TAMPA — The decision to end the “All Night Jazz” radio show after 56 years at WUSF 89.7-FM drew jazz fans to the station at the University of South Florida on Thursday.
The station announced that last week that as of Monday, the late-night jazz show would be replaced with news and public affairs programming.
Soon after, local jazz fans started a petition on Change.org asking WUSF to keep “All Night Jazz” on the air. The petition drew more than 3,000 signers, and it has raised $4,500 to keep jazz programming. On Thursday close to 30 loyal followers, including recently retired WUSF jazz director Mike Cornette, who said he is “heartbroken,” showed up at the station to call attention to the show’s demise.
Philip Booth, bass player of Acme Jazz Garage band, put together a support website called savewusfjazz.com…
