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		Wanda Fischer UC’75 You’ll never see me on Star Search. You’ll never hear my music on popular radio. You’ll never watch Barbara Walters interview me with my mansion as a backdrop. Despite my lack of fame, I have indeed made a recording—one that took more than four decades—titled Singing Along with the Radio, to reflect my background as a public radio folk-music DJ. To retrace why I made this CD, let’s rewind to the 1960s. My father had taken me to the Golden Vanity, a now-defunct Boston coffeehouse. I was about twelve years old. I became entranced with the environment and the incredible music emanating from the stage. As it turned out, the Golden Vanity was the first of many coffeehouses I would frequent over the next few years—sometimes as observer, sometimes as performer. It was WCUW-FM radio in Worcester that first put me on the radio track in 1975. I discovered it shortly after relocating; I was missing my friends from Boston, and my husband was busy with his medical school studies. I called the station and asked if it needed volunteers. I thought I could put my Northeastern degree in English to good use by helping with its program guide. The people who worked at the station soon discovered I knew a lot about folk music. When their long-time folk-music host announced he was leaving the area, they looked at me and said, “You’re it!” They taught me the technical aspects of doing a radio show, and there I was, broadcasting on the WCUW airwaves. When my husband and I moved to Schenectady, I wanted to renew my connection to public radio. I approached WAMC-FM, the National Public Radio affiliate in Albany, New York, and became a volunteer again, working on the program guide. In 1982, I got a call from Alan Chartock and David Galletly, station president and general manager, respectively, asking me for a tape of one of my WCUW shows. I met with them, giant reel-to-reel tape in hand, and discussed the possibility of starting a show on WAMC. They had 32 vinyl record albums in their library, and I had about 400 at home. Enough material to pull together a show. Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion was on from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday nights. Alan and David thought that would be a great intro for my show, The Hudson River Sampler. They were right. Every Saturday night since September 18, 1982, I have been on the air at WAMC. I select music to bring into the living rooms, car radios, and now computers (via the Internet) of people I’ve never met. And every Saturday night, I’m singing along with the radio. But I’ve wanted to make my own recording ever since my first trip to the Golden Vanity. I wanted to sing with those people—many of whom have been guests on my show—who have the talent and drive to pursue folk music as a career. In 2000, I called folk musician and Adirondack storyteller Christopher Shaw, and told him I was ready to make my own CD. A veteran of the recording studio, he had a recording “in the can,” just waiting to be produced. He invited me to observe a production session with him and Scott Petito, a much sought-after recording engineer and an amazing musician in his own right. I took notes that day at the Catskill, New York, studio so I’d be ready for my own recording sessions. My first session in the studio was in summer 2000. I was utterly unprepared despite my notes and rehearsals. Eight hours and $500 later, I discarded everything I did that day. The second session was much better. I had arranged for Bernice Lewis, a singer/songwriter from Williamstown, to work with me on a Mary Chapin Carpenter song. We performed live several times. Then Bernice recorded the guitar track, I sang the lead, and she recorded the harmonies. We were, in studio parlance, “rolling.” On January 28, 2002—after more than two years of coordinating schedules of musicians, arranging for studio time, and using up the vacation time (and half my take-home pay) at my day job—UPS delivered boxes of Singing Along with the Radio to my house. While some people my age are taking early-retirement options or moving south, I made a recording. At age fifty-four, I could be slowing down. Instead, I’m doing something I have always wanted to do. An appearance on Star Search wouldn’t matter to me, because I don’t sing the kind of music they seek. I don’t expect to make a career with my voice. But if you’ve ever been on the Mass. Pike belting out a song at the top of your lungs, you know how much fun it is to sing along with the radio. I was just fortunate enough to convert my turnpike tunes into a CD of simple, straightforward, honest acoustic music. I’m still working on the mansion.