Once it finally launched, the largely black-oriented WPFW and its frequently Afrocentric take on public affairs stood out from the mostly white Pacifica leadership and its news-and-talk stations in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City. Porter thinks the stations been going downhill since 1993, and sees little hope; staffers like Stitt, Minott and Muhammad think it can thrive with limited corporate underwriting; everyone wants more transparency and dialogue. This excerpt has been edited. var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; Washington also benefited from the addition of three new FM stations in the 1970s that featured jazz: WHUR, WETA, and WPFW. Then He Tested Positive for COVID. Stokes would later edit Jazz Times and publish four books on the music. 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. Terms & Conditions var addy_text39617 = 'news' + '@' + 'wpfw' + '.' + 'org'; var addy29915 = 'sjoyner' + '@'; . 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. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. The white left doesnt think they have a black problem, says Muhammad. Baseball I was so addicted to PFW that I started listening 24/7, started volunteering phone duty and pledging my financial support. The expansion of jazz programming in Washington continued in the 1980s. Liz at Large Click here to see the 2023 Seniors' Resource Guide. Jerry Washington would mix in philosophical and political commentary, discussions about what went down at the barbershop, and laments about fights he had with his girlfriend, Denise. Miyuki Williams has been working as a Host of A Sunday Kind of Love at Wpfw for 8 years. Anthony went on to Sirius satellite radio until the merger with XM. var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; In the last four years, a 2011 audit shows, the foundation has lost millions and gone through its own internal putsches. As opposition to the new grid mounted last week, Martin says Hughes called him and asked him to stay at Saturdayfor two hours, not three. We don't have one. Former volunteer programmer Clinton Yates made the same charge in his column for the Washington Posts Root D.C. website. Jerry Washington and his wife remained together until her passing, and he missed her terribly as a widower. The decade of the nineties was one of friendly rivalry between WDCU and WPFW. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. One Saturday afternoon he could not make it to the station and Jerry Washington had to do the show on his own. 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. Torries at Wilson. From 1963 to 1967, when her father was once again based in the Pacific, Williams lived in Japan. I remember one of my dedicated listeners called during my night show Sound, Color and Movement [inspired by a Sun Ra lp title] while an Albert Ayler selection was blasting over the airwaves. The rest is Washington-area jazz, blues and pop-classics history. WGTB evolved into a free-form underground rock station while maintaining much of its jazz programming. The workshop was intended to train African American students in broadcasting techniques, and among those who participated in the program were Vincent Muse, David Muse, P. W. Robinson, and the late Aaron Hiter. Although Tell Me More already airs on WAMU-FM, D.C.s NPR affiliate, at 2 p.m., Hughes envisions it as a WPFW tent post. Focus on the silver lining., After a momentary pause, she said, Look for the Silver Lining by [jazz trumpeter-vocalist] Chet Baker. I have no idea where I got the nerve or the notion that I could do it, but at the next phone booth I got to, I called him and asked, Mr. 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. The bigger hurdle is Pacificas fundamentally broken model. Events: A heads up about City Paper events, from panels to parties. And the aforementioned Nina Simone, she said, was an immense pianist, [who,] thwarted in her dreams of becoming a classical pianist because of racism, perseveres and pushes through. document.getElementById('cloak26045').innerHTML += '' + addy26045+'<\/a>'; Housing Complex Maybe youre in a music mood, maybe youre in a talk-show mood. The University of the District of Columbia designated the station as WDCU-FM, but it was soon known as Jazz90. 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. CMS recognizes and celebrates the positive changes to the program schedule brought about recently since Katea Stitt and Miyuki Williams were put in charge of programming. Soccer The New Thing, named after a term applied to avant-garde jazz, also sponsored photography, art, music, and karate classes. Rev. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Stay tuned or visit our website anytime to support this totally listener sponsored station for jazz and justice! The next day, the stations call-in shows were flooded with upset listeners, many of whom threatened to stop giving to WPFW, which is almost entirely funded by donations. I agree. When Elvis Presley died a few months after WPFW went on the air, the station didnt air a tribute, the explanation going that Elvis was a racist who stole his music from black people, the Washington Post reported at the time. 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. Thanks for sharing the knowledge and keep up the good work. 326, Sataria JoynerThis email address is being protected from spambots. Building a better world one broadcast at a time and in the community. Talk shows were followed by jazz; many programs had hybrid formats. Last Friday, Hughes hosted his weekly Managers Mailbox edition of Community Watch & Comment, bringing on Public Affairs Director Gloria Minott and DC Politics co-host Chuck Thies to interview him about the programming changes. The series is created in partnership with the Radio Preservation Task Force, an initiative of the Library of Congress. . //--> Volunteer Coordinator Vincent Jack vjack@wpfw.org 202-588-0999 ext. Olympic Sports, Savage Love https://t.co/B0BfdRXJyl It was a station for a majority black city newly empowered to run itself; it was thoroughly ideological, coming just after the civil rights and anti-war generations; it was a station for black thought and black music and the highest intellectual aspirations of both; it was a space for ideas and anxietiesnutty ones, maybe, to the radio-dial wanderershut out of the mainstream. In 1987 WRC dropped his show and shortly thereafter WAMU dropped mine. In the early days, it was a cauldron, says WPFWs news director, Askia Muhammad, whos had several stints on staff and was an early programmer. Native America is pissed. Great post! So who the hell does want to hear Cornel West on WPFW? The FCC ruled that commercial stations could not simulcast all of its programming on both AM and FM. The programming for jazz remains strong with such announcers as Brother Ah, a musician who has performed with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Peggy Lee, and Willard Jenkins, a jazz journalist who collaborated with Randy Weston on Westons autobiography. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; Melody Gardot, Over the Rainbow, Rick Williams, Evening Drive Jazz: Martin said he couldnt do it, and prepared to end his show. Some programmers who had been cut loose, like Ah and Caribbeanas Von Martina WPFW linchpin since the beginningwere returned to the air. Douye' (pronounced Doe-Yay) has re-emerged as a very talented jazz singer on her impressive new recording Daddy Said So. The charge of gentrification is so off-base, Hughes said, redirecting course. My show was shifted from Monday evening to late Thursday night. On a station-sponsored cruise, I hung out with Jay McShann, Clark Terry, and my friend Yale Lewis. Email: shepperd@cua.edu, Chicanas who stepped up to the microphone for the first time were not only hearing their own voices audibly broadcasted over public airwaves, they also were announcing the arrival of a sonically distinct Chicana public sphere.. His recounting of his times on air and the connections he made in the citys jazz community are the subject of an essay in the book DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. 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. ", "Washington City Paper has made me feel like I am part of the D.C. The Cranky Redskins Fans Guide to Dan Snyder. var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; miyuki williams's Tweets. The Bama Hour was so popular that WPFW gave him another show featuring jazz on Sunday afternoons called The Other Side of the Bama. It was probably in January 1966, the beginning of second semester of my junior year. Many of the stations in-house talk programs, like In Our Voices and DC Politics, kept their once-a-week slots, while others are gone. The stations frequently would be cosponsors of performances. What we do in this business goes to your head and your heart. He understands where the outcry comes from, he said. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Cant recall exactly how started listening. var addy_text25885 = 'membership' + '@' + 'wpfw' + '.' + 'org'; addy39617 = addy39617 + 'wpfw' + '.' + 'org'; God Favours Me (Timmy Regisford Edit Instrumental/Edit) God Favours Me (Timmy Regisford Edit) Makin Moves. Amina Claudine Myers, Plowed Fields, Tom Porter, Jazz and Justice: document.getElementById('cloak9275').innerHTML += '' + addy9275+'<\/a>'; Reprinted with permission. There was some community opposition to the sale, but not enough to stop the sale, and the station went off the air in 1997. Now doing shows opposite each other, we developed a friendly rivalry. Even if the listeners and programmers of WPFW beat back Hughes proposed changes, how long can the magic reasonably last? Whoops! WPFW faced other challenges in 2013, but new managers and their positive attitude instill the programmers with confidence that the jazz shows will continue. "Y'all are doingreallocal D.C. She says that after listening to stakeholders, shell make some kind of decision to calm the situation soon. I dont see any intelligent reasons behind why these decisions are being made. A few heads nodded in agreement. Bambergers scholarly and entertaining approach examines the recordings of a particular artist such as Bix Beiderbecke or Teddy Wilson, focusing on the recorded output of a few years. Its like CIA handbook, to neutralize the station. I hosted concerts with Wynton Marsalis and Sonny Rollins. . 202-588-0999 ext. Longtime programmer Tom Porter speaks against the new schedule. Its a seasonal thing that happens with us.. He called his show Dont Forget the Blues. The first announcers were Faunee Williams, who hosted the morning drive-time show, and Gwen Redding, who was heard in the afternoon. In the early years Bamberger had five hours to explore early jazz, with an hour of Duke Ellington to start. We know that Miyuki is single at this point. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; He passed the hipness test and we talked about the music. I would delight in taking Tom Barrett to hear someone like Harry Sweets Edison perform with Dr. Taylor, then eavesdrop on the conversation after the show. Thanks for this very detailed look at one of the most fertile radio markets in the country at that time. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; When a recent Sunday fell on the birthday of Nina Simone, Williams featured two hours of the pianist-vocalists recordings, from her heart-rending rendition of I Loves You, Porgy to the classically trained artists own compositions, including the sad, angry, rousing civil rights protest anthem, Mississippi Goddam., Among other highlights of Williams show are her tributes to Eva Cassidy, the legendary vocalist, born and raised in the Washington area, who died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 33. DC Black Fathers Matter Project. Readers of our three print editions pick up more than 179,000 copies each month at more than 2,000 distribution sites. Regards, Young & Hungry I lived in DC for 30 years and enjoyed Rusty at his many stops including his lectures sponsored by the Smithsonian Associates. No showdown at WPFW had been as dramatic as the events of 1993, nor has any since. The stations left-wing missionwhich includes a mandate for programming which reflects progressive social change and democracymeant pushing the boundaries of D.C.s normally staid airwaves. This email address is being protected from spambots. Greg Sashi Kearse (former jazz columnist at Howard University, Afro-American Newspaper), Hi Greg, sorry that we didnt previously provide a link. The situation at WPFW is but one example of the crisis confronting jazz radio across the country. Although the organization folded, I kept the title of The New Thing Root Music Show through the seventies. As some music hosts heard last week that their programs were canceled or rescheduled, they had to decide what to play for the last time. We also mail copies to subscribers throughout the United States. 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 play on my program the music I love, Williams said. NPR offered programs such as Jazz Alive, Marian McPartlands Piano Jazz, and JazzSet, which were aired on WAMU. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. I was mostly drawn to the Caribbean & African music. Miyuki Williams Sunday Kind Of Love Donnie McKethan American Songbook Larry Appelbaum / Reuben Jackson Sound of Surprise Jim Byers Latin Flavor Classic Edition Daniel del Pielago Pa'Lante Tony Carr This is Reggae Music Time Artist Song Title Album Label Andre Radio Andy The Reggae Experience Time Artist Song Title Album Label Where is the book. 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. In became something of a consortium of kindred souls playing that serious American music. A recent radio show on WPFW began with a quote from Shakespeares Henry V, as the love-struck king woos his future wife. 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. Food News Then consider the Beacon your resource for trustworthy information on health, money, technology and travel topics, as well as entertaining features, arts and events. I met long-time WPFW programmer Jamal Muhammed at a concert at Fort DuPont, where we both introduced Ahmad Jamal. Page Three Also, Miyuki will be talking with trombonist Craig Harris about the upcoming Baraka celebration. DC Jazz: Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC, The university sold the license to C-SPAN, wrote about jazz radio finding itself at an existential crossroads, How a Chicana-run community radio station changed the cultural soundscape of public broadcasting, https://www.amazon.com/DC-Jazz-Stories-Music-Washington/dp/1626165890. (We had a very good relationship and very good conversations about radio, Hill says of his former boss. housing, homecare, elder law and financial planning. WPFW News Celebrating the Life of Harry Belafonte The legendary performer and human rights champion Harry Belafonte joined the ancestors on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at the age of 96. It is undoubtedly the best show for jazz up through 1945 in the country. 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. Downloads are convenient, but background and appreciation for the music is lacking. // //--> 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.

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