Dave Barber

Over the past decade the neighborhoods that make up what is known as Old North Dayton have been transformed with the arrival of immigrants from countries such as Turkey and Russia. Immigrants have been central to the development of Old North Dayton since their arrival as laborers in the early twentieth century. Today on Senior voices, lifelong Daytonian Louis Eckert, who is of German and Polish descent, recalls growing up there in the 1960s and 70s. He spoke with Dayton Metro Library volunteer interviewer, Carol Jackson.

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In a previous Senior Voices segment, Andy Heins described his experience being among the first students involved in the desegregation of Dayton City Schools. His interview with Dayton Metro Library volunteer Nancy Messer also captured his memories of the famous small airplanes that were built in Troy, Ohio.

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For Daytonians of a certain age, the memories of the city’s glory days as a post-World War II manufacturing center are vivid. Louis Eckert started working at Delco Products in the 1970s, while still a student at Patterson Co-Op High School in Dayton, and he attended the General Motors Institute of Technology in Flint, Michigan. He recalled his GM career in this Senior Voices interview with Dayton Metro Library volunteer interviewer, Carol Jackson.

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In this Senior Voices web extra, Diane Alexander talks about expanding her family through adoption. She shared her story with Dayton Metro Library volunteer interviewer, Cynthia Wallace-King.

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This week on Senior Voices, Sharon Christian remembers growing up in Dayton’s Westwood neighborhood during the 1960s and 70s. Sharon spoke with volunteer interviewer Barbara Gerla at the Wesley Community Center, near where she grew up.

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This week on Senior Voices we meet lifelong Daytonian Andy Heins, who grew up in North Dayton, near Hara Arena and the Salem Mall. He remembers being a student at Meadowdale junior high when the Dayton City Schools were desegregated. Andy talked with Dayton Metro Library volunteer interviewer, Nancy Messer.

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Jerry Gillotti, owner of Gilly’s jazz club in downtown Dayton, passed away Thursday, November 23, 2017. He was 80 years old. 

Gillotti became a jazz fan while stationed in Germany during his service in the Army from 1956 to 1958.  Upon returning to Ohio, he graduated from the University of Dayton in 1962. He began presenting live music in 1969 when he opened his first business, Jerry Gillotti’s Wedgewood Inn on Patterson Road in Dayton.  In 1972, Gilly’s opened at 801 North Main Street. The club moved to its current location at 131 S. Jefferson Street in the heart of downtown Dayton in 1976.  

Gilly’s has hosted countless notable performers during the club’s 45 year tenure including Roy Meriwether who performed the club’s opening show, George Benson, B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Wynton Marsalis, Stan Getz, Stevie Ray Vaughan and many others.

Today on Rediscovered Radio, we meet the American poet Archibald MacLeish whose life spanned most of the 20th century. Bob Dylan described him as a man “who could take real people from history..and with the tender touch of a creator, deliver them right to your door.” Rediscovered Radio producer Dave Barber has the story of a MacLeish visit to Antioch College. Captured on tape, it is now part of the WYSO archives.

With 11 time zones and over 200 nationalities, Russia is the largest country in the world. Jazz drummer LaFrae Sci, who received her early musical training in her hometown of Dayton, got to know a region of Russia few tourists see when she took her band there.

The American jazz pianist Cecil Taylor is a pioneer of what is called free jazz—music which often discards notated scores and breaks with meter and conventional harmonic progression. Now 87, his first recordings were released in the 1950s. In the late 1960s and early 70s Taylor taught at Antioch College and recordings from his years in Yellow Springs are found in the WYSO archives.