Folk Alliance International Accepting Applications for 2019 Gene Shay Folk DJ Scholarship
Kansas City, MO: The community of Folk Alliance International’s Folk DJs around the world and Folk Alliance International (FAI) are pleased to announce that applications for the third annual Gene Shay Folk DJ Scholarship are now open through October 11, 2019, at folk.org/folkdjscholarapp.
The search is now underway for this year’s next-generation emerging DJ, someone who brings a youthful enthusiasm, deep knowledge, and respect for the contemporary and traditional folk scene to broadcasting, and to their programming.
The Gene Shay Folk DJ Scholarship includes registration to the upcoming FAI conference in New Orleans, four nights at the Conference hotel, travel compensation up to $500 US, and more.
Jon Farmer, the host of Georgian Bay Roots from CFOS in Owen Sound, was the inaugural scholarship recipient in 2018 now serves on the scholarship committee. Jalila Arthur from KUNM in Albuquerque represented the new frontier of broadcasters this past year in Montreal.
“This scholarship made it possible for me to attend Folk Alliance International for the first time and I’m attending again,” Farmer told the committee. “The organizers and other DJ’s were more than welcoming, and I continue to correspond with the people I met at FAI”. Jalila also heartily recommended the scholarship to her colleagues who want to experience the biggest international folk music gathering of the year.
The Gene Shay scholarship requires that emerging on-air broadcasters program folk and global roots music, broadcast on terrestrial, satellite or internet formats for a minimum of one year. Standard aircheck and application are due October 11, 2019, and notification will happen on or by November 1, 2019. All applicants are encouraged to pencil January 22-25, 2020, on their calendars.
The scholarship is determined by a committee comprised of radio veterans and music industry executives and will be awarded on an annual basis. This year’s committee is Jon Farmer (CFOS-Georgian Bay Roots – Owen Sound, ON), William (Biff) Kennedy (Charterhouse Music Group – Philadelphia, PA), Bud Johnson (Acoustic Accents/Syndicated – Homer, AK), Ellen Stanley (KFAI – Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN), and Mary Sue Twohy (SiriusXM – USA & Canada) working in tandem with FAI staff.
For more detail and to submit an application and aircheck please visit folk.org/folkdjscholarapp.
About Gene Shay
Gene Shay is frequently referred to as the “Dean of Folk DJs.” His career has spanned more than five decades on six different radio stations in the Philadelphia market, most recently at WXPN, where he did his final Sunday night Folk Show on February 1, 2015. Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Phil Ochs, and Tom Waits are just a few of the artists he interviewed early in their careers, a tradition that he’s continued with today’s best artists.
Beyond his radio work, Gene brought Bob Dylan to Philadelphia in 1963 for his debut concert, is a co-founder of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and co-owner of Sliced Bread Records. He was present at the creation of Folk Alliance, and he was given FAI’s first Folk DJ lifetime achievement award. Above all, he has been a friend and mentor to countless artists and DJs.
