Tom Duffee is now hosting Midnight Ramble. If you would like to contact him,
you can email him at tduffee@woh.rr.com



Special Announcement Concerning Ramblin' Ray 

WYSO is saddened to report that our friend and host of Midnight Ramble, Ramblin' Ray Garrison, passed away the evening of October 4, 2007 (Thursday) after a six-year battle with cancer. Ray has been at WYSO since 1981 and hosted the early morning Tumblin' Tumbleweeds program prior to hosting Midnight Ramble on Saturday Nights. 

His incredible musical knowledge and genuine warmth over the air every Saturday night were enjoyed through the years by so many listeners. But most of all we at WYSO will remember his friendship and be grateful for the opportunity to have known him and worked with him.


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Here is how Ray described his show

Midnight Ramble presents Country & Western music from the 1920's into the 1960's, with our primary focus being the 1930's through the 1950's. You can hear anything from Jimmie Rodgers to Bob Wills, from Gene Autry to Marty Robbins. You will even hear OldTime country music like Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers or Honky-Tonk music from Ray Price. We even play the more obscure artists like Jimmie Osborne or Goebel Reeves.

Some of our shows have a theme like "Midnight Express" a show of railroad songs with sound effects. There are other theme programs like one's on Western Swing, Women in Country Music, Saturday's Heroes (about the singing cowboys of the silver screen) and a tribute to the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

On the last Saturday of the month I turn the reins over to my good buddy Norm Whitman who's one of the finest programmers here at WYSO.

As for me, I have been at WYSO since 1981 when I was involved with the Saturday Night Bluegrass Request show. I was also host and engineer of the Country Jamboree on the last Wednesday night of the month. In 1984 I began hosting a program called "Country Classics" on Sunday mornings 5-7am. In 1985 I moved to Saturday morning 5-7am with a show I called "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." For the next few years I flip-flopped between Saturday and Sunday mornings until I landed on Saturdays at 6-8am. There I stayed for quite a few years before moving to Saturday nights 10-midnight with "Midnight Ramble" (I still miss the old name).

My interest in Country Music began when I was a teenager and continued to grow over the years until I first began listening to WYSO where I developed a liking for Bluegrass music as well. While working the Bluegrass Request show I found many times folks would request Country or Western songs that the Bluegrass folks didn't want to play, not being Bluegrass and all. At the time WYSO had Bluegrass & Old-Time Country music programs but nothing for those looking for anything in between, so I began plans to do a radio program of this kind of country music (some call it Classic Country Music), which was realized in 1984 with the program "Country Classics." I have also found that as I explored more Country music, the more of it I liked. And my appreciation of Country music continues to grow to this day.