MEET A MEMBER
Interview with Satchel Peterson by Georgia Dillane
C
an you introduce yourself and your involvement at WKCR? My name is Satchel Peterson. I am the co-Head of the jazz department at WKCR. I’ve been here for about three years now. Besides being the co-Head, my goal is to preserve, as best as possible, the jazz legacy that we have here. [It’s] easier said than done: I think we have a very rich legacy, which is a good thing, but that can be hard to fill the shoes of Phil Schaap and others who have contributed so much to the music and the culture, especially in New York. My goal isn’t to be Phil Schapp by any means, but to hopefully do something similar with the music. Can you speak to your experience with jazz on a personal level? I play guitar. I started playing when I was about five. Mainly doing Blues and Rock until I heard this Cannonball Adderly record with Miles Davis [Something Else]. They play “Autumn Leaves,” and once I heard that track I said, “I want to learn how to do this. I want to make music that sounds like this.” There was something about it I could tell I didn’t understand but that I wanted to understand. And I guess I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. I was about 12 when I started listening to jazz. What does performance look like for you now? It took me a while to realize that I wanted to do music professionally. I think I always knew inside that that’s what I wanted to do but I had doubts—reasonable doubts. But now I’m performing with a group that has violin, guitar,
12 OnAir · November 2023
bass, and drums and really trying to focus as much as possible on listening to music, writing music, making music. What was it like then and how is it now different? Being here three years ago compared to now, I definitely understand a lot more about the music and the station and what I want to do here—and, I guess, what my role is among all of that. [What is ] the same [is the] feeling of being excited to come here and program music and discover new music and go into MC and not know exactly what’s going to happen during my show, who’s gonna call in. If they have something to say about who I’m playing with, if they know them, how [the music] is contributing to their day, if they’re going through a tough time or something. You host Out to Lunch weekly on Fridays. What do you enjoy most about that slot? What kinds of things can listeners expect you to play? It’s always surprising to get someone calling in and saying that they listen to my show, because sometimes I can feel like I tune out and not realize that there’s anyone else listening to the music. In terms of what’s most exciting to me, just sort of not knowing who’s listening and not knowing what’s going on in their life. It’s sort of fun for me to imagine what people on the other side are experiencing, while I’m just sitting in a chair listening to music that I’ve been listening to for the past, you know, however long. You do a lot of stuff with shows in the station, particularly with jazz. I’m trying to do more. Speaks more to how
