Jim has been sharing
his love of folk music as a radio host on WKSU-FM for more
than 25 years. Judy Collins called him, “A national
treasure.” He also serves on the team that runs the
Kent State Folk Festival. Jim grew up in the northeast Ohio
Snow Belt and still lives there today. He’s nestled
500 feet from the road in a timberframe house, which he helped
build. Jim is single but has a family of eight cats—Skoki,
Bodo, Beedie, Lils, Arlo, Francis, Kiri and Liese1—and
three dogs—Harriet, Callie, and Josie (named by listeners
in a contest). Jim graduated with a B.A. from Kent State University,
has been in over 30 plays, played bass in a bluegrass and
swing band, and used to be a landscaper. It is his passion
for the environment, animals, and, of course, folk music that
keeps Jim busier than he sometimes wishes. This passion is
broadcast to listeners along with Jim’s special mix
of music. Jim, a vegetarian, also enjoys sampling India Pale
Ales, playing contract Bridge, attending auctions, gardening
and mountain biking.
Elena
See - Host
Elena is very pleased
to be working with Folk Alley. She first connected with her
inner folkie while working as an assistant producer for Minnesota
Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion”
with Garrison Keillor. Her duties included editing the comedic
scripts performed on the show, fixing Garrison’s computer,
editing the program’s web sites, and answering irate
listener E-mails and phone calls.
She was also sound engineer
for Keillor’s daily literary program, “The Writer’s
Almanac.”
After several years at Maine Public Broadcasting Network as music director, she's currently the music director for XM radio's Classics.
Barb
Heller - Host
Barb lives in Canton,
NY and is a popular host on North Country Public Radio (NCPR).
With degrees in biology and chemistry from St. Lawrence University,
Barb did the most logical thing after graduation, she became
a folk singer. She played and taught guitar and put together
four albums: a duo album with Tom Richter, a collection of
originals, one just for kids, and an instrumental Christmas
album of guitar arrangements with Danny Gotham. When Gotham
left his duties as host of a bluegrass show on NCPR 15 years
ago, he suggested that Barb apply for the job and, with a
little rearranging of the schedule, she accepted the challenge
and added “DJ” to her skill list. In true upstate
New York tradition, her first husband (who passed away in
1997) was a dairy farmer and, when she remarried, she chose
a retired artificial inseminator of cows. Barb is a familiar
face at the Gray Fox Bluegrass Festival, where she regularly
serves as emcee.
Jeff
St. Clair - Host
Jeff joined WKSU
as a part-time announcer in 1999 after a career as an analytical
chemist. A resident of Kent, OH (a city with a strong folk
music heritage), Jeff started listening to the station when
he was a child and became a young public radio fan, learning
to love everything from folk to classical. Jeff became a full-time
staffer when, as development producer, he accepted the additional
responsibility of coordinating the on-air sound of fund drives.
He has continued his announcing duties, including the local
classical program, “In Performance.” His respect
of the environment (Jeff is especially fond of hard-shelled
insects and amphibians) and interest in acoustic and world
music helped him create his own voice as Jim Blum’s
frequent guest host during weekend folk music on WKSU.
Gene Shay - Host
For more than 45 years, Gene Shay has been the Philadelphia folk scene's most visible representative, producing folk radio shows every Sunday since 1962 (currently on WXPN). A founder of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, he has been called the "Godfather of Philadelphia Folk Music" and "the dean of American folk DJs." Gene brought Bob Dylan to Philadelphia for his regional debut and wrote the original radio spots for Woodstock. Years later, he came up with the name "World Cafe" for the series produced by WXPN. For his own label, Sliced Bread, he produced The Philadelphia Folk Festival 40th Anniversary anthology and "What's That I Hear," a critically acclaimed Phil Ochs tribute album. Gene served as a Charter Board Member of the North American Folk & Dance Alliance; serves on the Board of The Philadelphia Folksong Society, The First Person Arts Foundation, The American Composers Forum and is a voting member on the Board of Governors of NARAS in Philadelphia. In 2005, he received Temple University's coveted Lew Klein Award for Excellence in Communications and was entered into the University's Radio & TV Hall Of Fame.
Linda
Fahey - Programming & Marketing Director
Linda Fahey joined Folk Alley in the spring
of 2005 as the director of programming and marketing. Growing
up just outside of Boston, her love for folk and folk-blues
started early on in high school, when a friend turned her
on to Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, Jorma Kaukonen’s
Quah and Bonnie Raitt’s early records. Her love of folk
and acoustic music grew as she pursued her degrees in field
botany and ecology. From 1993-2000, while teaching natural
history and environmental courses at a little private college
in the Adirondack Park of NYS, she began presenting and promoting
folk and acoustic blues concerts in the Saranac Lake area
and helping out with area music festivals. A strange twist
of fate led to a job offer from Garrison Keillor to work as
his Associate Producer (aka talent booker) for ‘A Prairie
Home Companion,’ so she made the big move down from
the mountains to the urban flatlands of St. Paul, Minnesota.
While in St. Paul, she worked for Keillor for three seasons,
produced some live Keillor ‘after-hours’ radio
specials, called Night Out, and the Live at the Fitz concert
series at the Fitzgerald Theater. After PHC, Linda went to
work for the Twin Cities-based folk label Red House Records
where she did a little of everything including A&R, publicity
and promotions, and working on special projects. When she’s
not focused on all things folk, Linda is usually hiking, paddling
her sea-kayak (though living in Ohio presents some challenges
for this), throwing a Frisbee for Lupine the Wonder Dog, or
obsessively following the Boston Red Sox.
Chris
Boros- Production & Operations Director
Chris (Folk Alley Operations and Production
Director) started his radio career when he was just 5--sitting
in front of a tape player and producing the classic Chris'
Top 20 tape which probably featured a lot of KISS, Alice Cooper,
and Van Halen. Luckily, Chris grew up--sort of. While he still
likes to rock with Alice, Chris' life was never the same after
his Uncle played him Steeleye Span when he was 17. That single
band changed everything for Chris, and within a few months,
he was listening to die-hard, acoustic, traditional folk music,
while his friends at the time were rockin' to Pearl Jam and
Nirvana. Chris graduated from Kent State University with a
degree in radio/TV and went on to the wonderful world of rock
radio--but playing AC/DC over and over and over again drove
Chris crazy and he left that world for public radio. First
he landed a gig at WCPN (an NPR affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio)
where he produced stories on folkies like John Renbourn and
Fairport Convention--along with pieces on Henry Rollins, Weird
Al, Progressive Rock, and the crazy world of Troma Movies
(makers of The Toxic Avenger.) While attending Kent State,
Chris worked at WKSU as a student employee, but is happy to
be back in a full-time position. In his spare time, Chris
plays guitar, writes and records songs, occasionally performs
in public, watches really bad B-Movies, acts in plays, and
loses money playing on-line Poker.
