Essential ingredients to cook a radio show, start with bunches of spice, then ask Indiana's most amazing musical couple Billy Foster and Renee Miles Foster to compose a theme song. Lastly, have sweet conversations that develop in surprising ways.
Indiana has a thriving arts scene with individual artists, musicians, photographers, authors, theater, dance, traditional disciplines, museums, galleries, festivals, and many other events. And covering these artistic happenings in the Northwest Indiana and the wider world art scene is an hour-long, weekly radio program that called, Art on the Air.
Every week Art on the Air features new in-depth interviews exploring the thriving regional, national, and international arts scene to their audience. Each show also includes a short Spotlight interview that is focused on specific art related events in Northwest Indiana .
Hosts for Art on the Air are Ester Golden, multi-disciplined artist, art educator, community advocate including gallery performance venue owner/curator of The Nest in Michigan City and Larry A Brechner, long-time musical theater director, photographic artist, and arts/broadcast organization board member.
The hosts were brought together without knowing each other, and came to co-host an existing live program at WVLP in October of 2018. With their collective and varied experience in the arts, they quickly gained an on-air chemistry that put their guests at ease. The show was made available as a podcast on the program’s website (brech.com/aota) plus on other major podcast platforms. In 2019, the show was picked up as a rebroadcast by Lakeshore Public Radio that included availably on their website as a podcast including NPR One.
In spring 2019 the pandemic created a new challenge for Art on the Air as the WVLP studio was shut down for live broadcasts. In a quick pivot, Larry’s Chesterton ( Indiana ) home studio was used for phone interviews with his co-host Ester, Art on the Air continued to deliver pre-recorded weekly shows keeping the content fresh. Moving on to using ZOOM, the show continues to this day to pre-record their guest interviews delivering new shows to each station for both broadcast and as a podcast.
Pre-recording shows using ZOOM has allowed Art on the Air to interview national and international guests including musicians like BJ Leiderman, Kenny White, Billy and Renee Foster, Les Fradkin, Velvy Appelton, David Kowal, Sara Ranganathan, Kiely Connell, Eric Alexandrakis, Pink Louds, SHAM, Monica Pasqual, plus artists like international star Richard Hunt, Andre and Francis Guichard, Sadie Bridger, Pearlie Taylor, Veranoa Hetet, Robin Brailsford, Gary Justis, Kay Westhues, Stan Klein, David and Margie Criner, Rick Valicenti, Grammy Award winning flutist, Wouter Kellerman while in Australia plus many more.
The pandemic allowed the show to explore the impact of Covid on artists in several special programs including art educators preparing remote teaching under the restrictions.
The current hosts this October [2022] will celebrate the start of their fifth season together with over 200 new episodes – all available as a podcast. Art on the Air has been nominated by the Society of Innovators and twice for the People’s Choice Podcast Award in the Arts Category.
Art on the Air is heard weekly on Sunday at 7pm on Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1 FM, and Friday at 11am and Monday at 5pm on Valparaiso’s WVLP 103.1FM, streaming from both stations. It is also widely available on many podcast platforms including Lakeshore Public Radio, NPR One, and the Art on the Air website. Spotlight interviews are also heard twice on Wednesdays at Lakeshore Public Radio.
Art on the Air is always seeking new guests, groups, and subjects for the show.
Find more information about the show including contact information at brech.com/aota.