Paul Wilborn, Musician, Author and Exec Director of The Palladium at St. Petersburg College

Everyone in the Tampa Bay music world was shocked and saddened to learn last week that WUSF radio plans to cancel all jazz programming at the station at the end of October, officially ending a 56-year commitment to presenting jazz in our community.

WUSF’s “All Night Jazz” has been a fixture in the central Florida music scene since 1966, and a reliable friend and partner of the Palladium for the past 15 years.

I worked closely with WUSF Jazz Director Bob Seymour and his successor, Mike Cornette, as we grew a healthy jazz audience at the Palladium. I could count on the station to interview musicians and promote our offerings, well beyond the ad dollars we spent at the station over the years. Despite being a long-time advertiser/underwriter with WUSF-FM,  the Palladium was not consulted or advised in advance of this decision.

The radio station has also helped hundreds of professional musicians reach a wider audience through interviews, in-studio performances, concert promotion and most importantly, playing their music.  WUSF-FM has been one of the reasons we have grown a diverse and vital community of musicians and music professionals in this region.

Read the rest of Paul’s blog post