Spotlight On: LUCIUS

WITH SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO RITA HOUSTON, The OG Radio SHERO (1961-2020)

Program Director and DJ at WFUV Public Radio in New York for 25 years, Rita Houston (1961-2020) was a tremendously influential and important figure in radio and in music. She helped launch the careers of Brandi Carlile, Adele, and countless others. This is her full SHEROES Playlist.

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S SHERO IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe are at the core of Lucius, a band they founded together while studying music at Berklee, and grew to a four piece they have led with Dan Molad and Pete Lalish since 2011. With four studio albums, two ep’s, and countless collaborations to their names including their recent tour and recording with Pink Floyd legend, Roger Waters, Lucius have become known for their sublime harmonies and unison singing that merge seamlessly into one, their mirror image costumes, and energetic live shows. This week, in this special edition of SHEROES Radio, we pay tribute to one of the original Radio SHEROES and my mentor, Rita Houston, a legendary New York DJ, program director, and tastemaker, who paved the way for so many, and lost her fight to ovarian cancer this past week. I would be remiss if not to mention that it was Rita who introduced me and so many others to this band. Lucius is an integral part of this show, having written our theme music, and tonight they are our featured guests. At the end of the interview, Lucius shares a remembrance, and dedicates one of their songs to Rita.

RADIO SHERO:

Episode 6 is A TRIBUTE TO RADIO LEGEND RITA HOUSTON of WFUV Public Radio (NYC) with songs from her SHEROES PLAYLIST & interview clips. Rita was my mentor, my boss (for six years at WFUV), my friend, my greatest advocate, and my family. This week social media has literally exploded with tributes from countless artists who she helped get their starts, and those who she continued to support well into their careers. From Brandi Carlile, to Mavis Staples, to the Indigo Girls, to Ani DiFranco, and Rosanne Cash, SHEROES have been taking to Instagram and Twitter to pay tribute to Rita: an incredibly influential DJ and Program Director, and an unstoppable womxn who paved the way for so many. When Rita came to interview with me for SHEROES last year, I asked her for her SHEROES Playlist. I requested that she select 5-10 songs, she came back with a list of 26. (And that was Rita to a T - always going above and beyond.)  

The music in this week’s show was all hand-picked by Rita,, and I wanted to share her full playlist here with you. Enjoy.