Thank you for your comments re the ABC, here is an update.
Link to original article, the Unkindest cut.
We were also very sorry to hear that the Weekend Planet, hosted by Doug Spencer, who has been a supporter of jazz and improvised music is also being cut. It is with great sadness that we announce that January 25 is the final show. The play-list is now published, and Doug aims to have its online audio up on this link: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/weekendplanet/final-show-sublime-brazilian-singer/6015276
Program information taken directly from ABC Jazz website
“Throughout 2015, ABC Jazz will continue to broadcast the best jazz from Australia and around the world, with a diverse and extensive playlist alongside a solid offering of programs, including Jazztrack with Mal Stanley, Jazz with Jessica Nicholas, Thursday Night Live, Talking Jazz, My Favourite Things and our weekly Feature Album. On top of our radio content, ABC Jazz will strive to bring the latest coverage of concerts, tours and festivals around the country, as well as multimedia and news via social media and the ABC Jazz website.
Programming changes in 2015 Jazztrack with Mal Stanley ABC Jazz’s flagship program, Jazztrack with Mal Stanley, will remain on ABC Jazz at its traditional time slot of 5–7pm on digital radio and 5-7pm eastern on digital TV and online streaming on both Saturdays and Sundays. However, in a move to consolidate ABC Radio’s jazz offering, it will not be heard on Classic FM from Saturday, January 24, 2015. Jazztrack will also continue to be repeated on ABC Jazz at 2pm and 9pm on digital radio and 2pm and 9pm eastern on digital TV and online on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In addition to this, Jazztrack will be re-broadcast on ABC RN on Saturday and Sunday at 11:05pm, commencing Saturday, January 31, 2015. Jazz
Up Late Jazz Up Late has been decommissioned, and will not continue in 2015. The final broadcast dates and times are as follows: – Jazz Up Late will air at 10:30pm on Friday, January 16, 2015 on both Classic FM and ABC Jazz, with a repeat on ABC Jazz on Monday, January 19, 2015 at 9pm eastern.
Looking ahead ABC Radio remains committed to jazz music and the Australian jazz scene, with ABC Jazz broadcasting around Australia 24/7 on digital TV (channel 201 – metropolitan and rural areas), on digital radio (metropolitan areas), online via the ABC Radio Player and on mobile with the ABC Radio App.
You can also listen again to our weekly programming with on-demand streaming via the ABC Jazz website. “
Link to petition from Australian Jazz Alliance
We also thank Wayne Vivian for his comments clarifying the change from FM to digital.
Extract below. “…the full ramifications of the move from FM to ABC Jazz Digital. Firstly most of us will have to buy a new piece of hardware called a digital tuner, unless your happy with the sound quality af a “tranny”. This will be an outlay of $400 for the average model.
Secondly Digital transmitters do not have the coverage of a FM transmitter, so the ABC will need a bucket load of them to have the same coverage currently available with FM. Meaning it will cost a lot more to do so.
Thirdly digital transmitters are a straight line device. If you are in a hilly area say like Brisbane and Sydney, there will be a lot of areas that will be in “black holes”, where you will get nothing-no sound at all. In the past people in these areas with an FM tuner you got a noisy transmission but you did get to hear it. NOT SO WITH DIGITAL Radio. Fourthly the sound quality of DAB+ (Digital Radio) is the poor cousin of Classic FM, being lossy sound file called Mpeg4 , it is just a tad better than an mp3 file on your iPod. In otherwords about 80% of the sound quality provided by Frequency Modulated transmissions.
The English experience of DAB+ from the BBC is a case in point, where many people cannot recieve transmissions. Give the number of people in the UK, the smaller size of the country, and their potential tax base to provide excellent service, they still do not provide adaquate coverage. HOW DOES THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THINK THEY CAN DO BETTER HERE. It needs to be made very clear to the ABC management and Malcolm Turnbull the minister for Communication, that they are not going to be able to deliver anywhere near what they do now. We are being fooled and ripped off, and they will have to be held accountable
