Beginning next week, City12, Hot Springs’ government access channel on Resort Television Cable, will premiere “Ozark Highlands Radio,” a new syndicated radio program produced by Ozark Folk Center State Park. The program will replace the classical music normally heard on City12, but only for one hour, four times per week.
Ozark Folk Center State Park, in conjunction with the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, produces the show, which features live music and interviews recorded at the center’s 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View. “We’ve incorporated a wide variety of performers into the music that we feature on the program,” says Executive Producer Daren Dortin. “The interesting aspect of this is that listeners will be able to hear the connection of these musical styles and how they bind the Ozarks to other musical traditions.” The park will produce 40 original episodes each year.
“City12 viewers can connect to Arkansas’ rich Ozark folk music heritage, thanks to our new partnership with Ozark Folk Center State Park,” said Public Information Director Terry Payne. “Authentic sounds of the fiddle, autoharp and claw-hammer banjo take the listener on a musical journey with historians, authors and personalities that tell the story of the Ozark region.”
Ozark Highlands Radio can be heard on City12 each Tuesday at 11 a.m., Wednesday and Saturday at 7 a.m. and Thursday at 2 p.m. Archives of aired programs are available at ozarkhighlandsradio.com and include additional content such as extended interviews and performances. Nightly concerts and Ozark Highlands Radio show recordings begin on April 14, 2016. Contact the Ozark Folk Center State Park for admission and season pass details at 870-269-3851.