Tom Banyai / Host

Tom Banyai grew up in a household full of wonderful music, especially classical and jazz. At his first music festival (Newport ’66), he was captivated by live acoustic performances. Coffee houses and small clubs from New Haven to New York City were a hotbed of folk and roots music that taught him to love the energy and immediacy of live performance. The early days of FM radio in the city and at Connecticut colleges recreated this same excitement. After hearing radio tributes to Joe Val, he attended his first Bluegrass Festival (WinterHawk ’85) and was captured by the heart & soul of the music. 

Tom still prefers live concerts or festivals, but when he discovered Bluegrass on the radio on stations like WICN, he became a huge fan. When WICN put out a call for volunteers, Tom was already well known to the Bluegrass DJs through his financial backing… and his persistent calls for requests. After a while, it was natural that Tom would become a regular host to share his love of music. 

Tom has hosted a Bluegrass show every week on WICN since October 1989!

“Being a DJ is like getting to play some of your favorite songs for a friend – except that you have a huge library of songs and the friend is always there for 3 hours every Tuesday night.”

Email: tom@wicn.org