{"id":84194,"date":"2026-01-12T00:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/84194\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T00:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:05:16","slug":"wvia-founding-father-george-graham-to-continue-as-a-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/84194\/","title":{"rendered":"WVIA founding father George Graham to continue as a volunteer"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Graham will still produce music for WVIA, but with a convection oven, not at the public radio microphone he used most nights for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

Graham retired to great acclaim earlier this month, with a plaque installed at the Jenkins Twp. headquarters, a concert and party called \u201cGeorge\u2019s Jam\u201d and television news crews at his last show.<\/p>\n

On his last programs, he played sax player Phil Woods, co-founder of the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts, and Phil Pilorz, a regional guitarist, alongside Paul Simon and the Beatles.<\/p>\n

With his retirement, the station canceled his programs, which often showcased regional music. \u201cMixed Bag\u201d aired six days a week. \u201cHomegrown Music\u201d ran weekly and produced many concerts with studio audiences that sometimes aired on WVIA television. Original weeknight episodes of \u201cAll That Jazz\u201d were canceled but archival episodes will air Saturdays.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/p>\n

staff<\/p>\n

George Graham chats with attendees during his retirement party at WVIA in Pittston on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A plaque recognizing George Graham above the broadcasting station at WVIA. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"George<\/p>\n

George Graham chats with attendees during his retirement party at WVIA in Pittston on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

staff<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

George Graham chats with attendees during his retirement party at WVIA in Pittston on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The station is turning to similar, but nationally produced, jazz and world music programming.<\/p>\n

The decision to retire was a mutual one, Graham said, and a sign of changing times.<\/p>\n

The federal government has turned away from public media. WVIA lost $1.2 million in federal money \u2014 about 20% of its operating budget \u2014 in July.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, radio must compete with streaming.<\/p>\n

Wilkes-Barre folk singer Don Shappelle performed at Graham\u2019s retirement concert. He first recorded with Graham in December 1976, just after turning 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s recorded thousands of people,\u201d Shappelle said. \u201cSo I know that many of the people have gone on to bigger careers because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performers used Graham\u2019s recording sessions as demos when they searched for recording contracts or gigs.<\/p>\n

Graham was the radio station\u2019s first employee, personally turning on the equipment that put it on the air in 1973.<\/p>\n

Today, the radio station is heard in 22 counties, with a signal that reaches 1.2 million people.<\/p>\n

Graham was an engineer and producer as well as a host and designed much of the station\u2019s original technical setup.<\/p>\n

At the time, he said, most radio stations were playing a limited repertoire. \u201cBut we have been able to carve out a little niche over the years, for those people who are open-minded,\u201d Graham said at \u201cGeorge\u2019s Jam.\u201d And he knew he could find some of that music locally.<\/p>\n

Host and senior producer Erika Funke joined the station about six years later. She found Graham to be on the reserved side, but with a wry wit.<\/p>\n

\u201dHe\u2019s very deep too,\u201d Funke said. \u201cSo you\u2019re working with somebody who is not just someone focusing on the technical equipment or things like that, but he has a wide-ranging but deep, deep sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a colleague, Graham is irreplaceable, she said. \u201cWithout that presence, without that wealth and depth and breadth, it would be like maybe they took the roof off and let some air out and it\u2019s not going to be good. We\u2019ll miss him terribly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham was a master at tweaking technical issues and quickly finding any clip Funke needed for her own programming. \u201cAnd you think, \u2018How does he know those things?\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham, who just turned 75, returned to his native area after graduating from Duke University and joined WVIA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been part of my life for over 50 years, so it\u2019s obviously going to be quite a big change,\u201d he said last week. \u201cBut at the same time, I don\u2019t feel as if it\u2019s been forced on me. You know, this has been very amicable with the station\u2019s management, and they\u2019ve been very, very good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Jan. 2, he has been getting caught up on loose ends. He may look for opportunities for freelance work.<\/p>\n

Graham will stay on as a volunteer with the station and Chiaroscuro Records, its jazz recording label. That will include organizing and digitizing those decades.<\/p>\n

Part of that is dealing with obsolete recording formats. The reel-to-reel tapes of the \u201970s and \u201980s chemically deteriorate.<\/p>\n

To save the contents, Graham bakes the tapes in a low-temperature oven for several hours. The contents have to be transferred to digital format within about a dozen hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of experience doing that,\u201d said.<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s top picks for 2025<\/p>\n

George Graham said these, listed alphabetically, are his top 10 albums of 2025:<\/p>\n

Alison Brown & Steve Martin: \u201cSafe, Sensible and Sane\u201d<\/p>\n

Silvana Estrada: \u201cVendr\u00e1n Suaves Lluvias\u201d<\/p>\n

John McCutcheon: \u201cField of Stars\u201d<\/p>\n

Monkey House: \u201cCrashbox\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Muldaur: \u201cOne Hour Mama \u2014 The Blues of Victoria Spivey\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nunnery: \u201cAscending\u201d<\/p>\n

The Outernet: \u201cThe Light & the Fury\u201d<\/p>\n

Roomful of Blues: \u201cSteppin\u2019 Out\u201d<\/p>\n

Southern Avenue: \u201cFamily\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Stratton: \u201cPoints of Origin\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"George Graham will still produce music for WVIA, but with a convection oven, not at the public radio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1681,201,182,803,1213,139,28,29,178,180,179,289,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-84194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-music-and-concerts","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-pennsylvania","15":"tag-pennsylvania-news","16":"tag-scranton","17":"tag-scranton-headlines","18":"tag-scranton-news","19":"tag-things-to-do","20":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}