Public Radio Station to Celebrate Local Music Programs with KUAF Summer Night Swing

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – KUAF 91.3 FM, the local National Public Radio affiliate, will broadcast a live concert and fundraiser from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 22.

The event is part of the station's celebration of the two longest-running programs on 91.3 — Shades of Jazz and The Pickin' Post — and will also help raise needed funds at the end of KUAF's fiscal year.

Robert Ginsburg, host of Shades of Jazz, and Mike Shirkey, host of The Pickin' Post, curated the music for the concert, drawing on local jazz and folk musicians to perform for a sold-out audience in the Walker Community Room at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Performers will include jazz musicians Claudia Burson, Ben Harris, Garrett Jones, Austin Farnam, Darren Novotny and Matt Beach, and folk musicians Ed Nicholson, Ed Carr, Tony Rupp, Emily Kaitz, Steve Fisher, and Ezra Idlet and Keith Grimwood of Trout Fishing in America. Ozarks at Large host and KUAF News Director Kyle Kellams will emcee the event.

"This the first time we've hosted a live concert and live on-air fundraiser at the same time," said Leigh Wood, KUAF's membership director. "Ozarks at Large broadcasts live performances from the library, with the Fayetteville Roots Festival for instance, and of course, we have live on-air fundraisers three times a year, but this is the first time we're doing both at the same time. We want to give our listening audience something special and unique to remind them that it is listener support that makes the local music programs possible."

Both Shades of Jazz and The Pickin' Post have been locally-produced and on the air since 1980, before KUAF became a National Public Radio affiliate in 1985.

"Local music programs have always been an important part of KUAF's programming," said Rick Stockdell, KUAF's general manager. "Robert and Mike have shown a commitment to their programs, and to the local jazz and folk music scenes in Northwest Arkansas — that is unique in radio."

The KUAF Summer Night Swing can be heard live on the radio from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 22, on KUAF 91.3FM.