ERIN LUCEY The Vermont Cynic
LJ Palardy, who was a key member to the WRUV community, is pictured. Pallardy spent over 22 years volunteering with the station. a memorial including live music and opportunities to share stories will be held at North End Studios in February.

In December, the UVM community lost the voice of a long time DJ at WRUV.

A memorial for LJ Palardy will be held at the North End Studios Feb. 14.

Palardy was a key member of the WRUV community in part because he was so involved in training new DJs, said senior Cameron Kostyra, who was trained his sophomore year by Palardy.

“[Palardy] probably was responsible for training all of the current DJs [at WRUV],” Laima Harmon, a DJ at WRUV, said.

In his 22 years of volunteering at WRUV, Harmon said Palardy became the one person everyone else could count on.

“All of the stuff that needed to be done that the rest of us didn’t really know how to do … he just took it upon himself to do it,” Harmon said.

“LJ was pretty much the glue that held that station together for the last 25 years,” Tom Ayres, DJ at WRUV, said.

Among the WRUV DJs, Palardy  was known to spend hours at the station, keeping up with logs and paperwork, cleaning CD cases and maintaining the general order.

At the station, he also became well known for his strictness.

“He was particular,” Harmon said, “we called him the station curmudgeon.”

Despite his particularities, Kostyra said Palardy did it all out of love, and with a great sense of humor.

Palardy is remembered by the WRUV community for his love of jazz as well.  At the station, he hosted a jazz radio show that aired Sunday mornings.

“He was profoundly knowledgeable and literate about jazz,” Harmon said. Ayres said Palardy was “an encyclopedia of jazz.”

After a short career in the U.S. Air Force and a lifetime of cultivating his love of music, “the high point of his life was having a radio show, and he just put his heart and soul into it,” Ayres said.

Not only was he a DJ at WRUV, but “he was [also] involved in a lot of the jazz programming in the Burlington community,” Harmon said. “He worked at [local radio station,] The Radiator … he started that one up.”

Palardy also played some music, Ayres said.

“He played a variety of hand percussion instruments,” he  said.

Palardy was part of the group Samba Tucada, a Brazilian samba street band.

The memorial will reflect his passion in life for music, both live and played by DJs.

“There’s going to be a combination of live music and DJs,” Ayres said.

The event is open to those who knew Palardy and wish to pay their respects.

“There’s [also] going to  be an open mic for people to talk and share stories and reminiscences,” Ayres said.

“I think the real test will come as we move back into the regular semester’s programming,” Ayres said. “I hope that he’s trained us well enough.”

“There are certain things that we’ve all picked up since he is no longer with us,” Kostyra said.

Harmon said Palardy was so passionate about the station that he fantasized about buying it from the University.

“He wanted to make sure that it was always functioning,” she said.

“After all, the station is the voice of the University of Vermont,” Harmon said.

In Palardy, the community lost a strong advocate for that voice, Harmon said.