Jazz

WFMT Announces New Jazz Network Partnership and Hosts

WMOT

Published June 17, 2015 at 8:10 AM CDT

Greg Bridges

The WFMT Radio Network and the Jazz Network is pleased to announce a new partnership with KCSM Jazz 91.1 in San Francisco. The WFMT Radio Network will be working with KCSM to take over the hosting and production responsibilities that the late Bob Parlocha had fulfilled since the Jazz Network’s inception.

Bob, who passed away unexpectedly in March, had a long affiliation with KCSM. This relationship, combined with KCSM’s long track record as one of the most experienced and successful Jazz stations in the country, made the choice of partnering with them a clear choice to keep the Jazz Network moving forward. KCSM Jazz 91 has a decades-long legacy of creating Jazz programming for the San Francisco Bay area, with exceptional programming curated by veteran hosts and musicians from the third largest Jazz library in the nation. Through the WFMT Radio Network’s Jazz Network, KCSM’s unique and engaging style will now reach a much wider audience throughout the United States and abroad.

Beginning on July 6, two charismatic, deeply knowledgeable veteran Jazz hosts from KCSM will become the new voices of the Jazz Network!

Lee Thomas and Greg Bridges (see below for bios of both) have begun recording new hours and starting July 6 each day’s offering of the Jazz Network on PRX will feature between 3 and 4 hours hosted by Lee and Greg in addition to hours from Bob Parlocha’s extensive archive. Over the course of the year, the ratio of hours by Lee and Greg will increase and those featuring Bob will decrease. A more detailed schedule will be forthcoming.

"I know all Jazz Network stations will appreciate sharing Lee and Greg’s deep knowledge and engaging presence with your listeners in the months and years ahead. Bob Parlocha will continue to be heard on the Jazz Network but there is no better station than KCSM to continue and expand his legacy."

- Steve Robinson, General Manager, WFMT Radio Network

Lee Thomas

Jazz host and composer Lee Thomas started his radio career with the legendary San Francisco station KJAZ and then at KNBR as well as NBC News in Burbank, CA. His Jazz epiphany came when his father brought home an album from a car show he attended. “Chrysler put out this anthology record that had Lambert, Hendricks and Ross on it along with Sir Charles Thompson, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck and others. The more I listened to it, the more I liked it. Soon a friend and I started going up to Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley and searching for Jazz albums in the used record stores.” Lee picked up a trumpet in his late teens and aspired to someday be a professional musician. He studied with John Coppola, Warren Gale Jr., Eddie Henderson, Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson. He has penned compositions for three albums under his name: Sea of Dreams, Passions of the Heart, and Convergence. Each recording showcases imaginative themes with superb solos by musicians like Billy Childs, Tony Dumas, Akira Tana, Pete Escovedo and others.

Greg Bridges

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Greg Bridges has been in radio for nearly 30 years. In addition to his live shifts on KCSM, he hosts Transitions and Traditions, a spoken-word and Jazz show on KPFA Radio in Berkeley. A seasoned Jazz writer, emcee and presenter, he also showcases music and spoken word artists at various venues in Oakland. An alumnus of San Jose State University, Greg began his professional radio career at KJAZ Radio in Alameda, California where he came into his own as an on-air announcer, interviewer and host of a variety of shows. The proud dad of two children, Simone and Miles, Greg was musically inspired by his drum playing father, the late Oliver Johnson. He moved to Europe in 1970 and spent 16 years drumming for Steve Lacy, Roswell Rudd, Roscoe Mitchell, Jean Luc Ponty, Archie Shepp and others. “Being in broadcasting has brought me many bright moments,” he notes, “Hanging out in a dressing room with Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, sharing jokes and conversation with Miles Davis, receiving a gift in the mail for my newborn daughter from Betty Carter. There have been and continue to be many bright moments.”