10 Questions Revisit
10 Questions Revisit with Pat Prescott
Name: Pat Prescott
Title: Syndicated “Favorite Things”
Station: WBGO (Jazz 88.3)/Production Base
Market: Newark NJ/New York
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Company: Audacy
Born: Newport News, Va
Brief Career Synopsis:
Started in New Orleans at WYLD-FM with a brief stint at WNOE-FM. Spent 3 years at WRVR-FM in New York until they changed format from jazz to country and western. Worked as a newscaster for the National Black Network and a part time jock at WBLS, followed by 8 years as a fulltime morning show host at WBLS. Morning show host at CD 101.9 for 13 years (co-hosting with the late great Ray White for part of it) and then moved to Los Angeles to co-host the morning show with Dave Koz at The Wave. 6 years with Dave, followed by 3 years co-hosting with Brian McKnight. Solo host of The Wave’s morning show for the past 11 years
1) How did you decide to go into radio?
It was so random. I majored in English at Northwestern University and went on to teach middle school in New Orleans. One summer while attending grad school at the University of New Orleans, I met someone who was coordinating hosting for the NATRA convention and I agreed to be a hostess. After attending the conference and seeing the top Black announcers from across the country, I decided that surely, I could do that. I enrolled in a six-month broadcasting course and before the class was over, I met Anthony Wilson, who was PD at WYLD-FM. Anthony hired me as a part timer and gave me my first, most important break.
2) What else are you up to these days?
I’m busy! I’m now on Newark Public Radio WBGO (Jazz 88.3)/Newark Nj/New York and they’ve syndicated my12-4p weekday show “Favorite Things With Pat Prescott.” I’ve hosted the show on the Newark Public Radio signal since 2022. The Syndicated Show recently debuted on Clark University’s WCLK (Jazz 91.9)/Atlanta.
3) You had a unique situation at the WAVE, how was that journey been?
I had a great 21 year run there hosting Morning Drive. But I guess I must thank the folks who fired me at CD 101.9. I was totally happy during my 13 years there but when new management came in and let me go, that’s when I found out that I had a pretty good reputation in the industry, and I started getting job offers from all over. I had pretty much decided to take an opportunity in DC until my longtime friend saxophonist Dave Koz had me flown out to LA to interview with PD Chris Brodie to be his co-host on the new morning show at The Wave. After a tour of the station and lunch in Santa Monica, staring at the sunny Southern California coast in February (it was 15 degrees when I left New York) and dinner at the home of Denise Fairchild, an old friend from New York who would become my landlord in LA, it was pretty much a done deal. I moved to LA in April of 2001, just 5 months before the 9-11 attacks. It was so weird to be on the other side of the country watching what was happening at home. Dave and I worked together with the music community to put on a concert at The Forum to support the first responders and the families of the victims. We called it “A Wave of Peace”. I started my first year in LA with one of the highlights of my career. Working with Dave could be another whole book but in short, we created magic together and he was and still is one of my closest friends. When he left, I got to spend the next three years working with the super talented Brian McKnight. Brian had a keyboard in the studio and played and sang on the air every day. I had a front row seat for the show, watching Brian play his own songs, interpretations of his favorite artists and even got to experience his creative process while working on a couple of albums. When Brian left, management apparently remembered that I had been doing this radio thing long before I met either Dave or Brian and since then I’ve been the solo host of the morning show, with a brief 2-year period where I co-hosted with LA radio veteran Kim Amidon. Today, after 3 format changes, 5 PD’s and too many general managers to count, I’m still hanging in here.
4) How long have you been involved with the music and destination cruises?
Warren Hill was the one who started the whole thing, at least for me. He invited me to be a host on one of his cruises back in 2004. I had never been on a cruise and I thought they would be super corny, but I love Warren and a bunch of my musician friends were going to be on board performing so I went and had a ball. To date I have been fortunate enough to host on over 30 of these experiences with Michael Lazaroff on the popular Marcus Miller Smooth Jazz Cruises, Cliff Hunte’s Capital Jazz Super Cruises and of course the Dave Koz and Friends at Sea sailings. We have traveled the world from Australia, to Greece, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Over the years, more and more of my lifelong friends have started sailing with us, which has taken the experience to another level. If you’ve never done a music cruise, I dare you to try one. If you love music, travel and fellowship with a few thousand people who love the same things as you, it’s truly the vacation of a lifetime.
5) Would you share the names of some air personalities you grew up listening to?
I went to high school in New York where I first heard Rosko and Allison Steele on WNEW when FM radio was a brand-new thing. In Chicago at Northwestern, I loved WSDM with their all-female lineup including Yvonne Daniels but being from New York, it was Frankie Crocker and his brilliant staff at WBLS, the world’s best-looking sound, who really caught my ear. Frankie was sandwiched between two of the greatest female voices to ever grace the airwaves; Vy Higgensen in midday and La Marr Renee at night. I would have never believed at the time that later on Vy would become a friend and mentor and give me the honor of being in the New York company of her record-breaking Off-Broadway play “Mama I Want To Sing” for ten wonderful years.
6) What are you most proud of?
I’m proud of my longevity. As much as I had always loved music and as many times as I was the one playing the music at parties and in the dorm at school, I never thought about radio as a career option. I went to Northwestern University which has one of the best radio, TV and film programs in the country and I never stepped foot in the building. If anyone had told me when I was teaching seventh graders that I would end up having a 40 plus year career in broadcasting spending 23 years in market #1 in New York and 20 plus years in market #2 in Los Angeles, I would have wanted to know what they were drinking and would insist on having some myself. I have survived personnel and format changes everywhere I’ve been. I have worked hard to get here and have been graced with a lot of luck and the support of too many people to count along the way. Still, I never thought it would last this long. It’s been a great ride.
7) Who have been some of your influencers and mentors?
I would have to say that my biggest professional influences have been Frankie Crocker and Vy Higgensen but my biggest influences in life were my parents. I’ve not only been lucky in radio, but I was also lucky in life to be born into an amazing family. My dad was a Boys Club Director who was a living example of service to a community and its people. He was a really good singer (sounded a lot like Johnny Hartman) and loved music of all kinds. We grew up listening to everything from John Coltrane and Billy Holliday to Mighty Sparrow and The Little Gaelic Singers. I amaze myself sometimes how many random songs I know the words for and my Dad gets the credit. He had a larger-than-life personality and an even bigger heart and imagination. He was only 44 when he died but his legacy is honored every year at the annual Boys and Girls Club Convention when they give out the Herman S. Prescott Award to a member of The Professional Association whose service emulates that of my Dad. The winner of this award must embrace and be an advocate for the rights and dignity of all. Daddy continues to make all of us proud. My mother is the original Pat Prescott (OPP); I was named after her and she is everything I strive to be as a woman. She is beautiful, smart, and compassionate. At the age of 95, she is still independent and engaged in life in every way. She’s a computer fan who has never been intimidated or afraid of technology or the changing times. She decided when to stop driving and had no problem starting to use Uber to get around. She is aging gracefully and has become a second Mom to many of my friends whose Moms have passed away. I often describe her as a woman of steel and velvet; she’s sweet and loving but she is no wimp. She has a mind of her own and if I can be half the woman, she is, that would be enough. To have two loving parents, not to mention my wonderful siblings, I started out as a winner. They built the foundation of everything that I am today.
8) How do you see the future for radio?
So much has changed since I first walked into a radio studio back in 1975. Technology has created so many new options that traditional radio has a steep mountain to climb to keep up. Now that new cars are all connected to the internet, we are competing with satellite and streaming services and personal playlists in what used to be our exclusive domain. Add to that the fact that many young people NEVER listen to traditional radio and any fool would know that without bold, creative programmers and executives there IS no future for radio. That being said, I think there’s never been a better time for creativity and forward thinking; for taking chances and being innovative. I remember the early days of stations like WBLS, WDAS in Philly, WHUR in DC and KJLH here in LA, where you could expect the unexpected and the personalities were attached to community. DJs were tastemakers who introduced us to the music and artists we would come to love. We leaned in and listened, and we loved it. We might never catch lightning in a bottle like that again but if tight rotations of 300 songs and ten-minute-long commercial breaks are driving fans away, why not take a chance on creativity? I am given hope by the interest in podcasts and other long form programming. Who would have thought that a society that embraces Twitter and Tik Tok would tune in and listen to people talking for a half hour or more? I believe that in our increasingly isolated existence that connection means more than ever and if you can connect with that disembodied voice on your radio that plays the songs you love, introduces you to music you’ve never heard before and then reveals the stories of the people behind the music, there could still be a future for this thing we call radio. We shall see.
9) Would you share one of your funnier radio moments?
It was at WNOE in New Orleans. I was working overnight and went outside for a break and got locked out of the studio. This was before cell phones and it was about 2 in the morning so naturally, I freaked out. Luckily there was a janitor in the building who let me back in and I only had about 1 minute of dead air. I just knew I was getting fired but that was when I learned how ordinary that experience was. It was almost a rite of passage. You’ve gotta get locked out of the studio at least once in a career.
10) And the best advice you’ve ever been given?
My Mom always told me to have friends who are younger than I am so when I get older, I’ll have people who can still drive and will take me to doctor’s appointments. She also told that when I buy a house, get a one story so that when my knees get old, I won’t have to deal with stairs. Smart woman. As I always say, the older I get, the smarter she gets. But I guess her best advice wasn’t told to me; she lives it, and I am a witness. Be thoughtful and be kind and you will be blessed.