For some, home is where the heart is.
“I came here and I just knew I wanted to be here,” WWOZ radio show host and musician Cole Williams said.
For WWOZ radio show host and musician Cole Williams, home is where the groove is, and the groove just moved to Jax Brewery.
“A month after I moved here I found WWOZ, and it changed my life,” Williams said.
The iconic blues and jazz radio station WWOZ has humble beginnings. It started at Tipitinas over 40 years ago, and they’ve had a few stops along the way, but on Thursday, they’ll broadcast from what may be their final destination, the fifth floor of Jax Brewery.
“In creating the new space, we tried to remember where we came from,” WWOZ General Manager Beth Utterback said.
From record spine rugs to piano key coffee tables, WWOZ General Manager Beth Utterback says everything in their new space has meaning, including their vintage baby grand piano.
“So many musicians have played on that. Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Marcia Ball, we wanted something that has history,” Utterback said.
The new facility has drawn international attention. Utterback says WWOZ brings the sounds of New Orleans to 190 different countries.
“This is a place that anyone from the world can enter in,” Williams said.
Even though she’s from New York, William says she’s most at home right here in New Orleans, playing music and hosting the radio at WWOZ.