The other night, I was reading a tribute to conductor Sir Neville Marriner in April’s Gramophone magazine, and who should be mentioned, but my former radio colleague, Teri Noel Towe. I snapped a photo of it, but then I figured the article would also be posted online.
Teri got my foot in the door at WPRB at a time when WWFM was weathering another one of its financial shortfalls. I served first as Teri’s summer substitute, and then I was granted a regular weekly shift. When WWFM’s finances improved to the point that they could bring back their local hosts, I held on at WPRB. By then, I was also on WRTI in Philadelphia – three stations at once, in addition to my weekly music column in the Trenton Times. That would be the peak of my little vagrant empire. I remained at WPRB for three years, before I foolishly reined it in and put all my eggs back into the WWFM basket. Of course, when COVID hit, I was out of a job. Silly me, I believed what I was told, and I thought it would be only temporary.
Teri lives in New York, so we haven’t seen one another much, although occasionally we would bat it back and forth by email. Sometimes I would catch one of his WKCR Bach radio broadcasts online. We had an unexpected reunion at McCarter Theatre in 2019 (pictured), when we both showed up to hear Jordi Savall.
Hope you are well, Teri! I’ll keep watching for you in Princeton.
America’s Oldest College DJ – Teri Noel Towe
Sir Neville Marinner at 100
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/sir-neville-marriner-at-100-a-beacon-of-excellence
Teri from the WKCR archive
https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/archives/Classical%20Archive/artist/Teri%20Noel%20Towe
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