Someone should make Bill Knowlton a bumper sticker — “Bluegrass: The more disturbing, the better”.
One of Knowlton’s WCNY colleagues and host of the classical music station described bluegrass like this years ago. I like Knowlton.
“People say jazz is the only art form in America,” Knowlton said. “Bluegrass is different.”
Knowlton, 84, has been programming and hosting WCNY’s weekly three-hour “Bluegrass Ramble” program since 1973.
Knowlton started in 1973 with a radio station in Syracuse. He is a staple here and in his country of bluegrass, and Onondaga County he has received both the Arts Council Award of Merit and the Distinguished Service Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. He is known as an enthusiastic host of some a dozen bluegrass festivals each year.
At WCNY’s recording booth in Syracuse, he’s a simple khaki building, but he’s always focused on music. His show is his three hours on Sunday nights from 9pm to midnight. It first aired an hour later, he said, which was long.
These days, every week he settles down in a booth with half moons of paper and CDs scattered around the soundboard at arm’s length.
On a typical Wednesday last month, he cracked open some plastic CD cases, queued up the discs, and used sticky notes on the inside flaps to remind him of his favorite songs. He picked up a release script, a piece of paper that had softened and frayed from years of use, and dived in.
“Welcome to the Bluegrass Rumble from Syracuse, New York…”
Knowlton’s first introduction to bluegrass was through country music. When he was a kid in New York City, a local disc his jockey played Hank his Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” on the radio, and young Bill “almost fell off his chair,” he said. Told.
“After that, I never went back.”
He was an early radio member, riding his bike from his home in Queens to appear on WWRL’s What’s Right With Teenagers. He crossed the Hudson River and was sleeping in for his WAAT’s live “Hometown Frolic” show in Newark, New Jersey.
He saw Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves and Fallon Young there, but he always lived for the show’s opening bluegrass act.
Technically speaking, the “bluegrass rumble” was invented over 50 years ago. That’s because Knowlton ran it under the same name at the weekly 30-minute spot at Fordham University Station, where he attended college.
After graduating, he took ten years off from the show to serve as an Air Force officer in Vietnam. In 1972, he was sent to Hancock Air Force Base in Syracuse, a short drive from his old brick WCNY building in Liverpool.
Soon after, he started volunteering at the station, reviving Rumble a year later.
Knowlton retired from active duty in 1974 and remained in the reserves before taking a position as Director of Advertising and Public Affairs for the US Army’s Recruitment Battalion. He can be good too, Knowlton said.
“You can’t make money by being a bluegrass disc jockey,” he laughs.
Knowlton had brought the record to the WCNY building for the 10 p.m. show, but ended up moving an hour earlier to begin pre-recording on Wednesday.
He never wanted to perform, preferring instead to live in the space between the audience and the musicians.
“I can’t imagine life without a mic,” he said.
Knowlton has hosted many events including Gray Fox Bluegrass Festival in Oak Hill, Pickin’ in the Pasture in Lodi, Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival in Pennsylvania, Tag Hill Bluegrass Festival in Rowville, Brantling Bluegrass Festival in Sodus. I am serving In summer.
He travels to Tennessee each year for a special day dedicated to his Uncle Dave Macon, whom Knowlton has studied and written for decades.
Countless New York bluegrass groups have graced Knowlton’s recording studios live, including Syracuse-raised banjo player Tony Trischka. A radio host introduced bluegrass father Bill Monroe from the stage of Landmark His Theater.
“I know that hat!” Monroe once yelled at Knowlton, wearing a straw hat, when he crossed paths at a festival.
Knowlton’s home is now a treasure trove of bluegrass records, as he never throws away CDs or records. He hopes that someone will keep them somewhere, and that he can find someone to hand over the “Bluegrass Ramble” torch.
He’s not retired now, he said, but he’s been thinking about it. It’s been half a century on the airwaves, after all.
It’s not that he’s tired of being a bluegrass guy.
“I’m always very grateful to people who tell me they fell in love with music,” Knowlton said.
“It means a lot.”
Knowlton raised his finger and pressed the on button on the switchboard to ring the microphone and begin the top address of the hour.
“Well, I’m Bill Knowlton and this is Bluegrass Rumble. Every Sunday night from 9pm to midnight on Classic FM 91 (WCNY-FM in Syracuse, NY and WJNY-FM in Watertown, NY). Classic FM 89 — WUNY-FM in Utica, NY and of course the World Wide Web WCNY.org.
“This parlor is a comfortable place to enjoy the one-of-a-kind Bluegrass Rumble, which is now in its 50th year.”
Jules Struck I write about life and culture in and around Syracuse.contact her anytime jstruck@syracuse.com or on Instagram julestruck.journo.