A Message from WWOZ General Manager Beth Arroyo Utterback

As the newest Guardian of the Groove I would like to introduce myself and share with you how thrilled I am to be General Manager of WWOZ! I have long admired the incredible work 'OZ does serving a worldwide audience as a flag-bearer of New Orleans culture and musical heritage. I am in awe of the incredible dedication of our volunteers, staff, board and our talented local musicians.

» Continue reading Beth's message

A New Way to Experience New Orleans History

We'd like to introduce a new tool for exploring New Orleans music and culture: a web site called A Closer Walk. A Closer Walk maps more than a century of New Orleans' great musical moments, from Buddy Bolden to Big Freedia, so you can go there! You can also read descriptions by acclaimed music writers, see rare archival photos of important music history locales, listen to music and oral histories, and watch music videos and interviews. A Closer Walk is the result of a partnership between WWOZ, Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, Randy Fertel, Bent Media, and e/Prime Media.

» Check Out A Closer Walk

» Read more about A Closer Walk

Volunteer Spotlight: Louis Holmes, III

WWOZ has achieved the seemingly impossible for over three decades thanks to off-air volunteers like Louis Holmes, III. Louis, who was born and raised in Morgan City, Louisiana, joined our Volunteer Krewe of OZillians shortly after he retired in January, 2013 because he loves "good music". Our Super Volunteer has put in over 406 hours of work at WWOZ since May, 2016. When asked why he volunteers, he says in his matter of fact way "I get to do things I didn't think I could do." Thank you, Louis Holmes!

» More about volunteer opportunities at WWOZ

Show Host Spotlight: Gentilly, Jr.: 35 Years on the Air!

"I'm a music freak!" says Super Show Host Gentilly, Jr. as he recalls his college days in Baton Rouge, when he would hang around the Leisure Landing Record Shop. Jimmy Strickland, the owner, was a hard-core blues fan who nurtured Gentilly's appreciation of the genre. It takes a lot of love to keep coming back to WWOZ every Monday night with a heavy Schwegmann bag full of blues records. Gentilly's been doing that since his very first show aired on 90.7FM from the second floor of Tipitina’s on Ground Hog Day in 1982. Thank you for the great music! Listen to Gentilly, Jr. anywhere around the world at wwoz.org Monday nights,7-10 pm.

» A 2011 Conversation with Gentilly Jr.

Sound Sleep Initiative: One Year Update

The Sound Sleep Initiative is a partnership between WWOZ, the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, and Doerr Furniture – working together to help New Orleans musicians get the good nights sleep they need. Over the last year, we have teamed up to deliver 52 mattresses to musicians, performers, and culture bearers in need of a new mattress.

Tossing and turning? Check out these sound sleep tips from Musician’s Clinic!

WWOZ on Alexa Devices

You can now hear WWOZ via Alexa, Amazon's voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service, which runs on Echo and other devices. Click through for details on getting set up.

» Get WWOZ on Alexa Devices

Recipe: Dr. John's Raccoon Stew

This is one of the coolest, and one of the best "reading", recipes in That Sounds Good, our collection of recipes contributed by the New Orleans music community. And we're pretty sure it's the best Grammy-winning, Rock-n-Roll Hall-of-Famer's Raccoon Stew recipe in the world.

» Dr. John's Raccoon Stew