Hosts

Nikki Erskine is the Marketing Manager for the Worcester Cultural Coalition. As co-host of “Culture Beat” on WICN, she shares tips and insights on the arts and cultural scene throughout Greater Worcester, including ways in which you can participate and support various artists, organizations, and institutions.

Joshua Croke (Pronouns: They/Them)/Present Futurist. Community Innovator. Unquestionably Queer.Josh is a project designer, community building consultant, and creative producer. Their passion lies in eliminating stigma, sharing stories, and designing experiences that enhance people’s lives and connects them to their communities in ways that bring joy, belonging, and success.Josh is the founder of Action! by Design, a project design studio that works with organizations to create impactful projects by working with the communities they serve to lead design and innovation efforts.Josh is also the president and co-founder of nonprofit Love Your Labels that works to eliminate bias, stigma, and shame in society and builds programs for queer and trans youth focused on resiliency building, pride in identity, and economic mobility pathways. They also host and produce Experience This Podcast featuring stories of human experience at the intersection of design and technology.Their client projects have received awards and recognition including Best of Innovation at CES, Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Award, and Oprah’s Favorite Things.Accolades include BEQ Pride Magazine’s LGBT Leaders Under 40 (2020), Worcester Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 (2019), Boston Spirit Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Young Trailblazers (2017), Key to the City of Worcester (2016), and Pulse Magazine’s 15 People to Watch (2015)Josh sits on the board of the Worcester Education Collaborative and Living in Freedom Together (LIFT) and is a corporator for the EcoTarium Museum of Science & Nature and the Greater Worcester Community Foundation.Josh is excited to join WICN as a host and adapt Experience This Podcast for Worcester's only NPR affiliate radio station!Follow Josh on Twitter at @JoshuaCroke and the show on Instagram at @XPThisPodLearn more at JoshuaCroke.com.

Music became the center of Nick’s universe when he was 9 years old, on February 9, 1964, while watching The Beatles’ first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. He bought his first album, ‘Meet The Beatles’, the very next day, and has been a serious collector ever since. Immediately after graduating high school, Nick bought […]

Whether it’s a song, a style, an idiom or an image, Duke Robillard will render it with mastery, power, nuance and an unerring grasp of its essence.Born Michael John Robillard in Woonsocket, R.I., Duke has carved out one of blues’ most illustrious legacies, while also trodding some lofty related territories as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, bandleader, studio sideman, producer, label operator, and educator.After showing an early affinity for music and guitar, he founded Roomful Of Blues with pianist Al Copley in Westerly, R.I., in 1967. By adding horns, Roomful announced itself emphatically as the prototypical jump blues band and became a New England legend and a fixture beyond, as did Duke himself. His unsurpassed mastery of the guitar style of T-Bone Walker (later crystallized memorably in his 2004 release “Blue Mood”) was deservedly heralded, but his breadth was also head-turning — from swing, standards and ballads to rockers, gutbucket Chicago blues, and rockabilly.By the time Duke left Roomful after a dozen years, he was firmly established in the upper echelon of contemporary blues guitarists. Duke went from Roomful to a stint with rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon and then to the first iteration of the Legendary Blues Band, composed primarily of then-recent Muddy Waters sidemen. The Duke Robillard Band debuted in 1981, re-emerging as The Pleasure Kings with their eponymous 1984 album on Rounder. It and its sequel, “Too Hot To Handle,” burnished Duke’s songwriting portfolio; the 1987 jazz outing “Swing” (with saxophonist Scott Hamilton) underscored his versatility and remains a highlight.Continuing his solo career, Duke replaced Jimmie Vaughan with The Fabulous Thunderbirds in 1990. He cut his own much-awaited straight blues album “Duke’s Blues” in 1993 for Canadian imprint Stony Plain, leading eventually to a rewarding, continuing and prolific alliance, along with releases during the ensuing years on Point Blank/Virgin and Shanachie, as well as instructional videos. He has also launched his own labels with Jesse Finkelstein, Blue Duchess/Shining Stone.Duke's prolificity has included producing albums by Billy Boy Arnold, Joe Louis Walker, Rosco Gordon, Jimmy Witherspoon and Jay McShann, Zuzu Bollin, Billy Price and Otis Clay, Sunny Crownover, Bryan Lee and Al Basile as well as recording two collaborations with Herb Ellis, a pairing with his successor in Roomful, Ronnie Earl, a seat in the New Guitar Summit with J. Geils and Gerry Beaudoin, additional studio credits with Bob Dylan (the well-regarded 1997 “Time Out Of Mind”), Ruth Brown, Johnny Adams, Pinetop Perkins, Snooky Pryor, Al Copley, Todd Sharpville and Tony Z, and touring with Tom Waits in 2006.Duke’s resume is decorated with Grammy nominations, Handy Awards and Blues Music Awards, and other honors for his artistry, recordings and productions within the United States and internationally. On his latest release, "Duke Robillard and his Dames of Rhythm" on M.C. Records, he wields an acoustic archtop and joins six thrushes for evocative and enjoyable renditions of 1920s and 1930s swing tunes; it's a worthy successor to his 2016 BMA-winning "The Acoustic Blues And Roots Of Duke Robillard."Duke remains based in Rhode Island and a whirlwind as a musician, producer, gardener and photographer. And now, he's joined WICN to host "Duke Robillard's Mood Room," bringing you into his actual recording studio to share his vast trove of blues 45s with you. This is an intimate listening experience sure to appeal to blues aficionados as well as casual fans.

Tony Baglio combines his decades-long experience as a radio broadcaster and professional musician with his indelible passion for music, to host New Orleans Grooves, a show featuring the multi-cultural gumbo of rhythms, styles and artists that reflect the collective musical vibe of the Crescent City.

Ben Young, Artistry of Jazz, 10 pm-midnight, Thursdays.