The Signal

  • Friday 7-8pm
  • Saturday 1-2pm

The Signal, a weekly radio magazine produced by WYPR, is devoted to exploring Maryland's thriving artistic and cultural scene.

The Signal, hosted by veteran WYPR personality Andy Bienstock, promises to transport listeners to the region's cultural back roads: the studios, recital halls and basement workshops where art is conceived and brought to life.

The minds behind The Signal senior producers Aaron Henkin and Lisa Morgan, as well as Bienstock -- share an abiding love for the tradition of radio storytelling. Every program is crafted like a book of short stories, a radio quilt sewn together with thoughtful narrative transitions and embroidered with contemplative musical interludes.

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Program Days: 
Friday
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Old folk tunes sometimes get treated with kid gloves by reverent players who are careful to recreate them just as they sounded generations ago.  There’s some historical value in this delicate approach.  But if you ask Tomas Drgon of Orchester Prazevica, the alternative is a lot more fun.  The Czech-born band-leader visits with Signal producer Aaron Henkin.

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For every flash-in-the-pan music sensation that comes and goes in the blink of an eye, there’s another kind of band that patiently forges a path for itself with an eye on longevity.  For more than twenty years, Jen and Scott Smith have been writing, performing, and recording music together as Naked Blue.  The Towson-based duo joins The Signal’s Aaron Henkin to share some songs and conversation.

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Benn Ray from Atomic Books in Hampden joined us last week with a list of summer-reading recommendations that was quite simply too epic to be contained by the confines of one radio broadcast. He joins the Signal’s Lisa Morgan in studio again this week to pick up where they left off.

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Tomas Drgon has fond memories of the late-night drinking songs he used to sing with friends and family back in his home country of Czechoslovakia.  He’s since become an accomplished jazz musician, and when he moved to Baltimore, he taught the old tunes to some talented American friends.  Tomas joins us to share the result:  a turbo-charged gypsy folk band called Orchester Prazevica.

A musical life well-lived: Scott and Jen Smith are the husband-and-wife folk-pop duo, Naked Blue.  They join us to talk about finding contentment and taking the long-view as musicians who are still in love with music (and each other) after more than twenty years together.

Atomic Books’ Benn Ray is back to unveil part II of his epic list of summer reading recommendations, with a focus on non-fiction.

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Summer officially begins in Baltimore next weekend with Patterson Park’s Latinofest, the city’s annual open-air celebration of Hispanic food, dance, and music.  Latinofest organizers have booked an impressive roster of live bands for the occasion, including some high-quality local talents.  Producer Aaron Henkin has been dropping in at some rehearsal spaces for a preview.

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Benn Ray from Atomic Books in Hampden is always happy to recommend a good read. He joins the Signal’s Lisa Morgan with a stack of books to keep you entertained and well-informed all summer long.  (Benn's complete list of picks is at The Signal's Facebook page.)

 

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This year is the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s album, Dark Side of the Moon.  In Baltimore, a cast of more than forty musicians has reimagined the album, and the project’s executive producers, ellen cherry and Sandy Asirvatham, join The Signal’s Aaron Henkin for an unveiling of Mobtown Moon

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The New Gospelites started their vocal harmony group in the 1970s, but they’ve been singing the old hymns since they were kids at Wharton Point’s Saint George Methodist United Church on The Eastern Shore.  They’ve absorbed the musical style of their elders, they’ve made it their own, and today, they’re keepers of a rare and powerful repertoire of songs in praise of The Almighty.  In this special coproduction of The Signal and Maryland Traditions, radio producer Aaron Henkin and folklorist Cliff Murphy pay a visit to Kent County, Maryland, to record stories and songs with The New Gospelites:  Irene Moore, Hester Newman, Mary Hynson, Franklin Hynson, and James Phillips.




This episode's companion slideshow images by photographer Shane Carpenter

Here’s a link to more info on the 2013 Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival, where the New Gospelites are performing on Saturday, June 15th

Here’s a link to the New Gospelites album, Every Day is Sunday:  A Heritage of a Capella Gospel

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A Lumbee proverb:  “Seek wisdom, not knowledge.  Knowledge is of the past. Wisdom is of the future.”  Producer Aaron Henkin presents a profile of Baltimore resident and Lumbee tribe member Louis Campbell.

(Campbell performs with his dance group, Uhwachi Reh, on Saturday, June 15, at the 2013 Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival).

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Marion Winik thought she knew what she was getting into when she started dating again in her early fifties.  Then she went on a few dates. Her memoir, Highs in the Low Fifties, explores the ups & downs of middle-age romance and her comical misadventures on her quest to find Mr. Right. 


Contact Aaron Henkin or Lisa Morgan
thesignal@wypr.org