Soul Sessions Radio Program on WORT-FM: Community Broadcasting (Part 2 of 2)
Demetrius D."llirious" (l-r), Gerard "G-Man" Rose, Naranjo "Joe Jamm" Carson and Nicole “Miss Niki’ Jones
by Jonathan Gramling
Things have changed. Back in the 1980s, the Madison-areas’s Black community was so small, that it was difficult for commercial businesses to cater to members of the Black community because there wasn’t that critical mass of people to make then viable. Even in the area of hair care — although Madison did have a couple of Black-owned outlets — many people would make the drive to Milwaukee or Chicago to get their hair done or purchase products that catered to Black needs and tastes. The sense of community was provided by the Black churches and organizations like the Madison Urban League and NAACP Madison Branch.
In the 1990s, as the Black community began to grow, Black DJs began using WORT-89.9 FM as an outlet for the expression of Black culture and music. There have been several shows over the years. One of the longest lived is Soul Sessions, which grew out of Dusties Storm. Soul Sessions has become a sort of online community over the years, featuring speakers like James Morgan who kept incarcerated individuals up-to-date on the criminal justice reform movement. Nicole "Ms Niki" Jones was added to do community announcements. The DJs do some bantering back and forth while not getting in the way of the music. And the community did latch on to the Djs.
“I believe that we do have a place for the community and also, whether we know it or not, we are sort of local celebrities or on some levels from people listening from around the country and the world, national and international celebrities, so to speak,” said Demetrius D."llirious." “It really dawned on me years ago when I was on the basketball court playing basketball — this was in the 1990s. It was during the Universal Soul Explosion Show. A couple of guys recognized my voice. I had never noticed that. People would come up to me and just from my voice they would say, ‘You’re that guy from the radio station.’ I
didn’t know that I had that impact on people. And that impact was also a positive impact. I know for a couple of guys, it launched their careers in radio and broadcasting. Without that kind of outreach into the community otherwise, it would have never gotten there. They would have never had that experience. From that point on, I knew that what I do and say on the radio is going out to these young listeners and it’s impacting them. And so it’s important for me not to say crazy stuff like Joe all the time. It’s important to curb myself and try to be positive.”
The crew takes their responsibility of being a community-based radio station seriously.
“It’s community radio,” Naranjo "Joe Jamm" Carson said. “It’s a place where we can all gather together on Saturdays and encourage and challenge one another to participate in our lives. What’s happening in our community? What’s happening in our schools? Not just what is happening in our prisons. What’s happening with our elected officials. I’ve often said when I’m speaking to some politicians and they talk about community, my retort to them is, ‘What do you mean when you say community?’ ‘Well this is what we say when we say community, a place where we can all come together, challenge and reminisce on the past, where we are now and look forward to what is in our future as a connected people.”
And it also educates the younger generation on what has come before them.
“We’re a community radio station and that is what we are all about,” Jones said. “We should be able to share all of this good information with everyone and share the music. I love the music. And it’s been kind of fun for me. This was the music from 30 years ago. It’s the music I was growing up with. We’re Dusties to the young people right now. It seems strange making that transition for me. But I like to find ways of bringing together even some of the even dustier Dusties together with some of the newer Dusties and bring in a lot of covers in order to teach each generation about the new folks. A lot of covers are just love letters to the original artists and the original songs. It’s just kind of fun to introduce a lot of people to those things.”
While the DJs love what they do, they still need to feel the love from the community. It is an early Saturday morning show after all.
“We’re the only radio station in Madison where we get to hear our own music,” Carson emphasized. “It’s only for two hours. But for now, we’ll take it. Other than Madison, the next closest spot that you can hear the type of music that we grew up with is Milwaukee. And that’s about 100 miles from Madison. We provide a service for the Black community. Any community that likes to hear our music, good soul music. If it weren’t for my love of music, I probably would have been gone a long time ago. But I appreciate playing good music for people who want to hear it.”
Carson went on to say, “Share WORT with your community, your friends and family. It just doesn’t have to be local. I’m trying to reach broadly. I’m trying to reach overseas. I’m trying to reach across counties to different cities and states. We want to broaden that coalition and get everyone on board. Listen to Soul Sessions, the best soul music on the planet. Niki has super fans. Gerard has his saying. I have mine. Mine is Go Get Your Baby. Gerard says, ‘Let’s go to work.’ James’ is ‘Make it make sense.’ Niki is always reaching out to her super fans and she is always gaining super fans as we keep broadcasting.”
While Soul Sessions and WORT 89.9FM are radio stations without commercial advertising, it doesn’t mean that they don’t need the community’s financial support.
“It’s important to support a community radio station like WORT, which allows all of our communities, including the African American community to get a presence on the airwaves,” said Gerard "G-Man" Rose. “And that is really important. And WORT is actually a station that is unlike any other station in the nation with the variety of programming on the station. We definitely want to encourage the readers to support us. Go to www.wortfm.org and give us some donations to keep this station strong and make sure we continue to come to the community like we are.”
Carson spelled it out for their listeners.
“Keep listening and send in your pledge,” Carson said. “And we’ll keep playing the best soul music on the planet. I’m going to say what everyone else said, but just a little differently. ‘M-O-N-E-Y” It takes resources to keep WORT and Soul Sessions on the air. We know there are people out in the community possess significant wealth. Make donations a part of your legacy. Moving it to the future, you say that you want to support the community? Here’s a way to really support the community. Don’t be shy. Write it. It may be tax deductible for you. Talk to your financial advisors. Give to WORT. We do.”
Jones emphasized that there are many ways for people to support and get involved with Soul Sessions, although the money is always important.
“In order to help support our show and other shows, please donate at wortfm.org and list us as one of your favorite shows,” Jones said. “We really appreciate it. And reach out if you have announcements or something that you want to get out to our community. Stop by or send us a message and we can read it over the air. Call in and read it. And we have no one who volunteers to answer the phone during our show. We are looking for volunteers to be out in the office to answer the phone for the listeners who call in. You don’t have to be here every week. You can come once per month.”
As a community-based radio show, Soul Sessions depends on the community to be a part of the show. Otherwise, it’s just three Brothers and a Sister spinning songs and talking among themselves. Be a part of Soul Sessions and help it stay alive and relevant to the Greater Madison’s Black community.
