Rich Lowe

Rich Lowe started as a radio announcer in 1982 at (then) WUJC fm in Cleveland, Ohio. In mid 1987 a move was made to WRUW, where the "Night of the Living Dread" program is aired to this day. As a native Clevelander, Lowe heard his first Jamaican beat when Bob Marley was featured on the "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" television program. After seeing the Wailers, Lowe walked down to Coventry Yard and purchased his first reggae record.

Rich Lowe describes his early association with music and the Jamaican community in Cleveland: "I always wanted to listen to 'real' Jamaican reggae and realized that I had to visit with the Jamaican community to make that connection. From there, I started to frequent Daily's and met up with many of the leaders of the Jamaican/music community like Trevor Edwards, Ras Matunju, Ringo, Shado, and Black Scorpio. I started to buy music at Dailey's - who had boxes of old records left over from a prior record shop he operated. After that I started to buy music in New York and Toronto. From there it's history."

When listening to "Night of the Living Dread," you'll hear all forms of Jamaican music, ranging from Jamaican mento to dancehall. Plenty of visitors pass through the studios of WRUW. On a Friday night, you might hear a report from Cleveland's Haslinden Cricket Club, new dubplates from a local sound system like Star Temple, or Sanchez D himself might even make a visit. Beyond radio, Lowe was the editor of "The Reggae Directory" magazine during the years 1989 to 1992. Rich Lowe's latest project is an Internet version of the former magazine called "Reggaedirectory.com." During the days, Lowe works at the Hinkley, Ohio Sanitation Dept as the Senior Recycling Manager.