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Wednesday MatineeKPBX 91.1, Wednesday, 11am-12noonSpokane's
own musical theatre program; playlists and commentary at www.broadwaymatinee.com
Almost everyone working at Spokane Public Radio has an active role in the arts. Janean Jorgensen has a passion for musical theater. She is finally bringing the art of showtunes back to the radio with Wednesday Matinee, airing on KPBX 91.1 at 11am in the middle of each week. Following a theme, Janean picks a dozen or so songs from a musical. Sometimes Janean focuses on a particular composer or lyricist, other times she’ll be inspired from a musical a regional theater is producing. “KPBX’s mission is to support music and the arts throughout the region. People tend to only see shows they’re familiar with, so I hope to listeners a taste of what else is out there.” Songs on
Wednesday Matinee aren’t necessarily from Verne Windham hosts the show, partially because it is part of the morning Classical Music block. The show started as Verne’s summertime excursion into musical theater songs. “Verne was in the middle of throwing some Sondheim songs together,” Janean remembers. “I came in with a stack of CDs and told him, ‘If you’re going to play Sondheim, you need this song, and this, and this.…’ Then when he said he wanted to do more musical theater songs the following week, I gave him another playlist.” Although Janean began her radio career as a DJ on a commercial Spokane station, she admits she prefers handing her notes over to Verne. “It takes a lot of energy to craft a good show. I’m amazed at the volunteers who come in week after week to share their own musical passions with KPBX listeners. “Plus I get tongue-tied on live radio. I’m an actress, I need a script!” she says. Janean does occasionally pops in the studio to make a comment or give context to a song. She also spent the pledge drive version of the show on the air, taking requests in exchange for pledges. “That was the best time I’ve had with a pledge drive,” she says. “Listeners really got into the spirit of things, asking for songs like ‘Money Money Money’ from Cabaret.” Between Spokane Public Radio and Janean’s personal collection of musical theatre, there are more than 300 hours of good songs from the world of Broadway, London’s West End, and movie musicals. She says the number would be even bigger if the show included more rock musicals. “I like them, but we really are trying for a more classical, traditional feel in general.” (Janean will share some of those rock musical songs on the Feb. 25 episode of Johnson’s Improbable History of Pop.) Wednesday Matinee also has a series called “My Favorite Things,” where musical theater artists in the region share an hour of their favorite showtunes. The digital age is a good one for the world of musical theater, Janean says. “Record labels are taking the tapes of old cast albums and remastering them to CDs. Some delicate recordings were also converted to CD. Some of today’s singers, like Thomas Hampson, Dawn Upshaw, and Kristin Chenoweth, have rediscovered gems in shows that originally flopped.” Janean tries to mix these ‘new favorites’ with the heavyweights. “There are so many wonderful songs that are performed on stage and never heard anywhere else. In the ‘old days,’ a show wasn’t a hit unless it had at least one song that a popular singer covered for the radio – that’s why many of the older songs have become jazz standards. But today, there’s a huge gulf between Broadway and radio. If a song isn’t rap or R&B, commercial radio won’t touch it. “On
the other hand, today’s Broadway composers usually don’t want
to write those kinds of beat-heavy fluff songs with singers no one can
understand. They’re writing songs with heart and brains, that performers
can really deliver, and that audiences can find some truth in,” she
says. |
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Host Janean Jorgensen & Wednesday Matinee