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Wanda Fischer’s passion for folk music extends a lifetime.  “I kind of go way back with folk music,” says the veteran folk radio DJ, whose weekly Saturday evening program, The Hudson River Sampler, marks its 25th anniversary on WAMC/Northeast Public Radio this month.

Fischer’s father hailed from Appalachia, where music was a big part of his life.  “My father was friends with the Carter Family, so I was introduced to it [folk music] when I was very young,” said Fischer during a wide-ranging phone interview from her New York Capital District-area home. “Joe Carter used to come to our family reunions in southwest Virginia.  This is the kind of music I was raised on.”

It was also through her love of folk music that she met her husband at a Boston College coffeehouse while she was a student during the mid 1960s.  The story of how they met is the focus of “Kansas City Prime,” the one original song on her own CD, Singing Along with the Radio.  Released in 2003, the album, recorded with a few artists with whom Fischer had always wanted to sing, features a dozen of her favorite contemporary and traditional folk songs. 

Fischer, who is also a public relations professional, attributes her career in broadcasting, at least indirectly, to her husband.  Noting that he was a medical student at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester when they got married in 1973, Fischer said she decided to volunteer at a local community radio station, WCUW-FM, that had a folk program.  Initially, she signed on to help out with a program guide.   However, she wound up hosting a show called “Folk Spot” for nearly four years before she and Bill moved to the Albany, New York area in 1979 so that he could do a residency in family medicine. 

“We were ready to move back to Massachusetts in the early 80s when I was asked to do a folk radio show here,” Fischer recalls. “A physician can get a job anywhere, but it’s a little harder for a folk DJ to get a job, so we stayed.”

Her show, Hudson River Sampler, debuted on Sept. 18, 1982 on WAMC (90.3 FM and 1400 AM), immediately following Garrison Keillor’s popular syndicated public radio show, A Prairie Home Companion.  Apart from a few occasions when she has reluctantly had to tape it, the show has been broadcast live from 8-10:30 p.m. on Saturday evenings.  The show also airs on other outlets in Northeast Public Radio’s network of regional public radio stations serving parts of seven states.  Hudson River Sampler also streams live on the Internet, where it can be accessed at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/ppr/index.shtml. 

Although many of her listeners are from New York’s Capital District, Fischer says she gets occasional calls from listeners in Florida, western Massachusetts and the Midwest.

Fischer Seeks to Cover the ‘Whole Gamut of Folk Music’

Hudson River Sampler features an array of contemporary and traditional folk, blues, bluegrass and Celtic music, sprinkled with notices of upcoming area concerts and occasional interviews with artists.  “I try to play just about everything, the whole gamut of folk music, and try to introduce newer singer-songwriters,” says Fischer, while acknowledging that she doesn’t like a lot of drums.  “I’d much rather hear an old Ian and Sylvia tune, than something with 14 drum kits.  It’s all personal taste.”

Fischer says that her shows are not planned and that she is really listener-focused.  “If someone calls in with a request, I will try to build my show around that.  I like that interactive thing with my listeners.  I will play themed sets or things that go together musically,” she continues.  “I really don’t like taping my show.  I’d much rather have people calling me.”  Noting that the station’s library contains about 10,000 CDs, with more coming in all the time, Fischer says she’s able to play between 30-35 songs a week.

“When I started this show, there were no CDs,” Fischer recalls.  “”I still do throw in vinyl every now and then,” she acknowledges.  However, apart from a couple hundred pieces of vinyl — including “some of the old Schooner Fare albums that people love and really old Fast Folk releases” – the station has moved LPs out of its library, Fischer notes. 

Special 25th Anniversary Concert Set for September 28

To mark the 25^th anniversary of Hudson River Sampler, a number of artists will perform in a special concert at The Linda Norris Auditorium, WAMC’s performing arts studio in Albany, on Friday, September 28, at 8 p.m.  Tickets are priced at $25.  For additional information or to order tickets, call (518) 465-5233, ext. 4. 

“In putting together the lineup, I tried to get a sampling of the different kinds of music that we play,” says Fischer.  Slated to perform are Jonathan “Sunshine” Edwards, Debra Cowan, Little Toby Walker, Pat Wictor and Bernice Lewis.  Says Fisher, “At NERFA [Northeast Regional Folk Alliance], I always look for a kind of ‘wow’ moment.  I heard this guy playing the blues, Toby Walker, who just stopped me dead in my tracks.  Pat Wictor did that the year before.  Jonathan Edwards is just wonderful.  Debra Cowan provides a touch of traditional music, and Bernice Lewis participated in my CD.”  Fischer may well treat concertgoers to a couple of songs as well. 

With seating for 250, the 25^th anniversary show at The Linda will be more intimate than the previous one.   Held 10 years ago at a  larger auditorium in Lenox, Massachusetts, that concert drew 500 people and featured witty singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler, Happy and Artie Traum, Priscilla Herdman, Samite of Uganda and Les Sampou. 

Asked to reflect on highlights of her years in folk radio, Fischer says “I never thought that I’d get to meet people like Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton…  When I was sitting on the grounds of the Newport Folk Festival in 1966, I never thought that I’d get the chance to meet and interview him.” She also cites “a special bond” that her family had with Tommy Makem, the bard of Armagh, who regaled audiences with traditional Irish songs and stories for more than half a century until his death last month.  Fischer recalls being “speechless” when Makem called her late sister when she was ill with leukemia and noted how he repeatedly inquired about her.  

“This show for me is fun,” says Fischer of Hudson River Sampler.  “It’s really a blast.”  She insists that “It’s kind of a tribute to my family, too [particularly her husband] — for having stuck by me for 25 years and not complained about not going out on Saturday nights.”  She starts to chuckle as she recalls the first time that  she heard Toronto-based singer-songwriter and clawhammer-style banjo player Danny Bakan sing “I Did My Laundry on Saturday Night.”  “When he was singing that song at NERFA, I was just cracking up,” she says, noting that her husband stays home and does the laundry on Saturday nights, while she’s in the studio doing her show.

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