By Cathy Miller

When it comes to this week’s Person of the Week, Jeff Rusch’s resume is not a simple one. He’s been a radio DJ, mechanic and an antique collector just to name a “few stops” along the way. Music, though, often takes center stage.

He was the voice from “The Crow’s Nest,” a radio program broadcast on WNTI (Centenary College) for years. Originally from Roxbury, he now lives a bucolic life in Belvidere with his wife Sandi and their cats Boots and Pearl. Jeff, who has four children (Jeffrey, Becky, Danny and Heidi), retired from his full-time mechanic job five years ago.

He shared a sentimental story: “Sandi and I have been married for five years as of September 19. In 2014, a year prior to getting married, we held a ‘Celebration of Us.’ It was exactly as it sounds – a celebration of our love for each other. We’d been married 33 and 35 years to our previous spouses and finally found each other. It’s storybook stuff!”

What about “The Crow’s Nest” moniker? Jeff tended to four pet crows over a few years, each rescued as a fledgling from a nearby swamp. He said they were incredibly smart birds, and good pets too, admitting, “The first one was the best. It had the most personality and stuck around the longest. That was Binky. It turned out Binky was a Binkette and was eventually wooed away.”

He has a deep appreciation of music and the people who create it. Recalling the first album he ever purchased, “The Doors,” around 1967, he said, “I bought it in Pathmark where my mom and I used to shop every week. I was around 12 or 13.” His two favorite music festivals are Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and Knowlton Riverfest, which was “monumental.”

Concerning his entry into broadcasting, he listened to WNTI all the time and ironically “just kind of fell into my job there.”

When he had his own business, he’d stay late on Friday nights doing paperwork, listening to Caribbean Vibes on WNTI with Al Stanbury. “I’d tune in religiously, calling in once in a while, then more often. Al got to know who I was. I had no dreams of being a deejay, just wondered what it was like being in a studio. One night I asked him and, to my amazement, he invited me up. I went one Friday night after work and never left! The station manager said, ‘either get him a show or tell him to leave.’ They let me do fill-ins, starting with Al and his reggae show. Eventually I earned a regular weekly spot called ‘The Crow’s Nest,’ which lasted nearly 20 years.”

Jeff prepared playlists for his first couple of shows…a terrible idea! Instead, he arrived at the radio station an hour early to pull music from WNTI’s collection, whatever moved him. In time, he had more music at home than he knew what to do with, so he’d pull the show there, and add to it from the library at the studio.

Being community programming, there were no particular guidelines, only language standards. Occasionally, early on, when he’d play a Top 40 tune, Jeff would receive a note from the director advising “you might want to dig deeper.” Jeff explained, “We pretty much played what we wanted to play. That was the beauty of WNTI, and why I liked it so much – you never knew what you were going to hear.”

He assures music fans there’s still good radio and good music out there, it’s just harder to find since so much is online. He’s reluctant to go strictly internet, which is why he tried WNTI.org two different times, but it felt empty. “When we were terrestrial, based on the ratings, we knew we had upwards of 50,000 listeners, obviously not all at one time, with a broad geographical range.” He continued, “With the internet you can be world-wide, but you can also see how many people are listening at one time. When I saw there were only 42 people listening, it broke my heart. All that work, all those years – it took the wind out of my sails. I’m still being offered things online, but I’m hesitant, despite missing it. It’s a real paradox.”

Jeff’s run at WNTI was a good one, from 2000 until 2019, with a year off around 2016. He explained, “I returned out of respect for the gentleman who took over my Saturday morning spot when I left. He passed away in 2017. I felt like I owed it to him. He was a great guy. Scott Judy.”

WNTI terrestrial flew the coop in 2015. WNTI.org is still broadcasting.

The Silo Series, a live house concert series held at Jeff and Sandi’s Magic Patio, has had two incarnations. The first round began around 2002 and ran five or six years, during Jeff’s first marriage. When Jeff mentioned to the station manager that the Silo Series was winding down, he suggested turning it into a radio show. “That’s how Sessions at Centenary, my other show, began. It was a one hour, one interview, live performance show with one artist or band. It allowed me to connect with the artists and provided them exposure.”

The Silo Series sprang up again after Jeff and Sandi were married. They held their first two Silo shows at their little townhouse in Panther Valley. When they moved into their current home, they waited a year or two before reconstituting the Series. Jeff said, “We’re on our fourth or fifth year of the second incarnation now. When we had our first ‘Celebration of Us,’ some friends came over with their instruments and played. That’s when I said let’s get the music going again.”

Typically, the Silo Series runs May through September, with one show a month. This year they’re hosting two shows plus their Celebration. Next year, as long as “things” clear up, they’ll be back with a full roster.

The Silo Series was named after the rock silo that looms near the concert area.

Beginning in 2022, Jeff is assuming programming at Ramsaysburg Homestead in Columbia. Excited and nervous at the same time, he hopes to try something different once he gets a feel for the place. “I don’t want to go too crazy,” he said, “I’d like to hire a classical string quartet, for instance.”

Jeff is passionate about gardening, with an affinity for irises. His grandfather was a farmer who also raised irises, tulips and peonies. He revealed, “That’s where I get my love for irises. Thanks to my cousin, I now have some of my grandfather’s irises. About four years ago she brought me some iris rhizomes from his original garden.” Cultivating at least 20 varieties, Jeff claims they’re simple to grow, starting from seed, or more typically buying plants from different growers. Although easy to grow, they do require maintenance. “They double every year,” Jeff warned. “You have to dig them up, divide them and replant them anytime between July 4 and October 1. Mine bloom in May and June.”

Jeff and Sandi share another interest: their booths at Scranberry Coop in Andover, a vintage store with more than 170 dealers, housed in a 10,000 square foot yellow building. They have two booths and a locked case, and call their business “Old and Odd, Just Like Us.” Jeff enumerated, “We sell everything – prints, old iron stuff, dishes, records, old kitchen items, glassware, teacups, teapots. I don’t really have a style per se, I gravitate toward mid-century stuff, 1930s to 1950s.” He works behind the front counter, so he spots trends, coming in and going out. Sandi cautioned, “The first time you go through, you’ll need hours to see everything,” including a dog named Tosh!

Jeff has always enjoyed buying and collecting antiques and vintage items. He’s visited weekly auctions and sales for years, but never had a retail space until now. He lamented, “I accumulate more than I sell. My basement was full, now, after our spring yard sale, it’s only half full. Sandi calls it Scranberry Junior.”

As for pricing items, it’s all life lessons, trial and error. He said, “When people ask what something is worth, I tell them it’s worth what you can sell it for!”

For those interested, Scranberry Coop, 42 Main Street, Andover, NJ 07821, is holding a Flea Market on August 1, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop in and tell Jeff you saw it on InsideWarren.com!

The next Silo Series House Concert is on August 14 with Cliff Eberhardt and Louise Mosrie. Details are at www.facebook.com/siloseries.

Cathy Miller is an award-winning photo journalist whose photos have appeared in multiple publications. She is also, it seems, the go-to person for event photography for various functions around the county.