Ann Delisi: Paying tribute to Detroit radio visionary Judy Adams

Last week, I along with many others were devastated to learn of the passing of Detroit radio pioneer Judy Adams on Christmas Eve.

Adams spent 32 years at WDET, serving as program director for most of those years and hosting the show Morphogenesis, which later became The Judy Adams Program.

As program director, she helped curate the personality of WDET — guiding the programming by ensuring that all of us who host music shows here aren’t told what to play. She created an environment for all of us to explore the kind of show we wanted to do — developing the station into the extraordinary platform it has become for artists from Detroit and beyond to have a voice. 

Out of WDET’s 75-year history, I can’t imagine if she hadn’t been here for those 32 years where we would be today. She had a profound affect not only on me, but on many others at the station over the years, including Senior Underwriting Representative for the station Ralph Valdez.

Valdez joined me on Essential Music on Saturday to talk about the impact she had, and the many people she hired and influenced over her more than three decades at WDET. During our conversation, Valdez recalled the first time he met Judy, as a fan and station volunteer in the 1970s.

“She was very gracious and very loving, and I was somewhat starstruck because I was a fan of Morphogenesis at the time,” he said, adding that, later “working at the station [with Judy] was just a real exceptional spot in my life and my career.”

Valdez went on to become Judy’s close friend and neighbor, he said, recalling her talent for playing the piano and her boundless love for music exploration.

“She brought music to everyone that she knew and touched through the airwaves, and in real life, in personal ways as well.”

— Ralph Valdez, WDET

“She just was a music lover through and through,” he said. “She loved to play music for people when you’d come to her house; she’d play the piano or she’d say: ‘Oh listen to this new CD I just got in the mail, it’s so cool!’ and she’d just turn it up real loud.

“She brought music to everyone that she knew and touched through the airwaves, and in real life, in personal ways as well.”

Listen to our full conversation by using the media player above, beginning at the one hour mark.

“Ann Delisi’s Essential Music” airs every Saturday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and every Sunday from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET FM.