Blues Foundation Honors KJAZZ’s Gary Wagner

By B. Noel Barr, Music Writer Dude

On Jan. 23, the Blues Foundation is honoring 15 individuals and organizations who support and promote the blues. KJAZZ radio personality Gary Wagner will be one of recipients of the prestigious Keeping The Blues Alive Award at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tenn.

The International Blues Challenge is a five-day event, where the best musicians from around the world come to perform.  

Wagner has been part of the community-based radio station at California State University Long Beach for more than 20 years. Nicknamed “The Wag Man,” he is the host of the long running “Nothing But The Blues,” as well as having been the master of ceremonies of the old Long Beach Blues Festival.

Random Lengths News met with Gary Wagner during his Sunday broadcast just after the award announcement was made.

We asked how he felt about receiving the Keeping The Blues Alive Award?

“It feels good,” said Wagner. “I’ve been working at this a long time.”

The veteran blues host started broadcasting when he was 17 years old. We asked how he got involved with the blues.

“That was an accident, I didn’t start full time on the blues till I came to KLON (Now KJAZZ),” he said, laughingly. “I used to play blues on my rock show in Chicago. On progressive rock (classic rock) stations back then you could do that. When I got the call to come here, mangement asked if I could do the blues show. At first I said, ‘No, I don’t really know that much about it.’ They asked if I could ‘fill in for a little while ‘til we get someone permanently.’ I said, ‘Sure.’”

The station management said they would have people that come and help Wagner program the show. Shortly after, he got rid of the help.

“I hated the music they were picking for me.”

Since then, he has been in charge of his playlist for each show. For the most part, radio stations across America today do not let the disc jockeys program their own shows. Wagner is one of the few who has the privilege.

“After a couple of months management came to me, they said, had found someone to replace me, adding, ‘We like the work you do, but we need someone with a personality,’” Wagner recalled.

The replacement quit after nine months.

“They called again and said can you help us out?” Wagner continued. “I said I’ll come back but only if it is permanent. That is how is how I started playing the blues. I didn’t feel qualified at the time, but after 23 years you get qualified. It rubs off on you somehow.”

We asked about Wagner’s meeting with the legendary Muddy Waters.

“That was an accident too,” he said. “Back in the 70s, I was doing the evening shift at WJKO in Elgin, Ill. I was on at 7 and Muddy was coming in for an interview about 5. The guy on before me called in sick. So, they needed someone to do that interview and they called me. I wasn’t qualified to do that and was unprepared, but I interviewed Muddy. Then I asked him why his mother named him ‘Muddy Waters.’”

The bluesman fired back to the young DJ.

“My mama didn’t name me Muddy Waters, my mama named me McKinley Morganfield,” he said. “Muddy Waters is my date name.”

The young radio man pushed ahead asking, “Well why Muddy Waters?”

“The Muddy Mississippi of course,” the bluesman replied.

“Eventually we smoothed it out and became friends,” Wagner added.

“The Wag Man” spoke about some of the highlights he had experienced during his time at KJAZZ.

“I think it would being the master of ceremonies at the Long Beach Blues Festival,” he said. “It was hard work, they were doing it for three days. By the end of the third day I couldn’t even talk. But it was fun to meet all those people.

Wagner also spoke about the state of the blues today.

“I know some people think that it needs to [be] kept alive, but I don’t think it is in danger of doing anything, but living,” Wagner said. “It’s doing pretty good actually. There’s a lot of young people getting into it. This music goes in cycles.”

He continued speaking on the future of the genre.

“I think it should be as common on the radio as classic rock,” he said. “Here we are in America. It’s America’s music and nobody plays it. It needs to move over into the mainstream.”

Gary Wagner is the last of a breed of broadcasters who are not just back announcing a preprogrammed playlist. He knows the blues and he enjoys the craft of good radio.

In addition to the upcoming award that he will receive in Memphis. Wagner received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 New Blues Festival this past Labor Day weekend, along with Bernie Pearl (blues musician, promoter and DJ) and Danny Jacobson (publisher of Southland Blues, promoter) for their efforts in support of blues music.

We congratulate the veteran radio personality for the tremendous job of promoting blues music in Southern California on KJAZZ 88.1 FM and around the world via the internet on KJAZZ.org. His listeners from around the Southland and beyond tune in every Saturday and Sunday to hear the “The Wag Man.”