Web Sighting
Cleveland Magazine - June 2004
By the time we discovered WKSU's "Folk Alley," more than 10,000 listeners had signed up as users of the 24-hour, folk-music web site. Public Relations Director Robert Burford hopes to surpass the 25,000 mark by the time Folk Alley.com celebrates its first birthday on Sept. 8. "We had lofty goals and it’s been tremendous," he says. After toying with the idea of streaming classical music, WKSU decided to focus on folk because of less online competition. The station then made WKSU's part-time musician and folk-music lover, Jim Blum, the show's host. "It's not just a computer jukebox," Burford says. "The music often has thematic connections. It's really carefully put together and we can't find anything out there like it." Apparently, others feel the same way. Listeners hail from 46 of the 50 states and a host of foreign countries, including Brazil, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan.
Happenings
Acoustic Guitar - March 2004
Kent State University's radio station, WKSU, has launched Folk Alley (www.folkalley.com), streaming traditional and contemporary folk music 24 hours a day. The site also includes host/station announcer Jim Blum's weblog, music news updates, reviews, and a listener feedback forum.
Just Plain Folk
The Plain Dealer - November 11, 2003
As Northeast Ohio's most listened to and beloved folk music disc jockey, WKSU FM/89.7's Jim Blum celebrated 20 years with the station and, barring calamity, he'll be around for 20 more.
"The question I'm always asking is: What is folk music? What isn't it? I don't want to be pigeonholed. I try to come up with a variety of music with a professional presentation." Blum talks excitedly about WKSU's new Internet offering called FolkAlley.com. "The second largest city where we had listeners was Tokyo. We’re in the early stages of FolkAlley, but the possibilities seem endless," he said.
--Michael Heaton
More media buzz
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