A History of Panhandle Country
by Tom Diamant

The first Panhandle Country radio show was on Friday February 13, 1976. That Friday the 13th was not unlucky for me, since as of this writing, March 9, 2001, I've been on the air for over 25 years.

Ray Edlund had suggested a Bluegrass radio show to KPFA in 1974 and they gave him a show every other week. It was a success and the KPFA management wanted him to go on weekly. Ray suggested I alternate with him. Ray and I had been friends for several years due to our mutual love for Bluegrass Music and Rainier Ale!

Rather than do a straight bluegrass show, I decided to mix bluegrass, western swing, honky-tonk, cajun and other forms of traditional country. They're all musically related, borrowing from each other's traditions. I chose the name Panhandle Country, my beginning and ending themes and have stuck with it ever since. I have to credit Ray for teaching me everything I needed to do the show.

We bounced around time at different time slots on Friday afternoons, sometimes two hours long and sometimes an hour and a half.

Several years ago they created the Sunday "Folk/Roots/Americana/Traditional Music Block"