Ron Dhanifu, host of “Afternoon Jazz” and “The Saturday Night Blues Ball” on KSDS Jazz 88.3, notes that, “Black History Month is every day for us because we go through the gamut of Black musicians each and every day, and that’s history making right there.”
In celebration of Black History Month, the station is presenting the series, “Freedom Now! Jazz and Civil Rights,” Monday to Friday at noon, throughout the month of February. Dhanifu and KSDS deejay Matt Silver will present “Moanin’: The Jazz Cry for Freedom, 1955-1963,” noon Wednesday, Feb. 19. Past episodes of “Freedom Now!” are now available for on-demand listening on the station’s website and discuss key figures and artistic expression that positioned the role of jazz as an instrument for social justice.
Dhanifu, who has been in radio for 53 years, says that the link between the Civil Rights Movement and jazz as an art form reveals, “a message to the Black community” during that time.
“Black musicians were socially conscious of what was going on and they related that to their compositions, to their tunes,” says Dhanifu. “They picked up on what was happening in Montgomery, what was happening through the South … the freedom rides. Some tunes, like ‘Freedom Sound’ by the Jazz Crusaders… became a soundtrack of the civil rights movement.”
Related Links:
https://www.jazz88.org/staff/Ron_Dhanifu/
https://www.jazz88.org/black-history-month/
https://www.jazz88.org/articles/Black_History_Month_2025_Freedom_Now%21_Programming_Schedule/1/
https://sdaamfa.org/blog-4/keepers-of-the-culture-2025
“There was a diversity of aesthetics and sounds, and even politics that were coming through in this music,” says Silver, who hosts “Breaking Jazz” on KSDS. “There is this spiritual, faith-based element to the music,” he says. “Then, as you get into the mid- and later 60s, there’s a decidedly edgier feel. There is music that feels like ‘Martin’ music, and music that feels like ‘Malcolm’ music.”
Dhanifu was born in Detroit and his family moved to Los Angeles before he was a year old. He says that he was surrounded by jazz from the beginning.
“Mainly, it’s a cultural thing – I didn’t have to think about it,” he says. “It was with the people I lived with, mother and father, and the neighborhood… on the radio and through records. It was just always there. I was fascinated by radio, always,” he says. “At the time … there were one or two Black disc jockeys of the day that were very inspiring for me as a kid.”
Taking into account those early role models, Dhanifu says that Black deejays are still rare in the profession. He also points out the irony of creating a Black audience for live jazz was a challenge, particularly in the days of segregated venues, as well as the cost of concert tickets and the fact that Black people did not live anywhere near the clubs in Hollywood or near the beach cities.
“It always was limited for the Black audience, in my opinion,” says Dhanifu. “When Duke Ellington was around, Black people couldn’t really go to Carnegie Hall. This was at the height of his career, when he was most popular with white folks. Black people couldn’t go to the Cotton Club. The mingling of [audiences at] concerts and clubs was always not interracial, until the 60s.
“Most venues and clubs are a ways from where Black people lived,” he says. “Central Avenue was predominantly Black during the 1940s and 50s, and after that was gone, that was pretty much it. I lived in Pasadena. When I first got my license, I was 16. I said, “I want to go way out to the Lighthouse.” I did, but that was a long way just to hear some music.”
Dhanifu will be honored as a “Keeper of the Culture” by the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art on Saturday, Feb. 22, along with California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., California’s first Black secretary of state; The Cooper Family Foundation, the namesakes of which have led the celebration of Juneteenth in San Diego long before it became a federal holiday; and Martha R. Logan, a 75-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American women.
“When you sit in the studio with Ron … he just has an incredible way of introducing you to music and somehow making you feel like you’ve known about it the entire time,” says Silver. “He’s got such an innate feel for how to program his show. It is impulse and gut… you just get in there and let him cook, let him teach you something.”
“Freedom Now! Jazz and Civil Rights” can be streamed live at jazz88.org or via the KSDS mobile app (available for Android and IOS, etc). All Black History Month programming is available on demand at https://www.jazz88.org/black-history-month/; a schedule and episode topics and be found here. https://www.jazz88.org/articles/Black_History_Month_2025_Freedom_Now%21_Programming_Schedule/1/
