Arts & Humanities Campus News Society & Culture

WUGA to celebrate 25th anniversary with ‘Once in a Blue Moon’

Athens, Ga. – In celebration of 25 years of broadcast service, WUGA, the public radio station operated by the University of Georgia, will present “Once in a Blue Moon,” a live concert broadcast, Aug. 26 from 7-9 p.m.

Audience seating will be available for the concert, which will be presented in Mahler Hall at the UGA Hotel and Conference Center at the Georgia Center. Tickets for the show are $15 and can be purchased online at www.wuga.org.

The live concert, which will be carried throughout the state on the Georgia Public Radio network, will feature performances by six local acts:

• Revien is a new ensemble formed by members of the Georgia Woodwind Quartet, which includes Phil Snyder on cello, Kyle Dawkins on guitars and electronics, and Brian Smith on guitars and electronics.
• The Rose Theatre of Athens Ensemble will perform selections from its fall production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

• Brock Sheidl, an up-and-coming country-rock artist, will offer varied musical selections.

• Kyshona Armstrong is a touring singer-song writer. A former music therapist, she sings about the triumphs and struggles of at-risk youth and prison inmates. Armstrong has performed with Angie Aparo, Caroline Aiken, The Styx and the B-52s

• The Kenney Blackmon String Band, an Athens-based acoustic group, will close the show. The group provides unique arrangements of classic folk tunes with hard-driving fiddle, syrupy balladry and syncopated jazz. Band members are Jason Kenney on vocals, guitar, mandolin and banjo; Noel Blackmon on vocals, guitar and mandolin; David Blackmon on fiddle; and Chris Enghauser on double bass.

• Special entertainment by local Elvis tribute artist and WUGA host Chris Shupe will be a part of the broadcast. The “Athens King” will perform with the TCB Band.

Mary Kay Mitchell, one of the radio station’s founding staff members who retired in 2011, will host the concert.

Just before 6 a.m. on Aug. 28, 1987, WUGA-FM signed on for its first day of broadcasting to Athens and the surrounding area, and the university’s public radio station has continued to meet the needs of its listening audience by providing a mixture of classical music, news and public affairs programming, jazz, drama, comedy and folk music. Programming includes a varied slate of locally produced shows along with state and national programs from Georgia Public Broadcasting, NPR, Public Radio International, American Public Media and more.

Jimmy Sanders, director of TV and Radio at UGA said, “We hope that our friends in WUGA’s listening community will join us for this entertaining event celebrating 25 years of broadcast service. It will be a special evening, paying tribute to the station’s history of excellence with anticipation of a great future.”

Funding for WUGA and its sister television station WUGA-TV is provided in part through sponsorships, underwriting and listener contributions. For more information on WUGA, see http://www.wuga.org/.

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