WQCD-FM NY gets some Chill
Emmis' Smooth Jazz WQCD-FM NY has broken out of the mold to rename itself the "New York Chill." The familiar smooth jazz tunes will be mixed in with the European "Chill" sound that is heard in trendy clubs and includes pop, jazz, electronica and world music. It has some overlap with the "lounge" music that has become hip in recent years. It will sound a bit more like KCRW-FM LA's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" and "Weekend Becomes Eclectic" daily shows. About 30% of WQCD's music will be "chill," says PD Blake Lawrence, and that won't be the only change listeners will notice.
"We'll have longer music sets," he tells the NY Daily News. "We're also eliminating most call-in features, so the only things our hosts will talk about will be the music and New York. They won't be selling things."
Lawrence, who came over from XM Satellite Radio, tells RBR it was Emmis NY GM Barry Mayo who brought the idea to him: "I had pretty much given up on getting anybody to do this on the terrestrial level. And then he called me, he was talking about this Chill music he had been hearing on his trips to Europe and such, and how he thought it would work here. And I said, 'you know, I've been hearing that format in my head for years now - - maybe this would work.' So we got together on the music and decided we had a common point of view. Really, it wasn't that difficult to pitch it to the folks above us at Emmis because they trust Barry so much with what he's done with Kiss and Hot97. We just made our case that to make this format relevant for the future, we've got to go beyond the boundaries. There's probably not a good way to test it before we just put it out there to people. And we assured them we would do it safely, with a lot of the familiar smooth jazz stuff that still works with the new music in there - - do it as smartly as we can."
RBR observation:
This "Chill" format has been available on Internet-only sites for a while now. Sirius even has a channel called "Chill." But Emmis makes the point we've been trying to make to traditional radio for a while now: Don't be afraid to get eclectic with your formats. Break the cookie cutter molds.
Why is it, for example, many "Alternative" formats seem to be playing a predictable mix of the same hard-edged, angry, overbearing, almost suicidal tunes? Dig into some Indie Rock, Classic Alternative, Reggae; some Underground Classic Rock and Progressive tunes. The 18-34 demo for Alternative can take a few surprises, really. The best picks from other genres won't offend!
Mixing in 30% of "off format" tunes is a good number to start with. Let the PDs make your stations sound original and compelling. Give them some leeway...let them do their jobs! Kudos to Emmis for making NYC radio just a bit more competitive to satellite and Internet!
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