WUMB Program Changes

We have a few program changes that will take effect beginning tomorrow morning, which includes the addition of another 5 hours each week of locally produced programming…now starting at 5am each day.

George Knight moves to a new time, hosting The Morning Show, Monday thru Friday, from 5a to 7a. At 6am every weekday, he’ll be presenting a different daily 2 or 3-song special to start your day. For example, tune in 6:00am tomorrow for ‘Mandolin Monday’ to kick-start your week with back-to-back songs by mandolin musicians Tim O’Brien and Chris Thile Then there’s ‘Bluesday Tuesday’ featuring…as you’d expect blues songs and musicians. By mid-week, George figures we’ll all be ready for ‘Slightly Wacky Wednesday’ with fun and crazy songs by folks like Christine Lavin, Cheryl Wheeler (remember her crazy song “Potato” which she sings in the video above?) and Loudon Wainwright III. A song from the past and present by the same artist will give a great comparison of how well some musicians have developed over the years with ‘Then & Now Thursday’. To finish off the week will be ‘Faux Friday’ where George will play musicians "alter egos" like Bright Eyes or Traveling Wilburys. For you Garrison Keiller fans, the show will still include Keiller’s daily Writer’s Almanac thoughts and vignettes feature at 6:20.

If you’ve been a fan of shows that have previously been heard 5am weekdays, don’t worry. Both Michael Jonathan’s Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour (now Sundays at 6am) and Tent Show Radio (now Sundays at 7am) will be moving to weekends.

WUMB Music Director, John Laurenti returns to the airways, taking over the 7p-10p segment of our weekday evening programming in place of George.

And, we’re thrilled to announce that a voice familiar to New England public radio listeners, Naomi Arenberg, has joined WUMB as a fill-in announcer. You may remember Naomi as a long-time fill-in, and later as the host of The Folk Show at WGBH. More recently you may have heard Naomi on WCAI/WNAN, Cape Cod. Her first assignment will be to cover for Dick Pleasants as host of Acoustic Sunrise on Sunday mornings for the time being.

Let us know your thoughts about these changes.

- Pat Monteith