INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE WITH MARK EDWARDS WHILE HE WAS ON THE AIR DURING HIS AFTERNOON DRIVE SHIFT ON 11/5/02.

SJ.COM: How long have you been with KCIY?

M.E.: Just coming up on one year. Prior to that I programmed the Smooth Jazz station in Atlanta, GA (WJZF - "Jazz Flavors") for 7 years. From there, I went to in New Orleans; WSJZ which is now doing "Rock & Talk".

SJ.COM: Is "Smooth Jazz" still doing it for you after all these years? Are you still feeling passion for the music?

M.E.: Absolutely. I'm more passionate about the format that I ever have been.

SJCOM: Are you happy with the direction of the format's new music? What are you hearing?

M.E.: The new music now is more up tempo than it used to be and it's very fresh sounding. New music is what you make of it. And there's a lot of it out there right now so you can shape your radio station however you like with what's available.

SJCOM: How are you shaping KCIY?

M.E.: Adding new music presents a tough decision because there's a balancing act that you have to do when choosing music to appeal to all of the segments of the audience. I look for songs that I think will appeal to our diverse audience here in Kansas City.

SJ.COM: How are you with cover songs?

M.E.: There is some concern that Smooth Jazz is too cover heavy at the moment. Some of the new covers are sleepy dentist music. I won't play those. If you are going to do a remake, do something original with it.

SJ.COM: Do you feel that the covers are pandering to the AC audience.

M.E.: There's two sides to that thought. Sure, some of the artists create songs especially for the format, but other artists, like Pat Metheny, won't even release an edit of his new music for this format. There's not a track shorter than 6 or 8 minutes on "Speaking Of Now". C'mon, throw me a bone here.

SJ.COM: What covers work for KCIY?

M.E.: BWB's "Groovin'" and Group 3's "Roll With It', which tests well in Kansas City as we have strong rock roots. I also love everythihg that Jeff Golub does and his new CD is great.

SJ.COM: Who's going to be the next core artist(s)? The next Kenny G, Sade, or Boney James?

M.E.: A lot of people are saying that we're not raising any more super star artists in the format. But Norman Brown is the one that comes to mind. He's such a great artist. He's from here.

SJ.COM: Care to discuss the vocals of the format?

M.E.: In Atlanta we were playing Michael Franks, Manhattan Transfer, all those vocals that everyone thought were format compatible. As we started testing these vocals over the years, we found out that they didn't do that well.

We started bringing in some Marvin Gaye and the like and we found that this stuff was incredibly polarizing with the audience, As the format matured however, these vocals have become much less polarizing. In fact, I heard someone recently say that Smooth Jazz is almost like instrumental R&B.

Now, the current vocal category is the single most explosive part of the format. It's very difficult for me to determine who to give a shot to. I try to give play to artists that I have an affinity for, like Norah Jones and Marilyn Scott.

SJ.COM: Julia Fordham?

M.E.: No, for the most part, if a vocalist isn't a crossover artist, they don't seem to test well. We played Norah Jones for two months and she ended up testing very poorly. I feel like we wasted the air time (18 spins a week for 8 weeks) on something that our listeners didn't care for.

People come here for the instrumentals and the vocals are the "glue" that holds things together. Vocals bring the cume up and they bring in the people that don't expect to hear anything familiar on a Smooth Jazz radio station. And hopefully they'll stay beyond the vocal and listen to the station for awhile.

MARK INTRODUCES "EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE" FROM THE POLICE ON THE AIR.

M.E.: For three tests in a row, this song is the #1 tested song for us. Can you believe that?

SJ.COM: Out of vocals and instrumentals?

M.E.: Yes!

SJ.COM: Do you use BA for your research?

M.E.: We use BA as a tool to test our music. We determine the list of songs that we want tested and sometimes BA finds our test list "highly unusual", but this is our station and we're paying for research.

SJ.COM: If you could cross over any sound or artist into the format without concern of risking ratings, who or what would you introduce to Smooth Jazz?

M.E.: I've been doing this so long that it's becoming less about me and more about the audience and the format at this point. I have my own personal favorites, but I don't think that is a good way to program a radio station.

It is safe to admit that we are playing more R&B since I got here a year ago. Back then the station was leaning slightly more New Age. When I came here I saw opportunity in the market and through research I determined that the market is 13% African American and historically the format attracts this audience. Plus, there weren't a lot of choices for this audience in our market. Leaning more R&B is certianly not going to upet the white audience, because they enjoy this flavor as well.

SJ.COM: What's the best way for a new Smooth Jazz artist to develop their career?

M.E.: That's a tough one. I get calls from them all the time and these artists ask me where to go and what to do.

SJ.COM: Did you know that Smoothjazz.com has a Developing Artist package for new artists breaking into the format?

M.E.: No, I wasn't aware of that. That's wonderful. I will certainly refer new artists to you.

SJ.COM: How do you utilize Internet presence to further your radio station's image and your programming?

M.E.: We're using the Internet more and more for the station. We were just about to launch our audio stream when all the fee issues came up. We do however, direct people to live events and to purchase concert tickets on our site. We have a data base of 7,000 and growing and we send out a weekly HTML newsletter. We have a VIP Club on-line, as well as a photo album, and we feature our playlist as well.

SJ.COM: What was the last live show you caught?

M.E.: Bobby Blue Bland & BB King. It was a great concert!

SJ.COM: What's in your personal CD player)?

M.E.: BWB

SJ.COM: Outside of radio, are you an enthusiast for anything else (wine,
golf, movies, etc.)?

M.E.: Singing, I'm in a gospel choir. A black gospel choir here in Kansas City.

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