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Jockeys |
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| Disc
Jockeys |
OKOM Disc Jockeys
To the best of our knowledge OKOM has the ONLY world-wide traditional Jazz Talk Show Disc Jockeys in the world!
Bruce
McNichols is the program director for Radio OKOM
and he is the founder and the leader of the Smith Street Society Jazz Band.
OKOM's first CD releases were of the Smith Street band.
Bruce worked at commercial radio stations before turning to full-time music. Years later, he returned to broadcasting when Smith Street became the house band for the venerable WNEW (AM) Radio in New York City. He also did a nightly segment on The Milkman's Matinee with Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins. Bruce was Jim Lowe's sidekick on "Jim Lowe & Company," OKOM's long-running syndicated radio program heard throughout the USA.
Hear Bruce on the "Bill & Bruce Show" with
OKOM's founder, Bill Taggart. Bruce also brings in guests such as musicians
and singers who bring along their own recordings and those of people who have
influenced them. They often perform impromptu "jam sessions" on Radio
OKOM.
Bruce lives in Westchester County, a suburb of New York City.
Originally from Long Island, NY, Harry
Callaghan is an old high school buddy of Bruce McNichols. He spent many
years in the record distribution business and he has a huge library of recordings
from the 1920's to the present.
Besides a love for traditional and Dixieland jazz, Harry is fond of the big
bands of the Swing Era and of vocalists such as Sinatra, Bennett and Ella.
His programs offer a wider variety of musical styles than many of the other
OKOM offerings.
Listen for Callaghan's Corner on Radio OKOM. Harry lives in Houston,
Texas.
Affectionately known as "Fishman"
- John Gill is a talented and
versatile player of traditional jazz. While still in college, he began performing
with the Smith Street Society Jazz Band, on banjo and drums. Later, he joined
the legendary Turk Murphy Jazz Band in San Francisco, where he stayed for ten
years.
John led bands for years in San Francisco, New Orleans and in New York City.
He has led, and appeared on dozens of recordings, including many on the Stomp
Off label.
Besides his wonderful "West Coast" style vocals, John plays banjo,
drums and a very Turk Murphy style trombone. John appears each Thursday evening
at the Cajun in New York City, with The Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra.
He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
For many years, Joe Klee was a writer
for Downbeat Magazine in Chicago. According to Joe, an avid traditional jazz
lover, he got assigned to one too many Ornette Coleman concerts and he decided
to leave that publication.
Joe is a columnist and record reviewer for the internationally known, Mississippi
Rag (the voice of traditional jazz and ragtime). As such, you can find him at
prominent jazz events in the New York City area.
Joe shares selections from his vast collection of traditional jazz recordings,
with Radio OKOM listeners, on his program called "Music from the Joe Klee
Collection."
Besides his love for old-time jazz, Joe is a grand opera buff. He resides in
Brooklyn, NY.
Peter
Vann, a New Jersey native, is a graduate of Seton
Hall University. A veteran on-air personality, Peter worked at WLIR in New York
State and later at WJUX, "Jukebox Radio," in Bergen County, NJ. He
was the voice of WVNJ, and has been heard on countless cable TV commercials.
He is a member of the Korean War Veterans Association, Chapter 170, in Bergen
County.
After moving to Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1995, he
was the voice of WBYM in Hampton, VA, and as well as a disc jockey on the 50,000
watt WFOG, a light FM station in Norfolk.
He currently is a television news anchorman for the City of Virginia Beach
on their government-access TV station. Peter resides in Virginia Beach with
his wife, Barbara. He remains active in radio as the announcer on the nationally
syndicated show "Jim Lowe & Company" as well as writing and
voicing OKOM's Peter Vann Remembers.