This is Membership Week on KCCK, which means we come to our listeners, both on the air and online, and ask them to do something counter-intuitive: Voluntarily pay for something they could get for free.

Why would we expect people to do this? Well, KCCK listeners are the kind of people who take responsibility. They understand that good things only continue if they receive enough support. Right here in Iowa, we’ve seen stations that used to play jazz cancel their jazz programs, so you can’t take it for granted. And, thanks to our webcast, we’ve heard from new members around the state and around the world that KCCK is worth supporting.

Won’t you help as well? Pledge securely online at this link. Or, if you’d like to talk to a live person, call 1.800.373.5225.

And thanks!

On-air announcements will start in a few days, but I wanted to let you know about some exciting changes coming to KCCK’s weekend Lineup. Both Saturday and Sunday are affected, so we’ll proceed chronologically.

First off, we are pleased to announce that one of the Corridor’s most-recognized jazz experts is joining KCCK. Craig Kessler is the owner of Real Records and CDs in Iowa City. Craig began his retail music career in the Chicago area, where he got to know many of the Windy City’s musicians and label owners.

Craig has also been one of hosts of “As Night Falls” on KSUI-FM, with the UI’s John Rapson and Dan Moore. As you may know, Iowa Public Radio has debuted a new state-wide, classical music schedule , and they weren’t able to find a spot for “As Night Falls,” making Craig available.

Craig’s KCCK program will be similar to the one he hosted on KSUI, with jazz music, stories and history, all around a central theme. We hope that John and Dan will be regular guests.

Craig’s yet-to-be-titled program will air 3-6pm Saturdays. Ken Rinehart will move up to the Noon-3pm shift, right after Doug Jackson’s Smooth Brunch.

Sunday’s changes are equally as exciting.

I’m pleased to announce that Gentle Jazz will soon be expanding to four hours. For years, one of the most-requested program ideas for KCCK has been for a “softer jazz-brunch program on Sundays,” to complement the vintage jazz programs which are also very popular. The return of Bob Naujoks from a summer off has given us that opportunity.

The temporary host of Gentle Jazz, Ron Adkins, did such an outstanding job that we didn’t want let him go! So Gentle Jazz will double in size, now airing from 9am-1pm. Bob will host the first half, and Ron the the second.

But don’t worry. Your other favorite Sunday shows aren’t going away. Mark Yother’s Sunday Morning Swing will remain three hours long, but will now air from 6-9am Sunday. Big Band Memories will continue to air from 1-5, with Cary J. Hahn and Murray Kent. Riverwalk Jazz moves to 5pm.

The new lineup takes effect the weekend of Sept. 29.

As always, let us know what you think!

Dennis Green
General Manager

The good news reported in the Chicago Tribune this week is that, after closing their old location at the end of last year due to the high rent, one of the premiere live jazz spots in the Midwest will be back up and running this winter. The Jazz Showcase has announced that it’ll be opening up at a new location at the Dearborn Station, on Polk Street between Dearborn and State Streets. The Showcase has been presenting major jazz acts since 1947. No other Chicago jazz spot picked up the slack in the absence of the Showcase, so it’ll be nice to have that option again, in addition to the Bistro in St. Louis and the Dakota in Minneapolis.

Bob Stewart, Program Director
bobs@kcck.org

Well, the 20th anniversary season of Jazz Under The Stars is history, and it’s full of fond memories and great music. We had four outstanding concerts (although it took us five weeks to get them all staged), concluding with a smokin’ set from GrooveShip.

Thanks to the members of the Rod Pierson Big Band, Eddie Piccard Quartet, Euforquestra and GrooveShip for the awesome performances, to our sponsors for supporting the series and to YOU for attending! Pictures from each night are here.

We still have a few 20th anniversary commemorative T-Shirts remaining. They’re navy blue, and on the back, list every band who has ever played Jazz Under The Stars. A true collectors item. We still have some youth sizes, as well as several XLs, 2X and 3X.

They’re just $12.00. Reserve yours by emailing Kim. Tell her which size you want and a daytime phone number. Don’t delay! When they’re gone, they’re gone.

Dennis Green

Steve Carpenter, Public Information Director for Kirkwood (and former KCCK Manager) alerted us to a complimentary post jazz bassist Christian McBride made on his blog about his April performance in Cedar Rapids with the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble and CR Jazz. He had particularly nice things to say about director Tim Feldkamp. Read it here.

We will have at least one, and possibly two chances to see Christian this fall. He’s a part of the Pat Metheny Trio, playing at Hancher on Oct. 10. Details here.

And we may see him nine days earlier, also at Hancher, as he has been touring with Queen Latifah’s band. Details.

If he wants to save on air travel, he can crash at my place…

Maybe we should have known when we hired a band called GrooveShip that we should worry about excess water….

We’ve had to postpone tonight’s Jazz Under The Stars concert to next week, due to continued rain and saturated grounds at Noelridge Park, with the threat of more showers tonight. There is standing water all over the park and the seating area is a marshland. Even if it’s not actually raining at concert time, the soggy ground makes for an unpleasant concert experience and a safety hazard for the sound crew and musicians.

But, that’s why we have rain dates. So, please mark your calendar for next Thursday, Aug. 30 for both the KCCK Member event, Dinner At The Duck Pond at 5:30, and the concert with GrooveShip at 7pm.

The 7-day forecast for next Thursday?

Partly Cloudy and 76.

Dennis Green

If you came to the blog via KCCK’s website, you’ve already noticed the new and improved kcck.org. We’re really pumped about the new look and functions.

One of the coolest new things is that we are now feeding the information from the online playlist directly to the home page, so when you visit, one of the first things you see is the title and artist of the song currently playing. The current producer or show is listed right below, along with upcoming programs. Recent blog headlines now display on the home page as well.

The other major improvement is an enhanced way for you to listen to or download some of our programs on demand. You can listen to Talking Pictures, Gotta Minute and artist interviews right from the site, or you can subscribe to them as podcasts and they’ll load automatically to your ipod or other media player. There’s an easier to navigate Photo Gallery as well.

(Music licensing rules prevent us from offering music programming as podcasts, in case you’re wondering.)

The online playlist, webcast and other areas of the site are still there, although we’ll be updating their layout in the coming weeks to bring them in line with the new look. Coming soon: an enhanced Concert Calendar, Culture Crawl podcast and other improvements.

Thanks to an outstanding design team for this dynamic new look: Web designer John Shultz of Codejazz and graphic design by John Foster of Avatar Design Group.

So, what do you think? Post a reply in this space or email me directly.

We recently received a call from a listener who had trouble sleeping one night and caught “The Brazilian Hour” during the early morning hours of a Sunday. She really enjoyed the mix of traditional Brazilian and Brazilian-flavored jazz. She wondered if the show was repeated during the week.

I told her that in addition to airing at 2 a.m. Sunday, it was also broadcast at 2 a.m. Tuesday. She was really excited to hear that.

“Are you up listening at that time?” I asked her.

“When I can’t sleep,” she replied. “But now that I know when it’s on, I’ll probably just get up and listen.” (!)

Do you listen to KCCK at odd times of the day? We’d like to hear from you if you do.

George Dorman – News and Operations Director