It was pretty much a rerun. The last “Celebration Rock” show, that is.
On the second Sunday night of February, 1968, WBBL (sharing the 1480 frequency with WLEE) aired the first rock show I had produced/hosted/recorded for the Richmond (VA) Area Council of Presbyterian Churches. My verbal contract with that group called for a month’s worth of programs, and then renewal, depending on listener response. Almost 22 years later, I produced the last of that weekly, hour-long series. It all ended with a re-edit of a program about “Change,” with the program aired only on WMXB (B103.7) at 8 a.m. Sunday.
A year ago, in February 2008, almost 40 years to the day that CR first aired, I happened to recall the significance of that date and wanted to mark it, celebrate it, in some way. I had never blogged before, but thought it might be fun to write some remembrances of some of the ways that doing that weekly radio program shaped my life and ministry as a Presbyterian clergy-type. It never occurred to me that the memories would flow from one blog to another over a whole year. Or, that someone might happen on the journal somehow and add comments, phone me, or write a letter in response.
Strangers entered searches for topics and musicians that I had written about here. Valued friends and close colleagues found these pages and shared their thoughts. And my wife, daughter, and son have read at least some of this stuff, maybe learning some things about the program (or me!) that I hadn’t mentioned at dinner in 1983. Frankly, I kind of surprised myself; much of the story in these entries had lain buried under several layers of post-radio ministry debris. One memory fed another, until all that was left was trivia not worth writing about. (OK, maybe I did write about some trivial things along the way. Not everyone got off on the descriptions of my production studio.)
I could prolong this goodbye, you know. I could put on my headphones and track through the scores of old CR tapes that had survived dubbing to CD, and then I could make lists of songs and type up script excerpts…but no. It’s time to embrace change again, and let this go.
If anything does prompt a significant addition to this memoir, something compelling I can’t not add, then I know how to find my way back here and build an appendix.
It bears repeating here, I suppose, that ending production of the “Celebration Rock” series wasn’t that hard for me. I had many other responsibilities on my media ministry agenda, and CR wasn’t in the job description of either of my two part-time calls. Both the Presbyterian School of Christian Education and the Bon Air Presbyterian Church were glad to have me on the radio each week, but CR was the most time consuming of the three weekly radio shows I was doing “on the side.” But week by week there seemed to be less time for CR to consume, and the program was starved for attention. Thus, one rerun led to another, and eventually, it was time to just give it up.
There was no fanfare. I didn’t write a press release or host a party. I just looked for a decent reel of tape that had a theme I could relate to, something that would lead to a conclusion. I had done a program on “Hello, Goodbye, Hello” (or something like that), but liked the content of the “Change” show better. I listened to it in the studio, made some minor edits that indicated the end of a very long run, and took the tape to B103. I had told the program director that I was ending the show, but hoped he’d run my syndicated jazz half-hour program (“The Spirit of Jazz”) in the same time slot. I also told the p. d. about Bud Frimoth’s Peabody Award-winning half-hour program called “Open Door,” with the hope that that too would find a place in my old time slot. (But soon after, the jazz show ended its run, too, and I don’t recall if Bud’s “Open Door” ever made it to Richmond on B103.)
It certainly did feel strange the next week. It was a feeling of loss, yes, but also no little liberation. It had not been much fun in the months before its demise. I had been losing touch with the current music scene, had no budget and even less enthusiasm. When I did do a new show, it was good, I think. But there were more weeks when I reran old tapes, and then felt guilty, as if I was cheating the audience out what might have been. When I began getting used to the idea that “Celebration Rock” was over, I’d hear a new song on the radio and begin to build a program around it, a program that would air only in my imagination. Actually, that went on for a few years! New songs, new prompts… but no regrets about leaving the program to the past.
[I had not left radio entirely, I hasten to add. I was still doing WRVA’s “Sunday Morning,” and “The Spirit of Jazz.” (Was the “B103 Jazz Brunch” still going at this point? The chronology is fuzzy here.)]
There are lots of souveniers from those years. The records, tapes, and CDs. Fan mail I’ve saved in what I call my “ego file.” But most important are some lasting and loving friendships.
I invite you to my new blog where I plan to write more generally about peace, grace, and jazz. The blog is entitled, “Peace, Grace, and Jazz.” (You saw that coming, right?) Go to http://www.jeffkellam.wordpress. com
In the meantime, please: Be gentle with people, and with yourself.
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