This Monday’s (8/17) Deep Focus is on pocket trumpeter and global troubadour Don Cherry, a dear, deeply missed friend of WKCR. Back in the Eighties, Don was a frequent guest on Mitch Goldman’s show. Don would guest DJ, talk to the audience, bring guests… It was an ongoing Eighties NYC Don Cherry party. And if there was a blank cassette handy, Mitch would make a recording. The tapes got tossed in a box and ended up deep in storage.
In January of 2024 and again in February of 2025, Mitch and his guest, the bandleader, trumpeter, cultural historian, and raconteur Steven Bernstein, blew the dust off a few of the tapes and took their audience on a time-travel journey beyond the imagination of PKD or William Gibson. Cherry as a radio host was knowing, passionate, deeply curious, and remarkably generous. He was generous to his guests with his attention and generous to his audience (which is to say, us) by considering them to be part of the conversation. It’s very much the way he played music.
This Monday (8/17) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org, Mitch and Steven pull out a few more of these never-before-listened-to magnetic treasures just for you.
Or join us when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It’s ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial. We won’t even ask for your contact info.
Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.
Photo credit: by Mitch Goldman 2026. All rights reserved.
Deep Focus is a production of Small Media Large © 2026. All rights reserved.
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