Every so often, we find a wealth of opportunities to catch live bluegrass on the radio, and this next few days promises a bonanza over the air, online and via satellite.

Dennis Jones will have Dan Paisley & The Southern Grass performing live on WNCW this afternoon (5/9) during the 5:00 p.m. hour (EDT). WNCW broadcasts on several frequencies in western NC, and streams their signal over the Internet as well.

Both the Friday and Saturday Grand Ole Opry broadcasts this weekend will include performances from The Del McCoury Band and The Whites. Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys will also appear on Friday. The show is available over the air in the Nashville market on WSM AM 650, and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com.

One more, but with no live music… An interview with Doyle Lawson will be aired several times this weekend on XM’s enLighten channel (XM 34). Doyle will join host Dan Dixon for an in-depth discussion of Doyle’s music and the faith that informs it. Look for Doyle at 7:00 p.m. tonight (5/9) and again on Saturday (5/10) at 5:00 p.m.

The Weekend Edition of NPR News’ All Things Considered, airing this evening (Saturday, May 3rd), will feature an interview with Ray Davis, who has just marked his 60th year of radio broadcasting.

The program airs live from 5 to 6pm. (ET); local stations and broadcast times are available here: www.NPR.org/stations.

The audio from the show will be posted online after the show airs, on the All Things Considered web site.

Ray Davis, currently host of The Ray Davis Show on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, celebrates 60 years in broadcasting today (May 2).

Davis joined WAMU in 1985 to host Saturday Bluegrass, and shared hosting duties for the weekday afternoon program, Bluegrass Country, until 2001. He currently hosts three live hours of traditional bluegrass music on The Ray Davis Show at 3 p.m., weekdays, and 10 a.m., Sundays, on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country, heard in Washington, D.C., in HD Radio at 88.5, Channel 2, and online at bluegrasscountry.org.

Davis provides area bluegrass fans and online listeners worldwide with a daily dose of the traditional American art form, from prison songs and “plum pitiful” tunes to the great train rides - and train wrecks - of bluegrass music, all delivered with Davis’ encyclopedic knowledge of the artists and the music. More than a DJ, Ray Davis is both a musicologist and an archivist who takes listeners on a stroll down bluegrass music’s memory lane. His specialties, the plum pitiful tunes, are tearjerkers that explore universal themes of death, betrayal, and jealousy.

“Ray Davis is a legend in music broadcasting. He has helped define bluegrass music on-air since its earliest days as a discrete genre, and has placed a lasting imprint on it with his dedication to playing, promoting, and recording its musicians”, said Caryn G. Mathes, WAMU 88.5’s General Manager. “His booming, resonant voice is synonymous with the sound of bluegrass at WAMU, and his willingness to explore broadcasting on multiple new media platforms as radio evolves has been an inspiration to me.”

Davis began his radio career at the age of 15, when he left his boyhood home in Wango, Maryland., for a job at WDOV-AM in Dover, Delaware. (more…)

Charles Johnson is better known to bluegrass fans as Little Jody Rainwater, bass player with bluegrass legends Flatt & Scruggs during the early 1950s.

Today is Jody’s 89th birthday, and the radio station that he called home after departing from the band, WSVS, is celebrating.

Beginning at 2:45 PM this afternoon, WSVS, AM 800, in Crewe, Virginia, will be airing a special birthday broadcast in Jody’s honor. The show will run till 4 PM.

I spoke with Chris Gowin, the station manager at WSVS, and he told me they will be recording the program and will re-air it sometime in the next few weeks, immediately after their internet stream becomes active.

Here’s some background information on Jody’s association with the station, from the WSVS website.

In the early 1950s Charles Johnson, otherwise known as Little Jody Rainwater, was the promoter and bassist in the bluegrass group Flatt and Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys. When Jody (as he was known to all) decided to leave the Foggy Mountain Boys and settle down, he chose WSVS and Crewe as his home. Jody’s programming became extremely popular with the listeners and Jody’s ongoing support of the bluegrass movement endeared listeners to him.

In early 1954, Flatt and Scruggs, then sponsored by Martha White Mills, decided to change location. They moved from Nashville, TN where they performed on WSM’s daily, early-morning broadcast, to WSVS in Crewe. Starting daily in May of 1954 until January of 1955, the Foggy Mountain Boys played a daily show on WSVS from the studios on Melody Lane.

WNRV, AM 990, here in the New River Valley, has gone online.

Their live feed is not yet operational, but they are working on it, and tell me it should be available soon. The website is up and running though, and they do have mp3 files available of some of their exclusive content, including recent interviews with both Nothin’ Fancy and Dailey & Vincent.

I’m listening to the Dailey & Vincent interview as I type. Sounds like the guys had fun doing this interview. The segment lasts 23 minutes and includes a fair amount of music from the debut album.

Gary tells me they will have an interview with Rhonda Vincent available later this week.

Keep an eye on the WNRV site for more interviews and the soon to be available live feed.

Pinecastle Records has launched a new service on the label’s web site, a download page for authorized radio programmers. Audio files will be posted as soon as they are released to radio with the choice of either MP3 or lossless Windows Media files.

Stations/hosts must first be authorized by Pinecastle and receive a password, after which they will have access to new releases right away.

Pinecastle still plans to send out manufactured discs by mail, but expects that many programmers will appreciate not having to wait for a CD to arrive to begin airing new material on their shows - especially outside of the US.

A tutorial is available on the Pinecastle site which explains how the system works, and how you can request a password.

Monday the US Department of Justice approved the proposed merger/buyout of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio companies. The proposed merger is really a Sirius take over of XM, to the tune of $5 billion.

This proposal has been in the works since the beginning of last year. The Department of Justice Antitrust Division had to approve the merger before it could take place, in order to determine the effect it might have on consumers. The main concern being the creation of a monopoly with no competition. The DOJ determined that although the merger would create a situation in which only one satellite radio company would exist in the US market, there would be sufficient competition from other technology sectors to protect consumers.

After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers. The Division reached this conclusion because the evidence did not show that the merger would enable the parties to profitably increase prices to satellite radio customers for several reasons, including: a lack of competition between the parties in important segments even without the merger; the competitive alternative services available to consumers; technological change that is expected to make those alternatives increasingly attractive over time; and efficiencies likely to flow from the transaction that could benefit consumers.

Further into its report, the DOJ gets specific about where this competition is coming from. When the report says “The Parties” it is referring to Sirius and XM.

The parties contended that they compete with a variety of other sources of audio entertainment, including traditional AM/FM radio, HD Radio, MP3 players (e.g., iPods®), and audio offerings delivered through wireless telephones. Those options, used individually or in combination, offer many consumers attributes of satellite radio service that they may find attractive. The parties further contended that these audio entertainment alternatives were sufficient to prevent the merged company from profitably raising prices to consumers in the retail channel.

And the DOJ agreed.

Interestingly, it seems the National Association of Broadcasters agrees as well, and they’re not happy about it. The LA Times is reporting that (more…)

Bluegrass legend Jesse McReynolds has benn hosting a live radio show on WHIN Radio 1010 AM in Gallatin, TN, for a while now. But, being a local radio station, the show was previously unavailable for those outside WHIN’s broadcast area. The station has just gone online with a live stream though, so now Jesse’s live bluegrass radio show is available to all.

The Pick Inn Party Radio Show runs every weekday morning from 8-9 AM CST.

Jesse comes from the old-school mindset of live radio, so that’s the way he’s chosen to run his show. Jesse is joined by co-host Harv Mason and the two feature live music, phone calls from listeners, special guests, and more. You never know what to expect, because the entire show is done live and spontaneous!

Visit WHINRadio.com at 8 AM each weekday morning and join Jesse and Harv for some live bluegrass music and fun.

Ben Eldridge, Dudley Connell and Fred Travers from Seldom Scene joined Bob Edwards on the radio last Saturday for his Bob Edwards Weekend show on PBS. The show was recorded just after the Grammy nominations were announced in December ‘07, and the interview starts with a discussion of them having received one for SCENEchronized.

The bulk of the interview is focused on how the Scene has made mixing hard core bluegrass with songs from well outside of the generally recognized boundaries of the genre. As Ben recalls from the old days, “There ain’t no rules.”

Long time fans will especially enjoy hearing Ben reminisce about the early days of the band, when they had no intention of touring or recording regularly.

Several clips from their new CD are featured during the discussion. The shows are not archived on the Bob Edwards show site, but the podcast can be downloaded for free from iTunes or StreamOS.

HT: Jake Schepps

The Infamous Stringdusters will be doing a live radio appearance Saturday (2/9) at 3:00 p.m. (EST) from the studios of WREK FM in Atlanta, GA.

The guys will be interviewed on air, and expect to play a few tunes live in the studio as well. One suspects that their upcoming Sugar Hill project will be a major topic of discussion.

The station broadcasts at 91.1 FM, and their signal is streamed live at WREK.org.

College radio has long been a launching ground for new artists in the music business, and a place where few of the recognized programming rules hold sway. A number of younger bluegrass and alternative acoustic acts have found success in the college market, and it stands to reason that others could do so as well if properly promoted.

On That Note Entertainment has launched a college radio promotions service as part of their Media Services division. They will handle campaigns for both manufactured and digital music releases, promoting them directly to music and program directors at college stations on a national, regional or local level.

Cost vary according to the length and size of the campaigns, with more details availalable on their web site.

Internet streaming audio service RadioIO is doubling their channel offerings this month, going from 28 to 60 discrete streams by February 1. Among the new channels is a Newgrass stream to feature acoustic music a bit too edgy for their Bluegrass stream.

RadioIO’s bluegrass stream leans toward traditional bluegrass with occasional excursions into more modern music, while the newgrass stream focuses specifically on bluegrass-inflected sounds from artists like Old Crow Medicine Show, Béla Fleck, David Grisman, Leftover Salmon, King Wilkie, Crooked Still and other similar artists.

Listeners have the choice of free, ad-supported music or for $4.95/month, they can stream the channels without commercial interruptions.

Bluegrass Mix is the latest internet bluegrass radio station to launch, going live just a few days ago. Founders Roger Randolph and Julie Raye Huffman describe it as their “Christmas present to bluegrass fans around the globe.”

Though the stream is available 24/7, only a dozen hours each week are hosted at this point. They expect to add more as new hosts can be brought aboard.

The name applies to how they view the music they play - a mix of new and older bluegrass, with some traditional country thown in as well.

You can find their audio stream, available in a numver of popular formats, at www.bluegrassmix.com.

Even as broadcasters and performer/songwriter’s rights organizations spar over changing media technologies, we see continued growth in syndicated bluegrass radio programs. Typically, these shows are produced in advance and distributed at no cost to affiliate stations who agree to air the program.

The affiliates get niche programming without the investment of a locally-produced show - and the ability to insert some of their own advertising - while the syndicator increases the size of their total audience and hence their own ad rates. This model has worked for many years in all sorts of specialty programming, including talk, sports and even religious radio shows.

The daddy rabbit in bluegrass syndication is surely Terry Herd, whose Into The Blue program is carried on more than 200 stations in the US and Canada each week. A rising competitor is Cindy Baucom’s Knee Deep In Bluegrass, now on 70 stations and with the heft of the John Boy & Billy radio network behind her. Both have been named the IBMA Broadcaster of the Year, with Herd winning the award four times.

Others, like Gene Skinner’s Great Stuff Radio, are growing their list of affiliates and we hear every so often of shows that are making the jump to syndication.

Just recently we heard from two, Catgut ‘N’ Jugs hosted by Ronnie Moretz and the Ole Dominion Jamboree Show with Gary Williams, who are on the hunt for affiliate stations.

Bluegrass has long had a home on public and university-funded stations, but I find it to be an excellent barometer of the health of the music to see it finding such success in commercial radio as well.

Pete Stover, general manager of Bluegrass FM, sent us a note about the launch of their second all bluegrass radio station in Virginia.

What makes this regional story of wider interest is the income stream they use to support the station’s programming. They operate as a private business on the FM spectrum, yet depend on the sort of corporate/business underwriting and listener support that has become familiar on public radio.

I’ll let Pete make his own points…

Bluegrass FM, based in Fredericksburg, VA has opened its second 100% bluegrass 24/7 radio station, WWEM 91.7 in Lynchburg, VA. The station is the second in a growing network of FM broadcast stations which operate commercial-free and are donor-supported through listener and business donations.The first station in the network, WWED 89.5 in Fredericksburg, went 100% bluegrass in June. An application is on file with the FCC to increase WWED’s transmitting power to 10,000 watts due to be granted in early 2009 when TV6 in Richmond relinquishes its analog channel. The increased power will allow WWED to extend its coverage into the Richmond and Charlottesville areas.

Based on early listener response in the first few days, WWEM’s coverage extends from Roanoke to south of Charlottesville and east to Farmville, a “hotbed” region for bluegrass. New listeners have largely stumbled across the station on 91.7 which transmits from Long Mountain in Rustburg, VA several miles SE of Lynchburg.

Business underwriting is available and acknowledgments of donations are broadcast over both stations which provide a huge footprint for bluegrass 24/7 across Virginia. Plans are to put other stations on the air in other localities in the Commonwealth.

For now, Bluegrass FM streams its audio on the web but will likely discontinue a “live” stream due to the “heavy hand” of SoundExchange but it will provide alternative forms of media that will compliment its bluegrass programming on the air.

Could this be the future of niche programming on the public airwaves?

Cindy Baucom has written in to let us know that she will, again this year, be doing a Knee-Deep In Bluegrass Holiday Show. Her husband, Terry Baucom will be joining her as a special co-host for the show, which will feature acoustic holiday music and interviews with many of the Baucom’s Bluegrass friends. They’ll be asking these bluegrass stars how they celebrate the holidays.

All regular affilate stations will receive this special holiday show automatically, but Cindy tells us that the show is also available to stations that don’t normally syndicate the show. Interested stations may request a copy of the Knee-Deep In Bluegrass Holiday Show by calling 800-891-0350.

With controversy and legal action still taking place over the rates set for internet radio, the Copyright Royalty Board has fixed new rates for satellite radio services. Since there are only two satellite providers in the US, Sirius and XM are the only companies affected by the ruling.

The two satellite radio services have been given an entirely different deal than that handed down for webcasters. While internet radio was burdened with a per song fee, satellite radio has been given a favorable percentage of revenue model to work from.

These fees are the ones paid to SoundExchange for performance royalties. They are paid in addition to publishing royalties owed to such organizations as ASCAP.

Here is the fee structure as set by the CRB: (more…)

For all you bluegrass fans in South Carolina, here’s a bit of good news. WLSC in Loris, SC (25 miles from Myrtle Beach) recently changed hands, and the new owners are friends of bluegrass music.

New studios are being constructed for the station, including a sound stage from which they can broadcast live performances. Plans are underway for the station to begin webcasting soon, and there is even talk of some cable television broadcasts originating from the station’s new studio.

The new owners are committed to including quality bluegrass programming in the station’s broadcast schedule, and to that end they have arranged to become the first station in South Carolina to carry the award winning, syndicated show, Knee-Deep In Bluegrass, hosted by Cindy Baucom.

I am happy to announce the addition of WLSC, Loris, South Carolina, to the network of stations airing “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass”. Currently there are 70 radio stations in 24 states airing “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass”. After 4 and half years of syndication, WLSC becomes the very first South Carolina affiliate station.

This should be good news for all those in Eastern South Carolina who previously had no bluegrass programming in their area.

To find a station in your area that carries the show, be sure to visit the Knee-Deep In Bluegrass Station Finder. If there isn’t a station in your area that carries the show, call and request that they do so.

Your humble blogger will be a guest this coming Friday morning (11/30) on WFDU-FM, broadcast on 89.1 FM in the New York City metro market. I’ll join hosts Carol Beaugard and Steve Lutke at 10:15 a.m. (EST) to talk about The Bluegrass Blog and my other various bluegrass activities.

Steve is a fellow banjo picker, so Carol will have to ride herd to keep us from taking the whole discussion in a banjocentric direction.

I’m certainly looking foward to speaking with them on Friday, and hope that you can join us over the air, or online at www.wfdu.fm.

We covered this issue in some detail in the past, with a good deal of discussion taking place in the comments (here and here). The issue seems to have slipped off the radar lately, but the debate continues in the background.

Just recently, the US Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia set dates for briefings related to appeals filed by webcasting groups unhappy with the rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board for internet radio royalties. Briefs are due February 25 (2008) for the webcasters, April 25 for the CRB, and May 15 for SoundExchange. Reply briefs will be due on June 12. The court has yet to schedule oral arguments in the case.

With a summer break for the court and the length of process involved in a case like this, it is likely we won’t a see a decision until late 2008 at the earliest.

There has been at least one settlement announced, concerning the case, at this time. The settlement limits the minimum fee for multiple channels (streams) to $50,000 per company. This is welcome relief for businesses such as Pandora that allow each individual listener to create their own channel, resulting in millions of channels for which they would have been charged under the initial CRB decision.

It is possible that other settlements could be reached outside of court, rendering theses appeals unnecessary. Barring that, it looks to be a year or more before this issue is settled. In the meantime, be sure to visit your favorite bluegrass internet radio station and enjoy the music.