World of Bluegrass Podcast

IBMA has just announced that Wichita Rutherford will host the first ever World of Bluegrass podcast live on the web today, Thurs. August 4, 2005. They plan for the podcast to be posted online twice monthly. The full text of the press release follows.

WORLD OF BLUEGRASS PODCAST!

NASHVILLE, TENN. “? The International Bluegrass Music Association announces the first ever World of Bluegrass podcast to go live on the web today, Thurs. August 4, 2005. “?We’re always searching for new and exciting ways to communicate with our members, the entertainment industry and fans and podcasts are a wonderfully unique way to reach folks who get their information and entertainment online,” says IBMA Marketing/PR Director Shari Lacy.

The World of Bluegrass podcast will provide information about topics of interest to those in the entertainment industry in addition to supporters of the music from a fan level. Introduced and hosted by Wichita Rutherford (currently with one of the top 20 most listened to podcasts on the internet with over 500,000 downloads per week – (5minuteswithwichita), the podcasts will be posted online twice monthly and will be approximately five minutes in length. “Wichita Rutherford brings to the table an established audience of people interested in bluegrass music and helps us make them both fun and informative,” says Lacy.

The broadcasts will contain up to date information on industry news and happenings, year round IBMA activities and member efforts, World of Bluegrass and Fan Fest news and IBMA Awards related information. IBMA staff members as well as other industry professionals will provide current information on topics of interest.

“World of Bluegrass is the name of our annual gathering for bluegrass professionals and fans and we thought it would be nice to borrow that moniker for the podcast because we hope, just like the event, it will prove to be a gathering place where listenres can find information year round,” explains Lacy.

Podcasting is a method of making audio files (most commonly in MP3 format) available online in a manner that allows software to automatically download the files for listening at the user’s convenience. They are becoming increasingly popular with the “ipod generation” by meeting their need to obtain music, news and information on the go.

To hear the inaugural World of Bluegrass podcast and future postings, please visit www.5minuteswithwichita.com. The podcast will move to the www.ibma.org website in the near future.

The IBMA is a non-profit trade association for bluegrass music, whose mission is to work together for high standards of professionalism, a greater appreciation for our music, and the success of the world-wide bluegrass community