Sat. Nov. 29 – George McKnight began his tenure as the new host of Banks of the Ohio.
Presently based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, George is a veteran bluegrass broadcaster, a festival and event emcee, and a stage manager. You may be familiar with George from his program, Uptown Bluegrass, which began in 1982 and is broadcast by a string of mostly Canadian radio stations, and has been streamed online since 2003.
Banks of the Ohio was initiated by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in 2002 to expand the Museum’s global outreach and awareness. Beginning with BluegrassCountry.org, the program is now heard on eight radio stations in the US and the Museum’s own webcast outlet. The founding host, Fred Bartenstein, a noted bluegrass historian, writer, and broadcaster, will continue his involvement with the Museum in other capacities.
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.”
All of us here at WAMU’s Bluegrass Country will miss Fred Bartenstein as the Host of Banks of the Ohio and we’re thankful for his years of service to the program and to all the listeners of Bluegrass Country. But we’re also excited to welcome the new host, George McKnight, to the Bluegrass Country fold.
