New programming will include weeknight showcases of live recordings by well-known orchestras, including ones in Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York. On Saturday afternoons, the station will also air a classical music program, 鈥�,鈥� hosted in both English and Spanish and focusing on Latin American composers. The full new schedule is available .

Classical music during the weeknights will replace the evening jazz shows on WEMC. With the changes, the station will also drop its news programs from and the (these can still be accessed via the Internet).

Station manager Al Bartholet said listener surveys showed that classical music was the overwhelming reason that people have been tuning in to the station. Adding more classical music programming will give WEMC鈥檚 audience more of the music it enjoys and help the station form a more coherent identity 鈥� an important part of keeping and growing a radio audience, he added.

WEMC will continue its Sunday morning broadcasts of services at , and will add a encore broadcast (Wednesdays at 8 p.m.) of 鈥�,鈥� a 90-minute music show hosted by EMU professor emeritus John Horst.

鈥淚t is probably the most popular program on WEMC. It鈥檚 the 鈥楥ar Talk鈥� of WEMC,鈥� said program manager Matt Bingay. 鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a hit on your hands, get more mileage out of it. Repeat it. Give people another opportunity.鈥�

Horst, who began recording episodes of his show more than a decade ago, said it was 鈥渘ice to get the affirmation鈥� about his show. He acknowledged that it鈥檚 getting harder to find new material 鈥� there are only so many Mennonite acappella recordings out there 鈥� but continues to follow up on suggestions from listeners and friends, and rummage at places like for rarities. He also often receives copies of new recordings of groups and Mennonite colleges and elsewhere, and plans to continue creating new episodes as often as he can.

Founded in 1955 as a gift from the class of 1954, WEMC is the oldest public radio station in Virginia. From its transmission tower on the crest of the hill west of EMU, WEMC鈥檚 signal can reach up to 88,000 people who live within a 25-mile radius of the university. By the end of the year, the station鈥檚 aging transmitter will be replaced with a new one to ensure more reliable service.

WEMC is also streamed online, and through a new smartphone or tablet . In 2007, James Madison University鈥檚 radio station and Harrisonburg鈥檚 National Public Radio affiliate, WMRA-90.7 FM, assumed management of WEMC, with the concurrence and ongoing input of EMU officials.

鈥淲e’re pleased with the ongoing partnership between EMU and JMU to manage public radio offerings for the region,鈥� said , EMU director of and a member of the WEMC advisory group. 鈥淲EMC is a gem that we want to preserve. Changing technologies and limited resources made that unfeasible for EMU alone. With the stations’ financial stability and growing listenership through careful program planning, the future of Harrisonburg鈥檚 two public radio stations looks secure.鈥�

John L. Horst, Ted Grimsrud and Jim Bishop produce and host weekly programs on public radio station WEMC, 91.7 FM. They do it on a volunteer basis because they believe there are sufficient numbers of people hankering for their special brands of music.

And, while they acknowledge that their programs appeal to a “niche market,” they get enthusiastic listener response to shore up their conviction.

“Mostly Mennonite, Mostly A Cappella”

John Horst

Horst, a retired physics professor at EMU, hosts “Mostly Mennonite, Mostly A Cappella,” 8-9:30 a.m. Sundays. He plays blocks of, as the program suggests, mostly unaccompanied sacred choral music by local and nationally-known artists and groups.

Horst draws from years of musical experience, which included singing with the former “Mennonite Hour” radio broadcast’s chorus and male quartet in the mid-1950’s to the mid 1960’s as well as composing. Music from the 15 CD reissues of Classic Mennonite Hour singing often appears on the program.

Listeners on a given Sunday morning may hear groups ranging from local favorites such as the the Eastern Mennonite High School Touring Choir, the EMU Chamber Singers, the Shenandoah Valley Men’s Chorus, the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir and local composers Jim Clemens and Brad Lehman. A sampling of contrasting music outside the Mennonite tradition is usually part of each program.

“Friday Night Jukebox”

Jim Bishop

Bishop, who dubs himself a “hopeless nostalgic,” dishes up an hour of dusty discs from the decade of the 1950’s, the “Friday Night Jukebox,” 8-9 p.m. Fridays. The show features straight-ahead rock and roll, street-corner doo-wop harmonies, top ten instrumentals, off-the- wall novelties and sock hop specials with artists as diverse as Chuck Berry, Perry Como, the McQuire Sisters, Marty Robbins, Duane Eddy and Little Richard who shared the charts during this era.

The last 15 minutes of the show every week is devoted to unabashedly romantic tunes to watch the submarine races by. Requests and dedications are welcomed by calling 432-4211.

Bishop also teams up with WSVA radio personality Jim Britt for the monthly “Warped Records Show,” a two-hour montage of, as the title suggests, weird, wacky tunes that were once stables of radio but today don’t “fit” any station genre, 10 a.m.-noon, usually on Thursday. The show will feature warped holiday tunes twice in December – on the 8th and 23rd of the month.

“I’m not aware of any commercial radio station anywhere doing a program like this one,” Bishop notes. “Even WSVA doesn’t know what to make of the avid listener response.”

“Wavelength”

Ted Grimsrud

Rumor has it that if Ted Grimsrud’s CD collection was laid end-to-end, it would stretch from Harrisonburg to Hinton – maybe even Rawley Springs.

Dr. Grimsrud, professor of Bible and religion at EMU and – yes, he’s a rockin’ jock PhD – is host of “Wavelength,” 3-6 p.m. Saturdays. He modestly describes the program as “music from the intersection of country, folk, rock and roll, blues and gospel.”

On any given week, one might hear Waylon and Willie, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and the Beatles followed by the Everly Brothers, Bruce Cockburn, Nina Simeone and Los Lobos – and it “seams” to work.

The Bible prof-music buff even manages a “Wavelength” blog at

About WEMC and WMRA

WEMC, Virginia’s oldest public radio station, founded in 1955, is owned by 草莓社区 but now managed by the staff of James Madison University’s public radio station, WMRA. WEMC operates out of WMRA’s studios at Cantrell Ave. The station can be heard on-line at .