Blues Radio Specials This Week

WORT Music Playlists

What was that song I heard? Who was the artist, what is the album title, where can I get it? Where can I find the entire playlist for a show?

Click on the Playlists button to bring up a calendar where you can choose any date to find the playlists for that day. If you can’t find the right playlist or the song you’re looking for, your best bet is to call the station the next time that program’s on and ask the host yourself. If that’s not possible we may be able to help you, but please have as much information as possible at hand when you contact us, such as: approximate day and time the music was played, what type or genre of music it was, who hosted the show and any other information you remember about the selection and we’ll do our best to track it down.

Contact Information

Music Director: Sybil Augustine – musicdirector@wortfm.org (for music submissions, charts and tracking, promotional exchanges for music events and following up on volunteer applications or other requests. Please include specifics in your subject line, such as “Hiphop Music Submission” etc, )

Digital Production Director: Aaron Scholz – aaron@wortfm.org (for record donations and sales, promos recording volunteers, etc.)

Music Calendars: Submit your events online here or send by email to calendar@wortfm.org

How do I get my music played on WORT?

We accept submissions in most genres and styles of music, focusing on noncommercial, out-of-the-mainstream, independent releases (check out our playlists and music charts for more information.) It may take up to a few weeks for us to review and process your submission so we appreciate your patience, and feel free to contact us to follow up. Please send your music, indicating any tracks with language that needs to be aired after 10 pm and including a one-sheet description and any biographical and tour information, to WORT Music Director, 118 S. Bedford St, Madison, WI 53703 and/or to musicdirector@wortfm.org.

We do accept digital files on .wav or mp3, but currently we still prefer CDs to digital submissions because it’s the quickest way to get it into the hands of our programmers and onto the airwaves, though we have a growing digital library. Digital submissions should be .wav or other lossless files, or high quality mp3s [128-320 kbps.]

You can follow up or “track” your submissions by email, or call 608-256-2001 on Wednesdays between 1-4 pm CST to ask if we received it, has it been reviewed, has it been added to our library, and what kind of airplay it’s getting—e.g. light, medium, heavy or charting. Thanks and we look forward to hearing your music!

Texas Johnny Brown will be the featured artist on Blues Cruise Friday night from 6-8 PM Central Daily time. Texas Johnny Brown was a blues vocalist and guitarist who, like many Texas bluesmen, was heavily influenced by T-Bone Walker. He got his start as the guitarist for Amos Milburn’s backing band, The Chickenshackers, in the late 1940s. He was involved in Milburn’s band during the peak of their popularity. He went on to work with the Duke/Peacock labels in Houston and backed Bobby Blue Bland and Junior Parker. He wrote “Two Steps From The Blues”, a song which was the title track for Bobby Bland’s first studio LP. Brown stepped away from music for 30 years, working as a laborer. He returned to his music career in 1998 with the release of Nothing But the Truth. He died July 2013 at age 85. This show was originally broadcast on May 4, 2002. (Photo courtesy of Elvert Barnes from Hyattsville MD, USA – 06.TexasJohnnyBrownQualityBluesBand.SFF42.OpryHouse.WDC.25June2008)

Two for the Blues will feature blues piano man Floyd Dixon on Saturday night from 8-10 PM Central Daylight time. Floyd was born in Texas but his family moved to Los Angeles in 1942. Charles Brown was a major influence on him. He signed a recording contract with the Modern record label in 1949 and had hits with Telephone Blues and Call Operator 210. He is probably best known today as the song writer for Hey Bartender, a tune made famous by the Blues Brothers in the 1970s. He had over 100 recordings in the 1950s. In the 1970s he stepped away from the music industry and moved back to Marshall Texas his home town. He was given a Pioneer Reward by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in 1993. His Alligator CD, Wake Up and Live released in the mid-1990s was critically acclaimed. I interviewed Floyd Dixon in September 2005 and this show was originally broadcast on October 22, 2005. In the interval between interview and broadcast he was found to have intestinal cancer, had surgery and was in a rehabilitation center. He passed on the following July from kidney failure at age 77.

If you miss these broadcasts, both shows will be available on our station archive for 2 weeks following broadcast.