What Does WWOZ Mean to You?

...which is what makes this comment on the home page --"I love the Brass Pass because I can sit in the nice, cool Hospitality Tent and wave to my friends as they pass by in the heat" -- REPUGNANT.

Are you sayin, sir, that because YOU can afford a brass pass that you are better than me...?

Kurt
It is the best station in the country for variety of good music, and featuring the many great mucicians of New orleans and surrounding southern states. I keep wondering if WWOZ will try a deal with Sirius XM , because traditional jazz for one is not represented nearly enough on their stations. I am a drummer and practice frequently with OZ live in my ears!

Life is tough. No matter who you are or where you are from or where you are off to, we all gotta walk that desert path, alone often, talkin' to yourself and givin' your own self some back- talk sass. Then you find WWOZ. The path you walk is the same tough path, but dude, what a soundtrack! 'OZ is the armor, the backbone that allows mere mortals to make it from one day to the next, intact and knowing, beyond all else, that we are Ozileans, that we are loved, that we are New Orleanians wherever we are (and wherever we are from).

WWOZ broadcasts some of the best music on the planet for sure. But also there is a by-product I enjoy especially. I enjoy learning about the artist’s background and the origin of the music and the interesting history of New Orleans. Your show hosts are highly educated about their musical genre. I feel like I’m getting a PhD in traditional New Orleans jazz history.

It’s mind blowing to learn that the show hosts are unpaid volunteers. They are volunteering an incredible amount of their time to preserve this important part of our American musical heritage.

WWOZ is truly a national treasure and deserves support.

Gordon Lee, a grateful OZillion from
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Darling 504

I've been so INCREDIBLY homesick for New Orleans, until I even have the "Official Louisiana Tour Guide" mailed to my home in The Bronx; I read the tour guide on the crowded subway as though it were a novel. I find myself continuously amazed at the amazingly colorful history of my home state, the likes of which were NEVER taught in high school nor civics classes!

And so... in addition to my self-induced, continued interest and love for New Orleans, I make it my business to listen to 'OZ every work day here at my desk. There are just SO many of the really old songs, many of which I've only heard here on 'OZ, for the very first time. My favorite on is "Don't You Feel My Leg" by Blue Lou!! They keep me smiling and laughing and just over all in a good mood, even when it snows like crazy up here, which it is always inclined to doing!!

I particularly love the comfort-sound of Tom Morgan's smooth, laid-back voice as well as his show. I've found out just SO much musical and geographic history from 'OZ... much more than I ever did in school!

Stay Live, Yawl!!

Darling 504

Having resided in The Bronx now for the past 31 years, working in Queens County New York, causes me to miss home more than ever before! That's why ALL 5 days every week at work, I make it my business to tune into 'OZ, online - the reason should be more than obvious to anyone who shares my passion for the station, its contents, not to mention the very colorful hosts/hostesses; Bob French, due to his A.M. show, being amongst THE most flamboyant, Bless his Heart!

SO.. since I'm stuck "doin' time" in the Big Apple until such time as I retire and move back home, 'OZ is my constant reminder & radio companion to stay on track with my desire & to keep my finger on the pulse of My Beloved New Orleans!

I've even gotten my NY co-worker all too familiar with 'OZ & MR. "Tuxedo Band" French!

YEEEESinDEED!

I was a trombone player who hated trombone. I joined the Marines to escape music, but ended up getting stationed in New Orleans with the Marine Band there. My life was changed in an instant.

I guess my story is like a lot of people. I came to New Orleans and just had no idea that it would change my life forever. The music is ALIVE here. In most places in the world, music is background noise to ignore while you go about your life. In New Orleans, music IS your life.

I am up in New York finishing a degree in music and get down to NOLA to play as much as I can. I also travel with my own New Orleans-style group and keep NOLA in my heart always. No matter where I go in the country, one reality always confronts me: nobody is a champion of local music like WWOZ.

Nowhere else is there a public supported music station that is completely music by the people and for the people. WWOZ is at the heart of New Orleans, and is so ingrained in the culture and music that to not support WWOZ is the same as not supporting NOLA and all her beautiful creatures.

Longevity to the greatest radio station to have ever graced the airwaves!

Oh, and check out my band: http://www.poboysbrassband.com and let me know what you think!

Best,

BiggEZ

I live in Laguna Beach CA and my Dad turned me on to WWOZ. And I never looked back.

On the computer at work, on my iPhone...which means I can listen to WWOZ in the car! Are you kidding? I love it.

Thank you for taking the time to share the beautiful culture of New Orleans with us. And thank you for taking such good care of the music and making our days that much better.

Solicitor General.

WWOZ is a note of perfection in a world drowning in cacophony of disposable plastic pop.

I think you misrepresent yourselves, not “The best jazz radio station in America” but “The best jazz radio in the known universe”.

Love and appreciation listening online from London England.

Keep on keeping on.

Having moved out of New Orleans, I'm acutely aware of the absolute need in my life for the kind of street-level culture that New Orleans provides and WWOZ broadcasts-- the music that flows from clubs where you can get your drink and hang out on the sidewalk-- the improvisation, the original music, the standards-- with ne'er a cover band in sight-- and having traveled in Europe lately and finding no radio station that played jazz like OZ's-- nor a vital local music scene on any radio station-- I saw WWOZ's value in my life (for the millionth time.) I'm especially grateful for the djs who bring the avant jazz to the studio-- a brand of music that has bravely survived in New O over the last twenty years, but not without struggle. I'd love to hear more of the local improvisors and avant garde composers-- Dan Ostricher and Jonathan Freilich-- Rajah Cornish and Jeff Albert, James Singleton and Helen Gillet-- I'd love to hear more of them on OZ. I love to hear where our music came from and where it's going.

I'm a fan forever. WWOZ kept the music alive during and after Katrina and ever since.

We finally signed up to get DSL at home just so we could set things up to stream OZ all day long. Then it wasn't enough to have OZ in the living room and in the kitchen/dining room... we had to buy more equipment so we could have it in the baby's room, too (those late night feedings are less painful now).

And even with the monetary investment that all that streaming entails, we still pledge. We moved away from New Orleans just before Katrina; if we'd stayed we'd have lost everything, as so many people did. Helping support OZ is one way we can help build, rebuild and renew New Orleans. So we send our pledge with love, from exile in Terre Haute, Indiana...

I moved to Gonzales in 1996. I lived in New Orleans from '71 until I moved. I miss many things about the city, and though I'm only an hour away, I don't get to go back as much I'd like. This is one way to stay connected with N.O.

you play the music special to my heart.
where else do i hear nina simone, lucinda williams and esther phillips back to back?

WWOZ matters because New Orleans matters. WWOZ is the embodiment of the culture, diversity and way of life that make New Orleans unique among the world's major cities. New Orleans wouldn't be the same with WWOZ.

I love wwoz and special thanks for the good music on the New Orleans show, and one more thing, the music calender is great, you always know whats going on in town.

I often travel across this great country, and have yet to come across a station that plays Old-time and Cajun music with the quality programming that is found every Sunday on WWOZ! I am so glad I can hear it on the Internet, now that I have moved to NC, and want to thank you all at WWOZ who make this happen. Special thanks to Hazel the Delta Rambler, who helps keep our American traditional music alive!

Living in NC, OZ has been my lifeline for over 20 years, first on taped shows from my visits and then from the net. There is sadness in all the folks we've lost over those years. But OZ has preserved it all: the discs/tapes/cds/downloads, the interviews from the Fest, the live broadcasts, the radio shows (Thanks Billy Delle for the Snooks/KDoe clips), etc. The history of Crescent City music is richer thanks to all the Ozillian Krewe over the years. From Brown Sugar to Missy Bowen, Ready Teddy to Bob French, and Duke/BeBe to Gentily Jr., you guys have always, and continue to, ROCK! Long live New Orleans and WW(boom, boom) OZ!

The history of New Orleans can be heard in its music. WWOZ not only archives and preserves that history, it shares and gives away that history, that rhythm, and that heartbeat. As I listen to WWOZ at work (especially!), I'm constantly reminded of a city I love, but I'm also fed life force, heavy and juicy and beautiful. By supporting WWOZ and the work that you all do there, I'm saying thank you - so much, for reminding me that there's life out there...and there's life in here. :>

Blessed be!

Kelly Hyson
Grantham, NH

If I couldn't enjoy that first cup of coffee of the day with Mr. French's deep and bubbly voice in the morning, all bets are off. 'Keep looking up, that's where it all is.", indeed Mr. French! At every hour of every day, WWOZ is a sure bet to put your head where your feet are at... and then move and groove them! Cheers to the OZ family for carrying on the groove!

Big OZ love,

Nola's Soul (visit my eBay store)

another oppertunity to offer support to an organization that provides the lifebeat of culture to the world.....thanks for all the expertise thats exhibited 24hours a day at wwoz.

WWOZ is my Crescent City "Home away from home". It keeps me in touch with the city and it's music, and it's one of my ways to show love and support for all my friends and fellow musicians in the Big Easy.

King Gypsy

During graduate school at LSU, I sometimes took the drive down to New Orleans. I found a city of enchantment- from riding the St. Charles street car to eating fried chicken at the Hummingbird Grill or listing to music at the Funky Butt. I never stayed more than a day (or night), knowing the City held strong seductive powers. I feared New Orleans would swallow me, meaning I'd never return to my home on Folly Beach (which may have turned out just fine).

Thanks to WWOZ, I still get to taste the seductive flavors of New Orleans and South Louisiana, across the web and from a safe distance here on Folly Beach, SC.
Two years in Louisiana made it all part of my blood forever.
Thank you.

ps- My Grandfather and his first cousin, at age 16, ran away from South Alabama to New Orleans in the 1920s. Imagine the city he found.

I love WWOZ because it connects me with the City I love even when I'm not there, because it actually makes me feel as if I was there, even though I might be on the other side of the continent, longing to go back, because WWOZ's special people really do care about New Orleans, the music, the culture and everyone out there doing the same, and because WWOZ's music keeps me going during a rough day at work or a nightshift that just needs to be done. No idea how I would without WWOZ. I especially love listening to the Midnight Creeper's blues selection, the Kitchen Sink, and the Sunday Cajun/Zydeco selection. These guys are fantastic and deserve a place in the Hall of Fame! They are keeping the music coming no matter what and how! Just my "two cents," but I'm sure they're supported by many, many people around the globe. Someone (wish I could remember who) said that "People leave their hearts in San Francisco, but their souls belong to New Orleans." This is very true for me, and WWOZ keeps my soul alive while my body is somewhere else. Much luv' from one of your biggest fans, currently located in California.