If you came to the blog via KCCK’s website, you’ve already noticed the new and improved kcck.org. We’re really pumped about the new look and functions.

One of the coolest new things is that we are now feeding the information from the online playlist directly to the home page, so when you visit, one of the first things you see is the title and artist of the song currently playing. The current producer or show is listed right below, along with upcoming programs. Recent blog headlines now display on the home page as well.

The other major improvement is an enhanced way for you to listen to or download some of our programs on demand. You can listen to Talking Pictures, Gotta Minute and artist interviews right from the site, or you can subscribe to them as podcasts and they’ll load automatically to your ipod or other media player. There’s an easier to navigate Photo Gallery as well.

(Music licensing rules prevent us from offering music programming as podcasts, in case you’re wondering.)

The online playlist, webcast and other areas of the site are still there, although we’ll be updating their layout in the coming weeks to bring them in line with the new look. Coming soon: an enhanced Concert Calendar, Culture Crawl podcast and other improvements.

Thanks to an outstanding design team for this dynamic new look: Web designer John Shultz of Codejazz and graphic design by John Foster of Avatar Design Group.

So, what do you think? Post a reply in this space or email me directly.

We recently received a call from a listener who had trouble sleeping one night and caught “The Brazilian Hour” during the early morning hours of a Sunday. She really enjoyed the mix of traditional Brazilian and Brazilian-flavored jazz. She wondered if the show was repeated during the week.

I told her that in addition to airing at 2 a.m. Sunday, it was also broadcast at 2 a.m. Tuesday. She was really excited to hear that.

“Are you up listening at that time?” I asked her.

“When I can’t sleep,” she replied. “But now that I know when it’s on, I’ll probably just get up and listen.” (!)

Do you listen to KCCK at odd times of the day? We’d like to hear from you if you do.

George Dorman – News and Operations Director

Well, we’re still webcasting today.

Late Friday, we received word that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB), and National Public Radio (NPR) were still in negotiation with Sound Exchange
to settle the issue of royalty payments for webcasting of public radio music programming.

While no agreement was reached on a substitute for the March 2nd decision of the
Copyright Board (which would substantially raise royalty payments for webcasters,
including public radio stations like KCCK), CPB offered a payment (on behalf of public
stations) to SoundExchange, which has been accepted, to cover what NPR and CPB believe
is due July 15 as the base rate payment for stations beginning March 2, 2007. NPR
and CPB are confident that public radio stations can continue their music streaming
operations for the next three months as good faith discussions are ongoing about
the structure and amount of the ultimate fee.

Bottom line: We’re still streaming and should be able to continue so for the near
future.

Stay tuned.

Hope you were at the Pentacrest at some point this weekend for the Iowa City Jazz Festival. The weather was perfect, and the music spectacular. Our 20-hour live broadcast of the Festival ended with a delightful set from the Ben Allison Quartet Sunday afternoon (Record company restrictions would not allow us to broadcast the Derek Trucks Band Sunday night).

We’ll be re-broadcasting the Festival on Labor Day, so you can catch what you may have missed, and Bob Stewart’s interviews with the headliners will be posted on the web site this week.

What did you think of the Festival? Post your replies below!

Thanks for the wide range of comments to the earlier post (if you haven’t read them all, just page down. All are excellent thoughts).

The bottom line is that we consider the main thrust of our mission to find ways to make jazz accessible to a greater number of people, without pandering. In other words, to try and grow the segment. KCCK will never be for everyone, but I think you’ll agree that trying to create a bigger fan base is good for the station and the music. If we just program to an ever-shrinking group of jazz purists [you know who you are… :)], eventually it will become difficult to justify our existence, let alone find the money to keep going.

But that said, we also recognize the importance of trying always to portray the whole picture of where jazz is and where it’s going. And that certainly includes edgy, progessive, avant-garde…whatever you want to call it… jazz.

Scheduling is always the problem. 10 or 11 pm seems like a good place to put a show like this, and that’s actually the recommendation some of you have made.

But as astute listeners know, we are reserving the 11p-2a weeknight slot for student producers, as providing opportunities to beginners is an important part of our mission.

The idea of taking the Jazz Masters slot once or twice a week for an avant garde/progressive show may have merit, although you should know that one reason we put that show on at that time was at the request of school band directors, who wanted a place their students could hear classic jazz recordings at a time they were likely to listen.

But let us work on it. In the meantime, who are the artists you think belong on a show like this?
Who are you listening to? Who would you like to hear? Let us know and we’ll start trying to build a library, and will also start thinking about where a show like this would be placed on the schedule.

Here’s a comment from a recent posting I made, which I would like to use to start a new conversation:

I would like to hear more CAM Jazz on the station, and ECM. I would like to have a formal mechanism for listeners to recommend discs that are not getting air time. Here’s my first one: “What Now?”, Kenny Wheeler, CAM Jazz. I would like to have a specific time slot every week for edgier material of all stripes: 60’s and 70’s dark fusion, noisy New York Zorn and Frisell type stuff, Threadgill and late Coltrane avant garde, wiggy ECM a la Garbarek, ethnic stuff like Anour Brahem and Rabih Abou-Kahlil, etc. Thanks.

This is a tough one. We all know that jazz is at its best when someone pushes the envelope. Miles Davis totally reinvented how we think about jazz, not once but several times.

But, we see an important aspect of our business as inviting new people to experience jazz and making the station as welcoming to untrained ears as well as people who have been listening to jazz all their lives.

It’s a delicate balance to strike, and we know we can never please every one. Edgy jazz shows haven’t really been too much on our radar because frankly, “regular” jazz is edgy enough for most people.

#1 complaint about jazz in general and one we hear about KCCK often? Something to the effect of…. “It’s fine till those saxophones start to honk and there’s no melody.”

But, it’s a big tent, and there are a lot of hours in a week.

So, what do you think? Would you tune in for a show that featured edgy jazz? What time do you think it should be on? Who should host?

We’ll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Here’s a recent comment left for us (I’ll cut and paste so you don’t have to page down):

KCCK,

I’m curious if you want comments on this blog. It appears as though you just want it to be a billboard that you post messages to. Do you want interaction? Discussion about jazz? People to post comments?

If yes, please post so others can see. I’m sure the jazz community you serve have quite a few things they could contribute.

The answer is YES. When we started this blog, it was our hope to encourage two-way communication with our listeners and jazz fans. The poster is right, though, most of the time it’s just one-way, us posting things about the station and our shows and events. Why? Well, those are the things that are topmost in our minds on a daily basis. I’d love to be able to say we spend our free time here pondering weighty trends in jazz and culture, but like most working stiffs, we’re mainly just trying to muddle through each day’s crisis. 🙂

But that said, we would like to see this blog become a forum for your thoughts on jazz and on KCCK. If there are topics you’d like to see addressed or discussed, send them to me directly, dennis@kcck.org. I’ll start a new thread.

One caveat: The thing we don’t really want to get into on the blog is referendums on particular shows or personalities. We know not everything on KCCK will be to your particular taste, but I can guarantee you something…. Each and every show is someone’s MOST favorite and someone else’s LEAST favorite.

Mean-spirited comments or jibes about our staff or shows will be deleted. All else is fair game!

We’ll be waiting to hear from you.