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  • American Idol's Casey Abrams signs with Concord Music

    Casey Abrams, who placed sixth in Season 10 of American Idol, has signed a recording contract for his debut album with Concord Music Group.  The 20 year-old singer-songwriter from Idyllwild, CA names artists like Ray Charles, James Taylor and Frank Sinatra as major influences.  Abrams studied music at the University of Colorado at Boulder and can play an amazing 11 instruments by ear.  Casey's album is tentatively titled Simple Life and is due out this summer.

  • Donna Summer Dies at 63

    Donna Summer passed away today (May 17) in Florida, after a battle with lung cancer, according to TMZ.  The "Queen of Disco" was 63.  Summer, a five-time Grammy winner, was known for her hits like "Last Dance", "Love To Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls" and scored an impressive 19 number one dance hits between 1975 and 2008 - second only to Madonna.  She is survived by her husband, producer and singer Bruce Sudano; their daughters, Brooklyn and Amanda; and Summer's daughter, Mimi, from a previous marriage.

  • Boney James, Ramsey Lewis for Playboy Jazz Festival

    The 34th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival is set to take place on June 16-17 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.  Boney James will headline the show Saturday night, while legendary pianist Ramsey Lewis will close out the event on Sunday evening.  Also included in the all-star line-up are Robin Thicke, Sheila E., Keb' Mo', Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, the Christian McBride Big Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, among many others.  Bill Cosby will be the Master of Ceremonies again this year.  The full festival line-up is available here: playboyjazzfestival.com/.

  • Whitney Houston for Billboard Millenium Award

    Billboard announced Whitney Houston will be honored posthumously with their 2012 Millenium Award.  A tribute will be performed by Jordin Sparks and John Legend at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena this Sunday, May 20.  Whitney died on February 11 at the age of 48, but her musical legacy lives on.  The six-time Grammy winner holds the distinction of being the first artist to have seven consecutive number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and also had four number one albums on the Billboard 200.  Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and sister-in-law, Pat Houston, will accept the award in her honor.  The Awards will air live May 20 on ABC at 8pm ET.

  • Gerald Albright & Norman Brown to release '24/7'

    Grammy winning guitarist Norman Brown has teamed up with saxophonist Gerald Albright and the two will release their new album, 24/7, on June 19 via Concord Jazz.  The project features Norman on lead and rhythm guitars with Gerald on alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, flutes, bass guitar, electric wind instrument, percussion, programmming and background vocals.  Albright says, "The title is reflective of the commitment that both of us have made in terms of our instruments.  Even when we sleep we're thinking about melodies, recordings, concerts and whatever we're going to do next."  Brown adds, "When we were recording the project, we didn't have a lot of time - so we were working on it 24/7!"  The two will be performing together this summer for their 'Summer Jam' shows including a stop in Newport Beach, CA this Saturday, May 19.











Smooth AC™ Catching a Groove In Chicago!

Where did 500,000 radio listeners in Chicago go this week? To Channel 6 television! One of the best kept secrets in radio is the recent success of WLFM ‘smooth 87.7’, Chicago’s ‘Smoothest Place on Your Radio’, which is actually a channel 6 television feed found on 87.7 on the FM dial. Owned by WLFM LLC, majority owned by Venture Technologies Group LLC, and an affiliate of Broadcast Architecture’s SMOOTH AC RADIO NETWORK, Smooth 87.7 is making its move as a new player in Chicago radio.

Since switching to BA’s SMOOTH AC format just under a year ago, WLFM has nearly doubled their female 25-54 share and more than tripled ratings with women 18-34*. WLFM’s most recent innovation was to connect with XFinity TV / Comcast cable television system, where the PPM encoded radio station exists on Channel 877! XFinity TV / Comcast reaches over 1.4 million homes and 40,000 businesses.

 
Broadcast Architecture’s SMOOTH AC RADIO NETWORK

Sophisticated, relaxing, classy, unique, refined and most of all it’s ‘smooth’.  The SMOOTH AC Network is the destination on your radio that is specifically for adults who want to relax and feel good.   The music mix is fresh, yet familiar and designed to keep adults coming back every time they want to kick back and unwind.  Contemporary songs from Michael Buble, Sade, Alicia Keys, Colbie Caillat, John Mayer, Robin Thicke, Norah Jones, Kenny G and Mariah Carey blend with favorites from Michael Jackson, George Benson, Kool & The Gang, Michael McDonald, Seal, Earth Wind & Fire, Anita Baker and Luther Vandross to create the perfect place to de-stress.

SMOOTH AC – branded on the air as ‘the smoothest place on your radio’ - is designed for adults 25-54 and will perform strongest with women 25-54 and 35-54.  The network features 75% vocal hits, while the remaining 25% of the music mix includes instrumental favorites from artists like Kenny G, Dave Koz, Paul Hardcastle, Boney James, George Benson, Candy Dulfer, Chuck Mangione, Norman Brown, Brian Culbertson, Mindi Abair and Chris Botti.  This new evolution to SMOOTH AC has been developing for several years and has come to fruition as our new 24 hour format. It’s the new PPM friendly adult format for radio.  SMOOTH AC fills a void left in major markets with typical AC stations moving away from softer hit songs.

Sample Hours:
Simply Red –"Sunrise"
Smokey Robinson –"Being With You"
Bee Gees – "Night Fever"
Kenny G – "Forever In Love"
Adele – "Rolling In The Deep"
Kool & The Gang – "Celebration"
Marvin Gaye – "Let’s Get It On"
Toni Braxton – "Another Sad Love Song"
Gap Band – "Early In The Morning"
George Benson – "Give Me The Night"
Kem – "Love Calls"
Anita Ward – "Ring My Bell"

 
Mary J. Blige – "Family Affair"
Sade – "Kiss Of Life"
Bobby Brown – "My Perogative"
Candy Dulfer & David Stewart – "Lily Was Here"
Seal – "Fly Like An Eagle"
Rick James – "Super Freak"
Temptations – "My Girl"
James Ingram & Michael McDonald – "Yah Mo Be There"
Annie Lennox – "Why"
Des’ree – "You Gotta Be"
John Mayer – "Daughters"
McFadden & Whitehead – "Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now"

How is the Network Delivered?
The Smooth AC Network™ is a 24 hour a day program including music, hosts and production. We have made the network flexible and convenient. You can take the network talent feed as posted on our FTP site. Daily national talent breaks are also posted on the FTP. Further, each affiliate receives several pages of scripts presented by the talent to completely localize the presentation. The music library is available on a hard drive.

Can I keep my local music mix?
Yes!  Broadcast Architecture is also a research company and for those markets that conduct local research to guide their music mix, we recommend taking the voice talent breaks and three to four songs per hour that immediately air prior to the breaks. This keeps the talent in tune with the music, by immediately back-selling songs… but also allows larger market stations to keep their well-researched music library.

What programs are available?
All SMOOTH AC air talent produce daily shows that can be heard across the US. Best-selling instrumentalist of all-time Kenny G and Sandy Kovach (Mornings), Miranda Wilson (Middays), Allen Kepler (PM Drive), and Maria Lopez (Evenings/Overnights) are all broadcasting via our network daily during the week. We also include Allen Kepler’s “Smooth Weekend” and “Smooth Jazz Top 20” on weekends.

What is the cost?
The SMOOTH AC NETWORK is available for two minutes of barter per hour aired daily.  For unrated and smaller markets, there will be a cash charge in addition to the barter minutes depending on the station’s AQH.


To become part of the SMOOTH AC NETWORK, please contact:
Allen Kepler
President/ Owner
(805) 719- 2806
AllenKepler@BroadcastArchitecture.com
 

To learn more about the Smooth Jazz Network®, click:




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