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West Coast Live Signs Off

After 25 years as the host and creative force behind West Coast Live, Sedge Thomson has announced that he's ending production of the program at the end of December. His signature red shoes are moving on to other projects.

Here's the message he posted to listeners:

First, thank you for listening as you through the years. 25 years as West Coast Live, since Jan 8 1994, and 9 years before that as West Coast Weekend. A lotta shows! In 2019, you can find WCL interviews on-line.

Since July 2017, when our live 2-hour show in San Francisco closed, we've created a space for what we call, in Henry David Thoreau's words, for "reading the Eternities." Wisdom and happiness from across the years. The LIVE show, is what kept us going, sustained us, the purpose true. Meanwhile, I've begun a project involving Schubert and radio and the movies that will take shape in the next few months. It'll have its own website.

Lives takes many turns and it's a remarkable turn to have played the radio field doing a LIVE show in a theatre with the great thinkers and musicians of our times. So, we will find a second life, on-line, for the magic is still in those recordings. That magic is why we all gathered on those Saturday mornings. If you had a hand in a graceful touch of our show, we thank you. You made them happen.

Our last show, on Dec. 29, will feature some great people who left our vale in 2018. in 2019, there'll be new voices in place of ours adding to the clamor and hurly- burly of our times. We enjoyed our share! Thank you.

Beginning Saturday, January 5th, JPR will replace West Coast Live with Politics with Amy Walter, from WNYC/PRI's The Takeaway.

As FM Network Program Director and Music Director, Eric oversees many aspects of JPR's broadcast day. He still hosts the occasional Open Air or classical music shift, and is the driving force behind JPR Live Sessions - our popular series of live in-studio music performances and conversations.