The Bama Radio Show Volume 26 - WPFW 89.3 Jerry Washington

In the late 1970’s, Jerry Washington volunteered to host a Saturday afternoon Blues show on WPFW, the local Pacifica Radio Station in Washington, DC. He called the show The BAMA Hour. In no time, it became the Number One Arbitron-rated radio show in the District of Columbia. A jazz show called, The Other Side of the BAMA, soon followed on Sunday afternoons. The BAMA called his recordings, “music with a message.” The records featured on The Other Side of the BAMA were from his private collection. Listeners never seemed to mind the “snap, crackle and pop” that usually accompanied these vintage recordings. It was common for him to play numerous versions of the same song by different artists. The Other Side of the BAMA was not only a virtual tutorial of jazz ballads and standards, but listeners also followed with keen interest the BAMA’s continuing travails—especially with his young girlfriend, Denise. Jerry Washington, The BAMA, sadly passed on in the early 1990’s. Jazz radio in Washington, DC will never be the same. "For those who remember"