STANDISH – At 79, Janice Major of Scarborough is busier than

ever, fulfilling and nurturing her passion for the music of

Broadway through the show she hosts on a Standish-based community

radio station.

STANDISH – At 79, Janice Major of Scarborough is busier than ever, fulfilling and nurturing her passion for the music of Broadway.

Major, a former secretary at King Middle School in Portland, has been spreading her love of Broadway musicals through her show, “Let’s Visit Broadway,” which is broadcast by the Standish-based community radio station WJZF 97.1 FM, as well as on the radio’s website, www.WJZF.org.

“I absolutely love Broadway music,” Major said. “Such wonderful music comes from those Broadway shows from way, way back. My favorites are Rogers and Hart, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein. Shows like ‘South Pacific’ have fantastic music in it.”

The show, which airs at various times throughout the week, allows Major to play the music she wants, all under the encouraging eye of station manager David Patterson, who has operated the station out of his home since January 2005.

“Janice is a strong lynchpin of this organization,” said Patterson, who over the years has increased the station’s broadcasting power as well as the amount of local programming content. “She is dedicated; she’s responsible. She has on-air longevity.”

And Major is happy for the opportunity the station has given her. She buys most of the music she plays on air, and prepares for each show by researching the music and performers so she can impart a little knowledge to listeners prior to each piece. She said she prefers to “let the music do the talking,” but if a piece is obscure, she’ll try to help put the music in context for her audience.

“I love the research,” Major said. “I do a weekly blog on music and I do a lot of research for that, and I love it. I have several books on musicians, and I’ll go into the Internet. One link will take you to another link, to another link. I go to Wikipedia, but sometimes I go to Borders and look for a book on a particular person. It all depends.”

In addition to DJing on WJZF, Major enjoys playing music on her Lowry organ, which is capable of digitally reproducing the sounds of 96 different orchestral instruments. She’ll play for friends and various seniors’ organizations.

“I have an awfully busy schedule,” she said. “I take organ lessons on Thursday mornings, play organ at the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough for entertainment on Sunday afternoons. I play at Truslow Adult Day Care in Saco twice a month. I’m out here at the radio station on Fridays. I also entertain for Portland Assisted Living and Bessey Commons in Scarborough.”

Most of her time, in other words, is spent playing or listening to music, and the friendly and spry 79-year-old wouldn’t have it any other way. She spent much of her middle-aged years raising a family, but a dozen years ago decided she wanted more out of music than an occasional visit to a show or musical, so she bought an electric organ. Eight organ upgrades and a radio show later, she’s become quite a musical aficionado.

“The music is my real love. So anytime somebody says, can you somehow play for us, I say if you can get to my house, I can play for you,” Major said.

Since she enjoys how music makes her feel, she reaches out to her audiences, both on radio and in person, out of a desire to impart that feeling on others.

“I think everybody has rhythm, but I think not everyone recognizes it. I always knew I needed to express the rhythm in me, the music in me,” Major said. “It’s a great expression when you’re sad or when you’re upbeat. And it’s a wonderful thing to share it. What you see when you play for them is just amazing. You just see them smile. They tap their feet, they clap their hands. Some get up and dance, some sing along. And they always say, when are you coming back? So I know what I do is a real benefit to people.”

In addition to “Let’s Visit Broadway,” Major also hosts a senior-focused WJZF show entitled “Community Focus.” When interviewees are available, she’ll interview leaders from local organization such as veterans’ groups, Kiwanis clubs, and Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging, based in Scarborough. The one-hour program airs on WJZF four times a week, but fresh material is dependent on new guests.

Not so with the Broadway show, which is easier to keep fresh, she said. The Broadway show is new mostly every week, as the list of shows is nearly endless and only constrained to Major’s CD library.

But not everything that passes on Broadway will pass on the radio show. Since WJZF has a family values orientation, Major needs to monitor prospective songs for foul or vulgar language.

“I have to listen to it. There’s vulgarity in some of them, especially newer ones, that we just don’t air. It passes on stage, though, people almost expect it nowadays. You just have to be careful,” she said.

Major’s Broadway radio program “morphed,” as station manager Patterson described it, out of the seniors-focused show. Major originally heard about WJZF from another local radio personality who turned her on to Patterson’s station. She called Patterson and arranged a time to meet. Two years later, she’s recorded 48 “Let’s Visit Broadway” shows.

“We were kind of running dry on senior programming. We’d done shows on muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s, tax issues, reverse mortgages. We sort of ran dry on where to go with it next, and I wanted to do something a little more entertaining,” Major remembers.

Her show may morph a little more in the near future, too. Within a few months, Patterson said, her show and others shows on the station may get further reach if a deal to expand WJZF’s range works out. Patterson said by spring he’s hoping to obtain license to a repeater antenna, which will greatly enhance the power of the Standish-based WJZF, whose antenna is located on the tower beside Standish Town Hall.

“Wouldn’t that be something though, reaching downtown Portland?” Patterson said. “That’s the goal.”

Janice Major records a segment of “Let’s Visit Broadway,” on WJZF 97.1 FM based in Standish. The Scarborough resident has a passion for listening to Broadway musical hits and sharing them with her radio audience. (Staff photo by John Balentine)