Fervor Coulee Bluegrass Blog

NEW ROOTSICANA & BLUEGRASS RADIO SHOW on CJSR/CJSR.com

Donald Teplyske  |  November 4, 2024

By Donald Teplyske

Forty years after first applying, I have a radio show on CJSR.

I'm pleased to announce that I have joined the eclectic CJSR team with Fervor Coulee's Rootsicana & Bluegrass, two hours weekly of the best of bluegrass and roots music with a focus on Albertan and Canadian artists.

I first applied to CJSR, the University of Alberta's campus-based, volunteer-powered, listener-supported community radio station in Edmonton, during my first year of university in early 1984.

For not the last time in my life, I didn't hear back and my dream of sharing the music I love went onto the back burner.

Later, while living and teaching in northern Saskatchewan, my grade 5 and 6 students and I hosted a weekly radio program about the school. In 2004, and for 18 months, I hosted a bluegrass show for the Waskasoo Bluegrass Music Society on an Olds, AB station, and a couple years later I did some summer fill-in on CKXU (University of Lethbridge).

But this? Man, what an opportunity. What I lack in skill I hope I make up in taste and enthusiasm.

Fervor Coulee's Rootsicana & Bluegrass airs live Sunday afternoons (2:OO-4:00 Mountain Standard Time) on CJSR FM88 in Edmonton and on CJSR.com wherever the magic signals reach.

The first hour features Rootsicana—classic country, modern country that doesn't bite, blues, roots rock, select country & southern soul, singer-songwriters...the gamut of the Americana world. The second hour is all Bluegrass, contemporary and classic.

Regular features will include new releases, classic country and bluegrass sets, extended live sides, charity shop finds, 14K From the Shelves, concert advances, and themed sets.

I am grateful and excited to have this opportunity to share the music I love by curating a two-hour show each week; I am especially interested in sharing with the listening audience music that is under-heard and under-appreciated by the broader radio industry. By emphasizing artists from Alberta and Canada, as well as independent artists from across the roots world, I hope to provide additional exposure to worthy musicians, singers, and songwriters.

Please tune in to Fervor Coulee's Rootsicana & Bluegrass, Sundays 2PM-4PM (MST) on CJSR.com and CJSR in Edmonton, Alberta.

And don't give up on your dreams.