{"id":142301,"date":"2025-05-10T07:10:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T11:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=142301"},"modified":"2025-05-11T19:56:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T23:56:25","slug":"wdiys-celebrates-30-years-of-community-broadcasting-with-special-anniversary-events-at-south-mountain-grove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=142301","title":{"rendered":"WDIY Celebrates 30 Years of Community Broadcasting with Special Anniversary Events at South Mountain Grove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em> WDIY Celebrates 30 Years of Community Broadcasting with Special Anniversary Events at South&nbsp;Mountain Grove<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Allentown, PA <strong>\u2014 <\/strong>WDIY 88.1 FM, the Lehigh Valley\u2019s local NPR station and community broadcasting beacon, is thrilled to announce a special celebration marking <strong>30 years of broadcasting<\/strong>. The station will host <strong>WDIY&#8217;s 30th Anniversary All-Star Celebration <\/strong>on <strong>Saturday, June 7, 2025<\/strong>, from <strong>1:00 to 6:00 PM <\/strong>at <strong>South Mountain Grove <\/strong>in Allentown\u2014a festive, family-friendly outdoor event under a covered pavilion.<\/p>\n<p>This milestone event will showcase the best of WDIY\u2019s vibrant volunteer and musical community with an afternoon of <strong>live performances from the WDIY All- Stars<\/strong>\u2014a lineup of talented musicians who also host and produce music programs on the station. Performers include:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dave Fry \u2022 Deejay Byg Fury \u2022 Ed Bloss &amp; Johnny McNamara \u2022 Jack Adams Blues Band \u2022 Mike Flynn&#8217;s Woodside Avenue \u2022 Mike McMillan \u2022 Piper&#8217;s Request with John Beatty (Johnny B, Blue Moon Cruising host) \u2022 Stewart Brodian \u2022 Tavern Tan \u2022 The Druckenmillers with Norm Williams<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur volunteers are the heart of WDIY, and many of them are also professional musicians,\u201d said <strong>Neil Hever<\/strong>, WDIY\u2019s Operations Director and one of the station\u2019s founders. \u201cThis is their time to shine, and it\u2019s a perfect way to celebrate three&nbsp;decades of community connection and creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to live music, guests can enjoy <strong>complimentary food and drinks<\/strong>, exciting <strong>family activities<\/strong>, and <strong>interactive exhibits<\/strong>. The <strong>Da Vinci Science Center <\/strong>will be on site with hands-on science fun, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bubble Wands <\/strong>\u2013 Engineer bubble wands of different shapes and sizes to explore bubble physics.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Plant Terrariums <\/strong>\u2013 Create take-home terrariums while learning what plants need to grow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The celebration will also feature a 30-foot pirate ship courtesy of Main Deck Productions, complete with face painting and a Pirate Training Show. And for a lasting memory of the day, Dan\u2019s Camera City will provide a photo booth for guests of all ages. The event will also have a <strong>tricky tray raffle <\/strong>and <strong>50\/50 drawing<\/strong>, with proceeds supporting WDIY\u2019s nonprofit mission to serve and uplift the community through public radio.<\/p>\n<p>This event is part of a yearlong series of special programming and community events to honor WDIY\u2019s 30th anniversary. Since its inaugural broadcast on <strong>January 8, 1995<\/strong>, WDIY has grown from a grassroots vision into a vital cultural institution serving eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. The station now broadcasts <strong>35 local music programs<\/strong>, <strong>25 podcasts<\/strong>, NPR programming, and <strong>local news and features<\/strong>\u2014nearly all curated and hosted by community volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReflecting on these past 30 years, we are immensely proud of the community we\u2019ve built and the diverse voices we\u2019ve amplified,\u201d said Hever. \u201cOur success is a testament to the strength and passion of our volunteers and the loyalty of our listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWDIY\u2019s 30th anniversary is not only a celebration of our past, but a recommitment to our future,\u201d added <strong>Margaret McConnell<\/strong>, Executive Director. \u201cWe\u2019re honored to be a trusted source for music, news, and community storytelling, and we invite&nbsp;everyone to celebrate with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tickets to WDIY\u2019s All-Star Celebration are available online at <a href=\"https:\/\/wdiy.salsalabs.org\/allstar\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wdiy.org<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/strong>Discounted Early Bird tickets are available through May 9th.<\/p>\n<p>About WDIY:<\/p>\n<p>WDIY 88.1 FM is a listener-supported, volunteer-driven public radio station based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As the Lehigh Valley\u2019s only NPR affiliate, WDIY delivers a unique blend of national and local programming to a diverse audience across the region. Licensed to the Lehigh Valley Community Broadcasters Association, Inc., WDIY thrives on community involvement and support, living up to its motto: <strong>\u201cMany Choices, Real Voices.\u201d <\/strong>WDIY is also available on 93.9 FM in Easton\/Phillipsburg, online at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdiy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wdiy.org<\/a><\/strong>, and via the <strong>WDIY app<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nShamus McGroggan<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WDIY Celebrates 30 Years of Community Broadcasting with Special Anniversary Events at South&nbsp;Mountain Grove Allentown, PA \u2014 WDIY 88.1 FM, the Lehigh Valley\u2019s local NPR station and community broadcasting beacon, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=142301\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">WDIY Celebrates 30 Years of Community Broadcasting with Special Anniversary Events at South Mountain Grove<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wdiy-30th.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/142303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}