Tribes Hill, a nonprofit organization in New York’s lower Hudson Valley region that seeks to unite and encourage a diverse group of musicians and their patrons to find community, both personally and musically, has conferred honorary lifetime membership on John Platt, host of Sunday Breakfast on WFUV-FM in New York.  Platt, who has hosted the show since the spring of 1997, was honored during Tribes Hill’s annual meeting and hootenanny, June 14, at Hammond House in Valhalla.  He shares this “special status” with Pete Seeger, the organization’s only other lifetime member.

 “We are doing this to recognize and honor the extraordinary work you do in supporting, promoting and building community for regional musicians,” Susan Kane, singer-songwriter and president of Tribes Hill, told Platt and the dozens of Tribes Hill members assembled under a large canopy outside the historic house that dates to 1719.  “We are particularly grateful for your support of Tribes Hill as a group and many of its members as individual musicians, whose music you have played on your radio show, including in-studio interviews and performances,” Kane continued.  “From NERFA [Northeast Regional Folk Alliance], to Falcon Ridge [Folk Festival], to WFUV’s Sunday Breakfast, to the Under the Radar concert series, you work tirelessly to connect a broad mix of musicians and their music to diverse audiences.”  She expressed gratitude to Platt for his support of the Acoustic Stage at the Pleasantville Music Festival, in which Tribes Hill takes part, and his participation on the selection committee for the organization’s Music to Libraries grant proposal.  Kane also hailed Platt for what she called his encyclopedic knowledge of contemporary music.

“To be mentioned in the same breath as Pete Seeger is unimaginable,” said Platt in accepting the honor bestowed on him.  “The opportunity to play music that matters is a real privilege, he said, noting that it was the power of song that sparked his interest in college radio back in the late 1960s.

Platt began his professional career in radio at WMMR in Philadelphia, after serving as program director of the Princeton University  radio station.  He spent the 1970s in Chicago, where he served as program director and on-air personality at WXRT.  Platt later moved to New York, where he produced Pete Fornatale’s influential Mixed Bag radio program on WNEW for 11 years, while also serving as promotion and marketing director at WNEW and WYNY. He has been with WFUV at Fordham University in New York since 1997, serving as its director of communications and special projects and as host of  Sunday Breakfast.

Acknowledging that he has “an obligation to play the best music I can play,” Platt said: “It just happens that a lot of it is by local and regional artists.  The challenge is that there’s so much great music and so little time to play it.”  Sunday Breakfast airs weekly from 8-11 a.m. at 90.7 FM in New York and also streams on the web at wfuv.org.  Platt consciously seeks to strike a balance between old favorites and newcomers on his show, which frequently features theme sets, in-studio guests and live performances.

Referring to himself as “one cog in this bigger wheel,” Platt lauded Tribes Hill as “a role model, a support group that helps to nurture talent and does it in a non-competitive way.”  Concluding his heartfelt remarks, Platt said, “In our little corner of the universe, there’s a place where we share some values.  And it’s not just the music.  Its compassion and trust… Keep on making the music because it enriches our lives so much.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Platt, who lives on Long Island with his wife, actress Sheila Sheffield, also serves as the new co-president of the Huntington Arts Council and frequently introduces artists at local venues such as the Folk Music Society of Huntington’s First Saturdays Series in Centerport and WFUV-sponsored concerts at The Landmark on Main Street in Port Washington, as well as at concert halls and series throughout the tri-state area.