WAMU's Bluegrass Country

About Bill Foster

Bill Foster’s passion for bluegrass music began in 1972 when he attended an Indian Springs Bluegrass Festival where he met Les McIntyre, and formed a friendship which lasted until Les’s passing in April 2011. Les introduced Bill to WAMU Bluegrass hosts Katy Daley and Gary Henderson. Bill soon began visiting the station and soon became a phone volunteer/traffic manager during fundraisers. In 1980, during one of the station’s annual bluegrass festival weekends, Les started an all-night program of classic country and bluegrass. Bill sat in on the first show and in the following years became co-producer and co-host of the show.

In 1985 WAMU management ask Bill and Les to start a weekly all-night bluegrass program called “Bluegrass Overnight.” Bill and Les suggested a rotating host concept and a third host, Carol Pittard, was brought in. In December of that year “Bluegrass Overnight” went live. For the next twelve years Bill co-produced and co-hosted “Bluegrass Overnight”, along with Les and Al Steiner, who replaced Pittard after a year. Bill started to play the mandolin and performed in local bands: New River Express, Winterwood and Outer Banks.

In 1995 Bill became a contributing writer to Bluegrass Unlimited writing CD reviews and an occasional article.

In the fall of 1998, Bill and his wife moved to Florida. While there, he became a Board Member and Treasurer of the Southwest Florida Bluegrass Association and was a member of the band Swinging Bridge, which produced a CD project “Rough Edges”.
While in Florida, Bill produced and hosted a short-lived web-cast bluegrass program called “Back to Bluegrass” and in 2005 Bill began another web-cast venture producing and hosting “Blue Wave Bluegrass” on the Worldwide Bluegrass internet station.

In May 2006, Bill and his wife Sue returned to Northern Virginia, moving to the town of Strasburg in the Shenandoah Valley. From the fall of 2006 to the fall of 2010, Bill played in the area band Five of a Kind which produced a CD project “Royal Flush”. Bill still plays locally.

In December of 2006 Bill came back to the Bluegrass Country fold as a co-host of “Bluegrass Overnight” and a Special Programming contributor. In 2007 he began hosting a monthly Tuesday show, Foster’s Corner, which can now be heard each Monday from 6-9PM on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country.

After the passing of Les McIntyre in 2011, Bill took over the “Additional Releases” column for the magazine.

Bill has an extensive collection of bluegrass music including LPs, Tapes and CDs and enjoys bringing some of that music to WAMU’s listeners.

Currently, Bill works from home as a contractor for the Federal Government.