Who Needs Radio?

It's both the duty and the joy of critics to check out CDs that come by the sackful in the mail, to know who's playing around town, to listen to music relevant to articles they're writing and to touch base with classic recordings, favorites and whims for refreshment. Facing so many choices-or when there are no choices, no resources at hand, but you want to hear something-it's a relief when someone else takes over as DJ. That's what radio's for.

And that's what jazz radio has been, traditionally: a cheap (usually free, except for ads) and easy way to get nearly what you want to hear, without having to actually select, own or maybe even know what that might be. But jazz radio's not only music. DJs, or hosts, have traditionally been personalities, providing companionship and/or guidance via witty insights, firm judgements, local news, insider gossip and genuine jive. That's value added, according to half-a-dozen broadcasters from National Public Radio, WBGO, WFMU, WHPC, WKCR, XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio at a public panel discussion ("Now On Jazz Radio") on May 17 at the New School. All avowed that added value is the grail. What can they offer listeners, funders and/or advertisers to distinguish themselves from other sources (iPods, MP3s, filesharing) of selected sound?

Symphony Sid Torkin galvanized his network audiences decades back by going on mike spontaneously from a booth just steps from the stage of Birdland, grabbing bebop stars like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie for quick chats as they walked off their sets. OK, times have changed. Today Matt Abramowitz of Sirius and Maxx Myrick of XM try to lend their shows personality during their 60 seconds of commentary between tracks suggested by computers dipping into enormous digital archives.

The satellite radio jocks can and do override the computer's choices, which are based on attributes such as: Major or minor? Trumpet or sax? Blues or ballad? Smooth segue or hard cut? The competing satellite stations, which were originally devised to beam to auto-commuters, aim broadly, using market research and audience response data to tailor hours of jazz suitable for newcomers and diehards alike.

Yes, each of the satellite systems has more than one jazz "station"; subscribers can opt for all fusion, all swing, all '40s, all Sinatra, etc., or flip among these possibilities. The broadcasts are beamed reliably coast to coast, and the bill comes monthly, the same as for Con Ed.

The exact opposite business plan is practiced by Pandora.com, the free site (monetized by banner ads) created by the trademarked Music Genome Project to customize a stream of songs into as a personal "station" on the basis of one's tastes. My Pandora test-run progressed from Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz" to Sonny Clark's "Lover," to Kenny Burrell's "Philupi," to a Barney Kessel-Shelly Manne quintet track and back to Ornette's quartet with Don Cherry. It's not failsafe: Adding "Bessie Smith," automatically my station's "playlist" expanded to include Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald and Holly Near, when I had hoped for Esther Phillips, Betty Carter and Lisa Sokolow.

Though the surprises provided by Pandora's algorhythmic fine-tuning are intriguing, after a while one craves the illusion of human contact. Pandora has no "voice" so reassuring as that of authoritative "60 Minutes" newsman Ed Bradley, who hosts "Jazz From Lincoln Center," now in its 13th season of documenting concerts by Wynton Marsalis's ensembles and guests. As Steve Rathe, the series' executive producer has said, "Because Ed is known to audiences beyond jazz, he helps bring in listeners and helps convince stations that don't typically program jazz that we'll fit their profile. He's a great presenter. With good copy, he's killer." Similarly, singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, host of the WBGO-produced, NPR-distributed "Jazz Set," is a name attraction whose expertise has encouraged producer Becca Pulliam to feature genre-confounders such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Michael Anthony, 10-year veteran of "The Unforgettables," on Long Island's WHPC-FM (90.3) has attracted a solid fan bass to his "music talk show" with icons of mainstream swing-based jazz participating in interviews and answering open phones. Bethany Ryker, whose free-from-restraints "Stochastic Hit Parade" is heard on Jersey City's WFMU, 91.1 has discovered, "There are a lot of people out there who want to hear things they haven't heard before, and if they don't know what to expect, their minds are a lot more open to it."

Ryker and Anthony are volunteers, and their stations are non-profits with limited broadcast range (though WFMU streams on the Net), but they, too, demonstrate there's programming for every taste on radio. The faithful fan of Phil Schaap's long-running "Bird Flight," a frequently arcane forum on saxophonist Charlie Parker (WKCR-FM, 89.9) wouldn't suffer a minute of the jazz-lite formerly found on CD 101.9, "the vacation station."

Such variety begs the question: Is it all jazz? The answer: It's all radio. You spin the dial, someone else picks the tune.