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Remembering Adrianne Pressley

Voice of Jazz on KIOS for 16 years passed away on October 27th. By Mike Jacobs

Omaha, Nebraska – Many of you were aware that our dear friend and colleague Adrianne Pressley passed
away on Tuesday October 27th. We paid tribute to her on Jazz In The Afternoon that week
playing her favorite artists and tunes.
Adrianne began working for KIOS in January 1979. She hosted Jazz In The Afternoon for
nearly 16 years and was co-host with Preston Love of Love Notes which ran for 13 years.
Adrianne had impeccable taste in music and knew how to put together the right mix to keep
people entertained and coming back for more. She was the "Voice of Jazz" here on KIOS
long before the current lineup of jazz hosts made their debuts. Adrianne had responsibilities at KIOS beyond jazz of course. She was a master at "multi-tasking"
long before the term was coined. She compiled the Issues List each quarter for the station,
kept our Public File in order, and maintained contact with countless organizations in the area for the daily Community Calendar on Morning Edition. She also had the remarkable ability at finding information for listeners about something they heard sometimes with an absurd lack of information ("... I thought it was on Morning Edition a year ago..."). She managed to track down what the listener was looking for nearly every time.
In the years after she retired in 1996, Adrianne and her husband Riley enjoyed traveling to the Monterey Jazz Festival and would make short trips to Kansas City to take in some music. They met Dave Brubeck in the lobby of their hotel one time. She would return twice a year for our spring and fall pledge drives to help answer phones. She made her last appearance on the air with me co-hosting Jazz In The Afternoon in October 2008.
Most of all, Adrianne was a good friend to all of us here at KIOS. I met Adrianne when I was
attending Technical High School and enrolled in the radio broadcasting course at Tech High. She loaned me a number of books on the history of jazz which I read cover to cover. She was always surprised that someone my age took such a strong interest in jazz and blues. Of course, her knowledge of jazz was tremendous which made her a great source for questions about the music and the people who made it. When I applied at KIOS in the summer of 1988, Adrianne put in a good word for me. I'll always be grateful for her gesture on my behalf. She was fun to work with too. She kept us all laughing with countless stories and her easygoing manner made it a joy to work with her. We all miss her dearly and extend heartfelt condolences to her family.

(Photo preparation credits: Mike Hansen & Chris Cooke/KIOS.)

Mike Jacobs is the Music Director at KIOS-FM and hosts Blues in the Afternoon and Jazz in the Afternoon(Wednesdays and Fridays).