Thanks Martin. Next year will mark my 30th anniversary with WFDU and my 25th anniversary of hosting TRADITIONS. Even with that amount of time under my belt, I worry about the future. I'm lucky, but I realize that anything could happen.

My show airs on a non-commercial college radio station. There are very few folk shows that are actually on commercial stations.

Some public radio stations belong to NPR and usually (but not always) have more money than other public stations. Some public stations are community owned, or owned by Pacifia, or more commonly owned by a college. My station is owned by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

A few shows that air on commercial radio stations actually buy their airtime. They pay the station for the opportunity to broadcast, and they make their money back from commercials. As you noted Martin, there are very few stations that go this route.   

Commercial stations these days program for the largest audience they can find.   Folk music, bluegrass and other styles are "fringe". In NYC, you cannot find a commercial country station anymore.

There also seems to be a trend for non-commerical NPR-type stations to follow a format. Matt's station has made that change apparently. WFUV went the same route.   Non-commercial stations are competing for the same audience, and unfortunately many lose sight of the reason why they exist in the first place.