Dennis Woo

JazzElPaso Connection takes this opportunity to feature Dennis Woo as one of El Paso’s treasures who has contributed to the jazz scene with wit, expertise, and sophistication. His Morning Jazz program, airing five days a week on KTEP, is listened to by many throughout the region with each show being of educational significance. We wish to take this opportunity to say thank you to Dennis.

Dennis is an El Pasoan, having graduated from Burges High School, The University of Texas at El Paso, and attended graduate school at West Texas State University. His love of jazz began at home with his parents supplying the recordings of the jazz greats. His mother worked for Mercury Records in Chicago moving up to the position of Artists and Repertoire and was responsible for hosting the artists who were recording in the studios. In El Paso, his father hung around the old Hollywood Café and the St. Francis Hotel where the black musicians were allowed to play their jazz. This was during a time in history when many clubs racially discriminated against such performers.

A career in radio and television began very early for Dennis. At a young age, he became a volunteer intern at KINT when volunteers were referred to as “go-fers” (go-fer this and go-fer that). Some of us can relate to this “abuse” of young people which was, in fact, an important part of our education. After spending time in Arizona working as a radio consultant, he returned to El Paso and worked for Fred Hervey at KSET. He mentions that in those days, people in the media had a gypsy-like life style, in that they moved from station to station much more than is evident today. He began his work at KTEP in 1987 and has been there since, having been in radio for more than 37 years. Today, he is the Production and Operations Director for KTEP in addition to his Morning Jazz program.

Jazz has an important and complex history which Dennis knows and continually communicates to his listening audience. The evolution of jazz and the entertaining personalities of the artists is a central part of America’s heritage which is delightfully articulated by Dennis in-between his choice standard jazz tunes mixed in with modern day jazz artists.

Dennis has encouraged other aficionados to join him at KTEP. Richard Knox, Charlie Hill, and Bill Hall (known as Dr. Jazz) spend part of each week preparing jazz shows which focus on different aspects of jazz. Between all of them, they have approximately 50,000 jazz collections. That in itself is a valuable asset to our region. We are grateful that Dennis provides a way for these people to share their love and expertise with all of us.

Public radio is particularly fortunate to have Dennis at the helm because of his strong belief that public radio is a vehicle for teaching. He truly adheres to the commitment that it is public radio. All programs should bring about enlightenment for the listener. KTEP is an important training ground for communication majors. Certainly, they learn the operation of a radio station. But, more importantly, they also learn to appreciate different forms of music and more sophisticated levels of human discourse. One of Dennis’ goals is to use his influence to bring unity to the El Paso region. He believes in El Paso and its potential to further the quality of life in the area.

Dennis Woo is a very special person and a great credit to our community. Our hats off to Dennis.