Jiving with Jay from 8 to 10 on WRIU

Not much happens at 8 a.m. on the Kingston campus, but at least there's music. 8 a.m. is the start of WRIU's "Jive with Jay" jazz program, whose host is Jay Donahue, a longtime veteran at the student-run radio station.

Between the CD-lined walls of the WRIU studio on the second floor of the Memorial Union Building, Donahue turns up every Wednesday morning to fill the campus with a wide array of songs that have "blues" in the title.

Bulletin board in the WRIU studio

He started his program this morning by thanking those who had donated to the station during the Radiothon it recently held to raise money to keep the station on the air. Without much chatter, Donahue then turned on the jazz -- and didn't turn his microphone back on for an hour.

"It's all about the music; no commercials, no yakking," he said. "I hate that on the radio, you know; just shut up and play music."

Donahue has much to draw from: the wall of jazz CDs and the old records as well as his personal collection from home. The part of the job that he loves the most, he said, is exposing people to new music.

"And I love the freedom," Donahue said. "You can play any kind of music you want, you know, anything within reason, old time stuff . . . stuff from the twenties . . . and some new stuff, some R&B that has jazz. There's no program director telling me I have to play the same three songs over and over."

When he's not playing jazz to a sleepy campus, Donahue is the production chef at Tito's Cantina in Middletown and part-time worker at the Wickford Package Store. He also hosts an internet radio show called Eargazm with other WRIU veterans.

Ironically, he doesn't own a computer (or a cell phone). "I'm the last generation to be able to say 'no' to computers . . . so I say 'no.' "

Radio, on the other hand, is what Donahue loves to do. A Rhode Island College graduate, he's been at WRIU since 1986, when a DJ named Larry Lindgren had a radio show. Lindgren often stopped in to Wickford Gourmet Foods, where Donahue worked at the time.

Lindgren invited Donahue in to watch his program one night, and taught him how to work the switchboard, cue songs and work the turntables.

"I'd wanted to be on the radio; it was kind of a dream," Donahue said. "He told me to meet him at the loading dock at night. Though he got in trouble later . . . for letting me in when I was an 'unauthorized guest.' "

Soon after, there was a realignment of programming and time slots, and the program director at the time gave Donahue a chance to prove himself. He's been on the air ever since, though at varying time slots.

"They used to have me on from 9 to noon, then from 9 to 11, and now I'm on 8 to 10," Donahue said.

"I used to be able to come in and read the Providence Journal, then go to the Boston Globe and The New York Times. Now I don't have time anymore."

Though he's not happy with his time slot being cut, he says he wouldn't give up radio for anything.