{"id":1936,"date":"2026-05-07T10:28:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:28:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:28:56","slug":"an-end-of-an-era-and-the-beginning-of-a-new-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/2026\/05\/07\/an-end-of-an-era-and-the-beginning-of-a-new-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"An End of an Era \u2014 and the Beginning of a New Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After an impressive 15-year run,&nbsp;<em>Essential Jazz<\/em>&nbsp;aired its final episode on Feb. 3, marking the close of a program that had become a longtime favorite on KTRL 90.5 Tarleton Public Radio&nbsp;since its debut in 2011.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The show was originally hosted by English professor Hank Jones, who later welcomed history professor Mike Pierce as co-host, forming a dynamic partnership that guided the program for many years. In its later era, Pierce was joined by English professor Michael Dooley \u2014 better known to listeners as Woodstok Farley \u2014 while Jones continued making appearances whenever possible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following Pierce\u2019s move to the Austin area, Dooley expressed interest in&nbsp;continuing on&nbsp;the air, leading to the creation of&nbsp;<em>Essential Crossroads<\/em>.&nbsp;The new program draws inspiration from three earlier KTRL shows: Dooley\u2019s own&nbsp;<em>Classic Rock Spectacle<\/em>, which aired for several years beginning in 2011;&nbsp;<em>Essential Jazz<\/em>; and&nbsp;<em>At The Crossroads<\/em>, the blues-centered program hosted by the late Kurt Robert Johnson that frequently featured Jones and Dooley as guest hosts and helped inspire the show\u2019s blues influence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to his work on these programs, Dooley has&nbsp;remained&nbsp;a familiar voice on the station, regularly filling in on local favorites such as&nbsp;<em>Big Band Ballroom<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Beatles and Beyond<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"advgb-dyn-65cb8b02\"><em>Essential Crossroads<\/em>&nbsp;officially launched on Feb. 10 on KTRL 90.5 Tarleton Public Radio, featuring a&nbsp;wide range of artists including Sonny Rollins, Wishbone Ash,&nbsp;Yes, Eric Clapton and Rory Gallagher. True to its roots and influences, the show blends classic rock,&nbsp;jazz&nbsp;and blues \u2014 captured perfectly in its tagline: \u201cWhere Good Music Intersects.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After an impressive 15-year run,&nbsp;Essential Jazz&nbsp;aired its final episode on Feb. 3, marking the close of a program that had become a longtime favorite on KTRL 90.5 Tarleton Public Radio&nbsp;since &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1006,"featured_media":1937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":42,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tarleton-public-radio"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"fbarron","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/author\/fbarron\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/05\/Radio-essential-era-300x162.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/category\/tarleton-public-radio\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Tarleton Public Radio<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Tarleton Public Radio<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 days ago","modified":"Updated 4 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2026","modified":"Updated on May 7, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2026 10:28 am","modified":"Updated on May 7, 2026 10:28 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}