2010 WKCR-FM Country Music Festival

I just received word that WKCR's Annual Country Music Festival will begin this Sunday at 10:00 a.m.! Get my secretary -- I need to rearrange my schedule! (Oh, wait, I'm in charge of my schedule...) Here's the scoop:

The theme of this year’s WKCR Country Music Festival is “Radio on the Radio.” Country music began in the traditional music of rural towns. These forms were disparate and isolated; a musician wasn’t heard beyond the confines of his own small town. But in the 1930s, companies discovered they could market their products to rural consumers on the radio. When “hillbilly” music hit the airwaves, it spread like wildfire. Soon, country music blasted from high-wattage border stations and stations all over the United States broadcasted live country music programs. On the airwaves, country music developed as a cohesive, vibrant genre.

The WKCR American Department invites you to the jamborees, jubilees, hayrides, and barn dances of yesteryear. May 2nd, 10:00 a.m. through May 4th, 11:30 pm, we’ll broadcast full programs of country radio’s heyday from the 1930s to the 1960s. With Alex Battles, Jessica Rose and Friends playing live in the studio on Tuesday night, we’ll keep the tradition of country music radio alive.

Sunday, May 2nd: WLS National Barn Dance, Grand Ole Opry, Sage Brush Round Up, Carter Family on Border Radio, Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch

Monday, May 3rd: Hollywood Barn Dance, WCYB, Dinner Bell Roundup Time, Big-D Jamboree, Chuck Wagon Jamboree, Louisiana Hayride

Tuesday, May 4th: Western Party, Cowboy Hit Parade, Mother’s Best Flour, Pee Wee King’s Country Hoedown, Ozark Jubilee, Country Music Time, Country Style USA, Alex Battles, Jessica Rose and friends live in studio