Claudia Russell’s path – from ‘What the heck, we’ll see’ to first radio DJ to join SD Music Hall of Fame

As a radio DJ, Claudia “Jazz Kitty” Russell’s voice was heard throughout San Diego County for 25 years thanks to her on-air role at KSDS-FM, also known as Jazz 88.3.

And during that quarter century, she gave local artists a platform via her show “Bohemia After Dark,” which blended jazz with bebop, spoken word, hip-hop, Latin music, rock and other connected sounds.

Russell, who has been off the airwaves since leaving Jazz 88.3 in April, is set to have her career immortalized Friday when she becomes the first radio DJ inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame.

It’s an honor that Russell said she doesn’t take lightly. She was astonished when HOF founder Jefferson Jay informed her of it live on the air during one of her final weeks at KSDS.

“I literally cried,” she told Times of San Diego. “I’m not kidding when I tell you I literally cried in front of him. I was floored.”

Part of the reason for her astonishment, she said, is because although she plays music as a DJ, she doesn’t perform music as a musician. She reminded Jay of that fact.

“I said to him that night in the studio at KSDS, I said, ‘Are you sure about this?’ Because I’m not a musician. And he said one of the most flattering things to me, one of the kindest things that anyone has said to me. He said, ‘I talked to several other musicians in town and we all agree you are one of us’,” she said.

“I can tell you as somebody who really tried to highlight our local scene throughout my career at KSDS, to have musicians think of me in that way is without question the highest compliment I could ever seek as a broadcaster,” she said.

Jay said that one of main reasons she was chosen was because of her years of championing local artists.

“Very few disc jockeys are currently empowered or allowed to play local music,” Jay said. “She took her connection and relationship to the local music scene far beyond that though, by building personal relationships with all kinds of artists in jazz and beyond.

“We (at the SD Music Hall of Fame) believe strongly in honoring folks who in addition to doing what they do well, lift up others and celebrate community and participate in San Diego music and give themselves to it in a deep way,” Jay added. “And she exemplifies all those things.”

Russell’s path to the Hall of Fame began in 2001 when she was living in northern Indiana and working for the local NPR affiliate.

“I had been working there for about, I want to say seven or eight years and it was January. And I was really, really cold. And there was a lot of snow, and I had just shoveled my car out,” she began.

“I was on a list serve for public broadcasting jobs. And a message came through about this job at KSDS. And I thought, ‘Wow, I would love to do that.’ I thought, ‘you know, this would be a neat job’.”

“I had never been to San Diego; I didn’t know a soul in San Diego,” she recounted. “I sent in my resume; I was granted an interview. I flew in, spent one night, did the interview and went home and thought, ‘You know, what the heck, we’ll see’.”

After landing the job, Russell spent her mid-30s to her late-50s working various timeslots at Jazz 88.3, from mornings to middays to weekends to lastly, her weeknight slot with “Bohemia After Dark,” which she hosted for four years. Along the way, she introduced listeners to countless songs and artists that they might not ever have heard otherwise.

“I’ve always told people I think of myself as that little wooden piece in the Tinker toy set, I’m the connector,” she said. “I am the one that connects the audience to the artist and the artist to the audience. And that’s a wonderful place to be.”

Russell said that she’s very grateful to not just the artists, but also the listening audience within the San Diego music community.

“Because when you’re in radio, you can’t have a career unless those two groups support you,” she remarked. “And I have always tried to represent the San Diego jazz – and to a degree blues, but the San Diego jazz scene – always tried to represent them well on my program, and I’m so grateful for the way that they embraced this person who showed up out of nowhere from northern Indiana.”

“I am filled with gratitude for the way that the San Diego music scene embraced me and allowed me to do what I did for 25 years on KSDS.”

In April, Russell left the station after deciding to take some time off from broadcasting. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that she has retired.

“Right now, I’m taking time off to be with my family,” she explained. “I am the youngest of seven kids, and there are four of us left. My siblings are older, so I want to spend the time with them that I can while I can.”

“My older brother Steve passed away last year and it really opened my eyes to the fact that we’re not children anymore and we don’t have a lot of time together left,” she added.

For those who miss hearing her on the air, there’s a chance that Russell’s voice could return to the airwaves, albeit on a different platform.

“There is a possibility of my creating a non-traditional broadcasting (platform) and I’ve got some feelers out (but) I’m not ready to make those (plans) public yet,” she said. “I have a couple of different avenues that I can pursue and my goal when I come back would be to create programming that focuses almost exclusively on the San Diego scene.”

“So, I’m hoping that sometime I’ll put those headphones on again and be behind the mic again,” she said, “because I love what I do.”

For tickets to the San Diego Music Hall of Fame ceremony, at 5:30 p.m. Friday, see Eventbrite. For more information, see the Hall of Fame’s website.