FOLK ALLEY WELCOMES DJ MATT REILLY
PUBLIC RADIO VETERAN JOINS FOLK MUSIC ANNOUNCING TEAM
Thursday April 2, 2009

FolkAlley.com expands its geographical presence with the addition of KUT’s Matt Reilly from Austin, TX, to its team of music hosts. The online music service offers round-the-clock hosted folk music and chances for worldwide community interaction. Since September 2003, Folk Alley has brought the best of traditional folk, Americana, singer/songwriter, bluegrass, Celtic, world and acoustic instrumental music styles to an international audience – listeners tremendously excited to finally find “their” music available 24 hours a day on the Internet. Listener-supported Folk Alley is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of music that is often overlooked by the commercial radio networks.

Reilly, a Texas native, began his radio career in Austin, TX, working for KGSR, one of the country’s most respected Triple A stations. He also spent time in front of the camera as a VJ on Austin Music Network, a local music video channel. In 2004, Reilly moved to Philadelphia to work for WXPN, a national vanguard in Triple A music. While there, he served as the station’s Assistant Music Director and hosted the shows Jamnation, The New Music Show and The Indie Rock Hit Parade. Reilly and his wife, Jennifer, returned to Austin in July 2008 to be closer to family and enjoy the balmy Texas winters. He is currently a member of the music department at KUT, a recognized leader in eclectic music.

FolkAlley.com has become the “coffee house that never closes,” offering folk fans songs from their favorite artists, an interactive discussion area, Open Mic (an area for new artists to upload songs), exclusive live concert downloads, interviews, videos and more around the clock. Reilly joins fellow DJs Jim Blum, Elena See, Barb Heller and Gene Shay as part of an all-star team of public radio hosts. He will be heard in the stream daily from midnight to 5 a.m. ET (GMT -4).

Folk Alley Programming and Marketing Director Linda Fahey says, “We are very excited to have someone of Matt’s caliber join our stellar group of hosts. Stations like XPN and KUT have helped build contemporary audiences for Americana and roots-based music.”

Folk Alley is heard online at FolkAlley.com, iTunes, Windows Media, RealAudio, Live 365, and as one of the founding partners of NPR Music. The stream can also be heard as an HD Radio side channel in select markets and each month on SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio’s The Village. FolkAlley.com is a non-profit Internet venture produced by WKSU-FM, an award-winning public radio station with nearly 60 years of broadcasting history. A service of Kent State University, the station also presents the Kent State Folk Festival and broadcasts 13 hours of original folk music programming throughout Northeast Ohio each week over WKSU 89.7, four repeater stations and two translator signals.

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