Jazz Profiles from NPR
Our Producers

ROLANDO ARRIETA

Rolando has been working as a producer in NPR's Cultural Programming for 8 years. He shared a Peabody award for his work on trumpeter Wynton Marsalis' Making The Music. In addition, the Panamanian native is a retired professional in-line speedskater. During his 6 years as a competitor, Rolando had been ranked first in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, second on the East Coast and 6th nationwide. He took a 6-month leave of absence to train with speedskater Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen and to try to make the U.S. Olympic Team, his ultimate goal. Not being able to reach that goal, Rolando retired from speedskating to become a white water kayaker. (Shows Produced: Ray Barretto, Fitzgerald, Marian McPartland, Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Joe Williams)

ELIZABETH BLAIR

Elizabeth is currently the series producer for NPR's "Present at the Creation." In 1998, she received a Peabody Award for the documentary she wrote and produced, I Must Keep Fightin': The Art of Paul Robeson. She was the lead producer of the NPR 100 series, which also won a Peabody Award. Elizabeth was the arts reporter at WHYY-FM in Philadelphia where she won a 1997 Gabriel Award and regional awards from the RTNDA and Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). Her feature stories have been heard on NPR news magazines including Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Elizabeth spent three and a half years in Paris, France, producing "Postcard From Paris" and co-producing the award winning series Le Jazz Club From Paris with Dee Dee Bridgewater. (Show Produced: Billie Holiday)

DAYNA CALDERON

Dayna is a Chicago native -- born on the southwest side, raised by Al & Rae, and disciplined by the Sisters of St. Casimir. She received her first tape recorder on her 10th birthday. This was probably a foreshadowing into her broadcast career. While a senior at Columbia College, she began interning at WBEZ-FM. She stayed there for 10 years -- (a southsider never knows when to leave a party!) Her accomplishments include an 8 year stint as Producer of the nationally syndicated broadcasts of the Chicago Blues, Gospel, Jazz and Viva Festivals from Grant Park. While at WBEZ she developed the music library, hosted a weekly segment on music and culture, and managed programming operations. She has won an Emmy Award as associate producer for "World Stage, Chicago" -- a program showcasing ethnic music and culture in Chicago. Dayna remains active in the broadcast industry through contributions towards NPR programs including NPR's "New Year's Eve Coast-to-Coast" and Jazzset. Music is her mainstay, travel is her passion and the Chicago Cubs are her heroes! (Shows Produced: Chicago Part 1, Chicago Part 2)

TOM COLE

Tom is a native of Washington, D.C. He's been an editor and producer at NPR for more than ten years, starting at Performance Today, then moving on to produce the arts segments for Morning Edition. Before coming to NPR, Cole was an editor and producer at Voice of America and before that, production manager at NPR member station WAMU-FM in Washington, D.C. For more than 20 years, Cole has hosted a music program on Washington's Pacifica station, WPFW. Called "G-Strings," the program features mostly instrumental performances on stringed instruments (guitar, violin, bass, etc.). Cole has interviewed many jazz greats for both the show and for features he has produced for NPR's newsmagazines, including Joe Pass, Tiny Grimes, Jethro Burns, Howard Roberts, Laurindo Almeida, Bill Frisell, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, Emily Remler, Barney Kessell, and Herb Ellis. (Show Produced: Wes Montgomery)

PAUL CONLEY

Paul is a full-time jazz disc jockey and staff producer at NPR member station KXJZ Sacramento, an award-winning jazz and news broadcaster serving northern California. He has produced numerous short features on acclaimed jazz artists including Marian McPartland, Eddie Harris, Ellis Marsalis, Buddy DeFranco and Nnenna Freelon. A published writer, Conley is also a frequent contributor to the Jazz Online Web site, which has presented his articles on Dr. Billy Taylor and Erroll Garner among others. Prior to joining KXJZ in 1991, Conley worked as a radio promotions manager for Concord Records under the direction of the independent label's founder and president, the late jazz impresario Carl Jefferson. In addition to hosting a weekly jazz program on the UCLA campus radio station, in 1983 he co-founded a monthly series of free concerts called "Jazz at The Wadsworth," which provided students and the community-at-large the chance to hear top-name jazz artists such as Freddie Hubbard, Gerald Wilson, Joe Farrell, Poncho Sanchez, and Clare Fischer. (Shows Produced: George Avakian, Kenny Burrell, Paul Desmond, Erroll Garner, Bobby Hutcherson, Quincy Jones, George Shearing, Zoot Sims, Mel Torme, Gerald Wilson)

JOHN DILBERTO

John is an award winning radio producer and music journalist. His radio documentaries, "Totally Wired" and "Edgar Varese's Sonic Liberation," have won several national awards. He is currently the host and producer of Echoes, a daily music soundscape heard on more than 135 public radio stations. In addition to his radio endeavors, John is a freelance music writer whose articles and reviews have appeared in Musician, Billboard, Pulse, Jazziz, Downbeat, Audio, and CD Review. (Shows Produced: Carla Bley, John Coltrane Part 1, John Coltrane Part 2, Chick Corea, Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Abdullah Ibrahim, Keith Jarrett, Jackie McLean, Sam Rivers, Sun Ra, Randy Weston)

GREG FITZGERALD

Greg has been actively involved in producing music, documentary and magazine programs on public radio and television since 1971. He has worked for a number of public radio stations including WGBH-Boston, WNYC-New York, and New Hampshire Public Radio. He is currently Senior Producer for Monitor Radio in Boston. He also served as Senior Producer for the Monitor Channel, the 24-hour news features cable channel of The Christian Science Monitor. Greg has been associated with a number of NPR music programs in the past, including NPR's Jazz Alive! at the 1978 White House Jazz Festival, hosted by Jimmy Carter, broadcasts of the Kool Jazz Festival in New York, and Jazz from Lincoln Center. In Boston, he produced many live and taped broadcasts for WGBH, including a commissioned work for Tenor Saxophonist David Murray, as well as Boston's Early Music Festival. (Shows Produced: Gene Ammons, Tony Bennett, Ahmad Jamal, Toots Thielemans, George Wein/Newport Jazz Festival, Blue Note Records)

MARGARET HOWZE

Margaret has produced music programs for NPR's Cultural Programming division for the last 15 years. Most recently, she was the Music Producer of Anthem, NPR's weekend live mix of American popular music and culture (and producer of that program's music compilation CD, NPR Studio Cuts). Margaret was also the Producer for NPR's 26-part jazz series Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music (winner of the Peabody Award). In addition to Jazz Profiles, her documentary productions include features on Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Hank Williams, Phil Spector, and the "St. Louis Blues" for the NPR 100 series. She has also produced and directed numerous live and taped concert broadcasts in jazz and American traditional music. Her other broadcasting awards include the CPB Gold and Silver Awards, and the Bronze Award from the International Radio Festival of New York. Margaret's work in music and radio started with stints at CBS Records (now Sony) in New York City, at CBS Studios in London (where she excelled at making tea for the staff), and as a DJ on London's Radio Wood Green and the short-lived pirate station Radio Shoestring. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia, and is currently working as an independent producer out of New Orleans. (Shows Produced: Women in Jazz, Parts 1 & 2, Nat King Cole Part 1, Nat King Cole Part 2, Mary Lou Williams)

NJEMILE CAROL JONES

Njemile has worked in public radio for 18 years. She studied broadcast journalism in her hometown of Washington, D.C. at Howard University, where she also hosted a critically acclaimed magazine show at WHUR-FM in the late 1970s. Njemile joined the staff of NPR's Morning Edition shortly after the program's debut in 1979. For nine years, she held several different positions -- tape editor and writer, producing features with host Bob Edwards and directing the live broadcast. From 1985 to 1989 she worked as a producer in the Department of Special Programs at NPR. She has produced several award winning documentaries and features, including "The Pope Don't Know About This: Black Catholics," (NPR); "Class of 2000" (NPR); and "Reaching for Power through the Pain: African American Breast Cancer Survivors" (Soundprint). Njemile was a production consultant for the Peabody Award winning series, "Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Song and Worship Traditions," produced by NPR and the Smithsonian Institution. She recently completed production of five one-hour documentaries, "Images of America's 20th Century,"hosted by acclaimed actress Phylicia Rashad. (Shows Produced: Chico Hamilton, Charles Lloyd, Louis Armstrong: The Trumpeter, Jimmy Scott, James Moody, Stanley Turrentine, Ellis Larkins, Milt Hinton, Jimmy Smith, Roy Haynes)

BILL KIRCHNER

Bill Kirchner is a composer-arranger, saxophonist, record and radio producer, jazz historian, and educator. His jazz ensemble, the Bill Kirchner Nonet, has appeared at major festivals, concerts, and nightclubs since 1980. His latest recordings are Some Enchanted Evening (duets with pianists Michael Abene, Marc Copland, and Harold Danko) and Trance Dance with the Nonet, both on A-Records. Kirchner's arrangements, in addition to those for his Nonet, have been recorded by Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Konitz, singer Patti Austin, and the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble. His sideman credits as a player include live performances or recordings with Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra; the American Jazz Orchestra; singers Anita O'Day, Chris Connor, Sheila Jordan, and Karen Akers; violinist Joe Kennedy Jr.; bassist Reggie Johnson; and bandleaders Mousie Alexander, Mario Bauza, and Bobby Rosengarden. For a decade, Kirchner has been closely involved with jazz recordings as a producer and liner-notes annotator for Blue Note, BMG, Challenge, Columbia, Fantasy, GRP, Mosaic, the Smithsonian Collection of Recordings, Verve, and Warner Bros. He received a 1995 NAIRD Indie award for "Best Liner Notes" for the Smithsonian's Big Band Renaissance: The Evolution of the Jazz Orchestra and a 1996 Grammy for "Best Album Notes" for Miles Davis and Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings. Kirchner is the editor of A Miles Davis Reader (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997) and the upcoming Jazz: A Reader's Companion (Oxford University Press). He teaches jazz composition and jazz history at The New School University in New York City. For more information, check out www.jazzsuite.com. (Shows Produced: Bob Brookmeyer, Benny Carter, Johnny Mandel, Artie Shaw)

NICK LLOYD AND ADAM EMMERT

Nick and Adam are free-lance radio producers living in New York City. Adam spent the better part of his college years broadcasting radio from WKCO at Kenyon College, developing a love and deep knowledge of jazz. His work can be heard late at night in rural Ohio. A keyboard player, Nick has also written on and transcribed the 1960's Miles Davis Quintet analyzing their work in the context of traditional music theory. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral Music Theory program at Yale University. (Show Produced: Wayne Shorter)

JIM LUCE

Jim has made the jazz world his home -- producing jazz festivals including New York's Caramoor Music Festival and Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, founding the Jazz Beats Breast Cancer! fundraising concert series at New York City's Lincoln Center and Town Hall, and producing and hosting national radio programs from WBGO Newark, one of America's top jazz radio stations. A man who knows jazz, Luce is also a man who knows business. After graduating from Emerson College Boston in 1974, Luce parlayed his business experience and jazz expertise into the national jazz scene. His diverse career spans a wide spectrum of music and entrepreneurial posts, from music presentation and marketing, to broadcasting, financial services, audiovisual services, nonprofit management and board development, and general business. (Shows Produced: Miles Davis Part 1, Miles Davis Part 2, Satchmo -- The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong 13-Part Series, Duke Ellington Centennial Radio Project)

JOAN MERRILL

Joan came to radio from television and video production. She had a corporate video production company for 15 years, and also produced cultural programs for television. Her documentary on jazz singing, "Saying It With Jazz" (featuring Carmen McRae, Carol Sloane, Etta Jones, and others), has been broadcast nationally. Joan's independently produced radio documentary on Carmen McRae was adapted for Jazz Profiles in its first year, 1996, and she has continued to produce programs for the series ever since, specializing in vocalists. She is also responsible for four shows for the PRI radio series on "Jazz Singing," produced by Smithsonian Productions in 2000-2001. Joan has written three books. The Media Works (1974) was named the best media textbook of the year by Media and Methods magazine. Her most recent book, Camcorder Video (Prentice Hall, 1991) is still selling well. Joan received a master's of liberal arts degree from Stanford University in 2000, her thesis topic: "Jazz or Ersatz? The Criteria of Authentic Jazz Singing." (Shows Produced: Ernestine Anderson, Ray Brown, Rosemary Clooney, Freddy Cole, Johnny Hartman, Al Hibbler, Etta Jones, Carmen McRae, Norman Simmons, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O'Day, Jazz In Song: The Words, Jazz In Song: The Instrumentalists)

KAREN MICHEL

Karen is an independent radio producer based in New York. She produces features and documentaries for NPR and other, primarily non-commercial, outlets. A lifelong sound junkie, Karen concentrates on heavily produced arts and cultural programs. In her more 12 years in radio, Karen has received many grants, fellowships, and awards. These include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Japan-U.Friendshiphip Committee, the Japan Foundation, the Indo-American Fellowship Program, and the National Arts Journalism Program; and awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, American Women in Radio and Television, and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. Karen studied the shamisen and voice in Tokyo, and is now attempting to play the (fretless) electric bass. (Shows Produced: Peggy Lee, Charles Mingus Part 1, Charles Mingus Part 2, Oscar Pettiford)

MOLLY MURPHY

Molly is an independent radio producer based in Washington, D.C. She has worked extensively with National Public Radio's Cultural Programming Department in both jazz and classical divisions including producing, writing, and editing for Jazz Profiles, Wynton Marsalis' Making the Music, Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center, and Performance Today. She produces a weekly series of pieces hosted by trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis called "Notes From the Road" for NPR's Jazz Riffs series. Molly has also worked with Public Radio International to present documentary specials on music and the arts in Europe and has produced host and reporter pieces for PRI's The Savvy Traveler. Outside of public broadcasting, she produces and mixes commercial audio material including radio ads and fundraising demos. (Shows Produced: Jazzed in D.C., Today's Generation: The Ups & Downs, Hoagy Carmichael, Buddy DeFranco, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Tommy Flanagan, Ellis Marsalis, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Jay McShann, Art Tatum, Benny Waters, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, On the Road, the Village Vanguard. Studio Producer for Duke Ellington [5 of 10 hours], Hoagy Carmichael)

ELISABETH PEREZ-LUNA

Elisabeth has been a journalist for more than twenty-seven years and has been producing national radio programs since 1979. She has written and produced audio-art pieces, museum audio projects, more than 200 documentaries and numerous independent series. Perez Luna was the executive producer/host of NPR's weekly newsmagazine Crossroads for its entire ten-year run. She is currently executive producer of the national weekly public radio newsmagazine Artbeat. Elisabeth contributes regularly to NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition and she has won the Ohio State Award, the Major Armstrong Award, CPB Awards and NFCB Awards. She's co-founder with audio-artist and engineer Len Perskie, of the production company Toucan Productions. She has a Master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York. (Shows Produced: Sidney Bechet, Al Grey, The Heath Brothers, Jimmy Heath, Jon Hendricks)

SALLY PLACKSIN

Sally is an award-winning non fiction writer and radio producer -- she's hosting her own radio series What's the Word?, on the teaching of languages and literature that launched in April, 1997. The program is funded by the Modern Language Association of America. Ms. Placksin is also the author of American Women in Jazz, 1900 to the Present: Their Words, Lives and Music (Seaview/Wideview [US] and Hannibal Verlag [Germany]), winner of the 1983 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. She is currently updating the book for publication by Schirmer Books as Jazzwomen: A Century of Women Performers, Composers, and Producers. (Shows Produced: Doc Cheatham, Illinois Jacquet, Abbey Lincoln)

BETH SCHENKER

Beth is an independent radio producer and consultant. She has produced features for NPR's Morning Edition, National Native News, Nebraska Public Radio and others. As a recipient of the Gibley's/National Jazz Service Organization Community Jazz Program she produced a six-part series on Jazz trumpeters hosted by Jon Faddis that was heard on many public radio stations across the country. In addition, Beth has received awards from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Nebraska Humanities Council. Most recently, she worked with Nebraska State Museum to develop a multi-media exhibit. She also created and produced a radio call-in program for young people heard statewide on the Nebraska Public Radio Network. Beth lives in Lincoln with her husband, Steve Robinson, and daughter, Sara Jo. (Show Produced: Bill Evans)

STEVE SCHWARTZ

Steve has been part of the Boston jazz scene for over twenty years. A former broadcast coordinator at WGBH-FM, his weekly radio program, "Jazz From Studio Four" has been on the air for over ten years, Before that he was heard on WMBR-FM and WBUR-FM. Steve has produced hundreds of live broadcasts from the studios of WGBH, inviting Boston-area jazz groups in to perform on the radio, offering these musicians a platforms for their music to be heard and to promote their local and regional gigs. He has written and produced jazz documentaries for the past six years, all funded by The New England Foundation for the Arts, as part of their Jazz Achievement Awards. Subjects have included Herb Pomeroy, Jackie McLean, Alan Dawson, Jimmy Giuffre, Atilla Zoller, Yuseff Lateef and Archie Shepp. These programs have won various awards, including Best Profile/Community Portrait award from the prestigious New York Festivals for Radio Programming Competition (Shepp) and The Boston A.I.R. Award for Best Locally Produced Specialty Show (Lateef), both in 1997. Steve has been field producer for recordings used on NPR's Jazzset. He also produced a successful concert series for WGBH which brought musicians like Max Roach, The Mingus Dynasty and The Art Ensemble of Chicago to Boston. He can be reached by e-mail: Steve_Schwartz@wgbh.org. (Show Produced: George Russell)

BEN SHAPIRO

Ben is a New York-based radio producer who has been producing for NPR programs for over 10 years, including Jazz Profiles, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition, and the widely re-broadcast "Hidden Jews of New Mexico" series. He is also a filmmaker whose documentaries have appeared on PBS, WNET-TV's City Arts, The History Channel, MSNBC and other outlets. Ben welcomes e-mail comments about his programs at bshapiro@well.com. (Shows Produced: Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jones Brothers, Max Roach, Jimmy Witherspoon)

BEN SIDRAN

Ben wears many hats but is probably best known as a musician, specifically a keyboard player and a vocalist. His career as a solo artist has been varied and prodigious. He has recorded over twenty albums since the early '70s with Charlie Watts, Phil Woods, Joe Henderson, Carole King, The Brecker Brothers, Larry Carlton and Tony Williams. Sidran's music from his last album, Life's A Lesson, has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and NPR's Weekend Edition. As a performer, Sidran traveled the world performing at Carnegie Hall with Dizzy Gillespie and Bobby McFerrin, Symphony Hall in Boston, throughout Japan and Asia, and all across the European continent. He also hosted NPR's Peabody Award winning Jazz Alive series, provided reviews for All Things Considered, and from 1985 through 1990, produced his own interview jazz program Sidran On Record. When he's not performing his own music or presenting the talents of other innovative American artists, Sidran has an active career as a record and television producer. He has produced albums for Diana Ross, Michael Franks, Mose Allison and Jon Hendricks. He is the co-owner and producer of the Go Jazz label. In 1994, he created the soundtrack for the feature length film Hoop Dreams. (Shows Produced: Nat Adderley, Mose Allison, Bob Dorough, Benny Golson, Les McCann, Phil Woods)

MIYOSHI SMITH

Miyoshi is a media artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has worked as a videotape editor and as a producer of the dramatic radio series "Common Spaces." She has also served as producer of several other radio series including an 18-part series called "Even The Sounds Are Blue, Parts 1 and 2." Additionally, Miyoshi has produced a video for the 1993 traveling exhibition "Flying High" at the Institute of Contemporary Art and Inter Media Arts. She was a panelist for the PA Council on the Arts, Ohio Arts Council media arts program, and Feminist Film/Video Annual Screening, in addition to serving as a board member of New Liberty Productions, and on the Painted Bride's Community Advisory Panel. (Show Produced: Horace Silver)

MARGOT STAGE

Margot is an award-winning independent audio producer and writer who has worked in public radio since 1983. She's contributed news and cultural features to NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition, and has worked as a reporter, host, and producer at WBUR-FM, Monitor Radio, and WGBH-FM. At WGBH, Margot co-produced the radio documentary series, "Jazz Portraits," which has received several awards from the New York International Radio Festival, and Boston A.I.R. Margot's work has also received awards from the National Commission on Working Women, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ohio State, and the Association of Independent Radio Producers. She's also a narrator and voice-over talent, and works extensively for WGBH-TV's Descriptive Video Service. Margot is living and working (and surviving her son's adolescence) in the ex-urbs of Boston and walking in the woods as much as possible. (Shows Produced: Sheila Jordan, Shirley Horn, George Russell)

BRUCE TALBOT

Bruce has spent virtually all his working life in radio, television and record production. From 1991 to 1998 he was the Executive Producer at Smithsonian Collection of Recordings and during that period was responsible for the creation of the Grammy Award-winning Louis Armstrong, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 1923-34, Big Band Renaissance - The Evolution of the Jazz Orchestra, which won a NAIRD 'Indie' award, Hot Jazz on Blue Note, Duke Ellington - Beyond Category and, most recently, the Grammy-nominated set The Jazz Singers. Talbot was born in New Zealand and worked in radio there, before joining the British Broadcasting Corporation in London. England. Prior to coming the U.S. to work at the Smithsonian, he was A&R Manager of BBC Records and over the years has produced hundreds of records of all kinds of music, live studio recordings and live broadcasts. He dates his love of jazz back to age 4 when he first heard "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" by Muggsy Spanier's Ragtime Band. He has played tenor saxophone since his teens and has spent most of his career (probably to its detriment) attempting to increase exposure for, and knowledge of, jazz. (Shows Produced: Tom Talbert, Bud Shank)

DAVID TARNOW

David began his career as an independent radio producer of many Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentaries, which over the years have been aired internationally over such networks as Australian Broadcasting Corporation, British Broadcasting Corporation, Swedish National Radio, VPRO (Netherlands), and NPR. He has been nominated several times for an ACTRA Award from the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists. His science series for elementary school children, "The Wonderful World of Science," was given a Peabody Award. Two of his radio series, "The John Hammond Years" and Norman Granz' "Jazz at the Philharmonic," span more than 50 years of American popular music. David Tarnow also produces interpretive audio for museum exhibits and audio documentaries for publication. (Shows Produced: Lionel Hampton, J.J. Johnson, Oscar Peterson, Clark Terry)

WALTER RAY WATSON, JR.

Walther was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on April Fool's Day, 1960. He is senior producer of NPR's Weekend All Things Considered. He's been writing, producing and reporting news and cultural features for the last nine years at NPR. Among his stories have been pieces on Keith Jarrett, Milton Nascimento, Don Pullen, Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin. In May, 1996, he produced a series on race relations in post-apartheid South Arfica with NPR News Correspondent Renee Montagne. Watson loves the music of Thelonious Monk, Billy Strayhorn, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Shirley Horn, Geri Allen, the World Saxophone Quartet, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, and Ornette Coleman to name a few. When he finds the time to read, he picks up "Cultural Criticism" by bell hooks. (Show Produced: Thelonious Monk)

SONJA WILLIAMS

Sonja is an award-winning radio documentary producer and Assistant Professor in the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Howard University in Washington, D.C. During the past twenty years, she has been actively involved in non-commercial and commercial radio, including work as a producer/writer for the 13-part Radio Smithsonian and Public Radio International history series, "Black Radio: Telling it Like It Was," hosted by Lou Rawls (1996); producer/co-writer for the George Foster Peabody Award-winning "Making The Music," a 26-part NPR documentary series hosted by jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1996). She was also producer/writer for "On Sacred Ground" a two-part NPR special on the a cappella group Sweet Honey In The Rock and hosted by Ruby Dee (1996); producer/writer for the George Foster Peabody Award-winning "Wade In The Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions," a 26-part NPR/Smithsonian Institution documentary series hosted by Bernice Johnson Reagon (1994); producer of "Alternatives: One Woman's Fight Against AIDS" for NPR (1992); and executive producer of "In Touch" an award-winning (including the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award) documentary series produced by students of the Howard University Dept. of RTVF (1990-current). Williams is a native of Bronx, New York and holds a M.A. in broadcast management from Ohio University (Athens, OH), and a B.A. in communications from Columbia College in Chicago. (Shows Produced: Armstrong's World (Ambassador Satch), Andy Bey, McCoy Tyner, Betty Carter, Melba Liston, Jaki Byard)