Remembering Barbara Blake
• Funeral services will be held today for Barbara Blake, pioneer of the Smooth Jazz Sunday Brunch on KTWV (94.7 The Wave)/Los Angeles, who died Thursday evening, June 10 in Santa Monica after a brief illness. She was 80 years old.
Blake first joined The Wave in 1990, left for a few years and then came back to L.A. and hosted the show from 1997-2010. Blake also notably perfected the concept of hosting smooth jazz performances at area venues and live-broadcasting the show.
Over the course of her radio career, Ms. Blake also worked at KKSF/San Francisco, KKNW/Seattle and KYOT/Phoenix. After she left KTWV she did online shows, formed citizenplanet.com, and hosted a podcast with Talaya Trigueros and Pat Prescott, which had a large following, as did her monthly blog.
Among Blake’s many close friends is international talent coach and author Valerie Geller, who said, “Barbara certainly had an impact… She had many many fans in Los Angeles. In addition to giving my mother’s cat Oliver a home, after my mom died, Barbara is the voice who read the foreword for the audiobook version of Beyond Powerful Radio.” Geller perfectly described Blake’s unique tone, noting, “She possessed the BEST smoky, sultry, calming voice… soothing… cigarettes and whiskey mixed with velvet.” And speaking of cigarettes… as Geller fondly recalls, “I once went with Barbara to a 7-11 so she could pick up cigarettes. As she was talking to the man behind the counter, a group of unrelated people clustered around her and asked, ‘Are you Barbara Blake? We LOVE you and listen to you every day!'”
• Services for Barbara Blake will be held today, June 14 at 3pm at Glen Haven Cemetery Sholom, 13017 North Lopez Canyon Road, Sylmar, CA 91342. [Special thanks to Valerie Geller]
