This led to a permanent slot. An informed announcer on the radio provides the names of the soloists and tells stories about the music. At home later, youre cooking dinnerbut there isnt just one station that fits however you identify. they can be deemed national treasures. Former volunteer programmer Clinton Yates made the same charge in his column for the Washington Posts Root D.C. website. The University of the District of Columbia designated the station as WDCU-FM, but it was soon known as Jazz90. W. Royal Stokes, a freelance writer for the Washington Post, had two shows. New Engineer jobs added daily. SK&U first aired Nov 6 1971. AND WE THANK Black Republic Media, an online news and media organization that is reclaiming our story to counter the dehumanizing narratives of settler colonialism.And of course thanks to all of you who came out or otherwise supported our event that honored 125th birthday of Paul Robeson, Earth Day and National Poetry Month! The charge of gentrification is so off-base, Hughes said, redirecting course. When Pacificas national board confirmed the local boards selectionPhil Watson, a long-time black media activist whod had an early hand in WPFWs foundingPorter denounced the move on his Morning Conversations show, resigning on air. English Website 52 Listen live 0 Playlist Contacts Today's top 343 Engineer jobs in Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes, France. Which is a shameespecially when you want to hear, say, world-class jazz presented with a D.C. sensibility and you realize, now that WAMU only plays trad jazz on Saturday nights and the genres real estate on WPFW is shrinking, you cant always find it. Music Paul Anthony, for example, could play Miles Daviss Bitches Brew on WRC-FM, whereas Felix Grant could not play such an extended cutting-edge piece on WMAL-AM. Not too long after the show, Askia Muhammad from WPFW told me how much he learned from the interview. 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. Membership Department All inquiries regarding your membership (pledge gifts, tax statements, membership status) please email membership@wpfw.org. The roots of the current face-off between management and programmers go back several yearsto a decline in listenership and giving that preceded Hughes tenure, and to a conflict between Pacifica and Daughtry that did, as well. Film/TV Hughes, who had been chief operating officer of Howard Universitys TV station WHUT, came on in 2011. Cant recall exactly how started listening. To Hughes, whos led the nonprofit WPFW for nearly two years, the solution is running a station of musical obsessives and anti-establishmentarians more like a businesswhich means, in his telling, crafting a less jarring programming schedule that he hopes will bring a bigger audience and fill the stations coffers with more donations. The years I spent at WDCU were among the best in my broadcasting career. The situation at WPFW is but one example of the crisis confronting jazz radio across the country. He passed the hipness test and we talked about the music. Hughes says research by the Radio Research Consortium shows its largely over 55. addy25885 = addy25885 + 'wpfw' + '.' + 'org'; Even if the listeners and programmers of WPFW beat back Hughes proposed changes, how long can the magic reasonably last? 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. Click here to see the 2023 Seniors' Resource Guide. So did its half-focus on music: When it launched, WPFW played more than 100 hours of music each week, including international programs like Martins Caribbeana. The proposed changes would have moved Caribbeanawith its mix of Caribbean public affairs talk and music from 7 p.m. Saturday to 10 p.m. Sunday. His detractors say listenership and fundraising would be higher with better marketing and that there are too many pledge drives, leading to donor fatigue; they criticize Hughes for not seeking other revenue streams. As a VISTA volunteer, I became connected to a community organization in Adams Morgan called The New Thing Art and Architecture Center, where I met Sondra Barrett, who was teaching African dance to children. 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. Later, there was soul programmer Bobby Bennett, a survivor of the old WOL-AM. Is the WPFW community old? 326, Sataria JoynerThis email address is being protected from spambots. Wpfw is part of the Broadcasting industry, and located in District of Columbia, United States. Jerry shifted the focus of the Saturday afternoon show to the blues and created a persona that was a brilliant mix of fantasy with a dose of reality that he called the Bama. In African American parlance, a bama is someone from the country, unsophisticated in city ways and very likely to wear overalls. Like Washington City Paper, which also has its office in the building, the stations lease is up at the end of December. Beginning last week, listeners found mostly news and talk throughout the workday and jazz at night. We are here to serve underserved communities.. The white left doesnt think they have a black problem, says Muhammad. I had been employed as a union representative for a few years and decided to continue that career rather than jump into broadcasting full time. We don't have one. addy68494 = addy68494 + 'wpfw' + '.' + 'org'; Mumble Sauce, About Us The talk never stops and the music never ends was how some programmers put it, according to Porter, an early host at the station. 30. By 1980 Paul Anthony was a veteran broadcaster. His program on WPFW, however, focused more on blues vocals than jazz instrumentals, and soon he was singing at live performances. She remembers listening for the first time to vibraphonist-band leader Lionel Hampton and singers Dinah Washington, Roy Hamilton and Frank Sinatra, among others. https://t.co/B0BfdRXJyl 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. Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) had the debuts of our shows mentioned in the Congressional Record. . It was a real thrill to join the station at the same time as Grant. Cease and desist right now.. 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. The station broadcast performances from the university auditorium, including the annual battle among the bands of Howard University, University of Maryland, and the University of the District of Columbia. jtemplate.ru - free extensions for joomla. Evidently I passed his hipness test because he asked me if I would take over his show. View the profiles of people named Miyuki Williams. DC. I was an activist who became an artist, I was not an artist who became an activist, is the quote by Belafonte posted on Twitter by former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner. #Bibliophile. Rusty Hassans career in Washington, D.C., jazz radio spans four stations and more than five decades. . Still, tensions between programmers and management and between the station and Pacifica are par for the course, says Muhammad. WPFW may stumble to a new location. He spoke of his early years in West Virginia, playing piano in houses of prostitution as a teenager; hopping a freight train to Washington, DC, where he played professionally on U Street; meeting his wife, Mary, at a Hot Shoppe; his friendship with John Malachi and what a thrill it was to have Billy Eckstines band perform at the army camp in Louisiana where he was stationed in 1944; service in the Pacific. (City Paper has also occasionally co-hosted political debates with WPFWs DC Politics show, and City Paper Business Development Manager Sheila Alexander-Reid hosts a show on the station.) Mwiza Munthali 49. (She later received a one-week suspension for saying the URL of a site, thepeople4pfw.wordpress.com, about the current controversy, in violation of the Local Station Boards election rules. You never know, she said to her listeners. He should not., The situation became heated when Tony Norman, a lawyer and the chair of the listener-elected Local Station Board, faced questions about whether the board had somehow protected Hughes. Would you train me to be a DJ? He said, Yes. Jerry Washingon, better known as "The Bama" was on the air. It may seem as if this is a radical change but, as Douye' explains, it is actually a return to her roots. In 2010, Pacifica unsuccessfully attempted. A DJ looks back on 50 years on jazz radio in the nations capital. Its listenership is aging and dwindling, its ledger red, and its lease is about to expire. In the Radio Farrakhan years, the station followed the radical drift of some schools of black nationalism; as the rhetoric became angrier and more violent, Muhammad says, the station pulled backor depending on your viewpoint, became more P.C. Beer Its a seasonal thing that happens with us.. //-->, This email address is being protected from spambots. A comprehensive dialogue with Wpfw programmers can be viewed on Dctv on Robyn Holden's Anc and You program as per the following schedule . DJ Beloved, Reggie Steele, Aaron K. Gray. 1888PressRelease) March 01, 2012 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 mobilized the more than 150 volunteer DJ's in the intricate 'Buddy System' The objective is to create effective on-air pairings of programmers to 'pitch' together . var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; Before Williams went on the air, she was told by Hughes that she had jeopardized the financial future of WPFW, she says, by appearing on another program several days earlier and telling listeners to withhold their credit card information as part of protest pledges. Hughes allegedly suspended him indefinitely, instead of the customary two weeks; he then transferred Daughtry to another position, Daughtry says, and eliminated that job soon after. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The gay-oriented show Friends, and the birth control advice provided on air, however, were too much for the universitys Jesuit administration. Founded in 1946 by the pacifist journalist Lewis Hill and envisioned as a network of stations free of corporate or government influence, the Pacifica Foundation had begun seeking a D.C. outpost in the late 1960s, on D.C.s last remaining noncommercial FM frequency. Thanks for this very detailed look at one of the most fertile radio markets in the country at that time. He says the comments have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, and that hes even received some threats. WGTB evolved into a free-form underground rock station while maintaining much of its jazz programming. document.getElementById('cloak39617').innerHTML += ''+addy_text39617+'<\/a>'; 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. Who the hell wants Cornel West on this station? demanded Jay Winter, standing outside the Adams Morgan building where he hosts the self-described most dangerous show on radio. He had found out that week that his 7 p.m. Friday program about native peoples, The Nightwolf Show, would move soon to the much less dangerous hour of 1 p.m. Its a setup for The Nightwolf Show to fail, Winter said that afternoon of Friday, Nov. 30, citing his online listenership west of the Mississippi. Longtime programmer Tom Porter speaks against the new schedule. Thanks for sharing the knowledge and keep up the good work. licenses, a crash course in interview technique and expanded my appreciation of constructive criticism. The rest is Washington-area jazz, blues and pop-classics history. ", "Washington City Paper has made me feel like I am part of the D.C. Where can I get the book? Miyuki Williams (pictured left) began her decades-long career as a DJ with a spontaneous phone call. Kathleen Rolenz, Miyuki Williams, WPFW Host, Jerry Paris, WPFW General Manager and Lyn Dyson, DC Black Repertory Company. My show was shifted from Monday evening to late Thursday night. WPFW was kind of like D.C. And Pacifica was its Congress, with 1993 its control board era. I agree. Paulette Dozier,Sunny. 12:26 AM. Talk shows were followed by jazz; many programs had hybrid formats. document.getElementById('cloak9275').innerHTML = ''; Jazz programming benefited from this shift. At work, youre on Pandora, or Spotify, or Sirius XM, or you listen to your own music collection. Much of its aging, analog equipment wont survive the move, Hughes says, but he says that with a stripped down set-up, the station wont need to suspend live programming. I had had a good run at the station, interviewing my heroes and even being honored by the proclamation of Rusty Hassan Day in 1984 by Mayor Marion Barry on the fifteenth anniversary of my show. In the case of Michel Martins NPR program Tell Me More, Hughes stresses that it is an alternative on public radio in and of itself because it originated with the African American Public Radio Consortium. I thought that jazz should be played on as many stations as possible. This comprehensive, searchable directory covers Stokes would later edit Jazz Times and publish four books on the music. Theater var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; or call 202-588-0999 ext 344. The assassination of Rev. What we do in this business goes to your head and your heart. He understands where the outcry comes from, he said. Sometimes he read on air from the Simple stories by Langston Hughes, and his acting ability came through in the voices he used in portraying Jesse B. Semple. Later that year, Sgt. We became close friends, and I enjoyed his stories about hanging out at the stage door of the Howard Theatre with his childhood friend Nap Turner in order to see Charlie Parker, or about the time he spent on Rikers Island incarcerated with Ike Quebec. Morris was the first musician I interviewed on the air. Just a little bit, but enough.) The next day, Hughes told staff that the programs WPFW planned to buy from NPR and PRITell Me More, The Tavis Smiley Show, Smiley and West, and the news program The Takeawaywere back on the shelf until a new programming director was in place. 91106. Bowsers Car-Centric Design Changes Have United Advocates Behind K Street Transitway Cuts, MPD Chief Robert Contee to Retire, Take FBI Job. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. //