The Oasis is No More

[umfan]

Martz Communications who in 2011 brought Smooth Jazz back to the Detroit airwaves on 104.7 via a translator, then had to leave the air after losing a dispute with a Clear Channel station in Toledo has ceased operations of the Detroit station. Martz had earlier announced that the Smooth Jazz station would be moving to 92.7 but this apparently didn't come to pass. This means the end for the HD stations carried by WGPR as well. The Bone, another Martz station on 94.3 in Detroit is also ceasing operations.

I liked the Oasis for the short time it was on. I don't see another opportunity for Smooth Jazz in Detroit except to listen to it on the 98.7 subchannel.

[Larkin]

Sad to see this.....but I never saw how it could work. The band is just too crowded.

How I wish HD radio would take off.....Smooth Jazz can be heard for free on 98.7 HD-2.

[Former Listener]

It's a shame they couldn't do more with these stations, especially The Oasis. What will happen with the stations they abandoned? Would anyone buy them?

[billmich]

I am glad these "translators" are off the air, if you wanted to listen to these stations, listen to them on their HD frequencies. The clutter and interference of these translators (and lack of full market coverage) was a Joke.

Unfortunately, this shows what a failure HD radio has become, with stations not content with an HD channel assignment, but instead would rather clutter up the spectrum with lower powered FM stations..

Just my 2 cents worth

[Mike Austerman]

Sure was a creative attempt at trying to setup shop in a major market.

In my opinion, the biggest miscalculation was not focusing solely on The Oasis and trying to make the technical issues with 94.3 and 104.7 less obtrusive to other broadcasters. Maybe a solution would have been to take both frequencies highly directional from the 8 Mile tower location with both carrying Smooth Jazz. 104.7 could have pointed to the north and east away from WIOT and 94.3 to the south and west away from CKSY.

I imagine that Martz was thinking though that the economies of scale of have two stations was going to be better than just one.

When they lost 104.7 for the Oasis, it made no sense to me to continue with the modern rock on 94.3 when it should have been used to at least try and sustain some of the momentum of The Oasis and keep an audience that was more likely to go the extra mile to find the format.

One would think that if Martz has truly given up, he will be looking for buyers for those translators. It seems like they might still be put to good use by someone with an underperforming AM station (WDFN, WCAR, WDTK, WXYZ, etc) that could benefit from FM coverage. But only if they do a better job of the technical aspect of getting the translators running than Martz did.

94.3 The Bone is buried and The Oasis dries up too

[umfan]

That is a really good analysis. I was rooting for these stations to work, especially the Oasis. I really think WIOT's contour should not be protected into Michigan. Now if it was interfering near Toledo then fine, or even Monroe County, but southern Wayne County? I thought that was wrong. If nothing else, Martz proved that there is demand for Smooth Jazz in Detroit. Hopefully something is done with these translators. If WCAR could use them to get a decent signal north of 8 Mile that would be a great thing now that they have ESPN radio.