Jazz radio hosts are instantly recognizable, all seemingly schooled in the ways of making the recitation of endless dates, albums, labels, nicknames, and quirks sound reverential. They are the historians whose knowledge borders on the psychotic, the personalities who make you wait—one word following another a half beat too slow—forcing the languid air of a nightclub into their sentences, like the white space on a gallery wall that makes an object art. “That impossibly... breathy... saxophone… the picture of restraint...”
Knowing jazz history, really knowing it—being able to recognize by ear who’s on bass and drums, what take on which day and in what music hall—is the kind of devotion reserved for a select group. We are not among them. We are as enamored with the fervent believers in jazz as we are the music. This is a hosanna for those passionate, weird sages possessed by a need to pollinate our digital airwaves with jazz and all the reasons they love it.
Phil Schaap has been on Columbia University’s WKCR since 1981. Schaap is famous for, among other things, “Bird Flight,” a program dedicated to the music of Charlie Parker. The first few times I tuned in, I thought I’d landed on a marathon, perhaps a Parker birthday celebration. I heard Schaap unraveling in monotone detail a conversation between the Bird and someone, somewhere. But this is actually the routine content of the show. Its 35-year run is astounding, especially considering the topic—one guy. As David Remnick put it in his 2008 profile of Schaap for The New Yorker, “There is no getting to the end of Charlie Parker, and sometimes there is no getting to the end of ‘Bird Flight.’”
Then there is Arturo Gómez, host of KUVO Denver’s “Lunchtime at the Oasis.” “Jazz is my favorite four-letter word and the world’s greatest art form,” reads his bio. His voice is reminiscent of Truman Capote’s. When Gómez talks it conjures prairie pastoral, clapboard houses, and dirt driveways. I imagine him wearing a white suit and drinking Earl Grey with lemon.
This is unfortunately in contrast to reality; the KUVO studio is housed in a square, bunker-like building. Many radio studios are this way: based in plain office buildings, often taking up hardly more than a corner in a back room or basement with unglamorous cubicles that look to have been anaerobically preserved from the ’70s. But it’s where the magic happens—in those blank spaces, the masters get to work.
And now, a trip across the airwaves.
We’re tuned to WBGO. It’s January, and Michael Bourne is hosting the “Afternoon Jazz” show on the Newark station. He’s playing Sheila Jordan and the Royal Bopsters. Bourne has contributed to WBGO since 1984.
On WDCB Chicago, it’s “time for the jazz calendar,” a beautifully performed reading of local show listings by Bruce Oscar, jazz pianist and host of the “Swing Shift” show that “takes you back to the World War II era when swing was king.” Oscar has a gravelly voice that singsongs through the show times and dates, his baritone breaking every few beats like it’s been rubbed raw.
They’re playing “Sobbin’ Blues” by Emile Christian and His New Orleans Jazz Band on WGBO. “Jazz is a spiritual pillar in my life. I am privileged to have the opportunity to share my love of this music with people all around the world every week on my show,” states host Monifa Brown in her bio.
“You are listening... to “The Long Rally”... on WFMU.org” says Scott McDowell. On the air, McDowell delivers an anecdote to listeners about the DJ before him: “As he was moving records and filing out, probably to get some sleep, I remarked that I really liked the Don Cherry track that he played, and I often attempt to make a set from the show before me. I don’t know if it worked today. But that’s the plan... I’ll let you decide if that is an accurate representation of what goes on here or not, not my decision.” His show’s Facebook page says, “I’m here every day.” Indeed he is.
WBGO
88.3 FM Newark, New Jersey
wbgo.org
Jazz 88 began broadcasting 24 hours a day after partnering with NPR in 1981 and has been available to stream online since 1996. According to its website, “Jazz88.3 FM’s daily broadcast can be easily identified by the passionate, extremely knowledgeable and idiosyncratic on-air announcers.” Amen.
WWOZ
90.7 FM New Orleans, Louisana
wwoz.org
Based in the French Quarter, WWOZ’s call letters stand for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a name they’ve adopted out of allegiance to the line “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” The station’s been around since 1980 and is mostly volunteer-run. “Probably the most endearing anecdote about the early days of WWOZ is how the station operated out of the upstairs beer storage room at [New Orleans club] Tipitina’s, where the DJ would drop a microphone through the floor and send the live music below straight to the airwaves.”
KUVO
89.3 FM Denver, Colorado
kuvo.org
KUVO’s programming includes nearly every type of jazz you can think of—from traditional to big band to Latin to progressive—and it was the first radio station in Colorado to broadcast in HD. It’s home to Carlos Lando and Steve Chavis’ jazz show, “First Take,” as well as “Stories of Standards,” which examines famed classics.
WDCB
90.9 FM Chicago, Illinois
wdcb.org
Owned by College of DuPage, WDBC was founded in 1977 and started playing jazz in the ’80s. Tune in for the straight-ahead stuff.
WKCR
89.9 FM New York, New York
cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/
Columbia University’s radio station and home to “Bird Flight.” WKCR’s first “official” broadcast was in 1941.
WFMU
91.1 FM Jersey City, New Jersey
wfmu.org
WFMU boasts that it’s “currently the longest running freeform radio station in the United States”—meaning it is not strictly jazz.