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'The Black Cats Jump' Returns to WKMS Tuesday Nights

WKMS
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wkms.org
"The Black Cats Jump" will return to WKMS on Tuesday, January 7th.

Originally aired in the 1980s, The Black Cats Jump celebrates the legacy and expansive repertoire of African American big bands such as Basie, Ellington, and Webb. WKMS, Dr. Todd E. Hill, George Eldred, and original engineer, Mark Welch, join forces to reintroduce Black Cats Jump in the new year.

Please note: Due to programming restrictions, this program will not be streaming online, but can be heard on an analog radio.

The Black Cats Jump will air every Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. beginning January 7th. The original program was syndicated nationally to twenty-seven NPR stations in sixteen states, ten percent of the network at the time. The late producer and writer of Black Cats, Bobby Bryan, described the series with the words, "The Black Cats Jump is the story of the great but sometimes unrecognized contributions of the black bands and musicians of the big band era."

The series goal in 1980 was to recognize the contributions of the great African-American bands such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, and Chick Webb, who at that time were not as well remembered as the white bands of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Tommy Dorsey. Bobby Bryan was a territory musician who played throughout the upper midwest and who saw and heard many of these groups in their prime.

Jazz scholarship was in its infancy at that time, as was sound restoration technology. The restored original series sounds better than it ever could have in 1980, and the subsequent episodes have all been mastered digitally. The original thirteen-part series was engineered by Mark Welch. The second thirteen installments were recreated by Dr. Todd E. Hill using Bobby's scripts for the next thirteen shows and were co-produced by Hill and Mark Welch. Episodes 27-52 were all written by Dr. Hill and co-produced with Mark Welch and George Eldred. 

WKMS broadcasts a continuous, comprehensive mix of news and music, with stations including 91.3 WKMS-FM, WKMS HD-1 and All-Music HD-2, Murray; 90.9 WKMD, WKMD HD-1 and HD-2, Madisonville; 89.5 WKMT, Fulton; and All-Classical 92.5 Paducah, 88.9 Murray, and 105.1 Madisonville. WKMS also streams both of its News and All Classical channels online at wkms.org, a robust website offering playlists, regional news, and an online contribution page. For more, call 1-800-599-4737.

Tracy started working for WKMS in 1994 while attending Murray State University. After receiving his Bachelors and Masters degrees from MSU he was hired as Operations/Web/Sports Director in 2000. Tracy hosted All Things Considered from 2004-2012 and has served as host/producer of several music shows including Cafe Jazz, and Jazz Horizons. In 2001, Tracy revived Beyond The Edge, a legacy alternative music program that had been on hiatus for several years. Tracy was named Program Director in 2011 and created the midday music and conversation program Sounds Good in 2012 which he hosts Monday-Thursday. Tracy lives in Murray with his wife, son and daughter.
Todd E. Hill is the Director of Jazz Ensembles at Murray State University. He holds both the BMEd and MMEd degrees from MSU, and an EdD from Boise State University. He held positions in the public schools of Milan, Tennessee, Northwest Mississippi Community College, Boise State University, and University of the Cumberlands, where he served as Director of Bands before returning to his alma mater. He has been guest conductor for concert and jazz honor groups in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon and Nevada.
Melanie Davis-McAfee graduated from Murray State University in 2018 with a BA in Music Business. She has been working for WKMS as a Music and Operations Assistant since 2017. Melanie hosts the late-night alternative show Alien Lanes, Fridays at 11 pm with co-host Tim Peyton. She also produces Rick Nance's Kitchen Sink and Datebook and writes Sounds Good stories for the web.
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