April 7, 1998
Contact:
Dick Hatfield
Phone: (573) 341-4328
E-mail: [email protected]
HISTORY PROFESSOR PUBLISHES POPULAR "BLUEGRASS NOW" MAGAZINE
When a University of Missouri-Rolla history professor volunteered to host a radio program on bluegrass music 15 years ago, he had no idea it would lead to a publishing career. Now that professor is also the publisher of "Bluegrass Now" magazine.
In 1983, Wayne Bledsoe volunteered to host a bluegrass music program on UMR's public radio station, KUMR, 88.5 FM. The station, Bledsoe recalls, needed a part- time host tor "about six weeks" while its managers searched for a full-time person to host the program.
Bledsoe's bluegrass radio career began when the original host of KUMR's "Bluegrass for a Saturday Night" program left the station. Two weeks before leaving, the host "approached me and asked if I would volunteer to host his bluegrass show for a couple of weeks until the station found a new host," Bledsoe says. "I went to the station and sat in with Mike to find out how to select the music and how to run the radio equipment."
The radio station planned to hire a full-time host within six weeks, but never did. "Periodically the station manager would tell me that they were going to hire another person," Bledsoe says. "I have been hosting the show now for 15 years."
When Bledsoe first began hosting the program, he enjoyed bluegrass music but was not really involved in it as a musician or as a concert goer. But growing up in North Carolina exposed him to the music. As a youngster, he listened to it on the radio. "I was familiar with some of the regulars, like Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt and Bill Monroe," Bledsoe says.
Bledsoe's popularity soared among listeners, as KUMR reached out to a rather non- traditional audience for public radio. He soon entered the business of publishing, creating a free newsletter for KUMR's bluegrass listeners.
"I started out by having about 100 newsletters printed," Bledsoe says. "It was one sheet and included general information and listed a few concerts that were coming up."
The little newsletter fared well, and grew to 10- and 12-page issues, complete with photographs. Over the next 10 years, it gained popularity and reached audiences beyond KUMR's Ozarks region. "They were still free and were being mailed to people from a number of states," Bledsoe says. By 1989, people from a 12-state area were receiving the newsletter. By then, the publication had grown to include in-depth stories about bluegrass artists, as well as information about festivals and concerts coming up not only in Missouri but in a number of other states as well.
"The newsletter became so large that it was too expensive for the station to print and mail out," Bledsoe says. So Bledsoe assumed responsibility for the newsletter. "The first newsletters I did went out six times a year. The first four issues were newsletters," Bledsoe says.
But he decided to use a higher quality of paper for the cover of the fifth newsletter. That made it look more like a magazine. After one of his record company advertisers asked to include a color ad in the next issue, Bledsoe switched to a color format. "I started seriously thinking magazine at that point," Bledsoe says.
He began working on the magazine approach in the basement of his home. "It really started as a hobby," he says.
He called recording companies to find out if they would pay for their color pictures to be used as advertising in a new magazine concept and they agreed.
"Bluegrass Now" was born in 1991.
"Bluegrass Now" has been going strong for seven years. It has grown from 1,000 copies to about 10,000 copies, and is being mailed to all 50 states and 32 foreign countries. Each issue of the magazine has about 60 pages and features stories about bluegrass artists, bands, advice columns, legal issues, music lessons, humor, personal ads and record reviews. It even includes a listing of the most popular tunes in bluegrass music.
"One top feature of the magazine is 'Fans Choice Awards,' where bluegrass fans pick their own favorite artists," Bledsoe says. Those picks were awarded during the first "Bluegrass Now Fan Choice Awards" held in Nashville, Tenn., in April.
Bledsoe is not only very proud of his magazine but he is also proud to be a part of the bluegrass music scene. "I hope that eventually bluegrass music will be televised all over the world, just like rock and country music," he says.
Wayne Bledsoe joined the UMR faculty in 1968. Bledsoe will become chairman of the UMR history department in August 1998. You can visit "Bluegrass Now" magazine on the World Wide Web at http://www.bluegrassnow.com/.
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