Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Connections my new show on WBAI FM 99.5 in NYC

First of all let me just extend a warm seasons greetings to you.

Let me next tell you that this is very new for me but I am excited as all get out about it.....WOW! I've got my blog started. If you thought I was talkative before.....Watch me now!!!!(Smile).

I am smiling, but really though I am happy to be joining the blogging community, having for a gazillion reasons seen it as something that was just something I couldn't do for one reason or another...too technical, too time consuming...too something or the other...long and short of it...before now it didn't happen.

So in the time I have to write this and the time you have to read it, let me just say....Wo-wow!!! We deh pon street again (combining Cham and Bob Marley lyrics/sayings right there). We are on radio again, and this time in our own right. Producing is something I enjoy doing and to some extent feel I am natural at. I consider it an honor to be working for the past 3 years with my very good friend and mentor, Habte Selassie, on "Labbrish", on listener sponsored non commercial radio station
WBAI FM 99.5 in NY, but I tell you, nothing compares to being on air in your own right....nothing (in radioland that is)!

So my new gig is called, "Connections", a new old show appearing on alternate Mondays on WBAI FM 99.5 3-6am.

New in that it is appearing on
WBAI FM 99.5 for the first time beginning earlier this year on Nov. 12, 2007 (My sister Samantha aka Lisa's earthday/birthday).

Old in that it had a life elsewhere, on Brooklyn College Radio WBCR, 1090 AM (reach with terrestrial signal was like round the block but with the internet there was no telling who heard me and where they did so)

Now Connections sees me programming for 3 hours on a station that is a legendary home for members of the progressive community in the United States and the World for that matter, but most particularly so for those living in the US north east. BAI as the station is affectionately know has a reach, powered by 50,000 watts, emanating from the Empire State Building, that takes it's signal into Connecticut, New Jersey and some parts of Pennsylvania in addition to all of NYC and its environs. With its world recognized website www.wbai.org, again who hears us and where they do, is limited only by their access to the world wide web.

So we making Connections.

They say imitation is greatest form of flattery...well Diane Rehm of the Diane Rehm Show airing on National Public Radio (NPR), take a bow. Connections as a concept is 3 hours of radio programming where every hour stands on its own from the other, pretty much like Ms. Rehm's nationally syndicated 2 hour production.

The 1st Hour...The Musical Connection, is from 3-4am. During that time we play some of the most uplifting music that has moved us over the course of the week leading up to the show, easily we share with you how the spirit has moved our head musically.

The 2nd Hour.....The Extended Play, is from 4-5am. This part of the program takes the listener in deep. We go long on an interview or series of interviews on a topic that moves us. In our initial program it was a speech presented by former Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson...bottomline is, we take time to share something we consider special and go long with it...necessary especially in a time where everything seems packaged for a soundbite and nobody seems to have time to really express themselves or the medium to do so in/on.

The 3rd Hour.....The Here and There, is from 5-6am. In this the last hour of the connecting experience we revive works we used to do as part of the Caribbean Round Up in Wake Up Call (a program segment on WBAI which ran from Sept 2002 to June 2005), we take into consideration the issues, news and views of the Caribbean Diaspora, HERE (in the metropoles of the world) for the first half hour. In the second half of the hour, we go THERE, where the news and views and issues of significance affecting people in the Caribbean region are looked at and explored.

So there you have it.

In my next word ..I'll speak more about what we've been able to do in the 4 programs so far (beginning Nov. 12, airing again Nov 26, Dec. 10, Dec 24).

Stay tuned.