FSU’s Public Radio Station WFSS 91.9FM Initiates & Receives Both Gubernatorial & Mayoral Proclamation for April’s Jazz Appreciation Month
Governor Beverly Perdue’s statewide proclamation recognizes the contributions of many NC jazz musicians. Smithsonian Institute declares it to be The Year of the Female Jazz Artist. Mayor Anthony Chavonne will issue city-wide proclamation on March 29 at JAM Luncheon.
Date Line: Monday, March 21, 2011, in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
WFSS 91.9FM will officially celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) in April of this year and the station invites the state of North Carolina to join in. The governor’s proclamation was announced on March 19, at Reeves’ Auditorium at Methodist University on the occasion of a pre-JAM event: Chocolate Jazz with trumpeter David Wells, which was hosted by both WFSS and the music program of Methodist University. Several other activities & events are planned & will be announced on March 29, at a luncheon to honor the work of area jazz musicians at WFSS – Telecommunication Center with Mayor Anthony Chavonne. Other planned events:
- JAM Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, April 2, at Applebee’s Restaurant on Skibo Road, $6.00 tickets
- The Bob Lockey Jazz Speaker Series, featuring a book talk on Thursday, April 7, at 6:00 pm at the Arts Center with Sam Stephenson, author of The Jazz Loft Project, which is about the late renowned photographer W. Eugene Smith. Smith photographed hundreds of jazz artists who played at his Manhattan loft in the 50s & 60s, and different jazz studies professors & musicians will be featured every other Thursday in April.
- A big band swing jazz concert on Friday, April 22, featuring the US Army’s nationally acclaimed Jazz Guardians
- WFSS will partner with WNYC in New York to air a four-part series of The Jazz Loft Anthology audio tapes that allow the listener to hear the practice and jam sessions of jazz greats such as Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea & Charles Mingus. This weekly series will begin on Friday, April 8, and run for four weeks.
All events are free and open to the public; except for pancake breakfast.
Aware that it had not been requested before, WFSS asked for both a statewide & a city-wide proclamation of the month-long culture & history celebration, in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute’s marking this recognition of jazz since 2001. With PL 108-72, Congress decreed that Jazz Appreciation Month should be recognized, but left it to states to decide whether to mark this occasion.
WFSS 91.9FM, located on the campus of Fayetteville State University, broadcasts to thirteen counties in southeastern North Carolina, and is the only jazz station in the region. In addition to broadcasting national news programming, WFSS airs straight-ahead and contemporary jazz every day of the year.
Media presence is welcomed at all of the planned events.
For more information, please contact Mrs. Kimberly Durden, WFSS Development Director at 910-672-2029 or kgdurden01@uncfsu.edu.