WDIY's Spring Membership Drive:

In the Home Stretch!

Several community leaders have been coming through the WDIY studios this past week for WDIY's annual Spring Membership Drive! Pictured above, clockwise: Allison Czapp (Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley), John Dodds (WDIY jazz host) and Laurie Hackett (WDIY's A Closer Look host/Air Products), Ramona LaBarre (Godfrey Daniels), and Dr. Christopher Jackson (Bach Choir of Bethlehem).

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to the Drive so far! As of this newsletter going out, we are only $5,900 away from meeting our goal and wrapping up the Drive! If you haven't had a chance to donate yet, help us close things out by either renewing their membership, becoming a new member, or making an extra gift in support of their listening.

Meals Provided to Those in Need with Every Donation

Your gift to WDIY will not only be helping Lehigh Valley Public Radio continue to bring you the programs you value, you'll be providing meals to those in need.

For every $100 WDIY receives in donations, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Lehigh Valley will provide 15 meals to individuals and families in our community.

WDIY has partnered with Valley National Financial Advisors to cover the costs of the meals, allowing 100% of WDIY member donation to stay with the station.

Win Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Tickets

Everyone who donates to the Spring Membership Drive will be eligible for our giveaway for a pair of tickets to see Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey – “The Greatest Show on Earth” at the PPL Center in Allentown, November 1-3, 2024.

The "re-imagined" circus features exciting action-packed stunts, acrobatic displays, and comedy acts from 75 performers from over 18 countries.

WDIY Names Station Newsroom After Longtime News Host Don Miles

WDIY is proud to announce that we are officially naming our newsroom, "The Don Miles Community Newsroom," after dedicated on-air news host and board member Don Miles, who passed away in February after a battle with cancer.

Get Your Groovin' in the Grove Tickets

Take advantage of discounted Early Bird tickets for a limited time for WDIY's Family Fun Day — Groovin' in the Grove 2024 on Saturday, May 18! Help us celebrate 29 years on the air with another afternoon of great music,food, drinks, raffles, and more — all in support of Lehigh Valley Public Radio!

Volunteer of the Week:

Jonathon Roth

WDIY is proud to honor the more than 120 volunteers that make Lehigh Valley Public Radio Possible.

This week, we are recognizing Jonathon Roth! Jonathon is a rotating host of Good Clean Fun, featuring the best in news and classic indie/alternative music on Saturday nights.He is a 20+-year veteran of college and public radio, with previous stints at WXJM in Harrisonburg, VA and WMUH in Allentown, PA.

In addition to his work with radio, Jonathan is a graphic designer, print production manager, music writer, and drummer for the Lehigh Valley band Ghost Wounds.

Three cheers for Jonathon!

MONDAY 4/15

WDIY Classics 

Host: Andrew Tomlinson

Monday, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Today we’ll accompany some very different composers as they each address the challenge of how to ground their music in the sound-world of authentic, non-professional music traditions. For Florence Price in her 3rd Symphony, in 1930, the puzzle was to write music steeped in the traditions and experience of enslaved African-Americans, without too directly quoting the melodies of spirituals and work songs as she had done in some of her other compositions. For Maurice Emmanuel, in 1914, the task was to take the freshness and energy of folk songs he had heard in the French countryside in his youth and transform them into a composed song cycle – his “Songs from the Beaune countryside”. And for Max Bruch in 1880, the puzzle was to bring together his expertise and success in writing violin concertos with his love for things Scottish (which had been awakened by his reading of the novels of Sir Walter Scott) in his Scottish Fantasy – even though he had never visited the country. Then the keystone piece for today will be Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, inspired by a clarinetist whose playing was so magnificent it was enough to bring Brahms out of retirement and to start composing again. In between, we’ll hear chamber music from Pachelbel, well-known and less well known, and recordings of the virtuoso guitar player Andrés Segovia, from 1955. 

Hear this and other WDIY music shows after they have aired using our Two-Week Music Show Archive! Available on the WDIY app or wdiy.org.

The Blend

Host: Arnie Lichten

Monday, 1 - 4 p.m.

We're back with new music for The Blend today — Beyoncé, The Bacon Brothers, Dolly Parton, The Real Sarahs, Annie Taylor, The Mavericks, and many more. Joining Arnie in the studio will be Donna Mugavero “The Doctor;” we'll try to convince you to help meet our goals for WDIY’s Spring Membership Drive.

Lehigh Valley Arts Salon

Host: Kate Scuffle

Monday, 6 - 6:30 p.m.

Catch an encore broadcast of Kate Scuffle's conversation with New York/Allentown-based artist Angela Fraleigh about her new exhibition at the Allentown Art Museum, — Threaded with Moonlight — which is on display through this weekend. Fraleigh's work combines large-scale paintings and smaller textile pieces that highlight women throughout history and the symbols that they used to feel power.

At the Movies

Host: Paul Willistein

Monday, 6:25 p.m. during Lehigh Valley Arts Salon

Our critic, Paul Willistein, looks at the new drama, comedy, crime film Wicked Little Letters. The movie is based on a true story, and features Olivia Colman (Oscar winner, The Favorite), Timothy Spall, Gemna Jones, and Jessie Buckley. Paul says Wicked Little Letters should "delight fans of Masterpiece Theatre and British comedy."

HealthBEAT

Host: Margaret McConnell

Monday, 6:30 - 7 p.m.

Margaret McConnell sits down with Samantha Shaak, Acting Executive Director of the Leonard Parker Poole Institute for Health, to talk about Samantha's step into the head role, filling big shoes, and the ongoing work of the institute.

Milestones

Host: Rob Reagan

Monday, 9 - 11 p.m.

Piano player and vocalist, Andy Bey, starts tonight's program with a plea, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime", as WDIY nears the finish line of its Spring Membership Drive. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong team up on the song , "April in Paris", and Tierney Sutton shapes the same, blending it with Joni MItchell's "Free Man in Paris." Alto sax masters Phil Woods and Jim Snidero each get a play to end the first hour. A baseball theme opens hour two as we check out selections from pianist Hal Galper with Randy and Michael Brecker, plus singers Veronica Swift and Dave Frishberg. It's not too often low reed instruments like contra-alto clarinet, oboe, contrabass clarinet, and bassoon are heard in a jazz setting, but tune in tonight and you will!

Blues Cruise

Host: Steve Capwell

Monday, 11 p.m. - Tuesday, 1 a.m.

With the success of Beyonce's "country" album, this week's Blues Cruise will open with a tribute to the Black stars of country music. We will start with DeFord Bailey, a performer on the premier broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. We will follow with Ray Charles, Etta James,Fats Domino, Joe Hinton, Linda Martell and a host of others. The second hour will return to the blues, soul and R&B you have come to know and love (we hope).

TUESDAY 4/16

Morning Edition

Host: Dillon Tanzos

Tuesday, 5 - 9 a.m.

This morning in between the news stories from NPR, new WDIY host Louis Holzman from Young Valley Leaders joins WDIY Membership and Development Director Shamus McGroggan to discuss Louis' new monthly show which is WDIYs first video podcast, and they count down to the end of the Spring Membership Drive.

On the Media

Host: Brooke Gladstone

Tuesday, 6 - 7 p.m.

This week's show:The Rise and Fall of Alt-Weeklies, and Backpage.com vs. The Feds

New York City’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Village Voice, birthed a generation of legendary writers. On this week’s On the Media, how the Voice transformed journalism and what’s being lost as alt-weeklies across the country die off. Plus, why the feds brought America’s most controversial alt-weekly mogul to court.

Live from Godfrey Daniels

Host: Dave Fry

Tuesday, 7 - 9 p.m.

Recent sets from James Murdock, Alice Howe and Freebo, John McEuen and The Nighthawks plus a special set from our local Celtic bands: Blackwater, Poor Man's Gambit, and our Robert Burns evening. Also: Townes Van Zandt ('93), Zen For Primates ('01), Ward Hayden and The Outliers ('23), Vance Gilbert ('23), and more.

WEDNESDAY 4/17

Your Financial Choices

Host: Laurie Siebert

Wednesday, 6 - 7 p.m.

This week's show: Financial Concepts to Know

Catch an encore episode of Your Financial Choices with Laurie Siebert and Bill Henderson, CIO of Valley National Financial Advisors. Questions can be submitted for the next live show at yourfinancialchoices.com.

THURSDAY 4/18

WDIY Classics 

Host: Karen El-Chaar

Thursday, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

April 18 marks the birthday of Franz von Suppe (1819-1895), composer of 30 operettas and at least 180 additional stage works. Today, enjoy the Allentown Band's performance of two of von Suppe's popular overtures: "Poet and Peasant" and "Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna." Additional highlights include cellist Luigi Piovano's performance of Saint-Saens' "Cello Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 32" and guitarist John Williams' presentation of Schubert's "Sonata 'Arpeggione', D. 821." Also enjoy a lesser-known work performed by clarinetist John Bruce Yeh - the "Concerto for Clarinet" composed by jazz musician Artie Shaw. 

Wellness Lehigh Valley

Host: Sally Handlon

Thursday, 6 - 6:30 p.m.

Sally Handlon sits down with Attorney Joe Welsh, founder & Executive Director Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, and Dr. Harrison Bailey, Principal, Liberty High School, to talk about the urgent need to address mental health issues among youth and teenagers, and Liberty High School's efforts to do so with their Wellness Center, which just opened in the midst of the pandemic.

YANA LV

Hosts: Brannagh Breslin , Diya Sharma

Thursday, 6:30 - 7 p.m.

On the second episode of WDIY's newest Youth Media Program show, YANA LV ("You Are Not Alone, Lehigh Valley"), Brannagh and Diya continue their focus on mental health by talking with Amanda Grieme, a Pen Argyl-based author who uses her writing to promote a better understanding of mental health and Bipolar Disorder, which she was diagnosed with at the age of 20.

Galactic Travels™

Host: Bill Fox

Thursday, 11 p.m. - Friday, 1 a.m.

On this week's Galactic Travels™, Bill Fox continues the month-long focus on Robert Rich. The Featured CD at Midnight will be Shambala on Space for Music Records. You will also hear new music by Ros Brandt on Neuma Records, and by Leander Reininghaus, Rainer Frey, and Bernhard Wöstheinrich on Iapetus Music.

FRIDAY 4/19

Unlimited Possibilities

Host: Dina Hall

Friday, 7 - 9 p.m.

Dina Hall hosts this week, spinning her signature mix of classic and contemporary folk and Americana. This week’s program will feature music from Bonny Light Horseman, Mark Erelli, Amethyst Kia, Toshi Reagon, and Ted Hawkins, plus spotlight new songs from a diverse mix of regional artists, including Alex Radus, Christine Havrilla, Sug Daniels and Shane Palko. 

SATURDAY 4/20

Blue Moon Cruising

Host: John Beatty

Saturday, 5 - 7 p.m.

Join Johnny Bee as we wind down our tour of the alphabet with X , Y and Z. So you can expect various Youngs (Neil, Kathy, Jessie Colin, Rascals), Yardbirds, a Yarbrough and of course the Zombies. Featured will be some rare cuts from Neil Young when he was with the Squires and then the Mynah Birds, as well as Buffalo Springfield. Plus birthday tributes to Johnny Tillotson, and members of the Small Faces, Marcels and Dickey Doo and the Don'ts.

SUNDAY 4/21

Swing Sunday

Host: Karen El-Chaar

Sunday, 5 - 7 p.m.

Put on those dancing shoes and swing and sway to the music of Cab Calloway, Harry James, Count Basie, Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters, Dinah Washington, Vic Schoen & His Orchestra, Les Brown, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, the Boswell Sisters, Jackie Gleason and lots more. 

Footlight Parade

Host: Bill Rudman

Sunday, 9 - 10 p.m.

This week's show: 1966 on Stage and Screen

The best of the year, and there's a lot of it including "Cabaret," "Mame," "Sweet Charity" and "I Do! I Do!"

Latest WDIY Local News Reports

Latest WDIY Music Features

Eight ASO Members Discuss Beethoven's Ninth

Diane Monroe Previews 'Violin Woman, African Dreams' at Zoellner Arts Center

This Week's Member Ticket Giveaway

Hey WDIY members, check out the events we're giving away tickets for this Sunday, April 21! Watch your email Sunday at noon for your chance to enter.

If you are a WDIY member who has contributed at least $60 for the year or you are actively supporting WDIY as a Sustaining Member, you are eligible for WDIY's Member Ticket Giveaway! If you are not receiving this member benefit on Sundays, please email shamusm@wdiy.org.