Pure Jazz Power

It was amazing that KSDS-FM 88.3 had so many fans, muses Mary Woodworth as she recalls the old days when the popular and respected jazz station struggled along with a mere 830 watts of broadcasting power.
“Now I get calls from people who say they don’t know how they ever got along without us,” said Woodworth, the station’s manager. “People are listening now more than ever.”

The increase in listenership came in March when the station switched from 830 to 3,000 watts. Now, listeners can hear the station when living in or traveling to East County, until the signal hits the mountains, or as far north as Oceanside and Carlsbad, and even San Clemente.

“Before the power boost, many people were listening to KSDS in their cars on the way home from work, but weren’t able to get the station at home,” Woodworth said. “Now they are staying with us most of the day and night.”

The boost in power came after much political wrangling, following a dispute with a Mexico-based transmitting system, a complication that had to be monitored by the Federal Communications Commission. But after a test run at 3,000 watts that is mostly completed, the station looks forward to an eventual increase to 12,000 watts, and then perhaps to 22,000 watts.

“At 12,000, we won’t necessarily have more distance, but we will have more saturation of signal,” Woodworth said. “That means we will come in even clearer, especially in the summer, when radio signals tend to weaken.”

That also means San Diegans and beyond will be treated to more of the station’s award-winning jazz format, a format that takes listeners through nearly a century of traditional jazz and blues, with none of the light stuff, only the real thing.

“Purists love us,” Woodworth said. “We have no commercials and a live jazz calendar five times a day.”
With an extensive roster of traditional jazz musicians and vocalists on the playlist, KSDS has been able to garner a diverse demographic, with listeners not only in the expected over-55 demographic, but a heavy concentration of listeners between the ages 25-40.

“This is a very desirable demographic, and shows we appeal to jazz fans of all ages,” Woodworth said.

The radio program at KSDS also has a long tradition of churning out pros for on-air, management and sales jobs.

“Many of them keep coming back on occasion for years to put on their own three-hour show here, where they have so much freedom,” Woodworth said. “We have a family here that doesn’t forget each other, and knows how important we are to jazz lovers.”

KSDS volunteers work the phones during the pledge drive in May which netted almost $45,000. Pictured are, from left, Mario Serrano, Rob Huhn, Rhonda Cardena, Mary Drucker, Barbara Hermann.

The award, prestigious because it involves competition with jazz stations around the world, is another accolade for KSDS, a former winner of the Marconi Award presented by the National Association of Broadcasters.

“It’s a great honor because the contest was juried, and whenever you get respect like that from your peers, it tells you something about the work,” said KSDS station manager Mary Woodworth.

The format has been a favorite in San Diego for more than five decades, especially for jazz purists who want the real thing, not the artificial jazz-pop popular among some of the big-name crossover stars.“We run the full spectrum of jazz, as long as it’s the real thing,” Woodworth said.

“Our motto is that we don’t just scratch the surface. We like to play rare and historical recordings. We go deep.”