David Luckin is the producer of NightFlight, a program of global music that airs at 1- p.m. Saturday on FM-89.9. The playlist features a mixture of eclectic music selections, from new work by obscure European artists, to music by artists such as Miles Davis, Natalie Merchant, Van Morrison and Rickie Lee Jones.
HOW DID THE IDEA FOR THE PROGRAM COME ABOUT?
“I was sitting in a nice little restaurant on New York City’s upper west side last February after attending a long day of classes at Columbia University [a part of a program on website design for which he was accepted]. The station was playing this slow, electronic CD that really got me going. The CD was ‘Cafe Del Mar, Vol. 7.’”
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MUSIC?
“It’s kind of a mix of fusion, jazz, soul, electronic and bossa nova. Certainly, there’s a jazz element in almost all of it. Someone told me that this is the music that they play in Ibetza, after they’ve been up dancing and partying all night.”
A WORLD OF INFLUENCES
“It seems like these musicians skipped the Woodstock generation entirely, and went all the way back to the 1960s. There’s a lot of Curtis Mayfield [influence] and none by Crosby, Stills and Nash.”
SOPHISTICATED TASTES
“I have always loved music. From the time I was 14, I wanted to be a deejay. I got my first jazz album when I was 12. I’m raising my kids, Chandler, 8, and Jordan, 4, on rock, reggae, and jazz. They already love all kinds of music.”
UNWILLING TO BREAK THE MOLD
“There are those who say today’s radio stations have dumbed everyone down. More than anything else, I think, the problem is that they stick to much to the tried and true — the Britney Spears and Back Street Boys. The thing is, you have two companies that own all the stations. Clear Station, for example, owns 1,200 stations, so, their programs are going to be exactly the same in Albuquerque, as they are in Buffalo. It’s all gotten kind of homogenized. In fact, the standard joke now, is that the best music you hear these days, is the music on TV that they’re playing behind the car commercials.”
FAVORITE MUSICIANS, GROWING UP?
I’d have to say the Beatles because they were
just so good.”
WHERE DID HE GROW UP?
Rochester, N.Y.
EDUCATION
He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Florida.
WORK EXPERIENCE?
After spending a total of 14 years as a news photographer for various organizations, he worked for a while at ABC, then started at PBS in January 2000.
WHO ARE YOUR LISTENERS?
“We hear from 20 year olds, and we hear from 50 year olds. So, we tend to have a pretty big demographic.”
REACTIONS VARY
“[Regarding the program], we usually get two comments: ‘Why do you play that crap,’ or ‘What a great show. Why not go ahead and make it two hours?’”
— by Patti Connor