Submitted by:  Bill Wagman, 11/11/06
This entry relates to the past and present
Category(ies) of this entry:  Music, New Beginnings

Through music I have had the opportunity to meet and know many wonderful people and have some memorable experiences. I have been hosting a radio program on KDVS, the Saturday Morning Folk Show for several years now. Over the years a man named Hal Willner has put together several music projects in which he has had well-known musicians recording various styles of music. His most recent project is one on which a wide variety of performers are performing not very well known sea songs. In the notes to the album Willner gives credit to a man named Gene Shay, a well known host of a very long running folk radio program in the Philadelphia area for having introduced him to chanteys many years ago. I have gotten to know Gene a bit electronically in the last several years and I certainly knew of his reputation for hosting a wonderful program. On a recent Saturday morning I devoted a large segment of my program to playing music from and music which inspired Willner's project. As part of my patter I read the liner notes in which Willner gives credit to Gene. When I returned to playing music I received a phone call from a woman here in Davis who grew up in Philadelphia around the corner from Gene and described herself as one of Gene's daughter's best friends. Gene was influential in Heather's life by introducing her to radio and many years later when she came to Davis Heather ended up doing a radio program on KDVS for some years. I later emailed Gene and related the story to him and he knew immediately that it was Heather who had called. He related the story to his daughter and not too long after I met Heather one Saturday morning when she came down to KDVS to record some music for an upcoming presentation she was hosting. It is not a very exciting story but for me it was a special moment resulting from doing something I enjoy greatly and reinforcing the feel of a connectedness in the world.