Five years ago, I wrote about KNJZ's 1995 transition from a smooth jazz to a classic R&B station. Twenty-five years later, I still miss those smooth jazz days of 1994-95. After DJ Bart's farewell to the smooth jazz format, listeners heard a string of commercials, a recorded legal ID, and the first song under the new format, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" by The Temptations.
Many stations in St. Louis and other cities have changed multiple times since then. Radio is just like that; if the ratings aren't where management needs them to be to sell sufficient commercial time, a station's format--and usually, its personnel--changes.
Twenty-five years feel to me like they've flown by. Listeners have far more music-listening options than they did in '95. Still, it's a pleasure to remember that, even though it wasn't long-lived, KNJZ was once a go-to station for smooth jazz listeners.
