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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,885 posts)
Fri Jul 8, 2016, 02:40 PM Jul 2016

WAMU Is Selling Its Bluegrass Country Station

They must be crazy. If people want to listen to news, they'll turn to WTOP. It's what all my radios are tuned to by default.

The bluegrass sub-channel of WAMU is also available over the air in non-encrypted analog form at 105.5 MHz. You don't need a radio with subchannel abilities to hear it. Even AM-FM-cassette Walkman and Walkman-type music players can pick it up in downtown DC.

Maybe that low power FM station in Arlington, WERA, can buy the station.

WAMU Is Selling Its Bluegrass Country Station

by Christina Sturdivant in News on Jul 8, 2016 10:55 am

You might want to keep your ears close to WAMU's Bluegrass Country station over the next few months because it might not be around next year. Due to D.C.'s changing demographics, WAMU is selling the music service, according to a release from the station. And if they can't find a new owner by December 31, the service will stop altogether.

WAMU’s bluegrass offerings have been available for nearly 50 years. What began as a half hour show has grown into a 24 hour music station at 105.5 FM. It's also streamed online. ... Recently though, WAMU hired two companies to conduct studies to find out what listeners want to hear and what they'll financially support over the next five years. Both reports came back saying that Bluegrass isn't it. Instead, listeners flock to the public radio station for its news value.

Last fall, a couple of the station's most popular hosts announced other changes. Kojo Nnamdi said that his show would be cut in half and only focus on "critical regional issues." And Diane Rehm, whose two-hour newsmagazine program is recorded at WAMU and syndicated across the country, told The Washington Post that she'll likely retire this year after the presidential election. The station is also trying to build new listenership with a focus on producing podcasts.

Staff members are "proud of the bluegrass legacy WAMU helped build over the past 49 years," according to the release, which also adds that the ideal situation would be to find a new owner for the service. ... The station has launched a public search for an individual or group to take over the music service. Interested parties can complete a proposal form online.

Country music goes back a looooooooooooooong way in DC:

Connie B. Gay

Career

From 1946 to 1960, Connie B. Gay was a disc jockey, concert promoter, artistic talent scout/manager, owner of radio and television stations, and music executive.

Broadcasting

In 1946, Connie B. Gay persuaded Frank Blair, the program manager of WARL, a radio station in Arlington, Virginia, to let him do a half-hour show at noon each day. Gay offered to forgo a salary in exchange for a percentage of the advertising revenue, and an agreement was reached. His show, Town and Country Time, was promoted as offering "a little bit of town and an awful lot of country"[5] and broadcast six days a week. Gay had the business sense to register his program's name as a trademark, an important factor in measuring his financial success. The endeavor was very successful, growing to a three-hour program that was syndicated across the United States and to some international markets on the Armed Forces Network. Because Gay owned the rights to his Town and Country moniker, all negotiations related to its use required his assent. Connie Gay realized lucrative gains from brokering the program's syndication.

In 1954, Connie B. Gay began broadcasting a televised version of Town and Country Time on WMAL-TV in Washington D.C.[4] while continuing to syndicate the audio portion to the more than 1800 radio stations signed on to his network. He would discover Jimmy Dean and Patsy Cline soon after, and both became regular cast members of the TV program. By year's end, the TV program was being syndicated to 40 different stations.

By 1956, Town and Country Time was airing in 50 urban markets, including Spokane, Tulsa, Houston, Los Angeles, and Detroit. Gay had formed a company under his moniker called Town and Country Enterprises to manage his assets which had grown to include radio stations he then owned, and artists he promoted and managed. By years end, Connie B. Gay had amicably severed all ties with WARL, giving his full attention to his own enterprise and was a leading contender for Billboard's Tycoon of the Year award, with an estimated annual gross of $2 million.

Talent management and promotions

Connie Gay was involved in promoting new talent through his broadcast medium, and booking acts to an array of live events. Several country artists that Gay managed, like Patsy Cline, Jimmy Dean, and Roy Clark, became inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In March 1956, Gay booked a young, relatively unknown singer, who was described as a "devastating combination of Frankie Laine, Johnnie Ray, and Billy Daniels" in Dorothy Kilgallen's syndicated column. Fifty years later, that night, when Elvis Presley performed for over three hours, had become "the stuff of local legend."

Executive positions

In 1958, Connie Gay helped found the Country Music Association and served as its first president. Gay called for a meeting in his hotel room with Wesley Rose, Hubert Long, and Dee Kilpatrick, to discuss the defunct Country Music Disc Jockey Association. The meeting culminated with plans to create a new association, that would cater to all aspects of country music, and the CMA was born. Gay also helped organize the Country Music Foundation, which operates the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. In 1963, the CMA instituted the Connie B. Gay Award as an honor of high prestige. Gay funded the award with his personal assets and established a trust, in his will, to ensure perpetual viability beyond his lifetime. Now called the Founding President's Award, recipients include Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Martina McBride, and Brad Paisley.

Roy Clark

Biography

Born in Meherrin, Virginia, Clark lived as a teenager in southeast Washington, D.C., where his father worked at the Washington Navy Yard. At 14, Clark began playing banjo, guitar, and mandolin, and by age 15 he had already won two National Banjo Championships and world banjo/guitar flatpick championships. He was simultaneously pursuing a sporting career, first as a baseball player and then as a boxer, before dedicating himself solely to music. At 17, he had his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.
....

By 1955, he was a regular on Jimmy Dean's Washington, D.C., television program.

Jimmy Dean

Entertainment career

Dean had his first hit, "Bummin' Around", in 1953 on the 4 Star label, He signed with Columbia Records in 1957. He had minor pop hits, such as "Little Sandy Sleighfoot" (a Christmas novelty song) and "Sing Along", later used as the theme for TV's "Sing Along With Mitch".

In 1954, Dean hosted the popular Washington, D.C. radio program Town and Country Time on WARL-AM, and with his Texas Wildcats became popular in the Mid-Atlantic region. Patsy Cline and Roy Clark got their starts on the show. Although Cline and Dean became good friends, Clark (Dean's lead guitarist) was eventually fired by the singer for what was explained as his chronic tardiness. Dean replaced Clark with Billy Grammer. In 1955, Town and Country Time moved to WMAL-TV on weekday afternoons. Dean and the Texas Wildcats also appeared during 1957 on Town and Country Jamboree on WMAL-TV on Saturdays from 10:30 pm–1:30 am ET, which was also carried by TV stations in Maryland and Virginia on a regional network.

Also during 1957 while he lived in Arlington, Virginia, Dean hosted Country Style on WTOP-TV, the local Washington, D.C. affiliate for CBS on weekday mornings. CBS picked up the show nationally from Washington for eight months in 1957 under the name, The Morning Show. Then from September 14, 1958, to June 1959, CBS carried The Jimmy Dean Show on weekday and Saturday afternoons.

The Jimmy Dean Show

Daytime

The Jimmy Dean Show, initially called Country Style, aired live on WTOP-TV in Washington, DC in early 1957.[1] It was picked up by the CBS-TV network from April 8 to December 13, 1957 under the name The Morning Show from 7 to 7:45 a.m. ET Monday–Friday (CBS News provided a newscast from 7:45 to 8 a.m.). Guests included Chet Atkins, Jay Chevalier, Billy Walker, Little Jimmy Dickens, George Hamilton IV, and the Country Lads; Mary Klick was a regular. The producer was Connie B. Gay.

CBS then carried The Jimmy Dean Show on its daytime schedule from September 14, 1958 to June 1959 from New York, airing from 2 to 2:30 p.m. ET Monday–Saturday. Guests on the variety program included Hans Conried and Jaye P. Morgan.

Prime time

The Jimmy Dean Show aired as a live half-hour summer series from Washington, DC on CBS-TV from June 22 to September 14, 1957 from 10:30 to 11 p.m. on Saturday nights. Guests included Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, the Andrews Sisters and Gene Austin.
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WAMU Is Selling Its Bluegrass Country Station (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2016 OP
More links mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2016 #1

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,885 posts)
1. More links
Sat Jul 9, 2016, 11:51 AM
Jul 2016

From DCRTV:

WAMU To Sell Bluegrass Country Or End It - 7/7 - American University news talker WAMU, 88.5, says it will launch a public search for a new owner for its bluegrass music service, Bluegrass Country. And if it doesn't find a buyer, it will shut it down on December 31. "Over the years, support from listeners has allowed WAMU's bluegrass programming to evolve from a single program to a 24/7 service broadcasting at 105.5 FM and 88.5 HD2 in Washington and worldwide at bluegrasscountry.org, and reaching more than 4.4 million views on YouTube," according to a statement from the station. "Demographics over the last 20 years have caused a shift in the regional population. As a result, WAMU recently conducted two independent studies to clarify its position in the Washington DC market and assess the long-term potential of Bluegrass Country. Through this process, WAMU determined that news and information are what the majority of its listeners want and expect from the station. Analysis also showed that shifting demographics in the Washington region meant revenue and audience listening for the bluegrass service would trend downward over the next five years. As such, the station has made the difficult decision to part ways with Bluegrass Country in order to make strategic investments in news and information and better serve its audience." Says WAMU General Manager JJ Yore: "We know that the bluegrass community will be saddened by this decision, just as we are. In the next six months, our focus will be on celebrating this music's role in WAMU's history and working to identify a capable owner who is committed to preserving Bluegrass Country for decades to come." Adds Bluegrass Country managing producer and host Katy Daley: "For 49 years, WAMU has been a strong supporter of bluegrass music, a far longer run than most of us who were here from the early days would have expected. And while saddened by the decision, I understand it and why it was made. Over the next six months while we try and identify a new owner, we'll be as committed as ever to bring our listeners the best in bluegrass." More about the changes to BGC is at bluegrasscountry.org/change and washingtonpost.com.....

WAMU Seeks New Owner for Bluegrass Country

After nearly 50 years, bluegrass could disappear from Washington’s airwaves

By Justin Wm. Moyer July 8 at 3:10 PM 
justin.moyer@washpost.com

At 6:30 p.m. on July 2, 1967, the sweet sound of fiddles, banjos and high, lonesome voices emerged from the campus of American University on WAMU-FM (88.5) which broadcast its first regular show devoted to bluegrass. The music became a fundamental part of the station’s identity.

“Bluegrass listeners paid for the foundation of WAMU-FM,” Gary Henderson, a longtime bluegrass DJ who engineered that first show, wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “This was a time before NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ and ‘All Things Considered’ were thought of.”

In recent years, however, bluegrass and WAMU have parted ways. The music, once broadcast for hours each week, was largely exiled to the Internet and HD radio in 2007 and, in 2008, found a home at the other end of the dial on 105.5 FM — a frequency WAMU leases, with much less broadcasting power than 88.5.

Now, to borrow a phrase from one popular tune, the circle may be broken: WAMU has put Bluegrass Country, its bluegrass offshoot, up for sale. If it can’t find a buyer by Dec. 31, the fiddles will fall silent.
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