[JPL] Congratulations Jim

[JazzCorner at aol.com]

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/339660_radiobeat15.html

On Radio: Jim Wilke, host of 'Jazz After Hours,' celebrates 50 years in radio 
business Last updated November 14, 2007 8:16 p.m. PT
By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER
One of the great mythic figures in radio is the late-night jazz disc jockey, 
playing music and conversing with listeners miles or even states away in the 
dark.The fraternity of late-night jazz DJs wasn't large to start with, but one 
of the few remaining is Jim Wilke, who with his nationally syndicated "Jazz 
After Hours" is still playing music for night-owl jazz fans. Although, thanks to 
the power of Internet streaming, those listeners may be continents, not 
states away. "I got my first e-mail from Tunisia," he says. And some may not be 
listening late at night. In Europe, he adds, "Jazz After Hours" is in fact a 
weekend morning program.In the U.S., "Jazz After Hours" is now heard on about 80 
primary signals (more if translators are added). Locally, it's heard midnight-5 
a.m. Saturday and Sunday on KPLU-FM/88.5To mark his 50th anniversary in 
radio, and his 24th year of doing "Jazz After Hours," Wilke is devoting this 
weekend to the recordings of the era in which he got his start (most weekends Wilke 
emphasizes the latest releases).That was a heady time for jazz. "Everybody was 
out there," he recalls. "Only a couple of the main figures had passed." 

The jazz scene at the time featured the established names such as Louis 
Armstrong as well as the new wave of Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and 
a young bandleader from Seattle, Quincy Jones. Wilke, who grew up in Iowa 
listening to jazz DJs from New Orleans, Chicago and Denver, got his radio start at 
a student station with a jazz and classical format in Iowa City. He migrated 
to California, then moved to Seattle where, for 17 years, he was KING-FM's 
program director.The roots of "Jazz After Hours" can be traced to a live Thursday 
night program Wilke did at KING, from the Penthouse at First and Cherry 
(despite its name, the club was on the ground floor, he says). He learned the art 
of recording groups live (a frequent feature of another show he does, "Jazz 
Northwest," at 1 p.m. Sundays on KPLU-FM). Having once been a card-carrying 
member of the musicians union as a saxophonist, "I played enough to appreciate 
those who did it really well."After KING, Wilke did some freelance work and 
teaching at Bellevue Community College, then started a jazz program at KUOW-FM. In 
1984, "Jazz After Hours" joined National Public Radio; two years later, it 
moved to what is now Public Radio International. 

Although Wilke doesn't stay up late to do his show live, he does record it in 
real time with both words and music; listening to one song may trigger a 
thought to share with listeners. "It's improvisatory radio," he says.While 
producing the two seven-hour programs a week takes longer that way, it's preferable 
to his experience doing a jazz show for Sirius satellite radio, recording voice 
tracks to be aired between songs, sitting in a booth for hours and never 
hearing a second of music. "It was one of the most boring jobs I've ever 
had.""Jazz After Hours," on the other hand, is "an enviable job," as well it ought to 
be. "I've designed it myself."

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Lois Gilbert
jazzcorner.com

































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