MTSU’s WMOT Roots Radio adds video outlet by joining VuHaus network

MTSU’s WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM is creating a new connection with its audience by affiliating with VuHaus, a web platform that showcases music videos and livestreams created by public radio stations.

The partnership was officially launched Tuesday, March 28, with a special live performance of the Americana/folk band The Stray Birds from the Aurora Nashville studios in downtown Nashville, broadcast at www.wmot.org and www.vuhaus.com/nashville.

WMOT, which broadcasts at 89.5 FM as well as online at www.wmot.org, is a charter member of National Public Radio since 1969 and the region’s only Americana music channel. It teamed up last October with the NPR-distributed “World Cafe” music program to create a new Nashville-headquartered content hub, “World Cafe Nashville,” that focuses on expanded coverage of music and artists from Nashville and the South.

VuHaus, a Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit collaboration operated by Public Media Company, curates music videos and livestreamed performances from a network that includes public radio stations in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Boston, Seattle, St. Louis and more, including West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s “Mountain Stage.”

This new affiliation with VuHaus gives the WMOT/World Cafe Nashville partnership an even larger showcase for Music City’s legacy, which includes classic country music, bluegrass, singer/songwriter, folk, soul, R&B and old-school rock ‘n’ roll, officials said.

“WMOT is thrilled to join VuHaus as an affiliate to present Americana music and artists with partner World Café in Nashville,” said Val Hoeppner, executive director of WMOT Roots Radio.

“At WMOT, we are building a culture of discovery, and this partnership will further our efforts to bring attention to Nashville artists and the sound that is distinctly our Middle Tennessee heritage.”

Val Hoeppner

Roger LaMay

WMOT-FM, a 100,000-watt professional radio station housed in the Center for Innovation in Media inside the university’s Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, changed formats last September from its classical, jazz and news-talk focus to Americana in a partnership with Music City Roots, a Nashville-based firm that provides programming for both radio and television.

WMOT airs World Cafe, a daily two-hour music program produced by public radio station WXPN in Philadelphia and syndicated by NPR to more than 200 stations across America, each night at 10 Central. The program was launched in 1991 and features a mix of artist interviews and in-studio performances from almost every musical genre.

“In launching World Cafe Nashville with NPR Music as a southern hub for World Cafe, we were delighted to partner with a great local station in WMOT,” said Roger LaMay, general manager of WXPN and chair of the VuHaus board of directors.

“Extending this commitment to exposing the incredible music of Nashville and the region to a video channel on VuHaus is an important next step. “

For more information about WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM, part of MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, visit www.wmot.org. For more information about World Cafe, visit http://xpn.org/world-cafe. To learn more about VuHaus, visit http://www.vuhaus.com.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)