Rita Houston
A nationally recognized tastemaker with a broad knowledge of and passion for music, Rita Houston shapes the musical direction of WFUV's acclaimed City Folk® format. With the help of staff, Houston selects the songs that become part of City Folk®, establishes theme days and creates popular features like "New Release Monday" and "Guilty Pleasures Day." Well-known for her rapport with artists, she books the on-air interviews, hosting a number of them herself. Houston also serves as executive producer of the nationally distributed City Folk Live concert series, and produces annual benefit CDs of performances from WFUV's Studio A.
After years as a popular City Folk® midday host, Houston shifted her on-air presence to create The Whole Wide World with Rita Houston, a dance-based program showcasing her wide-ranging taste in music. The show airs Friday nights from 8 to 11 p.m. ET, and often features live sessions with artists from around the globe, and broadcasting from locations as exotic as Louisville, KY, and Austin, TX.
Houston is a two-time Radio & Records (R&R) Music Director of the Year and a three-time designate of Gavin's Music Director of the Year, and she has also been awarded the Deems Taylor Award for Broadcast Excellence. In 2001, Houston enjoyed acclaim as part of the WFUV team as its was named Album Network 2001 Major Market Adult Rock Station of the Year, Gavin's Station of the Year, and the 2001, 2002 and 2003 FMQB Progressive Noncommercial Radio Station of the Year.
Houston came to WFUV in 1994 from Westchester's WXPS, where she hosted Starlight Express, a show close in style to City Folk®. After anchoring the midday there for six years, she left the station to join WFUV. A Westchester native, Houston recently moved from the East Village to Nyack, N.Y., to plant basil and perfect her fireplace skills.
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There's a world of music you enter when you open the Bessie Smith door. Our playlist showcases some of of Smith's best songs, as well as music from her influences and inheritors. -
Margo Price gave an authentically rich performance at the 2018 Newport Folk Festival. -
Brandi Carlile's Newport set was a pure celebration, as if she soaked up all that sunshine and love and poured it back over the crowd. -
The jazz duo opened its set with "Heaven Right Here," one of the early '90s tunes that had Tuck and Patti on the charts and all over jazz radio. -
Hear the singer perform her new album in its entirety — and some older favorites — live from Littlefield in Brooklyn. -
Watch the Slingshot band's intimate performance of its new single, live in WFUV's New York studios.
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The Brooklyn roots-rock group has caused a stir with its self-titled debut. Watch its members perform one of the album's catchiest songs, "The One You Should've Let Go," live in New York City.
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After 10 years between albums, the soul singer made a triumphant comeback with Landing on a Hundred. Watch ChesnuTT perform one of that record's catchiest and most poignant songs, "That's Still Mama."
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The wildly popular London band visits WFUV's studios in New York City to perform selections from its new album, Babel.Watch Mumford & Sons perform a new song, "Whispers in the Dark."
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If you were to do a Google search for the band Mountain Man, you'd probably find yourself wading through search returns before finding the Vermont trio. But it's hard to miss the group's unexpected, almost supernaturally tight harmonies in this session from WFUV.
