Eugenie Hero Jaffe is the host of “The Midday Show” and “Women Who Rock” on KRCL 90.9FM in Salt Lake City, a role she’s had for 13 years. Along with producing and hosting, she also welcomes local and national touring bands in studio for live performances and interviews. She develops partnerships between the station, local venues and promoters matching KRCL’s on-air sound and brand with live music experiences. As part of KRCL’s programming & music department, she helps produce specials for Black History Month, Women’s History Month, an all local music day, among other music-themed events. And, she manages KRCL’s website, social media and marketing efforts. Eugenie is a lifetime music fan and has probably spent too much money on concert tickets, but it always seems worth the investment.
“How do I pronounce her name,” you ask? Say: U-je-knee. Eugenie took a moment from her packed schedule to answer some of my questions for this month’s Community Radio Profile.
Serah Mead: Please tell us your name and your role at the station.
Eugenie Jaffe: Hey, I’m Eugenie Hero Jaffe and I host The Midday Show on KRCL, weekdays from 10am-2pm. I’m in the Programming Department, and I develop KRCL’s partnerships with local venues and national touring acts. I also manage KRCL’s website, social media platforms and lead the station’s marketing efforts.
SM: What role has radio played in your life? And please tell us about the path that led you to KRCL.
EJ: I grew up listening to FM radio in New Orleans where regional artists like The Meters, Fats Domino and Irma Thomas lived on the dial alongside Led Zeppelin, Blondie and The Beatles. At 6 years old, I used to play with a Mickey Mouse cassette recorder and microphone and interview my family members and make up imaginary radio shows. But, radio as a job came relatively late in my career. I started as an actor/writer, then a press agent and marketing director for theater and dance companies, and moved to freelance writing and marketing for events and brands. One day, a good friend who was the local All Things Considered host was looking for a sub. (All hosts are looking for subs!) She said to me, “You leave good phone messages. You should be in radio.” Boom. That was the start of my 22-year career on the air!
SM: You, like so many of us in community radio, wear several hats at your station. What keeps you anchored in your day-to-day at the station?
EJ: I love the intimacy of radio and the collective experience of many people enjoying the same song at the same time. Making radio is creating a personal and emotional experience for the listener. So, it’s all about the listeners. Including listeners in the story of the music, blending familiar songs with new artists, making connections with the backstories and taking the listeners along for the ride. So, I’m always thinking about our audience. And it’s fun and creative. I get to make little pieces of art all day long – the perfect segue, the cool blog post, the groovy graphic or the sound edit that nails the promo. It’s the best gig around.
SM: At KRCL much of your expertise lies around LIVE music. In your opinion and experience, what is the role of live music in community broadcasting? Here is your chance to wax poetic, and go long, about the relationship between musical artists and radio stations!
EJ: As a theater person at heart, seeing musicians on stage, creating music live, always feels like a gift. Community and public radio has the opportunity to really develop an audience for an artist. Our roles as hosts and DJs is to lead the listeners through the discovery of not just music, but who made it, how it came to be, and meanings behind the songs. In developing a relationship between the artist and the listener, we are able to create audiences for live music. Many of the bands that come thru town, make a stop on their tour route because they know there’s an audience – an audience grown from a station that plays the music. The act of seeing live music and listening becomes richer when you know the full story. It’s radio that made those connections. Streaming services will never get as excited as a live, human DJ about a new show announcement!
SM: We’re all living in uncertain times right now, and when that happens people turn to art and music for comfort, solace, inspiration, and hope. How has your approach to programming, planning, and producing shifted since you got started? Have you noticed your processes change based on what’s happening on greater socio-cultural shifts?
EJ: We’ve always lived in “uncertain” times. Some of the times are more uncertain than others. In December 2012 I had only been on The Midday Show as a staff DJ for 4 months, when the school shooting at Newtown happened. I had small children at the time, and I cried off mic in the studio. I knew others were crying too. So, I let the music do the job that day. I played Stevie Wonder’s Love’s In Need of Love Today. But I also knew that we couldn’t sit in sadness for too long, so I had to bring the mood up. It’s the same process today. You feel the feelings. You find the right song, but you have to move on to lift people’s sprits. They don’t turn on the radio to feel sad. They turn it on to feel part of something bigger, to find a friend, to lift their mood and to get themselves through the day.
SM: You’re co-facilitation a room-around conversation at our upcoming conference that centers the (drum roll) Music Department. For music stations, music is a given. It’s like the air you breathe. You don’t really think about it unless it’s not there or it stinks. Can you share why you’re looking forward to a session dedicated to elevating this critical radio ingredient?
EJ: I love the process of finding music and sharing new bands. As a “music discovery” station, those discoveries come in many different ways. At KRCL we’ve been hand-curating and carefully building our digital library, while still caring for our physical collection of CDs and Vinyl. I can’t wait to hear about how other stations find, build and expand their libraries.
SM: What are your desert island top 5 albums?
EJ: Just 5! Gah! Let’s make it an odd 7…
Jeff Buckley / Grace
The Meters / Rejuvenation
Lauryn Hill / The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Joni Mitchell / Blue
Wilco / Sky Blue Sky
Jon Batiste / We Are
Alabama Shakes / Boys & Girls
SM: Which new releases are you most excited about?
EJ: Tune-Yards / Better Dreaming (out May 16)
Tunde Adebimpe / Three Black Boltz
Valerie June / Owls Omens and Oracles
Galactic & Irma Thomas / Audience with the Queen
Sharon Van Etten / Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory
My Morning Jacket / is
Yukimi / For You
The Weather Station / Humanhood
Neal Francis / Return To Zero
Talia Keys / From the Ashes *Local SLC artist
SM: What musical gems of SLC should conference attendees make an effort to experience?
EJ: Check out some of Salt Lake’s great local venues. Urban Lounge, The State Room, Commonwealth Room and Metro Music Hall are great rooms. We also have the beautiful Eccles Theater on Main Street downtown with state of the art sound for 2,500 music lovers. And, don’t miss a visit to the home of the Utah Symphony, Abravanel Hall. The lobby of Abravanel Hall boasts a 30-foot-high glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, commissioned for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
SM: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
EJ: Welcome to Salt Lake City! It’s cooler than you think.
