WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS Fund Drive Playlists for February 1 & 8, 2015
The Carter Family
The Carter Family recording of “Heaven’s Radio” and John Hartford‘s version of “Turn Your Radio On” are two of my “lucky charm” songs that I play on my WFDU-FM radio show every February. While my show is not a religious program, the imagery and importance of radio that is stirred up by these songs become tools that serve a purpose – helping me remind listeners of the place radio plays in their lives while I pitch for donations during the station’s annual fund drive. It is also a reminder of what I and many consider the first folk music series on the radio – the Carter Family and their broadcasts during the 1930s from a border radio station XERA out of Mexico that brought folk music into homes across the nation.
Perhaps less subtle, I also make sure to play the Dirdy Birdies Jug band recording of Patrick Sky‘s song “Give to the Cause.” (Birdie’s leader Jack Pignatello recently started hosting a weekly program of jug band music on WFDU called “Sounds So Sweet.”) Raising money is a necessity of life on most non-commercial radio stations, especially on stations that cling to the original idea that public radio was created to serve diverse communities that would not turn a profit on commercial radio. Folk music radio series have special challenges in the tightening niche of public radio.
Having hosted Traditions since 1980, I’ve done my fair share of on-air fund drives. This year, our fund drive is critical for several reasons.
First and foremost, WFDU-FM has been granted approval by the FCC to increase our power power output, which will more than double our coverage area in the New York City metro area. We are also going HD (Hybrid Digital). Once complete, WFDU will offer 3 digital channels at 89.1MHz. The HD1 channel will be the WFDU programming that has been familiar to our audience for over 40 years. The HD2 channel Monday through Friday will be an expansion of our eclectic music shows that include folk, blues, classic country, oldies, bluegrass etc. On the weekends, WFDU plans to offer jazz on HD 2 in the form of 40’s, 50’s, & 60’s niche programming that just is not being played on the radio locally. Our HD 3 will be a classical music channel offering an alternative listening experience.
The historic Armstrong Tower in Alpine,NJ
WFDU-FM transmits from the historic Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey. Built in 1938 by Edwin Howard Armstrong, it is the site of his transmission experiments that led to the development FM radio. The building that was Armstrong’s lab and housed his radio station W2XMN is still standing and is now a museum. The tower was also instrumental after 9/11 when several New York City television and radio stations temporarily broadcast from the Armstrong Tower following the collapse of the World Trade Center and its transmission facilities. It is an honor to be linked to this historic structure and we try to live up to that history with the work we do on WFDU-FM.
September will mark my 40th anniversary with WFDU and in April my radio series WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS will celebrate 35 years of bringing folk music to the Northern NJ/NYC airwaves on Sunday afternoons – and we now can be heard on iHeart Radio, iTunes radio and a host of apps that deliver our programs to devices around the globe. I am quite proud of these changes, but it comes at a cost – and at a difficult time for folk radio.
The second reason that this fund drive is important reaches to the significance of offering folk music on the radio.
The theme of “Turn Your Radio On” has become more important as radio is becoming an afterthought in the lives of many people. Internet music streaming from sites like Spotify and Rhapsody have become competition. Technology has enabled podcasting and given tools to people to create their own programs on home computers. Even car radios now come installed a multitude of options to listen to these alternative sources, and hitting the FM button is not always the first pick for drivers.
Add in the mainstream media’s neglect and turning their nose up at most folk music offerings, and it becomes harder to get our voice out there.
A week before the WFDU fund drive began, we received some disturbing news about a much loved radio host in our folk community. Washington DC folk music icon Mary Cliff was told by WAMU-FM management that her show TRADITIONS would no longer be part of their schedule.
Mary Cliff
Mary was “discovered” by another folk radio legend, the late Dick Cerri. In 1967 Mary was working at the famed Cellar Door nightclub in nearby Georgetown when Dick heard her voice over the phone and told her she should be on radio. A friendship developed as Mary kept telling Dick about the progressive rock scene that was blossoming and all the underground artists that should be on the radio. Dick gave her an hour of airtime each day, starting in 1968 during the week Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.
In 1970 public radio station WETA began broadcasting and Mary joined them to deliver great folk music to the listeners in our nation’s capitol with her show “Traditions.” (Note- my own show, which started in 1980, is also called Traditions. This was by coincidence – these were the days before the Internet, and I had not yet heard or met Mary. I now make efforts to refer to my show as WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS to help distinguish the different shows and out of respect for Mary, who I’ve come to know and admire greatly.) Mary’s Saturday night program was a fixture with folk fans in the area, who came to enjoy her wonderful taste in music with deep roots in traditional styles, and also for her comprehensive coverage of Washington DC folk events.
In 2007, WETA decided to alter their diverse public radio offerings and become a classical music station, and Mary’s show was removed from WETA’s schedule. The other public radio station in the area, WAMU, quickly picked up Mary and returned her to Saturday nights. The American University owned station made some format changes in 2013 and bounced Mary’s show to their other FM facility which offered a format called “Bluegrass Country.” Mary’s show fit the lower powered channel’s roots music offerings, and the show was also being heard on HD radio in the area.
As the calendar turned to 2015, the management of WAMU-FM decided to focus on the bluegrass aspects of their programming, and now Mary is without a home. It is hoped that her voice will soon return to the DC airwaves in the near future. Mary is an incredible resource for the region and her knowledge of trad music and familiarity with the folk music community is too valuable to be sidelined. I would hope that her hiatus from radio is quickly rectified. For all the mistakes that occur in Washington DC, her removal from the airwaves is a great loss that surely will be corrected by some intelligent broadcaster.
Mary is not the only radio host who has been told they are losing their show. Over the past decade, a number of well received shows in different parts of the country were told that their services were no longer needed. While a number of these hosts have found new homes, a number have not. Many public radio stations have gone the same route as WETA and WAMU – dropping their diverse programming that was once a hallmark of public radio and becoming tightly formatted, ala their commercial brethren. Even satellite radio, with their claims of dozens of channels offering great variety of music, made similar moves when Sirus XM removed their folk channel “The Village” from the satellite and made it an Internet only offering.
Are these signs calling to the end of what we once knew as public radio? Will folk music radio cease to be heard?
I am not one to yell the sky is falling. There are hundreds of folk radio programs still broadcasting across North America. There are probably more folk radio shows on the air in 2015 then there were at the height of the folk revival.
Radio was first given a death sentence when television came on the scene and rapidly grew in popularity. Radio did not die at the time, but it changed to adapt as it found the service was still needed, although perhaps in different forms. Radio excelled at delivering information to local audiences and people would turn to radio for fast and portable access to information such as news, weather and traffic. Music became more accessible on radio and audiences discovered new artists and styles through radio.
The purpose of public radio was seemingly defined when both houses passed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, signed into law by Lyndon Johnson in November of that year. The idea was to help encourage and facilitate diversity in programming and provide for development of non-commercial radio and television, particularly to serve minorities and children. Part of the act stated “it is in the public interest to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences.” Broadcasters would be able to find resources to enable the to provide programs that were not easily serviced by commercial interests and would not rely on selling advertising.
Of course, this led to other issues in terms of funding, but non-commercial radio stations would turn to their listeners and private and corporate donors for help.
By the late 1970s, the push to deregulate radio began. Broadcasters worried that the controls of government were having an effect on free speech. Radio deregulation became reality in 1981, and in 1987 the Fairness Doctrine was abolished, a Federal Communications Commission policy that required broadcasters to present both sides of controversial issues.
While these changes may have helped preserve free speech, the impact enabled commercial interests to have more say and change the scope of broadcasting. It also enabled commercial broadcasters to own multiple stations in the same market and led to the growth of mass media corporations such as Clear Channel (now known as iHeartMedia Inc.), a corporation that bought their first radio station in San Antonio, Texas in 1972 and now own 850 stations across the country, the largest of any corporation. They also lease two channels on Sirius XM satellite radio, and the operate the iHeartRadio online platform, on which WFDU-FM’s signal can now be heard.
The vast majority of radio stations around the country are owned by handful of corporations, leading to much tighter control of the music being played.
These changes had an effect on non-commercial stations. NPR either owns or syndicates programming to over 900 public radio stations across the country. Public stations have developed tighter formats as it becomes easier to attract audiences to stations that offer the same type of program 24 hours a day. Stations that continue to offer diverse lineups of eclectic programs find it harder to build audiences since each show has its own listenership, and the concept of “appointment driven radio” for people to tune into specific programs, like a folk show, becomes harder to sell to those that continue to listen to radio. Finding younger audiences to follow the old business model has become a greater challenge, which is why radio is in a period of change.
Offering programs on different platforms is one step. WFDU is working hard to keep up with the times. Our shows can also be heard via our archive at www.wfdu.fm, which allows people to tune in at their convenience. Still, they need a compelling reason to do so with the vast number of offerings available through technology.
As host and producer of a folk radio show, it is imperative to recognize that we are no longer the only game in town, and we must continue to find ways to entice new audiences to listen and at the same time remember the traditional audiences that continue to tune in. Even though their numbers decrease with the march of time, they are still represent the biggest portion of our audience, and they are the ones that support us come fund drive.
What is the answer? I wish I had a crystal ball. If those of you who read this have ideas, please share them by making comments below.
What I am sure of is that folk radio CAN manage to exist and be relevant. Folk music is about community, and our shows become a gathering spot for the folk community – a somewhat traveling circus of a community that is drawn together by the music. Their needs change over time. For a number of years, I was resistant to adding items like weather reports and non-music community announcements to my broadcasts. In 2015 I’ve come to realize that elements like this are part of the local connection that listeners rely. You cannot replace the local aspect and knowledge of your local folk radio host. If they are doing a good job, they will know your community and what it likes and needs. They need you to support their efforts and to help spread the word about what they are doing. At least, I know I need your help!
Gene Shay
As we continue to evolve, we will continue to see good signs as well as bad signs such as Mary Cliff’s cancellation. I am hopeful she will find a new home. We also said “farewell” to another radio icon recently, the one and only Gene Shay. Gene has retired from his long running show and the Philadelphia area will miss him. (To read more about Gene, click HERE for Sing Outs recent article about his retirement, and also click HERE to learn about an exciting concert they are hosting in his honor.) Gene helped build a strong community in the Philadelphia area, and I am also convinced that while no one can fill his shoes, folk music will continue to be heard on the airwaves in the the soul of Philadelphia.
Oscar Brand
It must also be noted that the nations longest running folk music show continues to be heard in NYC. Oscar Brand recently celebrated his 95th birthday and his 70th year hosting “Folk Song Festival” with an on-air party on WNYC. Oscar is the Cal Ripkin of folk radio, having begun his show in 1945. With my own show celebrating its 35th anniversary, I hope I can stay healthy and maybe have a shot at his record – but Oscar shows no signs of stopping, and hopefully he will continue to broadcast for many more years.
Joltin’ Joe Pszonek
I am also encouraged that new folk music shows do crop up on the radio. They may not sound like some of the other shows I mentioned, but they are serving a living folk community and perhaps these new hosts will offer ideas and programming that will pave the way for the future of folk music radio. Here in New Jersey, we have a wonderful asset in “Joltin'” Joe Pszonek, who hosts an incredible show called “Radio Nowhere” on WMSC in Montclair, New Jersey. His show can be heard on Sunday nights from 7 to 9pm, and I am glad we do not broadcast at the same time. Joe does wonderful interviews and has the pulse of the contemporary folk scene.
I believe Joe and others like him are the key to drawing new listeners to the music we love. I only hope that I can keep my own show on the air long enough to learn from people like Joe as we face the future in this ever changing technological world. The music will continue to honor the past and look forward to the future. If we keep up with the times and look for new ways of presenting, folk music radio will always have a spot on the radio dial.
* * *
Below you will find that I have combined playlists for the last two weeks worth of shows. I was joined by my co-host Bill Hahn for these shows in February as we pitched for funds. The programming is representative of the music we play during the year, but our fund raising duties require us to abandon some of the features and lengthier sets that we normally play. Assuming our fund drive is successful, we will be back to our old tricks come March!
(Tune in to WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS every Sunday from 2pm to 5pm Eastern Time over WFDU-FM 89.1 in the NYC/Northern New Jersey area, or on the web at www.wfdu.fm or iHeartRadio.com. On-demand streams of shows, including this one, are archived for two weeks by clicking HERE. A Sing Out! Radio Partner.)
WFDU-FM’s TRADITIONS Playlists for February 1 & 8, 2015
Fund Drive Playlist for February 1, 2015
HOSTS: Ron Olesko & Bill Hahn
ARTIST “Tune / Song”
ALBUM Label Website
2PM
Theme: HARVEY REID “Dirty Dish Rag”
Solo Guitar Sketchbook Woodpecker Records – www.woodpecker.com
DIRDIE BIRDIES JUG BAND “Give to the Cause”
Endangered Species Guano Records – www.birdies.org
RACHEL SAGE “Helpless”
Blue Roses Mpress Records – www.mpressrecords.com
DARRYL PURPOSE “Singer/Songwriter Heaven”
Live at Coalesce self – www.darrylpurpose.com
JERRON “BLIND BOY” PAXTON “Railroad Bill”
single self – www.facebook.com/pages/Blind-Boy-Paxton
JOHNSMITH “Family Affairs”
The Longing Road self – www.johnsmithmusic.com
SCOTT & MICHELLE DALZIEL “Step Into Now”
Dragonflies Gatorbone Recoreds – www.dalziel.net
BETH DESOMBRE “Song of Joy”
Crooked Highways self – www.bethdesombre.com
LOU & PETER BERRYMAN “Every Song I Write”
Rocky Frontier Cornbelt Records – www.louandpeter.com
RAISON DE ETRE “Rum & Coca-Cola”
Tales from the Tall Side self – www.raison3.com
ODETTA “Take This Hammer”
At the Gate of Horn Tradition – out of print
EVA CASSIDY “Imagine”
Imagine Blix Street – www.blixstreet.com
CLAUDIA NYGAARD “His Left Side”
Let The Storm Roll In self – www.claudianygaard.com
JORMA KAUKONEN “Brother Can You Spare a Dime”
Ain’t No Hurry Red House Records – www.redhouserecords.com
MICHAEL JEROME BROWNE “Sliding Delta”
Sliding Delta Borealis – www.borealisrecords.com , www.michaeljeromebrowne.com
TOM CHAPIN “City of New Orleans”
70 Sundance Music – www.tomchapin.com
DEBRA COWAN “Darlin’ Corey”
Among Friends Muzzy House Music – www.debracowan.com
THE LEVINS “Laugh With Me”
Trust self – www.thelevinsmusic.com
RICHARD BERMAN “My Mother is Religious”
You’re Home Now Aries Records – www.richardberman.com
ANDREW MCKNIGHT “Count Your Blessings”
Something Worth Standing For Falling Mountain Music – www.andrewmcknight.com
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK “Wanting Memories”
Still on the Journey Earthbeat – www.sweethoney.com
KIM AND REGGIE HARRIS AND MAGPIE “Calling Folks Names”
Spoken in Love Longtail Records – www.kimandreggie.com
ZACHARY STEVENSON “Changes”
While I’m Here self – www.zacharystevenson.com
JOHN ROBERTS & DEBRA COWAN “Sir Patrick Spens”
MP3 from forthcoming CD self – www.goldenhindmusic.com , www.debracowan.com
FRED GILLEN JR. “I Dreamed I Saw Pete Seeger”
Wage Love Dys Records – www.fredgillenjr.com
THE WEAVERS “Pay Me My Money Down”
The Weaver’s At Carnegie Hall Vanguard Records – www.vanguardrecords.com
* * *
Fund Drive Playlist for February 8, 2015
HOSTS: Ron Olesko & Bill Hahn
ARTIST “Tune / Song”
ALBUM Label Website
2PM
Theme: HARVEY REID “Dirty Dish Rag”
Solo Guitar Sketchbook Woodpecker Records – www.woodpecker.com
THE CARTER FAMILY “Heaven’s Radio”
The Carter Family JSP – www.jsprecords.com
THE TILLERS “500 Miles”
Hand on the Plow Muddy Roots Music – www.muddyrootsrecords.com
TOM CHAPIN “Old Dogs and Old Friends”
70 Sundance Music – www.tomchapin.com
ROD MACDONALD “For the People”
After the War Blue Flute Music – www.rodmacdonald.net
MAE ROBERTSON & ERIC GARRISON “Our House”
Sweet Dreams of Home Magnolia Music – www.lyricpartners.com
ANNE HILLS “The Train To Morrow”
Tracks Hand and Heart Music – www.annehills.com
BRUCE HOLMES “When the Ship Comes In”
Life’s An Intelligence Test self – www.bruceholmes.com
GATHERING TIME “Rain and Snow”
When One Door Closes… self – www.gatheringtimetrio.com
JOHN PRINE “The Sins of Memphisto”
The Missing Years Oh Boy – www.ohboy.com
MARK ERELLI “Night Train”
Milltowns self – www.markerelli.com
ERIK DARLING “Pretty Polly”
Bob Dylan’s Greenwich Village Chrome Dreams – www.chromedreams.co.uk
3PM
JACK HARDY “Forget-Me_Not”
Fast Folk: A Community of Singers and Songwriters Smithsonian Folkways – www.si.edu/folkways
AMY SPEACE “Raincoat”
That Kind of Girl self – www.anyspeace.com
MYA BRYNE “Forgotten Dreams”
As I Am self – www.myabyrne.com
MICHAEL JEROME BROWNE “Special Rider Blues”
Sliding Delta Borealis – www.borealisrecords.com , www.michaeljeromebrowne.com
SCOTT AINSLEE “Avalon Blues”
The Last Shot Got Him self – www.scottainslie.com
JIM PHOTOGLO “Brothers Medley”
Halls of My Heart Grifftone Records – www.grifftone.com , www.jimphotoglo.com
ZAK SMITH “The House You Haunt”
Signs of Life self – www.zaksmithband.com
TOM PAXTON “The Mayor of MacDougal Street”
Redemption Road self – www.tompaxton.com
4PM
OSCAR BRAND “Which Side Are You On?”
Newport Folk Festival 1959 Not Now Music Limited – www.notnowmusic.co.uk
LUCY KAPLANSKY “Lucy Kaplansky”
The Tide Red House – www.redhouserecords.com , www.lucykaplansky.com
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER “Violets of Dawn”
The Village: A Celebration of the Music of Greenwich Village 429 Records – www.429records.com
FRED GILLEN JR. “The Ghost of Joe Hill”
Wage Love Dys Records – www.fredgillenjr.com
GREG KLYMA “Erie Canal”
Rust Belt Vagabond self – www.klyma.com
THE LEVINS “Laugh With Me”
Trust self – www.thelevinsmusic.com
TOM PRASADA-RAO “I Hear You Laughing”
I Hear You Laughing self – www.tomprasadaorao.com
BEST OF FRIENDS (TOM PAXTON, ANNE HILLS & BOB GIBSON) “And Loving You”
Best of Friends Appleseed Recordings – www.appleseedrec.com
PETER YARROW “When Day is Done”
Kerrville Folk Festival – The Early Years Silverwolf Records – out of print
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Ron Olesko
WFDU-FM
1000 River Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666
www.wfdu.fm
www.iheart.com/live/WFDU-891-6648
click here for Traditions Archive
The post Turn Your Radio On appeared first on Sing Out!.
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