Reel to Real: The Early Airwaves of WWOZ

Published on: October 2nd, 2023

On Wednesday, September 20, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation presented the Allison Miner Series: Featuring Research from the Jazz & Heritage Archive at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center, 1225 N. Rampart Street. The inaugural lecture featured George Ingmire discussing his research on the early history of WWOZ. Watch the video from this presentation below!

About the Allison Miner Series:

The Allison Miner Series is a new initiative of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation Archive to highlight research, scholarship, and projects that utilize the historic collection. The presentations for 2023 and 24 will highlight the work of recipients of the Jazz & Heritage Fellowship Research Grants.

About Reel to Real: The Early Airwaves of WWOZ:

WWOZ’s appearance on the radio dial in December of 1980 was nothing short of miraculous. Come and learn about the struggle to secure the FCC license for the now lauded 90.7FM to how a handful of volunteers worked to overcome organizational and technological challenges. ‘Reel to Real: The early airwaves of WWOZ’ is an engaging presentation into those efforts and features the voices of some of WWOZ’s original radio hosts, diehard supporters and the resourceful technicians who had made WWOZ a reality. Presented by radio host and producer, George Ingmire.

About George Ingmire:

George Ingmire has been a media producer in radio and film since 1999. He holds a B.A. in anthropology and a M.F.A. in film production, both from the University of New Orleans. He hosted the “New Orleans Music Show" on WWOZ for close to 20 years and produced nationally syndicated radio programs, "New Orleans Calling" and "New Orleans All the Way Live," about music, food, and culture. 

In film, he has worked as a sound recordist in New Orleans, as well as Haiti, Peru, The Bahamas, Mexico, and Colombia, for directors who include Spike Lee, Barbara Kopple, and Harry Shearer. His work in film post-production includes "Think of Me First as a Person," an eight-minute documentary that was added to the National Film Registry (2006), originally filmed on 16mm by his maternal grandfather, Dwight L. Core. At the time of writing, Ingmire is working on a feature length documentary, featuring over fifty years of his grandfather’s films and photographs.

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