I’m the man on the radio. Danny Marks.
It’s safe to say that Danny Marks is much more than just a voice on the radio. In our eighth post in association with JAZZ.FM91, Danny - program host of ‘bluz.fm’ - spoke to us about his path to radio, his path to performance and how playing what feels right - in person and over the airwaves - allows him to continually reach an ever-appreciative audience.
Who are you?
I am a lifetime music person. Music – and humour – are what make me work. That’s what I try to contribute. Do contribute. Music and humour. I’m the man on the radio. ‘Take my hand, understand – I’m the man on the radio. You’re just in time for the show and I wouldn’t start without you. One by one, that’s how it’s done. We’ll have fun together. You and me – the sweet frequency. Good company, whatever the weather. I’m the man on the radio.’
That’s in my nature – to write and sing and entertain people. It’s always been.
When did it start?
I think when I was a very young lad. I remember seeing a fellow on TV – a very stiff guy (Ed Sullivan), come out and introduce another man who did some scat singing (Louis Armstrong – my first musical hero). I said to my mom – ‘this is it!”. One year I dreamt that BB King died. It was 1970, I think. I woke up feeling terrible. We were on the road and I saw the newspaper headlines – “Satchel – dead” – and I thought ‘I had a dream, like a premonition, but – wrong person! What is this telling me? Same spirit! My god!”
I’d just read this book: BB King – The Rise and Fall – and it said that BB King and Satchel were the same in their respective genres. They superseded the music that they were supposed to be limited to. They connected the world with love. That’s why I dreamt that in 1970. I’m a dreamer!
What’s it been like for you, as an entertainer, during this time?
It used to be that, if I went a week without playing, I felt like I did not know who I was. Now it’s been almost a year and a half of maybe three performances. The things that have saved me in that area are radio – I’ve put much more into thinking about it, being there and I see how important it is. I feel that my purpose with radio is to reach so many people through JAZZFM91.
The freedom I have to pick any song! A while ago, they gave me an extra hour. My radio model was going to be ‘All the blues and nothing but the blues!’ I noticed that the station’s model at the time was ‘The colour of jazz’ – what about ‘All the colours of the blues’? That’s me! So, they gave me an extra hour. I call it ‘Beyond the Fringe’. I play music from around the world and identify where it came from, like Algeria or Zimbabwe or Cuba or Memphis… I’m having a ball with that and people are responding like – ‘wow! Music beyond borders!’
The other thing that’s been important to me is my personal relationship with the woman who came into my life. I’m not sure what brought us together. She’s from the other side of the world. She was born into a great heritage and traditions. She was a big person in her homeland in Sri Lanka.
We found some commonalities which has been wonderful. We perform for each other but her love and support is what has kept me from going off the rails. It’s not easy to be a person who is paid to speak and then know when they have to keep their mouth shut!
How did you get into radio?
Radio was in my blood, because my dad, as a kid (I still have a diploma of his that says ‘Master Scientist’!), was often told off by his mother – ‘Ben! Stop playing that boogie-woogie and get back to…!’ Dad would get a crystal set, in the 1920s, and listen to the Cotton Club with Cab Calloway. He passed along that love to us, with a short wave radio and the art of radio.
Imagine, as a kid, you have your transistor radio with you, hidden under your pillow. ‘Goodnight everybody” and then you’ve got “This is 77 WABC, this is Cousin Brucie comin’ at you! And here’s the latest two-sided hit from the Beatles!” When I was twelve years old, I was part of a radio play at the national broadcaster, CBC. They had crinkled up stuff to make it sound like a fire, coconut shells for the horses’ hooves. a little funny door on a platform to open and close. We gathered around the mic and the performers had their arms around each other’s shoulders. I’d been to drama school, but radio – it seemed so intimate.
Being on that side of the mic – I always wanted to.
Then I was discovered by CBC, in 1987, by David Malahoff, my mentor there. He brought me into a radio show called “Basic Black” with Arthur Black and Shelagh Rogers (one of the greatest voices in Canadian radio). They taught me. We had beautiful programming together. One day, one of the producers gave me a peck on the cheek and I got a call from CJRT (that was about to become JAZZFM91), twenty years ago, this past September. They said ‘you can have your own program’. It was such a wonderful blessing.
That’s how I got started, but that’s also how I got started at JAZZFM91.
What is it about being a broadcaster – a program host? What does that do for you?
Well, the idea that you can tell a story through a succession of songs on the radio, is not unlike how I would work a set at my performances. Except I do write them down (on the radio) after I choose them. At the gig, I just play whatever feels right. It’s so beautiful to hear one song dovetail into another and the mood shift. What you look for in joining music to tell a story.
I was thinking the other day – it’s a forest of trees. You get those things in succession and they tell a story that leads the listener on. You don’t have to say, “coming up!...” on the program, because they’ve been drawn along. You feel the forward movement.
That’s a lot of what music is like, too. You feel the forward movement. There’s so much to programming and hosting and listening. When I’m interviewing, when I’m done talking, I back off the mic and show them, physically, that they’re clear to have their time and state their idea. And then, when I’m done talking, I’ll make it wrap so that it’s more seamless.
In these past 18 months or so, have you felt any responsibility to your listeners?
I’ve felt that I’ve had to keep a lot of things under wraps, to look at the big picture. I feel that a lot of things aren’t adding up properly, to my critical thinking. I don’t trust the way the world is being handled because of all the terrible news stories and the willingness to focus on the negativity from people who are often charged with looking after us, so to speak.
There are times when we really need to help each other. I have some friends that are going through so much heartbreak, right now. And I’ve seen so many people lose friendships because they can’t agree to disagree. Let’s say we don’t agree on this, but how can we move forward?
As a host, in this period, have you received anything back from your listeners?
I want everyone who contacts me to feel that they have a personal, one-on-one relationship. Quite a lot of people have contacted me, and I know it’s the same for my colleagues at JAZZFM91. I have people that ask me all kinds of things and also tell me that I’ve been an island in the storm.
That’s what radio is – a personal connection with anybody. It’s not a bunch of people, together at a concert, holding their Bic lighters up. It’s somebody in the safety of their room. I’m in the safety, on the other end of the mic, where I love to be, just imagining that I’m reaching somebody. And that the music is making a positive difference. The companionship – it’s a lifeline.
What has the ‘magic of the pandemic’ brought to you?
I think it’s brought me a renewed sense of purpose, to try and bring a message that we unite people. Or, at least, reach them, individually, where they are. To do that calming, reassuring thing. Life is just a blink of an eye, with an eternity on either side.
I think about what the end of life is going to be like and I don’t think there’s much on the other side, so, it’s making me really appreciate the relationships with the special people who are closest to me. Also, my special part in life, through the radio. Being able to reach people, because I can no longer go out on stages.
Radio is that one beautiful place where, sure – it’s always changing, but it’s a moment where we share.
When everything can be accessed at any time, there’s nothing that’s really a destination. I’d like to be the destination-station. “This train leaves the station at 7. Back at midnight. You won’t catch this train again.”
It’s really made me realize the importance of the moment because, boy, there’s a lot of down time, now. For everyone. To walk around streets where everybody’s masked is a sad sight.
Who are you?
I’m the man on the radio.
I’m Daniel Shalom Marks. Daniel means ‘God is my judge’. Shalom was given to me by mother who told me – “I want you to bring peace to the world”. Marks comes from Markovici, I believe. Or Mars – the Roman god of war. That was the name given to my ancestors, I believe in Romania. I’m named after the god of war and my middle name is peace. So, I’m quite a novel person. War and peace. And God is my judge.
Like an onion, you could keep unwrapping me and I’d keep going for quite a while. There are a lot of layers to who I am.
Take my hand,
Understand
That I’m the man
On the radio.
You’re just in time
For the show.
I wouldn’t start
Without you.
Come with me,
And we shall see.
We can go
Where you want to go.
The man on the radio
Will take you there.
©Danny Marks
