University of Pennsylvania’s WXPN announced Wednesday that it will now broadcast the syndicated American Routes radio program. The weekly, two-hour music program will be heard Sundays from 3-5 p.m. The show was launched in 1998 and was previously broadcast on WHYY-FM in Philadelphia.
American Routes presents a broad range of American music — blues and jazz, gospel and soul, old-time country and rockabilly, Cajun and zydeco, Tejano and Latin, roots rock and pop, avant-garde and classical — and incorporates documentary features and artist interviews.
“We welcome American Routes and its listeners to the WXPN community and airwaves,” said Bruce Warren, Assistant General Manager for Programming, WXPN. “So much of what American Routes does fits into what WXPN is about in the vibrant and broad continuum of roots music. Producer and host Nick Spitzer incorporates R&B, blues, soul, New Orleans funk, hot zydeco music from Louisiana, and elements of jazz and folk into his musical mix. He always, very thoughtfully and thoroughly, tells great stories about the music with the musicians who create it.”
“It will be a pleasure to join XPN’s soundscape,” said Spitzer. “My hope is that in a small way, we can all remind radio stations and listeners in America and globally that songs and stories, music and culture help us appreciate life’s trials and triumphs, and the many ways to express our shared humanity. As the old hymn goes, ‘We’ll understand it better by and by…’ or as Roy Brown wrote (and Elvis sang), ‘Well, I heard the news… there’s good rockin’ tonight!’”
For more about American Routes, visit https://americanroutes.wwno.org.
(Photograph: American Routes host & producer Nick Spitzer. Credit: Nick Spitzer)
