Q&A with Jayne Sanchez
KCSM 91.1 FM's Jazz Oasis Co-host
How did you get into broadcasting?
I wanted to utilize my vocal training and my multitasking skills with my love of music. I really love to create a set of music that inspires people. It sounds hokey, but it’s true! When you look into someone’s eyes and you see that they “get it,” it is really very cool. That part is very addicting.
What keeps you inspired?
I am inspired by the music. I discover something new almost every time I am on-air. Very often it is when there is an artist birthday that I learn the most about someone.
How do you put a set together?
I feel that my job is to take my audience for a wonderful ride. Bring them up, bring them around, bring them down...like (if you could imagine) a slow and wonderful rollercoaster. The tricky and exciting part is to do it within the perimeters of the Jazz Oasis. Keep it fairly melodic, not too intense, but flavor it with interesting rhythms, push it a bit with dissonance. Too much of a sound can be mundane. So I will mix an orchestral piece, then play a quartet, perhaps a vocal and then a solo instrumental, keeping in mind the key, tempo, intensity, time period, recording quality, and then time it out to fit the program log breaks of which there are three per hour.
When I program, I try to imagine what someone would be doing at that time of day. Perhaps they are drinking a latte, chatting with a friend, fixing dinner, perhaps they are in the hospital, maybe working late and of course... stuck in Bay Area traffic.
Describe your background.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both my parents were musically inclined, my father was a drummer and my mother graduated from Stanford with a degree in music, specifically the organ. My junior high school music teacher was instrumental in nurturing the musical side in me. I began my interest in Jazz at the age of 17, particularly with fusion bands like Weather Report. I have always been a Joni Mitchell fan, and one of the bass players she used was Jaco Pastorius. Once I began listening to him, I was hooked. In school, I always was enrolled in a choral class of some sort. Acapella choirs, Big Chorus, Little Chorus, Trios, Duos, you name it, I was in it.
Share some thoughts about the KCSM community.
To see such wonderful tools available to the community college district—the library, the broadcasting facilities, the talent that came over from KJAZ and the folks who have moved in from all over the country to be here—was just astonishing. Really high quality broadcasters. So I’m very humbled by their presence. These people really know their stuff. KCSM has been a wonderful training ground. I don’t think there’s any other station where I could find this kind of quality camaraderie, feedback and guidance.
Hear Jayne Sanchez on The Jazz Oasis, Monday and Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m.