An anniversary, and a decision
Mar. 16th, 2015 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrI first tried out for KLCC in 1987. The station was planning to add a new folk show to the line-up, and was also hoping to get another folk substitute on the roster. Three of us trained in and submitted demo tapes. Pete Lavelle got the new show, The Back Porch; Neil Bjorklund became the new sub, and eventually, host of Friends and Neighbors. I got my radio operator's license.
Instead of doing radio that fall, I joined the UO Cultural Forum, where I produced concerts by Garnet Rogers, Greg Brown, the Red Clay Ramblers, Doc Watson, and brought Rosalie Sorrels to the Willamette Valley Folk Festival.
In 1990, I got a call from Diane Sontag, then host of the Saturday Cafe. She needed a substitute for St. Patrick's Day weekend, and no one else was available. Was I still interested? I recorded a new demo tape that passed muster with the Music Director, and the next weekend--25 years ago this week--I was on the air, KLCC's newest volunteer. Seven months later, Diane moved to Japan to teach English, and I took over the Cafe. I've been here ever since.
It's been a wonderful 25 years. I've heard--and played--a vast amount of great music over the years, met many wonderful musicians. A daytime show on Saturday is the perfect opportunity for live guests, and I've had more than four hundred of them in my time on the radio. I've also enjoyed so much support from listeners, by phone, mail, email, or in person everywhere I've been in our listening area all these years.
But it's always been in conflict with my day job. Balancing my living--which I love--and radio--which I also love--has never been easy. I have art shows to attend many weekends, and Saturday Market when I'm home. And while radio has been a lot of fun, it's also been a lot of work: previewing music, updating the calendar, picking and playing and filing, researching and recording and archiving interviews, posting playlists to the website and the internet. And oh-so-many radiothons...
So last December at Holiday Market, I found myself thinking, "Twenty five years is a nice round number. I think it might be time to retire." I sat on that decision for a month or two, waiting for second thoughts, regrets, but all I felt was relief. Last month, I told my colleagues at KLCC, and today, I'm telling you.
March 28 will be my last day as regular host of the Saturday Cafe. To counter any tendency to get maudlin and weepy, Denise and I will celebrate the last weekend of March as we have for so many years now, with humorous songs for April Fools Eve (Eve, Eve, Eve…) After that, I'm off the weekly grind, though I'll probably stick around for the occasional substitute stint on the folk shows.
I didn't create the Saturday Cafe, though I did manage the place for a good long time. Though the name will retire with me, I expect whoever takes over the time slot to leave their mark on this radio station, just as I and Diane and Jamie May and Charlie Akers did.
I feel lucky to have been a fixture in so many homes all these years. It's been an honor and a privilege.
Instead of doing radio that fall, I joined the UO Cultural Forum, where I produced concerts by Garnet Rogers, Greg Brown, the Red Clay Ramblers, Doc Watson, and brought Rosalie Sorrels to the Willamette Valley Folk Festival.
In 1990, I got a call from Diane Sontag, then host of the Saturday Cafe. She needed a substitute for St. Patrick's Day weekend, and no one else was available. Was I still interested? I recorded a new demo tape that passed muster with the Music Director, and the next weekend--25 years ago this week--I was on the air, KLCC's newest volunteer. Seven months later, Diane moved to Japan to teach English, and I took over the Cafe. I've been here ever since.
It's been a wonderful 25 years. I've heard--and played--a vast amount of great music over the years, met many wonderful musicians. A daytime show on Saturday is the perfect opportunity for live guests, and I've had more than four hundred of them in my time on the radio. I've also enjoyed so much support from listeners, by phone, mail, email, or in person everywhere I've been in our listening area all these years.
But it's always been in conflict with my day job. Balancing my living--which I love--and radio--which I also love--has never been easy. I have art shows to attend many weekends, and Saturday Market when I'm home. And while radio has been a lot of fun, it's also been a lot of work: previewing music, updating the calendar, picking and playing and filing, researching and recording and archiving interviews, posting playlists to the website and the internet. And oh-so-many radiothons...
So last December at Holiday Market, I found myself thinking, "Twenty five years is a nice round number. I think it might be time to retire." I sat on that decision for a month or two, waiting for second thoughts, regrets, but all I felt was relief. Last month, I told my colleagues at KLCC, and today, I'm telling you.
March 28 will be my last day as regular host of the Saturday Cafe. To counter any tendency to get maudlin and weepy, Denise and I will celebrate the last weekend of March as we have for so many years now, with humorous songs for April Fools Eve (Eve, Eve, Eve…) After that, I'm off the weekly grind, though I'll probably stick around for the occasional substitute stint on the folk shows.
I didn't create the Saturday Cafe, though I did manage the place for a good long time. Though the name will retire with me, I expect whoever takes over the time slot to leave their mark on this radio station, just as I and Diane and Jamie May and Charlie Akers did.
I feel lucky to have been a fixture in so many homes all these years. It's been an honor and a privilege.