Chuck Obuchowski, jazz director at WWUH Radio and the longtime host of Out Here and Beyond has been named the 2026 recipient of the Marian McPartland–Willis Conover Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting by the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA).
The award, one of the most prestigious honors in jazz media, recognizes broadcasters whose careers have made a lasting impact on how the music reaches listeners. It is named for two towering figures of jazz radio: Marian McPartland, whose Piano Jazz ran on NPR for more than three decades and won a Peabody Award, and Willis Conover, whose Voice of America broadcasts carried jazz to an estimated 30 million nightly listeners worldwide during the Cold War.
Obuchowski joined the WWUH staff in late 1993 and began hosting Tuesday Morning Jazz in May 1994—a slot he has held without interruption ever since. For more than two decades, he has also served as the station's jazz music director, shaping the sound and direction of jazz programming at WWUH, the University’s award-winning radio station that has served the Greater Hartford community since 1968.
"Chuck has been one of our most dedicated volunteers,” notes longtime WWUH General Manager John Ramsey. “His commitment to WWUH and to the art of jazz is second to none."