Live radio program gets support from local and regional sponsors
The 2012-2013 Rolling Hills Radio season is now underway. Helping to make the season possible are: (front row, l to r) Jeff James, owner of the Labyrinth Press Co.; Ken Hardley, Rolling Hills Radio host; and Vince Horrigan, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation grant committee member; (back row, l to r) Dennis Drew, WRFA General Manager; Art Wingerter, President of Univera Healthcare; and Jim Holler, owner of Trinity Guitars. (Submitted Photo)
JAMESTOWN, N.Y. – Chautauqua County’s only local radio program dedicated to live music is now in its third season on the air. Hosted by local singer Ken Hardley, Rolling Hills Radio combines performance and interviews to both showcase the music and reveal the inspiration behind the work of the region’s most talented artists. The program is recorded on the final Thursday of each month at the Labyrinth Press Co. in Jamestown, and broadcast on local radio station WRFA-LP (107.9 FM).
Rolling Hills Radio (formerly known as the Woodsongs Coffeehouse Radio Hour) is funded in part by Univera Healthcare, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, Trinity Guitars and the Arts Council for Chautauqua County. Because of the support from the sponsors, WRFA is able to handle all production and provide national syndication of Rolling Hills Radio, the first such local program to be produced for a national market.
Rolling Hills Radio Host Ken Hardley
Each performance showcases the original work of two different musical artists. Host Ken Hardley discusses with each artist their life history and inspiration before each work is presented and then breaks down their technique and creative process with incisive and graceful questioning. In addition to performances, Hardley helps guide the audience to a better understanding of the process of creating works of art with insightful and humorous dialog. The artists come together at the end of each performance to unite the sometimes contrasting or complimentary styles in a musical grand finale, blending some very unique sounds into a common moment of original music.
The first episode of Rolling Hills Radio was recorded on Sept. 27, 2012 and featured nationally performing artists Bat McGrath (Nashville) and Miche Fambro (Geneseo, N.Y.). It will makes its broadcast debut on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012 at 7 p.m. on WRFA, with encores at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7. A podcast of the performance is also available on the WRFA website and several video excerpts can also be found on Youtube.
More information on Rolling Hills Radio, including a complete schedule of the 2012-2013 season, can be found on facebook at facebook.com/RollingHillsRadio.
Inspiring the Community initiative:
In addition to supporting programming on WRFA-LP, Univera Healthcare wanted to help spread the word about WRFA and its role as a center of inspiration to the community. Univera has created custom-designed magnetic picture frames, so that friends of WRFA can post pictures of whatever inspires them on their refrigerators at home or on their file cabinets at work. Friends of WRFA are also invited to post their inspiring photos on the station’s facebook page at facebook.com/wrfalp. Two thousand magnetic frames are available at sites around Jamestown.
For more information about the Inspiring the Community initiative or Rolling Hills Radio, listen to WRFA-FM 107.9 or visit the station online at WRFALP.com for a complete list of locations.
ABOUT WRFA
WRFA-LP is a listener supported, non-commercial, low power FM radio station provided as a public service by the Arts Council for Chautauqua County. WRFA is dedicated to providing access to the arts, cultural and educational programming and a forum for the discourse of public affairs. In addition WRFA provides community outreach through programs at area public schools, the East Side YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club of Jamestown and Hispanic Youth Radio. The station also relies on participation from local volunteers. For more information on the station, visit www.wrfalp.com.
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