With the annual WFDU-FM fund drive coming to an end, my co-host Bill Hahn and I shared a number of listener favorites and requests on this week’s broadcast. We aired these songs partially as a “thank you” for all the generous donations we received for the show and partially as a reminder of the diverse folk traditions we share each week.

There are numerous folk radio shows airing across North America, and each one is unique. Folk music on radio is unlike any of the popular mainstream radio formats – the diversity and the definition of just what is folk differs from host to host. The age old question … make that “argument,” of “what is folk music” may never be solved and I for one think that is a good thing.

It may be true that folk music doesn’t have the usual “best seller” charts that other genres have. We do play many of the same artists, but folk radio maintains regional diversity through the different shows. A song that constitutes a listener favorite in Teaneck, New Jersey will probably be different from what a listener in Austin, Texas wants to hear.

Actually, there is a national chart of sorts for contemporary folk music. Unlike most of the pop charts which base their lists on the number of recordings sold, the folk chart is based on airplay. There is a website that I and most of my folk radio peers submit our playlist too – Folk DJ, which can be found at www.folkradio.org. The webmaster of the site, Richard Gillman, compiles monthly reports on the “top” album and “top” songs heard around the North America based on the playlists of DJ’s who submit their lists.

The Sweet Lowdown

For January, Richard culled information on 13,505 songs played during the month by 140 different DJs. From this, the CD Chasing the Sun by the band The Sweet Lowdown made it to the number 1 album of the month, with a grand total of 68 plays. The number 1 song for January was “River Winding Down” from the same group. That song was heard across North America a total of 15 times during the entire month. Compare this to Lady Gaga, whose latest single can be heard at least 15 times per hour in the NYC area. Looking at these numbers, it is quickly apparent that folk radio hosts are independently playing a wide choice of songs and artists.

This is not meant as a knock on the chart or the great work Richard does each month, and I am certainly not trying to slight The Sweet Lowdown, a superb trio from Vancouver Island that I sincerely hope will be heard by people all across the globe. (Note to self – be sure to play them again next time I am on the air. It has been a few weeks.)

What I am trying to point out is the great diversity of styles that make up “folk music” and how difficult it is to truly define “top” for folk radio. The 13,505 songs the 140 mostly volunteer program hosts shared during the month of January were heard by eager ears in corners not only in North America, but all across the globe thanks to the Internet as most of these shows either stream or are archived. That is an incredible amount of music to share for a genre the mainstream media continues to marginalize. Even more incredible is that each host and each listener probably has a slightly different definition of what they consider “folk music.”

The charts point out some great artists these radio hosts focused parts of their shows on last month, and while the numbers might be small in comparison with other styles of music controlled by the Clear Channels of the world, I for one am proud to be part of the folk radio community that celebrates such diversity and freedom from being told what to play. Popular songs heard on mainstream commercial radio are based on record labels, agents and other nefarious influences that decides what the audience should hear. Not folk radio. This month’s Folk DJ chart includes Jorma Kaukonen, the Gibson Brothers, George Mann, the Stray Birds, Tom Pacheco, Christine Lavin and other names that you won’t hear on the mainstream commercial stations.

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