Longtime Friday morning jazz host Terry Weichand died yesterday after a long illness. Like many at WWUH, he was an iconoclast, and a curmudgeon, struggling with his demons, sometimes in public. He had a passion for the kind of old jazz that rarely gets played on the radio anymore, and while he was familiar with the experimentation of bop and beyond, he preferred an era where jazz had structure, even when it was swinging wildly. We will miss Terry's non-sequitor asides at our general meetings, and his voice and musings on air.
3 comments:
As a former WWUH Staffer myself, I remember Terry. I was hosting Thursday Gothic Blimp Works and Terry was filling in for the All-Night Show one evening. At the lst minute, Terry couldn't make it, and I ended up staying on the air through the All-Night Show that night. It was an experience having to stay up all night and actually think coherently!
Terry was a friend, a fellow show host and an anachronism. His mellow demeanor and focused energy were not today's norm. I have missed his smile, his cigar perfume (sometimes mixed with scotch) and his dedication to always playing Billie Holiday for his first song. And most importantly I must honor him for his positive spirit adequately seasoned with realism and hope. Even as his illness ravaged his body, he smiled, he laughed and he never varied from the Terry I expected, I knew and I loved. May his name be blessed.
I'm sorry I didn't learn of Terry's passing sooner. I just learned of it in an email including the news of the passing of George Michael Evica. It's strange, one day last month I browsed to WWUH online and listened to Morning Jazz. The first time I had done that in a year.
Dan King
Now in Sarasota, FL
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