Tom Pethic has built a new model of what for some of you will be a comfortable, old "shoe,"—the Artistry in Jazz radio show has returned after an over one year hiatus (an earlier version was on WGMC for 21 years) to radio on Legends 990 AM WLGZ and streaming at Legends990.com on Saturdays from 1-5 pm. While it is on AM radio, which is not known for its high fidelity, it is broadcast in "high-definition," which is touted as making AM OK for music again (if you have a high def radio that is).  I listened to the first show on Saturday.  I don't have high def radio, but the sound was OK (Jazz 90.1 doesn't come in that well here in the Park Ave area either), although the local commercials were cheesy.

I didn't hear Pethic's most recent prior version and wasn't living in Rochester for the version on WGMC.  The slightly compromised sound quality of the new incarnation of Artistry in Jazz was more than overcome by having another good jazz radio program to choose from in Rochester.  Pethic likes to focus on local artists and defines that widely to include a lot of Western New York. His thoughtful commentary is evident both on the radio and on his site (I hesitate to call it a blog, although Tom does).  As Pethic told Ron Netsky, "[t]here's a lot of history in this area and I don't want people to forget this important piece of the jazz pie." I'm looking forward to it and look forward to listening to Pethic's show next Saturday and regularly thereafter.  Good luck, Tom!