Bill Rudman, 53, is an award-winning broadcaster, the co-founder of Harbinger Records, and the executive director of Musical Theater Education Programming. For 23 years he has produced, written and hosted the weekly radio series, Footlight Parade. Since 1983 he has also produced recordings devoted to the songwriting masters of theater and film ? albums featuring such artists as Peggy Lee and Maxine Sullivan ? distributed by Angel/EMI, Atlantic Jazz, Stash and Painted Smiles, among other labels.

Bill has created many musical-theater revues and concerts celebrating the song legacy of Broadway and Hollywood. He lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Nonprofit Organization
If ever there were an art form that speaks "in American," it's the Broadway and Hollywood musical. That's because we Americans created it ? and its impact on our cultural history is incalculable. Our everyday conversations are laced with quotations from its lyrics, and its classic melodies fill the air in everything from contemporary recordings to radio and television ads.

Musical Theater Education Programming (MTEP) is a nonprofit organization formed to help keep this uniquely American art form alive, and to help foster its development for the pleasure of future generations.

MTEP's cornerstone is the nationally syndicated radio program Footlight Parade, distributed free of charge to public radio stations nationwide. But the organization also produces and creates an array of educational programs for people of all ages.

West Coast Live is a weekly two-hour show of original material, interviews and music, produced live-to-satellite in front of a San Francisco theatre audience and carried around the world. The show entertains and informs its audience with music, ideas and humor from a rich mix of musicians, writers and thinkers drawn firstly from the Pacific Rim and the Western United States, but also from further afield, as feels right to do. The host's unique Western sensibilities are also conveyed by their remote broadcasts from Yosemite, Alaska, the Yukon, as well as by the sound of Bay water splashing against the piers that begins each show. West Coast Live's host, Sedge Thomson, has been producing live radio since 1985. He is widely known for his compelling and unpredictable interviews, from WCL to City Arts and Lectures to Fresh Air (vacation host). Planned specials ahead include the 30th anniversary broadcast from the kitchen of world-renowned Chez Panisse with the great chefs and agricultural thinkers of our time, Vancouver International Writers Festival in cooperation with the CBC.

Celtic Connections offers radio listeners a wide variety of traditional and contemporary music associated with the western European lands occupied at one time or another by people of the Celtic tribes and their descendants, including Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and Galicia, as well as Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and other parts of North America where the Celtic influence has been felt. The program's host, Bryan Kelso Crow, also brings you great music from England and from Scandinavia and other European regions, all of which have connections with a Celtic past. Each week on Celtic Connections, you can count on hearing the finest selections from new releases as well as from Celtic classics. We also offer occasional concert performances, recorded exclusively for Celtic Connections, along with original interviews with some of the top names in the Celtic music world.

River City Folk is an engaging mix of live performances, interviews and recordings. Hosted by veteran singer-songwriter Tom May, each program features a folk artist or group from North America performing live in the studio. Through Tom's interview with the artists, and samplings from the recordings that have influenced them, the listener is treated to a unique perspective on the living tradition that is folk music.

Now in its 22nd year on radio, River City Folk remains one of the premier showcases for acoustic singer/songwriters nationally. The program highlights the vitality of the acoustic music scene by featuring diverse performers and styles

What do Cheryl Wheeler, Pete Seeger, Ferron, Woody Guthrie, John Gorka, Ani Difranco, Jean Redpath, Robin & Linda Williams and Mike Nichols & Elaine May have in common?

They and hundreds of other traditional and contemporary folk performers and comedians fill a two hour spontaneous entertainment program that we call The Midnight Special. Original, offbeat, and always entertaining, The Midnight Special offers listeners a program of music, madness and mayhem--a lively potpourri of folk and ethnic music, show and novelty tunes, and hilarious comedy routines. Although rich in tradition and history, The Midnight Special retains its timeliness, delighting listeners with gentle irreverence or touching them with candid observations.

In 1953, Mike Nichols, then a WFMT announcer, now one of the most respected stage and film directors, developed The Midnight Special as a showcase for recorded folk music. Over the years, the "Special" has evolved into an eclectic mixture of song and story that attracts not only a loyal, almost cult following, but also new, younger listeners with each broadcast. They hear an incredibly diverse selection of artists, from the traditional to the contemporary: Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Arlo Guthrie, Mike Cross, The Weavers, Dudley Moore and Carol Channing, to name a few.

We've put together an emotionally-charged, heart-rending, paint-peeling, splinter-kicking one hour bluegrass show. Thematically, we're all over the bluegrassical map, boldly covering such hot topics as broken things in Bluegrassland, gospel train songs, 40 year old grass, and "ain't" tunes. We also make frequent trips to the seldom seen new bluegrass CD bins, where the latest discs in bluegrassdom are examined. And, of course, being based in Nashville, we feature scintillating conversation and live music with some of the best in bluegrass. Recent guests have included The McLains, Lynn Morris & Marshall Wilborn, Crucial Smith, Tim O'Brien & Dirk Powell, and the Larry Stephenson Band.

Our goal is to edify, educate, and entertain -- and we leave no instrument unpicked, no song unsung, and no interview undone in our continuing effort to do so

Tent Show Radio is a weekly variety series showcasing live performances from Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua. Featuring Big Top's Artistic Director, Warren Nelson, the Blue Canvas Orchestra, and nationally and regionally renowned performers, Tent Show Radio is heard every week on listener-supported radio stations across the country, and twice a week on the Wisconsin Public Radio state-wide network.

Each week features a different live performance from Big Top Chautauqua's summer season of concerts, lectures, musicals, and theater productions. Tune into Tent Show Radio and bring Big Top Chautauqua into your home!

Tent Show Radio is made possible in part by the generous support of The Joseph Huber Brewing Company and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.

For the past six years, Nick Michael has been serv?ing the production side of KSJE's air schedule, editing shows for others and making sure our program day runs as smooth as silk? or perhaps fine linen. In addition to his production duties, you can hear Nick during his daily jazz hour THE GROOVE CAF?, which he hosts Monday through Friday from 4 to 5pm, and ROGUE MACHINATIONS, his weekend hour of Electronica, Saturday nights at 10pm.

ROGUE MACHINATIONS covers everything that chirps, from House to Acid to Industrial to Jungle. If you can dance to it, he plays it, so set your dials ravers.

Music-wise, Nick's influences and tastes are based on both his parent's Jazz inclinations and the very diverse sounds that poured out of the Atlanta music scene in his youth.