For the past 15 years, Ben Vaughn’s cross-country radio show, “The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn,” has aired weekly on KDLG. His show, a mix of musical genres pulled from his personal collection, connects listeners in Bristol Bay to his signature mix of music and stories.
Vaughn is best known for his work as a musician, producer, and composer for TV shows like “That ’70s Show” and “Third Rock from the Sun”. He first launched this radio show in Philadelphia and Memphis, but Dillingham was the first station he called when he decided to expand his audience.
Earlier this month, as part of an effort to visit all 26 stations airing his program, Vaughn made his way to Dillingham—the first stop on his tour. He sat down with KDLG to discuss why bringing his show here has always felt special.
Vaughn: Yeah, "The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn” has been on KDLG for probably 15 years. I’ve lost track at this point, but for a long time, a long time. And it’s a show that basically exists because I have a huge record collection, and I wanted to become better acquainted with that record collection, like really stay connected to it, and be pulling records out and listening to them. So I started the radio show to inspire me to always be pulling from the library and listening, because it's easy to forget. If you have a lot of books or a lot of records you’ve, it's easy to forget what you have, especially if you have a lot, you lose track of what you know, I find that I have doubles of a lot of records that I didn't know I had doubles of, because I buy them not knowing I already own it. So I started doing this radio show in Memphis and in Philadelphia, and it was only on the air in those two places. And then I decided, let me look for a really interesting place on the map, call the station, and see if they'll run my show. And KDLG was the one that I chose, and I called up, and at that point, Jason Cyr was the program director here, and he said, Yes, and I came on the air, and I've been on the air since, so it's been a long time.
Sutherland: So, when you say "a really interesting place on the map," what was it about Dillingham, Bristol Bay, that interested you to have your show played?
Vaughn: It looked like you couldn't get here by car; that really intrigued me. And I just thought about people living out here and how connected to radio is, and I wanted to be part of it, because I was there in Philadelphia, Memphis, and they're taken care of, as far as you know, services and everything. Community radio there means something different. I like the idea of it really being almost a matter of life or death, having a connection to community radio, which is what you guys do. So I wanted to be part of that. I just had a kind of a romantic fantasy of the music that I like being heard out here. It just appealed to me in just a kind of romantic way, really, not really an intellectual way, just I love music, and other people love music, and sharing music is one of the greatest thrills you can have in life. And so that was the genesis.
Sutherland: When you're going in to plan your show for the day, what kind of things inspire you to choose the music that you do on a given day?
Vaughn: I basically go by instinct. It's a non-thinking process. It's like most people, when you hear a song, you don't know why it's grabbing you at that moment, you really don't know why. So when I'm putting my show together, I just kind of go with it that way, where I'll be listening to a few things, and one thing will grab me and that'll inspire me, like, “Oh, I know what will sound good after that.” And then I'm on a roll, like, it's a real flow, where I'm not really thinking, I'm just trying to grab that record while I can find it and cue it up.
And there are certain songs I want to repeat because I really feel that they deserve wider recognition. And they didn't sell a lot at the time, a lot of those records I play fell through the cracks for whatever reason. And so I feel like I'm on a mission to have unheard music be heard for the first time.
