98.7 did it to themselves
Now, it's important to remember that V98.7 was one of the last five of the once massive network of cookie-cutter smooth jazz stations throughout the US, so they did hold on for quite some time and the blame can't fall all on Tom Sleeker's shoulders, but there were mainstream-jazz or pop-jazz before the "Smooth Jazz" network came about, that stayed around for quite some time. Independent stations, granted, but most were at that time [[the network thing didn't reappear the way it is now until about 15 years ago, give or take a few). The "Smooth Jazz" network dumbed-down and diluted the genre by interrupting the format to play Celine Dion, The Spinners, Phil Collins... basically they interrupted the pop-jazz format to play easy-listening... in time, the genre had become so diluted that the network had no face or identity [[much like, say, boiled potatoes), and it in turn lost its appeal. Let's not forget that WJZZ, in many ways a predecessor of what the Smooth Jazz format COULD have been, was around for decades. It's not that people don't like pop-jazz, it's that the network ruined its own format.