Starting today, September 17, the folks at WAMU FM in Washington, DC will broadcast their 24/7 online bluegrass audio channel as an HD FM radio signal as well. DC area listeners with HD Radio receivers can find the new channel at 88.5-2.

Folks without access to HD radio will notice that many of their favorite bluegrass and acoustic music programs are no longer being carried by WAMU’s FM broadcast, but station management is betting that the future of radio involves this sort of niche programming, and that its home will be with HD Radio.

BluegrassCountry.org has more details about the change, as does a piece in yesterday’s Washington Post.

You may also want to check out recent additions to BluegrassCountry.org’s Musicians Tips series, with installments from Sonya Isaacs, Jamie Daley and Joe Carr.

Our friends at BluegrassCountry.org have launched a new feature as part of their 40th Anniversary celebration of bluegrass programming on WAMU. It’s called Musician Tips and will be a weekly audio segment with prominent bluegrass artists sharing advice on a wide range of topics that will be of interest to those seeking to improve their own songwriting, stage presence or performance.

Each tip will be run for a week in BluegrassCountry.org’s 24/7 bluegrass programming, and then be archived on their web site. You can hear the first in this series, from noted songwriter Chris Stuart, on the Musician’s Tips site, where you can also subscribe to the series as a podcast.

BluegrassCountry.org’s Katy Daly says that they have quite a lineup of artists in the pipeline.

In weeks to come we’ll feature tips from Bill Emerson, Jaime Daley, Sonya Isaacs, Joe Carr, Alan Munde, Ralph Stanley, Honi Deaton, all the Stringdusters, all the Steep Canyon Rangers, Mike Auldridge, Missy Raines, and Randy Kohrs, just to name a few.

WAMU, and it’s online sister station BluegrassCountry.org, are celebrating the summer of 2007 as their 40th year broadcasting bluegrass music. It was in 1967 that Dick Spottswood and Gary Henderson, who were among the founders of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine that same year, launched a program by that name on July 2, carried on WAMU 88.5 FM, broadcast from the campus of the American University in Washington, DC.

To help mark the anniversary, the folks at WAMU have searched through their archives and are running some special programs over the next few weeks.

The first, Katy Daley’s 1975 interview with Vassar Clements, starts tonight (8/28) at 10:48 p.m. The show is called Fiddle Players Young and Old, and will run repeatedly on BluegrassCountry.org over the next few weeks. The discussion with Vassar was recorded at DC’s legendary Cellar Door during his debut tour as a band leader, and was also the first interview Katy recorded for WAMU as a cub bluegrass radio host.

It runs again on Sunday (8/29) at 1:04 a.m., and also includes an interview with 12 year fiddler Roland Clark, who spoke with Michelle Mercer of NPR. Find future air times by checking the BluegrassCountry.org schedule online.

You can read more of the history of bluegrass programming on WAMU and BluegrassCountry.org on their web site.

We mentioned a few days ago that IIIrd Tyme Out banjoist Steve Dilling had assembled a band of his fellow bluegrass professionals to perform on a brief tour in early December. We just got word that one of the tour dates, which will also include a show by Lonesome River Band, will be recorded by WAMU for eventual broadcast over the air, and on BluegrassCountry.org.

The show will be held this Sunday, December 3, at The Cultural Arts Center in Frederick, MD as a part of their Sunday Bluegrass concert series. Two shows will be held that day, a matinee at 3:00 p.m. and an evening performance at 7:00.

Ticket information can be found on the Sunday Bluegrass web site for folks in the area who may want to attend the show. Everyone knows how much fun it is to be present at the recording of a live show, right?

BluegrassCountry.org’s Katy Daly tells us that they don’t have a clear broadcast date in mind for this LRB/Dilling concert, but she promised to let us know as soon as it is set.

Katy also passed along that she and Jen Hitt, BluegrassCountry.org’s Production Director, are planning a series of specials intended to introduce their listeners to the art and technology involved in producing bluegrass instruments. We’ll keep you posted as those plans solidify.