Jazz, classical music hits the airwaves on 'CNJ'
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Don't be alarmed if one morning you wake up to Mozart's Sonata for Violin and Piano in E Flat Major blasting from your stereo with an unbelievably clear sound as if you fell asleep inside a concert hall the night before.
It could happen if you set your dial on 99.9 MHz FM, the wavelength of CNJ, a new radio station in town with only classical music and jazz on its playlist.
To double listeners' pleasure in savoring classical and jazz tunes, almost no advertisements -- not as we know them in the traditional format -- are to be heard during the radio station's 24-hour broadcast.
To fill in the gap left by a number of radio stations with only jazz or classical music on their playlist that have been forced to disband or change their format, starting October last year CNJ, which stands for Classical News and Jazz, broadcasts two music genres considered to have the smallest audiences.
"Classical music makes up 40 percent of our playlist, while the proportion for jazz is 60 percent. Only a small amount of our broadcasting time will be devoted to brief news," CNJ programing director Mohammad Ismed told The Jakarta Post during an interview at the radio station's studio in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Ismet said that since the two fine musical genres demanded meticulous listening, they therefore had to be broadcast in a way that resembled actual classical music concerts or jazz performances.
"To meet that end, we will soon upgrade our equipment in the studio with an expensive state-of-the-art mixer imported from Germany," Ismet said.
The purchase of the pricey equipment is part of a major overhaul initiated by CNJ to build a reliable source of jazz and classical music in the capital.
Recently, CNJ moved its transmitter, then 500 watts in power, to the top of the Imperium tower in South Jakarta and optimized its power to 10 kilowatts, which means wider coverage and better sound.
To build a library of thousands of classical and jazz tunes, CNJ has in the past year collected compact discs and meticulously reproduced them using credible software available only to the broadcasting industry.
Aware of the potential that advertisements have of disrupting listeners' pleasure, CNJ has prepared variety of self-produced ads disguised as regular announcements. "However, they are designed so as not to disrupt listeners' enjoyment. Music is our core," CNJ music director Indrawan said.
As for the news, it takes the form of periodical news briefings that update listeners on important matters.
With all the effort, CNJ has drawn a number of loyal listeners who keep flooding the radio station with new ideas on how it should be run. "One caller told us that Mozart should not be played in the morning," Indrawan said with a chuckle.
Although the number of jazz and classical music fans is small, which also means a small market niche for advertisers, CNJ owners believe that the radio station can generate a handsome revenue.
CNJ general manager Benny Sofwan Effendi said that his radio station targeted mature and affluent listeners in the 30 to 50 age group. "Our listeners are those who hold the key to how corporate money should be spent for ads," he said.