George McKnight
About George McKnight
George McKnight was born and raised in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. At the age of 17 he started work as a part-time radio announcer on the local radio station, CJAV, doing the afternoon teen rock ‘n roll show. At the same time, he was a singing pirate in the operetta “The Pirates of Penzance” and a singer in a teen rock band. Performing arts activities gave way to the realities of making a living and in 1982 when working in sales at a radio station in Prince George, British Columbia, an offer came to produce a weekly radio feature about bluegrass music. This was to be a 3 month trial, which has lasted for over 26 years. Within a year the show, known as Uptown Bluegrass, became syndicated.
Concurrently, George began working as an Emcee for bluegrass festivals and concerts in the Pacific Northwest. Over the last twenty years George has Emceed across North America from Fairview, Alberta to Brownwood, Texas, and from Portland, OR to Nashville, TN. George also picks on the guitar and banjo and does some singing. Often late at night you may find George with some tolerant friends in a jam session doing their version of some neat bluegrass tunes. Since the genesis of Uptown Bluegrass George has enjoyed traveling across North America meeting wonderful people and musicians that share his love of the music.
On November 29, 2008 George began his tenure as host of “Banks of the Ohio”. Presently based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, George looks forward to expanding the listener base and worldwide audience for bluegrass. He said, “I am deeply honored to be given the opportunity to bring bluegrass music to the listeners of ‘Banks of the Ohio’. I know I have a big job to even begin to fill Fred’s shoes and I trust and hope the listeners will continue to enjoy the music we present in the regular time slot. Yes, there will be some differences in the program and I hope we’ll all have fun with our favorite music each week.”
