97.5 Y Country radio’s Summer Jam concert, along with 98.3 the Coast’s Smooth Jazz at Sunset concert, both planned for this summer, have been canceled. Organizers say uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic are the reason. However, both will be back in 2021. Summer Jam founder and producer Gayle Olson says the “uncertainty surrounding public health requirements going forward simply preclude organizing a quality concert event for several thousand Y-Country listeners this year,” but he stressed Summer Jam will be back in 2021. He also praised the event’s sponsor since the beginning in 1998, Your Neighborhood Michigan Ford Dealers, noting they helped Y Country “bring some of Country Music’s biggest names to Southwest Michigan early in their careers.” Those names included Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan and Little Big Town. Meanwhile, Smooth Jazz at Sunset is a production of 98.3 The Coast, the Adult Contemporary radio station of Mid-West Family. It began in 2003 and has grown to be a major music event of summer in St. Joseph, headlined by many of the biggest names in the Smooth Jazz music genre. Olson said he has already had several conversations about Smooth Jazz at Sunset 2021, planned for Saturday, July 10.
