But even then, because fundraising covered only a fraction of the costs and Pacificas bylaws wouldnt let stations accept any kind of corporate underwriting, the foundation footed some of the bill for years. After Dr. Taylor became artistic director for the jazz program at the Kennedy Center, he did a show for NPR in which his trio would perform with an artist such as Jackie McLean and discuss the guests career between musical performances. While a lot of programming is worthwhile, even essentialand just about all of it unique in an increasingly homogenous radio landscapesome of it falls somewhere between charmingly scrappy and borderline-unprofessional. Joe Hinton, Funny How Time Slips Away, Katea Stitt, Morning Jazz: document.getElementById('cloak29915').innerHTML = ''; Now doing shows opposite each other, we developed a friendly rivalry. But in December 2012 the station manager abruptly dropped all of the daytime jazz shows to expand the talk and public affairs programming. Sandra Y Johnson in WPFW studios live! I remember being nervous, but I soon overcame my natural shyness as I began to share my love of jazz and introduce others to the music as I had been by Symphony Sid and Mort Fega. To Hughes detractors, however, the changes represent a violation of the stations progressive, minority-serving brief: WPFW is supposed to be an alternative to NPR and PRI. In the 1970s he established himself professionally doing voice-overs for commercials, the weather on television, and jazz shows on WRC-FM and National Public Radio. Soccer (We had a very good relationship and very good conversations about radio, Hill says of his former boss. Her father, who was African-American, met Williams mother in Yokohama, Japan, and they married there in 1955. Local Dining Guide, City Lights One spring day in 1981, Williams was driving her car along Minnesota Avenue in southeast D.C., listening to the Bama on the radio. Privacy Policy The New Thing, named after a term applied to avant-garde jazz, also sponsored photography, art, music, and karate classes. A DJ looks back on 50 years on jazz radio in the nations capital. Morris was the first musician I interviewed on the air. var addy29915 = 'sjoyner' + '@'; Even if the listeners and programmers of WPFW beat back Hughes proposed changes, how long can the magic reasonably last? var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; For decades AM radio dominated the airwaves with Top 40 music programming, but there were also some commercial jazz shows, such as Felix Grants on WMAL-AM. I feel fortunate that I am still on the air attempting to educate and entertain listeners with the music I first heard on the radio as a kid. I first met him when he was playing bass with Julie Moore Turner in a club at Fourteenth and Rhode Island Avenue, NW, when it was a rough neighborhood. Recreating their efforts which led to the Fall 2010 drive being among the most successful in recent memory, 'PFW Programmers Association members Miyuki Williams, Robyn Holden and Katea Stitt again . SK&U first aired Nov 6 1971. He sent out proposals to various stations, and WAMU-FM came up with airtime on Sunday afternoons. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). Williams said her appreciation of jazz began when listening as a kid to the records played by her father, a career Army soldier, at their home at Fort Dix, New Jersey. To be in Washington in 1968 was an incredible experience. One highlight was a visit by Charles Mingus. Where is the book. Von Martin, Charlie D. I miss D Gator, Nap, Ambrose I Lane, Hodari, Gloria Minnot and so many others. I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say covered traditional jazz, while Since Mintons featured bebop and beyond. (Not four days before a fundraising drive, certainly, which is when the new programming grid was to go into effect.). It is undoubtedly the best show for jazz up through 1945 in the country. Focus on the silver lining., After a momentary pause, she said, Look for the Silver Lining by [jazz trumpeter-vocalist] Chet Baker. God Favours Me (Timmy Regisford Edit Instrumental/Edit) God Favours Me (Timmy Regisford Edit) Makin Moves. I helped to get the first shows on the air in July 1969. Pacificas then-executive director declined to comment on Daughtrys elimination at the time; last week, so did Hughes. Washington in turn showed me his collection of jazz and blues LPs. The years I spent at WDCU were among the best in my broadcasting career. Native America is pissed. The situation at WPFW is but one example of the crisis confronting jazz radio across the country. Staffers and volunteer programmers at WPFW, the D.C. "jazz and justice" radio station that is also Washington City Paper 's neighbor one floor below, have declared no confidence in the station's. After I had Topper on my show to talk about the jazz performances and other programs at the New Thing, he decided that the organization should have its own radio show. Regards, And, you know, well all just wait and see.. For now, Hughes plans remain half-realized. See photos, tips, similar places specials, and more at Voiron Distribution Automobile Meanwhile, WPFW has to move. housing, homecare, elder law and financial planning. John Hughes loves the word ethos. You notice, because when he says itand hes saying it a lot these daysit doesnt rhyme with dose, but moss. Current. WPFW Friends and Family Gerrie Mahdi, Diane Hicks, Tom Cole, Miyuki Williams. The Bama Hour was so popular that WPFW gave him another show featuring jazz on Sunday afternoons called The Other Side of the Bama. In the coming days, several shows on WPFW will broadcast tributes to Belafonte. Miyuki Williams: About 31 years ago on a Monday night I was driving on Minnesota Avenue listening to WPFW 89.3 FM. Great post! Photo courtesy of Miyuki Williams PRINT By Robert Friedman Posted on March 30, 2021 The station was shut down for a few months in 1976 and finally ceased broadcasting on January 29, 1979. addy29915 = addy29915 + 'wpfw' + '.' + 'org'; There was Jerry WashingtonThe Bamawho punctuated his blues show with rakish, politically incorrect tales of love, loss, and how he got by. I dont think these were handled the way they should have been. Although she approved the changes, Reese says she expressed concern about implementing them before a fund drive and the stations move, which Hughes confirms. At home later, youre cooking dinnerbut there isnt just one station that fits however you identify. document.getElementById('cloak9275').innerHTML += '' + addy9275+'<\/a>'; WPFWs founders were five years into their struggle to get on the air when D.C. gained home rule in 1973, and their station shared the eras DNA. What, no book? General Manager John Hughes defends his programming changes on the air at WPFW. Since 1997 WPFW has been the only station broadcasting jazz in Washington, with the exception of Bambergers show on WAMU. The first announcers were Faunee Williams, who hosted the morning drive-time show, and Gwen Redding, who was heard in the afternoon. Still, tensions between programmers and management and between the station and Pacifica are par for the course, says Muhammad. At Georgetown, meanwhile, WGTB was featuring a womens collective called Sophies Parlor and health advice from the Washington Free Clinic. On Saturday, June 2, from 1 p.m.-3 p.m., we will host "Jazz FM: Maintaining Tradition," a presentation on jazz music and history in the D.C. and Baltimore areas.With help from veteran broadcasters Miyuki Williams of WPFW-FM and George "Doc" Manning of WEAA-FM, we will explore the media's role in jazz preservation as Williams and Manning share their on-air and off-air experiences on presenting . The human family is pissed.. 360 Development Director 202-588-0999 ext. It may have sounded crazy and desperatebut to many of the programmers of WPFW, so was the state in which they now found the station. The Beacons award-winning content covers health, financial, technology, housing, travel and arts topics, as well as local events and feature stories. What we do in this business goes to your head and your heart. He understands where the outcry comes from, he said. Students at Howard University struck for the inclusion of Black Studies in the Eurocentric curriculum and jazz in the music program, where Donald Byrd would become its first director. Yorkes profile of Grant focused on his Saturday afternoon show on WRC-AM, mentioning his earlier thirty-year tenure as WMALs nightly jazz authority. It held weekly jazz performances at St. Margarets Episcopal Church on Connecticut Avenue, featuring such artists as Shirley Horn, Andrew White, Paul Hawkins, and Byron Morris. Muhammad, who says he doesnt think much of Smiley and West, is nevertheless optimistic. Jazz was politics; politics was jazz. He got his start in broadcasting as a student at Georgetown University on WGTB before my arrival. Your email address will not be published. This excerpt has been edited. Its emotional, Hughes said. // The white left doesnt think they have a black problem, says Muhammad. Plenty has changed at WPFW, though. So who the hell does want to hear Cornel West on WPFW? Among the WPFW programmers were Art Cromwell, Jerry Washington, Tom Cole, John Zimbrick, Miyuki Williams, and Larry Appelbaum. Work Here The daily blues show at noon survived the changes, and an hour of jazz has been inserted in the afternoon. All that amour aired on the aptly named A Sunday Kind of Love, the weekly noon to 2 p.m. program on Washingtons Pacifica Radio station. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. WPFW has been on a rollercoaster of internal management problems for the past fifteen years that the volunteer announcers have always managed to work around and continue to play music. 202-588-0999 ext. ), Near the end of her show, Williams played You Take My Breath Away by Tuck & Patti. I lived in DC for 30 years and enjoyed Rusty at his many stops including his lectures sponsored by the Smithsonian Associates. It is open to the public and. WPFW no longer has the reputation as Radio Farrakhan that it gained in the late 1980s; the speeches by the Nation of Islam leader and by radical black-nationalist thinkers like Frances Cress Welsing that sometimes appeared on the defunct program Freedom of Speech are gone. Advertise with Us, Sponsored Posts from our Partners I love pop. You need to roll [the programing changes] back quick, fast, and in a hurrysay Look, no one was consulted, say This was done in secrecy, was nontransparent, and we want this to stop right now. Also, Miyuki will be talking with trombonist Craig Harris about the upcoming Baraka celebration. Page Three He had just played the recordings on his radio show on the campus station, WGTB-FM, but he had to give up the program to take a class that was scheduled at the same time. Unfortunately WDCU became a victim of the District of Columbias budget woes. WGTB evolved into a free-form underground rock station while maintaining much of its jazz programming. I was now on the air with my friends Jamal Muhammed, Tom Cole, Miyuki Williams, Larry Appelbaum, Hassan Ali, Nap Turner, and Askia Muhammad. The top of this organization at this time has no interest for freedom and democracy and equality of people of color, Porter, then also the stations programming director, declared at the time. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; or call 202-588-0999 ext 344. Its listenership is aging and dwindling, its ledger red, and its lease is about to expire. Once artists reach a certain level of proficiency at ceramic design, playing an instrument, painting, etc. On Nov. 30, a few hours after General Manager John Hughes used a previously scheduled appearance on the air to defend the changeshe also apologized for the impolitic rolloutthat discontent spilled into the streets, with about a dozen programmers and listeners gathering outside to find out what, exactly, was happening to their station. Hughes, who is 61, has insisted in interviews and on the air that his proposed changes arent just in keeping with the stations progressive, alternative ethos; theyre about rescuing it. jtemplate.ru - free extensions for joomla, Daniel Ellsberg Warns Risk of Nuclear War Is Rising as Tension Mounts over Ukraine & Taiwan, After Terminal Cancer Diagnosis, Daniel Ellsberg Reflects on Leaking Pentagon Papers & His Legacy, "Provocative & Dangerous": Biden to Send Nuclear-Armed Subs to South Korea as Activists Demand Peace, "Courage Is Contagious": Zooey Zephyr & Justin Jones on the GOP's Silencing of State Lawmakers, This meeting is open to the public and will be held by, This meeting is hybrid. document.getElementById('cloak29915').innerHTML += '' + addy29915+'<\/a>'; For the most part, that meant excising music from rush hour and the workday. Thanks for the shout out and keep the music flowing, good sir. Spirits Known and Unknown continued with its workshop concept for young African American announcers, and in 1980 Hot Jazz Saturday Night, with Rob Bamberger, premiered and is still on the air today. Martin said he couldnt do it, and prepared to end his show. We played his favorite recordings by Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, and Clifford Brown, and he explained why he loved Bill Evans. Suddenly, D.C.s community station would feature new shows from San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Yorkand most heretically, in the eyes of some stakeholders, from mainstream organizations like National Public Radio and Public Radio International and personalities like West, Tavis Smiley, and Michel Martin. S,C&M came on a bit later after The Other SIde of Brother Ralph left the airwaves in the Saturday night 10pm -midnight slot. Amy Goodman, who now hosts the progressive news program Democracy Now!the Pacifica networks flagship showgot her start at WPFW. Theyve seen the managers come and the managers go, and theyre still here. From 1963 to 1967, when her father was once again based in the Pacific, Williams lived in Japan. Hughes said WPFW needed to expand its audienceto bring in younger audiences and respond and adjust with respect to social media. In an earlier conversation, hed told me the regions changing demographics required that the station evolve. Evidently I passed his hipness test because he asked me if I would take over his show. While WPFWs new programming is simpler to comprehend, perhaps less jarring from program to program, its also less diverseno Haitian show, no Brazilian show, no feminist show. While even WPFWs homegrown talk tends to focus more on international news than local issues, the station remains a uniquely D.C. institution. A moment later, as the crowd quieted down, one man who identified himself as a listener suggested the contretemps has all the markings of an agent provocateur to destabilize the station.
Judge Cynthia Newton Pinellas County, Excellus Dental Providers, Articles M