Special request from RBI

As you are probably aware, the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, operates an Internet radio station, Radio Bluegrass International (RBI).

Derik Wayne Hancock, the person who operates RBI, has issued a plea for early radio accoutrements. While he has been working diligently for last few months to rebuild the station’s computer systems and program rotation, he is now seeking equipment to give the studio a “vintage” look.

Hancock, who has been in the radio business for 13 years, explained …….

“One of the major steps I want to take in 2011 is the establishment of a working display. I hope to build a ‘vintage looking’ on-air studio for RBI, not only to broadcast from, but also to be a permanent display. I already have a decent start with the collection, but I’m still on the lookout for more ‘vintage’ equipment to add to the display. For example – old microphones, turntables, decorations, or other unique items that were found in radio stations.

The museum is all about displaying and preserving the heritage of this musical art-form know as bluegrass. Why not display what helped get the music to the rest of the world – radio? People from all over the world not only listen to RBI, but visit the Museum on a regular basis. We have displays for everything except radio of the ‘vintage’ era.

Do you or someone you know have this kind of equipment lying around in a closet or storage room? I’m asking for a donation or loan and I’ll keep an itemized list of all equipment that is donated or loaned for a new display at the IBMM.”

Although the studio is open for the public to see and to hear the station, the area concerned is roped off.

To listen live online, just visit the IBMM site, and then click on the RBI logo in the upper left.

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About the Author

Richard Thompson

Richard F. Thompson is a long-standing free-lance writer specialising in bluegrass music topics. A two-time Editor of British Bluegrass News, he has been seriously interested in bluegrass music since about 1970. As well as contributing to that magazine, he has, in the past 30 plus years, had articles published by Country Music World, International Country Music News, Country Music People, Bluegrass Unlimited, MoonShiner (the Japanese bluegrass music journal) and Bluegrass Europe. He wrote the annotated series I'm On My Way Back To Old Kentucky, a daily memorial to Bill Monroe that culminated with an acknowledgement of what would have been his 100th birthday, on September 13, 2011.