Saturday, July 22, 2017

D/FW Radio: The Oasis Freshens Sound With More Currents

Last week, HD Radio smooth jazz station (KVIL) 103.7-HD2 The Oasis had been running a countdown on its Facebook page, leading up to a big announcement.

This led to some speculation — in some cases, call it hope — that CBS Radio-owned station would return to traditional FM, where, according to Mike Shannon’s Dallas-Fort Worth Radio & Television History, it lasted from 1987 to 2006, first at 106.1 FM and then at 107.5 FM.

According to The Star-Telegram, that isn’t the case, but the station is making some big changes without alternating its format.

“We’re putting a fresh coat of paint on ‘103.7-HD2, The Oasis,’ ” Jay Creswell, program director for The Oasis and several other CBS Radio Dallas stations (traditional as well as HD), says in an email. “We’re re-branding the station as OASISDFW.com.

“The biggest difference is we’ll be playing roughly 50 per-cent new music, as opposed to the 1-2 current songs per hour that we’re playing. We’ll include multiple album cuts from new releases, and all different genres of jazz, for flavor.”

The music has already been changing, with a soft launch that began last Thursday (and, as was the case with the “traditional” version of the Oasis, it’s not all smooth jazz: One of the cuts that played Friday morning was Stevie Wonder’s 1974 hit “Boogie on Reggae Woman,” and the Nathan East cover of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Serpentine Fire.”

Part of the announcement is that the station will be adding announcers beginning Monday — not coincidentally, including smooth-jazz saxophonist Koz, whose syndicated “Dave Koz Show” airs 10 p.m. to midnight Saturdays and 2-4 p.m. Sundays.

Local announcers will include Andy Brooks, 6-9 a.m.; Cameron Smith, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Ian Miller, 5-10 p.m.

No comments:

Post a Comment