Host of the Saturday Night Bluegrass Show Signs Off COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS (kamu) - Each Saturday evening promptly at 7 p.m. bluegrass music has been heard emanating through the speakers of all those tuned to 90.9 FM.

The familiar voice of local KAMU-FM volunteer, Rodney O'Connor, has presided over and produced the Saturday Night Bluegrass Show since Nov. 5, 1988.

O' Connor has been a longtime fixture at KAMU and after 20 years of producing the show has decided it is time to sign off.

Rodney O'Connor grew up in San Antonio, Texas and moved to College Station in 1972 to work at the College Station Fire Department, from which he is now retired. He has a wife, Julia, whom he has been married to for 38 years and has two children with. He also has one grandson.

"Rodney is extremely dependable and generous," says Rick Howard, KAMU-FM Program Director. "He would give the shirt off his back if he could."

O'Connor is not a passive host or listener; he has traveled the world searching out new bluegrass sounds at festivals all over the country; collecting music and memories to share with listeners.

"Nothing gets you wound up like some good ole fashioned gospel bluegrass music," states O'Connor.

He said his favorite thing about working at KAMU were the people he got to meet in the studio and out on the road.

"I've had a ball over the years," says O'Connor. "I'm a volunteer and don't get paid but I love it."

O'Connor plays banjo, guitar and mandolin and can be heard cranking out his bluegrass tunes every Monday night at 6:30 p.m. at J.Cody's in Bryan, Texas.

He has sat along side Allison Krauss, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton, hosted countless shows and put on bluegrass festivals all over the country.

O'Connor lives and breathes bluegrass music, but has decided it is time to hang up his microphone and move on.

"Rodney enjoys bluegrass music so much," explains Howard. "It's going to be really hard to lose a volunteer as passionate as him."

The final Saturday Night Bluegrass Show will air this Saturday, May 31.

"We're having a two-hour special, some folks are coming up and we're going to have a good time," O'Connor says.

O'Connor's show will be replaced by a new show, the Bluegrass Express, but his dedication and passion for bluegrass music will not be forgotten.
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