It was the last Tuesday before winter break at Minneapolis North Community High School, and while Polar students roamed the halls and classrooms and her fellow KBEM Jazz88 crew filed into the school-based radio station’s studios for their weekly staff meeting/holiday potluck, Yonci Jameson found herself tucked into her tiny office desk and in tears.
“I’m so sorry, I can’t believe this,” said Jameson, dabbing at her wet eyes and cheeks and grabbing a tissue to clear her tear-fogged glasses. The floodgates opened in response to a question wondering if the 27-year-old jazz musician/scholar/radio veteran feels like she’s maintaining her family’s legacy as jazz lovers, a love that earlier this month led to Jameson being named music director at the 55-year-old station.
“Absolutely, it’s very emotional,” said Jameson, who hosts “The Afternoon Cruise” on KBEM weekdays 3 p.m.-7 p.m. “My grandmother passed in March of 2023, my grandfather in December of 2021, so it’s actually been four years, and it hit me the other day when I was here on the air, like, ‘Wow, I absolutely do feel like I’m living in their image.’ A walk-through of certain songs will get to me, and I’m like, ‘I can’t read what I’m saying [without getting choked up], I’ve got to be professional!’…