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George Gershwin said it best - “Life is a lot like jazz - it's best when you improvise.” I first did radio in college, where there was an active group of students who were passionate about music running the station

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George Gershwin said it best - “Life is a lot like jazz - it's best when you improvise.” I first did radio in college, where there was an active group of students who were passionate about music running the station. It was heaven to have the run of a much larger library and there I sampled many genres beyond mainstream pop and rock. My shows were an eclectic mix of Frank Zappa, Phoebe Snow, Gong, Horace Silver, Dexter Gordon, Paul Winter and more. As a vocalist, my first gig in New York City was at 8BC in the bombed-out East Village singing with a punk band, but I gradually found my way to clubs where you could actually understand the lyrics and later sang with a big band for over twenty years. I consider New York a jazz town in spirit and have been lucky to experience many of the greats live in the clubs like Betty Carter, Alberta Hunter, Ella Fitzgerald, Blossom Dearie, Anita O'Day and Abbey Lincoln. I loved to hang out at the old Carl Fisher Music Store, combing for hours through the endless file cabinets of sheet music. I got back into radio gradually as an adult - mostly subbing for DJ friends and assisting with interviews, as I was now deep into song research. When one broadcaster got thrown out of the station on International Working Women's Day (no men were allowed), he volunteered me to do his show. I had three days to come up with a concept and two hours of music - that's how A Broad Spectrum came into being. When a college station in New Jersey put out the call for jazz programs, I was ready and went back on the air with my own show in 2016. To me, the best programs highlight new releases, plug live shows and offer up a little history of the music we love. Women have always been a part of this legacy - my job is to shine more light on the past and give those foremothers the attention they deserve.

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By Mary Foster Conklin
Member since: 2004