WAMU Streams ‘High Lonesome Sound’ to the Faithful

The March 2003 issue of business magazine Fast Company recognized a public radio station for keeping the bluegrass flowing. American University's WAMU appeared in the 2nd annual "Fast 50" list -- along with the organizations promoting democracy, sustainable agriculture, AIDS awareness and solar-powered hearing aids -- under the heading, "These leaders made the right moves by doing the right thing."

The Washington, DC based station had promised its bluegrass listeners that it "would not abandon them" when the station changed to a more talk and news oriented format, according to Executive Director and General Manager Susan Clampitt. WAMU's solution was to create a separate web-based radio station, with the help of a grant from the NEA, to provide a non-stop stream of bluegrass to its faithful fans. And to many more, apparently: BluegrassCountry.org is reported to be the world's 4th most popular Internet-only streaming site.

The streaming site offers exclusive programming and community chat, with hosts from nearby Maryland and distant Sydney, Australia.

Visit WAMU's main page, which includes live listening & streaming.

Visit their bluegrass spinoff, BluegrassCountry.org (Windows Media & mp3 listening available)

Find out more about Live365.com, the streaming technology used by WAMU.

Read the Fast Company article.