The music business is changing so dramatically, in ways no one could have imagined, that there are very few cornerstones left, holding it up and keeping it steady. Now in its 26th year, CBC Radio’s Saturday Night Blues is one of those pillars of the community, and host Holger Petersen has been the voice of the blues since day one.
This week, Saturday Night Blues took another step to secure its future, as Sirius channel 159 launched a new schedule on Monday, March 11, that includes the addition of Canada’s flagship roots and blues radio show.
“It's a great time to share Canadian blues,” says Petersen, who has been awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to the arts community. “Creatively, the community has never had stronger releases and better musical ambassadors.”
One of the highlights of the weekly program is hearing from fans who call the Bluesline to share their blues stories and make requests. Some requests are intended specifically to challenge Petersen’s knowledge and record collection — for the past 26 years, music played on the show has largely been drawn from Petersen’s personal library.
Over the years, as word of the show has spread, the audience base has slowly crept into the U.S. in border towns that could get the CBC signal. Since the advent of CBC live streaming on the web, it has not been uncommon to get requests from fans around the world. Sirius will bring SNB to a whole new world of listeners who have gravitated to the satellite market.
For the last quarter century, Canadians have been treated to exclusive concerts and intimate acoustic performances recorded in the SNB studio at CBC in Edmonton, Alta. Interviews with the most highly regarded blues players, and the hottest young up-and-comers, have always been a feature of the show. Blues voices that have graced the SNB airwaves in person include icons B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Maria Muldaur, Amos Garrett, Long John Baldry, Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Mick Fleetwood, Bill Wyman and so many others.
This kind of great CBC programming, that Canadians have known of all along, will soon become the Saturday night tradition of truck drivers on the North American highways, friends sitting around the backyard fire pit, late-night hobbyists tinkering away in their garages and fans of blues and roots music simply looking for the best blues that radio has to offer.
The first SNB broadcast to hit the Sirius satellite network will air on Saturday, March 16, at 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT on channel 159.
Tonic and A Propos are also joining the Sirius schedule this week.
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