20 hours to celebrate 20 years: Valley Free Radio host to broadcast for nearly a day, Aug. 7

A local radio host is gearing up for an uninterrupted 20-hour broadcast next week.

Yes, that’s right – 20 hours straight.

Jack Frisch, who hosts the jazz program “The Downbeat” on Valley Free Radio every Tuesday afternoon, will host a live broadcast on Thursday, Aug. 7, from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. the next morning, with no commercials, on valleyfreeradio.org/20. The show will celebrate Valley Free Radio’s 20th anniversary and will include live performances from local jazz musicians and stories from Frisch’s career – plus, of course, lots of music.

Valley Free Radio is an independent volunteer-run radio station based in Florence that broadcasts nearly 100 different shows on their roster, about half of which are hosted by Pioneer Valley locals. It got its start in 2001 with a group of radio professionals who wanted to organize a local community station. They applied for a low-power FM license through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but their application took three years to be processed and approved. In March 2004, the group finally got a construction permit for their station.

“We had 18 months to raise money, build an organizational structure and find a physical space,” said longtime Valley Free Radio member and organizer Bob Gardner, quoted in a history of the station written by journalist and radio programmer Miasha Lee. “We had to construct a studio, figure out transmission (radio tower) and decide on initial programming. Not easy, not smooth, but dynamic, passionate and eventful. Bottom line is that we succeeded.”

The Philadelphia-based Prometheus Radio Project held a “barn raising” for Valley Free Radio in 2005, inviting locals to create a station “devoted to peace, justice, equality, arts and music,” according to a promotional flyer. The station aired its first broadcast on Aug. 7, 2005, 20 years before Frisch’s upcoming 20-hour stream.

Frisch says he first came up with the idea for his broadcast during a board meeting. Other board members were talking about ideas to mark the station’s anniversary, and Frisch was thinking about ways in which he might be able to use the number 20 – maybe by playing the 20 best songs from 20 years ago?

Then an idea came to him: he could do a 20-hour broadcast.

“I love doing the show every week for two hours, it’s incredible,” he said, “but I really want more time, because I’ve got a lot of music to play.”

The show will feature a curated setlist of music throughout the day. The first segment will be easygoing jazz for waking up and commuting to – songs with an “upbeat, help-you-get-out-of-bed vibe to ’em,” followed by new music for two hours. At noon, there’ll be three or four hours of “classic jazz” – bop, groove, and swing – then straight-ahead jazz after that, followed by avant-garde jazz and what Frisch calls “freak jazz” — “music to ride home to,” he said, “something really exciting, fun.” That’ll be followed by big band and orchestra music (“good-vibe stuff”), then songs with vocalists, ending with what Frisch calls “the fusion party” – three hours of modern rock and jazz. (Note: this setlist is subject to change.) Each segment will feature at least one local musician.

“It sounds kinda corny, like some Hallmark movie or something, but if I can get one person to get turned on [to jazz] by one song I played or one moment in the song, then I did it,” Frisch said.

Outside of hosting “The Downbeat,” Frisch has a direct connection to the jazz world: through his businesses, Upright Graphics and Upright Transport, Frisch provides graphic design (and related services) and transportation, respectively, for jazz musicians. (“I’m sort of a specialized golf caddy for musicians – whatever they need me to do and be for them,” he said.)

Frisch’s entry into jazz came through the famous rock band The Doors, which he discovered as a young man.

“I wasn’t into the whole Jim Morrison thing at all,” he said. “For me, it was the band.”

He said he loved the way that the group members incorporated jazz elements, like long instrumental breaks, into their songs. (“They were all big jazz-heads,” he said. “They’re nuts about jazz, those guys.”) In particular, he was fond of the song “Light My Fire,” more so for the instrumentals than the vocals.

“It was almost like I was eating the notes, like it was candy,” he said. It made him realize he needed to broaden his musical horizons: “If I’m gonna get more of this thing, the notes, I have to go to jazz.”

Frisch is originally from Staten Island, but an unexpected romantic connection led him to move to the Pioneer Valley a few years ago.

“The people in the area are nuts – nuts! – about music and art,” he said, “I sometimes think more than in New York. I’ve never seen it like it is here. They are into it, they support it, and that was really interesting and refreshing for me, and I find that, almost every day, really exciting to be around.”

“The Valley has been really good to me in the three years I’ve been here – really good,” he added, “and given me many opportunities to explore the different sides of myself.”

Naturally, a sizable part of that has been through his time at Valley Free Radio.

“What the 20 years means to me is, I see the dedication,” Frisch said. Surrounded by the station’s board members and volunteers, “You can’t help but get infected by the enthusiasm and the professionalism and the dedication and passion.”

So, how does one even prepare for a 20-hour broadcast, anyway?

Lots of sleep the night before, Frisch said. (He’s not really a coffee guy.) Plus, the ability to play longer tracks will help him if he needs to step outside the studio for a minute.

“I might get tired, but I think I'm gonna be high as a kite from the excitement,” Frisch said. “It's really a dream come true.”

To celebrate 20 years, the station will also be holding an all-ages anniversary party on Saturday, Aug. 9, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Northampton Elks Lodge, featuring live music from Kalliope Jones and Shokazoba, free cupcakes from Carefree Cakery, and popsicles and crepes for sale from Crooked Stick Pops and Crêpes Nanou, respectively.

For more information about “The Downbeat” or Valley Free Radio, visit valleyfreeradio.org.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at [email protected].