Nicole Sweeney was a new voice on the air at WRTI, staffing the overnight shift as an intern in 2004, when she put on a piece of music that changed her life. “I looked at my playlist, and if I remember correctly, it was all indexed by number sequences,” she recalls. “So I saw, like, J-523 and pulled out Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd.”
“I didn’t think anything of it, until I played it,” Sweeney adds of the title track, part of an influential hit album on Blue Note in 1973. “There was something that just made me stop and say, ‘What’s going on right now?’ This music is speaking to me.’”
What she heard was actually not far off from speaking, as the Mizell Brothers — Larry and Fonce, the latter of whom had studied with Dr. Byrd at Howard University — provided vocals for the song. They sing in unison before breaking into harmony on the chorus, over a casually funky bass line: “Check it out, Black bird shouting ouuuut.”
Sweeney heard this refrain differently, perhaps because there was something different she needed to hear. “I thought they were singing, ‘Black bird, flying high’ — and I took that so personally, as someone who was embarking on this new journey in life, going back to school as a bit of an adult.” She was 27 at the time, finishing her undergraduate degree at Temple University after taking a seven-year break in the workforce.
“Being at Temple before, I’d probably walked past this building so many times,” Sweeney says of WRTI’s office and studio facilities on Cecil B. Moore Avenue. “But here I am now, and it just clicked for me. I felt like that song was about this new chapter that I was going on in life. That’s what I needed the lyrics to be for me at that time, and it made me want to learn more about this music. From that point on, I was like, ‘Something’s happening here, and I want to know more, and I need it.’”
Just over 20 years later, that curiosity and conviction have brought Nicole Sweeney back to WRTI as the new host of Evening Jazz. She’ll be on the air Monday through Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m., starting on April 7 — holding down a prime-time shift previously held by Greg Bryant, and covered over the last few months by Josh Jackson. (Before Bryant, this shift was the legendary domain of Bob Perkins, who died earlier this year.)
“Nicole understands that our mission goes beyond playing the music,” attests Jackson, the associate general manager of WRTI. “It’s about telling stories, preserving legacies, and keeping jazz in front of future generations.”
During her time as an intern, Sweeney would often arrive early to the studio, to watch J. Michael Harrison as he worked. He once dubbed her “Nanook,” after she showed up one day wearing a puffy winter parka. “Nicole’s return to WRTI and Temple University conjures thoughts of the reliable student host that followed me on air two decades ago,” Harrison says. “Always on time and eager to share music with the listeners. It was wonderful to witness her setting the foundation for an extremely successful radio career. A huge welcome home to Nicole aka ‘Nanook’ Sweeney!”
Sweeney comes to WRTI this time around from SiriusXM, where she served alongside Bryant as a part-time host on Real Jazz, Channel 67. Before starting there in 2022, she spent the better part of a decade at WBGO, in an era when that station was home to several Hall of Fame jazz radio hosts: Bob Porter, Michael Bourne, Rhonda Hamilton, Gary Walker.
“At Temple, I had a professor who talked to us about silent mentors — where they don’t have to know that they’re actually mentoring you,” Sweeney says. “You can just watch them from the sideline and they’re mentoring you, as you’re following their steps. So I did that a lot with the great folks at WBGO.” But even as she saw them as a Mount Rushmore of the field, Sweeney got to know each host personally, as part of a team. She started as host of Afternoon Jazz, and finished there as host of Evening Jazz.
Sweeney grew up on Long Island, where her radio tastes ran more toward the urban contemporary blend of Hot 97. “I was going to be Angie Martinez,” she laughs, referring to a longtime stalwart on the air there (now at rival station Power 105.1). “I always had her in mind as who I was going to be. I was going to be doing hip-hop and R&B.”
After her fateful internship at WRTI, Sweeney moved to Atlanta for an opportunity at WCLK, where she spent seven years as a midday host. “What I find is that so many people enjoy jazz,” she says. “They’re just looking for a way to connect to it.”
Now based in South Jersey, she’s looking forward to serving the jazz community across the river. “I always tell people, when you go to Philadelphia, even if you only live there for a few months, you have to be an Eagles fan,” Sweeney says. “You’ve got to be a Phillies fan. It’s one of the proudest cities I’ve ever been to.”
“I’m excited about representing the positivity of Philadelphia,” she adds. “I’m excited about sharing what’s great about Philadelphia, outside of sports. I’m excited about getting to know the people of Philadelphia, because they are indeed amazing people. And I’m excited about sharing that on air. It was an easy decision to come to WRTI, because I feel that the work that I have to do, when it comes to jazz, this is where it should be done — right here in Philadelphia, where my love for jazz started.”
And will a certain cornerstone of her listening history make an appearance in the playlist of her first show on Monday? You’ll have to tune in to find out. But as Sweeney acknowledges, it’s a full-circle moment. “This is so important to me,” she says of her return to the airwaves on WRTI, two decades on. “It's very meaningful. It's very deep.”
Listen to Nicole Sweeney on Evening Jazz, Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m.
