WKCR 89.9FM NY

Tune in on Wednesday, October 10 to WKCR 89.9 FM-NY for 24 hours of Thelonious Sphere Monk’s music in celebration of the 101st day of his birth. Born in 1917 in North Carolina but raised in Manhattan, Monk first established his musicianship as a mostly self-taught travelling church organist. He marked his grand entrance into the New York jazz scene in 1941 as the new house pianist at the Minton’s Playhouse, the breeding grounds of bebop.

WKCR’s Sonidero Migrante is a 3 day radio festival celebrating Latinx music, art and activism in NYC. WKCR’s Latin department will be taking over the airwaves on 89.9 FM-NY from noon to midnight on Friday October 12th through Sunday October 14th with an expansive line up of emerging Latinx musicians, artists and organizers.

Tune in to Afternoon New Music at 3pm on Tuesday, September 25th for an exclusive in-studio interview and live set with composer Miya Masaoka and bassist James Ilgenfritz. Masaoka and Ilgenfritz will discuss their upcoming concert on Thursday, September 27th at Roulette. The concert will feature new compositions from Masaoka as part of Roulette's Interpretations series. Tuesday's Afternoon New Music program will also feature an in-studio live performance by Ilgenfritz of Masaoka's Four Moons of Pluto, as well as an exclusive ticket giveaway.

On Sunday, September 23rd, WKCR will conduct its annual all-day tribute to John Coltrane on the 88th anniversary of his birth. Born on September 23, 1926 in North Carolina, Coltrane is celebrated to this day for his innovative work on alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones, as well as his enormous contributions to the genres of bebop, hard bop, and free and avant-garde jazz.

Tomorrow, September 23rd, WKCR will once again preempt all regular programming to celebrate the life and work of John Coltrane from 12:00am to 12:00pm. Join us for long-form listenings and discussions about Coltrane approached from the perspective of bibliography, genre-bending and genre-working, collaborations and experimentations, and even modern dance choreographed to Coltrane. Tune in, online or on the FM, for this historic birthday celebration as we meditate on Coltrane, "Time After Time".

Tune in from 9-10 pm on Sept. 11 to hear an interview discussing the effects of separating refugee families, with recent research on Syrians in Jordan. This conversation was held through the Columbia University Earth Institute's Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity. You can find more information about their work at http://ac4.ei.columbia.edu/.

Beginning Monday, August 27, WKCR will have a three-day festival dedicated to the music of tenor saxophonist Lester "Prez" Young, and alto saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker. The 27th marks Prez's birthday, and the 29th, Bird's. On Thursday, August 28th we will play both Prez and Bird interchangeably throughout the day.

Tune in all day this Sunday, August 19th, for our Aretha Franklin Memorial Broadcast. To remember, honor and celebrate the Queen of Soul we will be devoting all of our Sunday programming to Aretha Franklin's work as a musician and as a voice for respect, change and freedom in society. To quote Ann Powers: "I really can't think of any other popular musician who embodied American values at their best, American democracy at its best. Aretha Franklin's music brought us together in such profound ways, always deeply rooted in black experience, in the black church, in daily life.

Tune in at noon this Saturday, August 18th for a live set, conversation and music take-over with the Queen's-based soul artist, Duendita. Duendita aims to create art that provokes listeners to express themselves and begin journeys of purpose. Her work is guided by her spirituality and a love for the human experience. Duendita has been featured by numerous outlets including The New York Times, Newsweek, GirlBoss, The Fader, Variety, and more.

Tune in to Urbano Latinx this Wednesday, August 8th at 10pm for an evening of Latinx Punk with Guest DJ Que Pasa Apaza who will be curating sounds; sharing their punk influences; talking about their punk band Necia NYC; and sharing some other secret music projects.

Check out Necia at: https://soundcloud.com/user-89417518

Only five more days to purchase WKCR merch directly from this link! 100% of proceeds go directly to the station. Help support non-commercial radio and great music!

Tune in all day today for our 24hr Louie Armstrong Birthday Broadcast. This is Birthday Broadcast 2 of 2 for Louis, who is known to have been born on August 4, 1901 despite his claim to have been born on July 4, 1900. To honor Satchmo, we celebrate both.

Tune in to this week's Musician's Show from 6-9pm ET on Wednesday July 25th as we welcome Sasha Berliner, a musician, composer, producer, and band leader from San Francisco, CA.

Tune in all day this Wednesday, July 4th as we celebrate the chosen birthday of one of the foundational figures of jazz, trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong. We will be preempting all regular programming as we honor Pops with 24 hours of swing.

Tune in Tomorrow, Tuesday June 5th at 9pm for Arts and Answers for an interview with Efrem Zelony-Mindell, curator of This Is Not Here: RE 21 Art Show at the Pfizer building at 630 Flushing Ave. The installation explores themes of sensuality, and craft.

Tune in to Nueva Cancion this Wednesday May 23, from 10-11pm ET to listen to a live set and interview from the Brooklyn-based Son Jarocho group, Radio Jarocho!

We regret to inform our listeners that there will be a shutdown of FM transmissions on Tuesday, May 15th from Midnight to about 4AM due to some necessary maintenance work. We are committed to providing our listeners with the best quality broadcasting and will be back on air shortly!

Join WKCR Wednesday, April 25, 2018 for our 24-hour Ella Fitzgerald birthday broadcast. One of the most influential jazz vocalists of the last century, Fitzgerald won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.

On Sunday, April 22nd 2018 at 12:00 AM, WKCR will celebrate the birth of one of the great innovators of American music, bassist and composer Charles Mingus. He was able to accomplish what so many of today's musicians strive for: his music was always original, transcending genre boundaries yet always remaining deeply rooted in the jazz tradition. Early in his career, he performed with such greats as Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Lionel Hampton.

For the remainder of April, the first half hour of all weekday Arts Programming will be devoted to playing WKCR's archival recordings of Columbia's 1968 protests to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary. Tune in! More anniversary coverage to come!

Tune in to Late City Edition this Thursday, April 12th at 9:00 pm for a special interview marking the 50th anniversary of the 1968 protests at Columbia University. These protests were a response to the Vietnam War and the building of a gym by Columbia in Morningside Park. While Columbia students love to discuss institutional lore from the history of the swim requirement to the Manhattan Project's laboratory in Pupin, most students are still unaware of the protests that took place during 1968.

Tune in to Afternoon New Music show this Monday April 9th from 3-4pm as we welcome drummer and composer, Tomas Fujiwara, who will share compositions and discuss his music ahead of his week-long Stone Residency from April 10-14.

Tune in to WKCR on Friday, April 7 in celebrating the life and work of virtuoso jazz vocalist Billie Holiday with our annual 24-hour birthday broadcast.

Tune into Deep Focus on Monday, April 2nd, from 6-9 pm ET for a special conversation with Micah Gaugh on Ronald Shannon Jackson. Host Mitch Goldman writes: "I love it when I go to a gig and I see that Micah Gaugh is going to be playing. It means it is certain that something unexpected is going to happen. And Micah surprised me with his selection of a subject for Deep Focus: Ronald Shannon Jackson. I was 19 years old and already a die hard music fan but I had no idea what music could do until I heard Shannon's band, The Decoding Society.