One Great Song, Saturdays at 6:00 pM

Many years ago, Jay Harris, co-host of One Great Song with Rich Moran, was reading the book “Reading Jazz” and came upon a story about “Body and Soul.” It mentioned that the song had over 3,000 recorded versions, more versions than any other song. This triggered an idea. It might be fun to listen to a radio program in which nothing but “Body and Soul” were played … lots of versions by different jazz and pop artists. This led Jay to think that it might be something he himself might do.

He was an entertainment lawyer by profession and had been for over 30 years. He has also produced shows on and off-Broadway, such as “Side Man,” “Never Gonna Dance,” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” He was also a longtime board member of the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards. Thanks to his son, he had access to recording equipment. In 1998, he put together a script and recorded a sample show which he called “One Great Song.” In it, he examined just one song – “One Great Song” – played many different ways. He also included a bit about the history of the song and the composer.

In 2004, a friend who knew about his demo show was speaking to Susan Kennedy, the host of WMNR’s “Big Band Hall of Fame.” Susan expressed interest in it, mentioned it to the managers at WMNR, and that chain of events led to the half-hour first broadcast at 6:00 pm on Saturday, February 12, 2005. Jay enjoyed researching the music and the songs’ incidental history and recorded 100 shows.

Jay passed away in September 2007. In 2010 Rich Moran began to add OGS programs to the library. At the request of his family, and to our delight, Jay Harris’ programs continues to air on WMNR.