Jazz DJ honors past musicians

University of Rhode Island alumnus Bill Melone shares his love for jazz music as the Jazz Director and DJ for the URI’s radio station, WRIU 90.3 FM.

Melone, who currently resides in Warwick, attended URI in the 1970s to obtain his graduate degree. He’s been involved with WRIU since 2001, when he first came on as a DJ. Now he is the coordinator for the Jazz Department, which has shows six days a week. He also has his own jazz show, entitled “Swing Shift”, on Mondays from 8 to 10 a.m.

“I was a listener before that [2001] and I lost my job so I had some time,” Melone said. “I was a fan of Bill Pandozzi who had had a show on WRIU.” When Pandozzi left the station, Melone stepped in and filled his time slot. He has hosted the show ever since.

Melone said that he has been listening to jazz for a long time, since that was the popular music when he was a kid. He still enjoys listening to jazz, and some of his favorite artists include Herbie Mann, Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

“One of the things that Pandozzi made me promise him when I left is that I could play anything I want, as long as I get some Frank Sinatra in there,” Melone said.

Every year on Dec. 12, Melone does a special show to celebrate Sinatra’s birthday as a tribute to Bill Pandozzi, who has now passed on. He also checks before every show to see which jazz artists were born on that day and plays some of their music.

“Eventually with the way the calendar works and only having shows on Mondays, I will have played every well known jazz artists on their birthday,” Melone said.

Melone also likes to include local jazz artists on his show. He explained that part of the service that the jazz department provides is a listing of upcoming jazz concerts in the area on the website. Melone regularly plays the local artists on air and tells the listeners where and when they can catch them playing a live concert. Melone said his favorite part about being a DJ at the university is that he has the opportunity to play the music he loves, interact with his listeners who call in, and tell stories about jazz musicians.

“It’s great to talk to some of the older folks who call in and tell me about all of the old jazz concerts they’ve been to back in the day,” Melone said.

The Jazz department has radio shows six days a week and two of the DJs are also jazz artists. Tish Adams, who has a show on Thursdays from 8-10 a.m., is a jazz vocalist and has a performance Saturday Oct. 31. URI senior Manny Morales has a show Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. and is also a trumpet player who plays in the URI Jazz Band.

Melone encourages all listeners to call in during the show and make requests or give opinions and tell stories about when they saw those artists.