Jeff Kellam

The first music Jeff Kellam heard as a youngster was from his parents’ 78 rpm records, the pop music of their youth: big band. Much later, in campus radio, his very first interview assignment took him to the college music conservatory to interview the renowned jazz pianist George Shearing. “I started at the top,” he says, “and I’ve coasted since then.” 

While his eventual vocation was Presbyterian ministry, Jeff also hosted “Headset Jazz,” a 15-year fixture on Richmond, Virginia, public radio airwaves. Then a local adult contemporary station recruited Jeff to host a Sunday morning “Jazz Brunch.” He considered the best perk in radio to be emceeing jazz fests and concerts. “I’m no musician, but there I was one night on stage with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, and Herbie Mann. Very cool.”

Now retired and residing in Owego, Jeff and jazz are still media-oriented. He and jazz pianist Bill Carter co-host the “Spirit of Jazz” podcast, and Jeff has rediscovered the hundreds of jazz LPs in his attic and shares the music he once played in Richmond on WBDY-LP.  “I call the show ‘Classic Vinyl Jazz,’ but basically it’s just a chance to hear those old plastic records in my attic.”