News

Bix Beiderbecke Birthday Broadcast

WKCR is excited to announce our annual birthday broadcast of the legendary Bix Beiderbecke. Bix was born Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke in Davenport, Iowa, on March 10, 1903. He began playing piano when he was only two or three years old and could recreate almost any tune he heard by the age of seven. As a teenager, Bix taught himself to play cornet by listening to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band on his brother’s Victrola phonograph.

Date: 
Mon, 10 Mar 2025, 12:00am to 11:59pm

Ornette Coleman Birthday Broadcast

WKCR is excited to announce our annual birthday broadcast of the legendary Ornette Coleman. Born March 9th, 1930 in Fort Worth, Texas, Ornette Coleman had a searing, unrepentantly human sound and endless melodicism that fully embodied Bird's vocal angularity, the sprawling, rough-and-tumble expressiveness of the Southwest saxophone lineage, and the blues.

Date: 
Sun, 9 Mar 2025, 12:00am to 11:59pm

Nina Simone Birthday Broadcast

WKCR is very excited to announce our annual birthday broadcast in honor of an icon of the 20th century: Nina Simone. Listeners will enjoy 24 straight hours of Nina Simone on Friday, February 21st. Simone’s music was often labeled as jazz, but her genius defies the boundaries of genre. Artists such as Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, and Tracy Chapman have cited her as an important influence. In fact, Simone was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Date: 
Fri, 21 Feb 2025, 12:00am to 11:59pm

Bill Hardman Sunday Profile

Sid Gribetz presents the music of trumpeter Bill Hardman this Sunday, February 16, 2025 from 2-7 PM.

Hardman was a crisp trumpeter with the brashness and elan of the bebop and hard bop ethos, colored also by a lyrical and even romantic aspect in his tone. While perhaps not achieving tremendous fame, he was a valued figure in our jazz scene of his time.

Bill Hardman was born in 1932 (or 33 depending on the source) and raised in Cleveland, where he came up with musicians such as Tadd Dameron.

Date: 
Sun, 16 Feb 2025, 2:00pm to 7:00pm

Phil Schaap Memorial Broadcast

WKCR is honored to announce our annual 24-hour memorial broadcast for our very own Phil Schaap (1951-2021), held on the anniversary of his very first broadcast on WKCR back in 1970. The day will be full of archival programs––several of which have not been heard in years––to honor the legacy of the late great Phil Schaap. Born to jazz scholar Walter Schaap and pianist and librarian Marjorie Wood Schaap, Phil’s love of jazz started young.

Date: 
Sun, 2 Feb 2025, 12:00am to 11:59pm

Roy Eldridge Birthday Broadcast

WKCR is very excited to announce our 24-hour annual birthday broadcast for jazz great Roy Eldridge, “Little Jazz,” this January 30, 2025. We will preempt all regularly scheduled programming to bring you a full day of the music of this influential player of the swing era. Eldridge was born in Pittsburgh in 1911, to a wagon teamster and a gifted pianist. At the age of five, Eldridge was already playing blues on the piano. He dedicated himself to the trumpet, at the advice of his older brother Joe, at age 11.

Date: 
Thu, 30 Jan 2025, 12:00am to 11:59pm

Lunar New Year & Teresa Teng Birthday Broadcast

WKCR announces a Lunar New Year Broadcast, this year combined with a Teresa Teng Birthday Broadcast, for 12-hours on FM and HD radio and online, from 12:00am to 12:00pm on Wednesday, January 29th. It will run from the last hour of Tuesday’s Just as Bad until the conclusion of Cereal Music. The broadcast will preempt all regularly-scheduled Wednesday programming within those hours.

Date: 
Wed, 29 Jan 2025, 12:00am to 12:00pm

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Upcoming Events

Emmet Cohen on Out to Lunch

Join us Tuesday, January 17 during our Out to Lunch programming from 1-2:30 pm EST for an interview with New York-based jazz pianist Emmet Cohen regarding his most recent project "Masters Legacy Series featuring Jimmy Cobb." Cohen began Suzuki method piano instruction at age three, and his playing quickly became a mature melding of musicality, technique, and concept. He placed first in both the American Jazz Pianists competition (2014) and the Phillips Piano Competition at the University of West Florida (2011).

Date: 
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 - 1:00pm to 2:30pm
Related Program: 
Out to Lunch
Related Department: 
Jazz

Aspen Matis on Studio A

Tune in to Studio A this Sunday, January 15, from 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM EST for an interview with internationally-bestselling memoirist Aspen Matis. Her book, Girl in the Woods, tells the story of her sexual assault and her flight from college, which led to a journey of self-discovery as she set out to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.

A brief account of her experiences appeared first in The New York Times' Modern Love column, and that subsequentally led to her inspiring and heart-wrenching memoir.

Date: 
Sunday, January 15, 2017 - 9:00pm to 10:00pm
Related Program: 
Studio A
Related Department: 
Arts

George Wallington Celebration on Jazz Profiles

Sid Gribetz presents a five hour radio program celebrating the pianist and composer George Wallington on Jazz Profiles this Sunday, January 15 from 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST.
George Wallington was one of the legendary pianists of the bebop era but never achieved great fame. With his early retirement from a musical career, he remains a more obscure figure in jazz history and lore.
Date: 
Sunday, January 15, 2017 - 2:00pm to 7:00pm
Related Program: 
Jazz Profiles
Related Department: 
Jazz

Streaming WKCR during Bach Festival Announcement

We, the WKCR Board, wanted to address any of the inconveniences experienced in using our stream. Unfortunately, our online stream regularly approaches maximum capacity during the Bach Festival. As we try to accommodate for more listeners, we implore anyone tuning in within our radio broadcasting range to tune in with a radio receiver.

Date: 
Thursday, December 25, 2014 - 12:00pm to Wednesday, December 31, 2014 - 11:59pm

Gustav Leonhardt Memorial Broadcast

This Friday, January 20th, WKCR will be devoting over eleven hours of programming to the music of Gustav Leonhardt (5/30/1928-1/16/2012). As a harpsichordist, organist, and conductor, Leonhardt was on the forefront of the movement in early music to revive period styles and practices. While best known for his recordings of J.S. Bach, Leonhardt made spectacular recordings of many different early music and Baroque composers. Tune in from 9:30am-9:00pm to hear WKCR's tribute to this legendary musician.
Date: 
Friday, January 20, 2012 - 9:30am to 9:00pm
Related Department: 
Classical
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