and
straightforward. But we're happy to report, that the presenters
we heard weren't at all dreary -- but seemed to be happy doing
their job, and happy folks were listening. We heard a bit of "Dinner
Jazz" with Helen Mayhew and Sarah Ward, and some of Peter
Young's show.
Nor are the presenters afraid to have a little fun with
the music as well, occasionally straying from "pure"
Jazz music, even playing "non-Jazz" (Average White Band's
"Pick Up the Pieces," Lalo Schifrin's funky version
of the theme from "Jaws," and a doo-wop type song from
Etta James).
It was interesting to note that the production voice on
this British station was American. Actually, a lot of
the voices on the commercials were American too. Perhaps given
that Jazz is (originally) an American form of music, this fits
-- though we heard a significant amount of European artists.
The station gets musical "cred" points for having
their two record labels: hed kandi (which seems to have sprung
from a JazzFM specialty show) and Onion Records. The JazzFM site
has links to sites of these imprints.
Also from the "tile" menu page (the top screenshot
here), visitors can link to a very professionally designed and
presented store (to purchase music, artwork, videos, and MP3 players)
and thorough events guide (includes New York!). There's a subscription
section called eJazzFM that's worth exploring if you're really
a true jazz fan. In there you'll find specialized streams, MP3
downloads, and chat. And more tasteful art (photographs and paintings)
in the JazzFM art gallery.
Interestingly,
there's a section that offers a chance at prizes for listeners
who are willing to rate song clips. Positioned as "a chance
to shape the music of JazzFM," the station (presumably) is
using their website to access the opinions of their P1 listeners.
Finally, we've noticed how advertising clients, to some
extent, seem to be given more visibility on European radio sites
than on those based here in America. Or at least they're presented
differently. That's why it seemed a little strange (not wrong
-- "strange") while clicking around the site to find
that one of the main menu items ("Magic of the Orient")
led simply to an advertising page for a travel agent. And as "hip"
as the Jazz cats here are, they're not too hip to feature big
images of kitchen appliances by Neff, the sponsor of Dinner Jazz,
in the specialty show's section.
For a genre and an audience that demands it, JazzFM presents
the music tastefully and artistically -- a treat for the ears
and eyes.
From DMusic.com: "AOL Time Warner executives today revealed
that German media giant Bertelsmann
has not yet convinced them that working with Napster to try to create
a commercial music download service would be worthwhile.
"'We have had discussions with Bertelsmann, but we haven't
seen a business model that puts the reality around that dream,'
Richard Parsons, AOL Time Warner's co-chief operating officer, said
during a luncheon with reporters. AOL Time Warner owns Warner Music
Group, one of the Big Five record labels.
"Parsons' comments only begin to represent the problems
in front of Bertelsmann, which recently took
a minority stake in Napster with the goal of turning its free file-sharing
technology into a viable music distribution platform.
"Bertelsmann now must convince the remaining Big Five
labels -- Warner Music, Sony Music Group, EMI Recorded Music and
Universal Music Group -- to work together to create a secure and
profitable version of the service; otherwise, many experts believe
the results of the Napster/Bertelsmann pact will not offer enough
to consumers to pay for the service. This task proves immensely
difficult."
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here.
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From AllAccess: "Comedy World Radio Network is now up
to 15 broadcast affiliates, including full-time clearance
on KEYF-AM/Spokane, KPTT-AM/Reno, and WNSS-AM/Syracuse, full-time
outside morning drive on WFPG-AM/Atlantic City, and daypart clearances
on WAUR-AM/Chicago and WTDY-AM/Madison. Weekend show 'Wrestling
101' is cleared on most of the network's affiliates..."
Read the story
here
(registration required).
ComedyWorld.com
recently revealed a change in their business model to a pure content
provider, and will no longer be streaming content from their own
site (reported in
RAIN here.)
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From TechWeb: "Despite the ongoing dot-com shakeout among
Web media companies, Internet advertising is
doing OK, at least according to one research firm.
"In fact, online advertising -- including the much-maligned
banner ads -- is actually growing steadily, according to the latest
monthly
AdRelevance
Intelligent Report, released Monday.
"Online ad impressions, or the number of times an advertisement
is viewed, in December increased 21 percent
over the previous month. Ad impressions hit an
all-time high
of 65 billion, despite market negativity...
"But in terms of all-important revenue, it's a different
story. Ad rates are now nearly impossible to track because companies
are no longer paying designated prices. In ad parlance, these sales
are 'off the rate card.'"
Read the entire article
here.
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