october 18, 2007
Ambassador Tefft Introduces Jazz Hour with Willis Conover on the Georgian Radio
On October 19, Radio Syndicate 104.3 is launching a new program Jazz Hour with Willis Conover. This is the original radio program that for almost 40 years was broadcast all over the world. The program comes to Georgia courtesy of Voice of America through the assistance and cooperation of the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Radio Syndicate 104.3 is so far the first and only jazz Radio station in the south Caucasus. It was launched on February 10, 2006 by a group of jazz aficionados to promote and popularize jazz among the young generation and to enhance Georgian American intellectual and cultural contacts.
Willis Conover was a Jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the White House, the Newport Jazz Festival, and for movies and television. Conover was a legend amongst jazz connoisseurs in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, though he remained almost totally unknown to the American public. He was particularly popular in the countries behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. During his more than 40 years on the airwaves, Conover brought "America's music" to millions around the world. Voice of America was often the only way people in those countries could listen to jazz, and Willis Conover's politics-free broadcasts are widely credited for keeping interest in jazz active in Soviet satellite states.
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