Interview with the president and CEO of Toronto-based Jazz-FM91 radio station
If jazz radio is a dying art, nobody told Ross Porter. Widely acknowledged as Canada’s dean of jazz, Porter was the driving creative force behind Cool TV, a short-lived but superbly programmed 24-hour jazz network, and is also the author of the bestselling Essential Jazz Recordings. But his greatest influence has been as President and CEO of Toronto-based Jazz-FM91, a role he assumed in 2004.
Throughout the past seven years he has transformed Jazz-FM91 into one of the most vibrant and versatile jazz stations on the planet. Porter’s combined skills as arts administrator, savvy marketer and sage programmer has enabled Jazz-FM91 to steadily thrive and grow, extending its mandate to include jazz education, community outreach, concerts and special events, and technological advances that have carried the station to every corner of the globe.
Porter is also an astute judge of on-air talent, filling the Jazz-FM91 schedule with several of the finest, most informed talents in the world of jazz broadcasting, including Brad Barker, Heather Bambrick, Jaymz Bee, Dani Elwell, Walter Venafro, Terry McElligott and John Donabie. Recently, Porter sat down with Jazz Times’ Christopher Loudon to discuss both the station and his lifelong passion for jazz.
JazzTimes: Jazz-FM91 listeners are well aware of your history with the music and the depth of your jazz knowledge, but could you provide some background for the wider jazz audience?
Ross Porter: I am broadcaster who loves jazz, not a jazz guy who got into broadcasting. I studied journalism and social communications, worked on the current affairs side at the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] for several years, but always had a fondness for music and saw a fresh way to approach things musically at CBC. The journalistic side of music had never really been developed there, so I saw many opportunities and played a key role as a producer.
I got into jazz due to musical boredom. I loved rock, pop and country. Still listen to all of it. But there was something about jazz that spoke to me. I was working part-time in a record store in Ottawa called the Treble Clef. Quality Records was distributing CTI at the time, and had lost their distribution deal; so they had all these cutouts they were selling for 99 cents. I bought about 25 CTI albums, and after that I was hooked on jazz.
At the CBC I had two gigs, including a daily show that was heard across Canada and proved hugely successful. I think we were simply filling a need at the time. Our goal was to build bridges to jazz, not walls. After 10 years, [Canadian broadcasting giant] Izzy Asper came knocking and said, ‘I’ve got this idea for a jazz TV channel.’ I helped him get a couple of radio stations going, but the big thing was starting a 24/7 jazz channel, called Cool TV. We launched it in September 2003, and then Izzy died in October. Our vision was to take it around the world. We knew for it to be successful we had to launch it in Japan and also in Europe.
In the spring of 2004, the [Jazz-FM91] board came calling, and it was a dream come true to run a station that played jazz 24/7.
JT: When you took over the reins at Jazz-FM91, what were your key objectives?
RP: First, to make it profitable. We expanded the playlist. A perfect example is that Pat Metheny was not being played on the station. Previous employees didn’t look upon him favorably. But if people aren’t listening to what you’re doing, then it’s pointless to do it. Quite simply, we needed to play more artists who the audience wanted to hear.
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