The Delta Roots Radio Hour is set to launch on Delta State University’s WDSW 88.1 The Trail on November 7.
The locally produced show is funded by a REAP Grant from the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. Tricia Walker’s Big Front Productions will produce the show with her serving as host. Though not a traditional radio interview due to COVID-19 restrictions, the show will have Walker in studio interviewing Roots Music singers, songwriters and bands via Zoom in 15-minute segments.
“The radio station is formatted as a Roots, Blues and Rock station, which no one in the Delta is doing,” Walker said. “The terrestrial signal doesn’t go very far but it’s online as well so you can stream it.”
The Roots Music Program had applied for a larger grant through MDNHA but received a smaller REAP (Regional Engagement and Advancement Partnership) Fund grant that will provide funding through this upcoming summer. The REAP Fund was created in 2015 by the MDNHA board to support projects that communicate the MDNHA’s mission, cultural heritage themes, and/or goals to various audiences. REAP projects generally involve participatory engagement from MDNHA staff and board members.
Initially, the radio show was supposed to be an in studio, hour long live show that began last summer but the pandemic masked those plans.
“With the current pandemic restrictions and the space on campus in the station, we weren’t able to meet those requirements. So, for the fall and winter, came up with this little web series to bring awareness to roots music. We hope to be back in the studio in the spring.”
Some of the musicians to be featured on The Delta Roots Radio Hour webisodes are members of Cleveland’s Deep Roots artist roster, including the CUZ Band, Jeff McCreary, Variety, Peyton Aldridge, and the Delta String Band, along with guests Betzenzo, the Gran Boiz, and Keith Johnson.
The initial show will be this Saturday at noon and hosted on the WDSW Facebook page. The plan is to have shows through the end of the year.
WDSW station manager, Stephanie Sandlin, serves as co-producer and technical director for the show.
“The Delta Roots Radio Hour, in conjunction with the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, has given us a wonderful opportunity to not only serve the whole Delta community but promote the richness and depth of our region to the world through WDSW The Trail on-air and via our web stream. We’re thrilled to be supporting this important community initiative,” Sandlin said.
American roots music is described as a combination of musical styles which incorporates early music genres and traditions of indigenous groups with ‘shared roots,’ heavily influenced by both the culture and sound of the blues. While it encompasses a broad range of music genres and styles, roots music now includes those genres which were given birth in the Mississippi Delta and the American South: blues, folk, gospel, traditional country, zydeco, R&B/soul, bluegrass, and singer/songwriter styles. Often marginalized on commercial radio, roots music contains a common thread that draws on the lived experience of ordinary men and women and has served as a vehicle for offering the disenfranchised a voice.
MDNHA Project Manager, Will Jacks, explained “we are a national heritage area – one of 55 approved around the nation. Luther Brown who was the Director at the Delta Center for Culture Learning for years did a lot of that groundwork.”
The federally funded program uses the monies to create a greater understanding of the culture of the Mississippi Delta.
“Sixty to sixty-five and maybe up to seventy percent of the money we get is given back in the form of grants – all specific to cultural interpretation. The radio show was one of those,” Jacks said. “The grant program is going into its sixth year now and in the first five years has generated about $2.6 million in economic stimulus. Our grants require a one to one match. If you get $100 then you provide a match of $100 either in cash or in-kind volunteer service match.”
Jacks has been with the MDNHA for two years and the Heritage Area itself has been in existence for 11 years.
Jacks noted the radio show "is a project that's been a long time coming. Music is at the heart of expression and connection and is able to connect individuals in incredibly unique ways.”
For more information about the MDNHA, visit www.msdeltaheritage.com. To learn more about The Delta Roots Radio Hour or to inquire about being a guest on the show, email wdsw@deltastate.edu or visit www.wdsw.org.
