10 Questions with ... Barbara Dacey

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

WMVY: Part-time DJ 1985-1988; Music Director, Evenings, Mid-days 1988-1993; Program Director, Mid-days 1993-2005; Director, Worldwide Programming, Mid-days 2005-present

1. You were a performing singer-songwriter before you got into radio. Tell us a bit about that.

I lived in Cambridge, MA from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s. I played solo and with a band at various clubs and coffeehouses in the Boston area, on Nantucket and on the Vineyard. I was also a modern dance accompanist and composer for several Boston modern dancers and choreographers.

2. How did you become interested in radio?

I have early memories of radio as a teen listening in the car as my family drove up to New Hampshire and Vermont to ski. My dad loved music and many times, his voice would be the loudest as we sang along to the songs. I remember Roger Miller's "King of the Road" in particular; that was a hit in our station wagon. We had so much fun on these rides, and radio was a big part of it. I worked at my college station at Skidmore and this gave me an idea of what it meant to mix music and present. I started doing voiceovers in the mid-'80s and realized very quickly that I wanted to get behind a microphone as often as possible, so I could improve, and that was when I started working at WMVY. So, I guess, even though I never imagined that radio would become my career, I was headed in that direction all along.

3. What do you like best about your job?

What I like best and what I will miss the most is being on the air, plus interviewing artists and being surrounded by music all the time. Sharing and shaping the space with music and presence is an incredible experience.

4. You have been at WMVY for over 30 years. How has the station evolved over that time, including the transition to a noncomm station?

WMVY started as a fully hosted live radio station in 1983. I came on board in 1985. Every period of time since the beginning has had its own characteristics as far as the culture and the music that was being produced. So, the sound of WMVY has continually evolved as we responded and programmed the station, but the core feel and intention has been a constant -- reflect and serve the community with heart and intelligence.

There were a number of events and circumstances that shaped the station. As the Triple A format emerged in the '90s, it was a great adventure for the station to ride that wave and be part of how the format started and grew.

WMVY was one of the first stations to stream its broadcast signal online, beginning in 1998. This has had a big effect on the station which we feel, to this day, because of how, starting almost 20 years ago, we have been able to significantly expand our audience beyond the Cape and Islands and Newport.

In the mid-2000s, we began going out to festivals like Newport Folk, Merlefest and South by Southwest, and the live recordings and interviews we captured enhanced our programming and informed our approach.

We dramatically entered the noncomm world in 2013 after 30 years as a commercial station with our Save mvyradio campaign, 15-month Internet-only offering and our return to the air in May of 2014. Our history has been very dynamic and all of it has propelled MVY through incremental and significant growth.

5. What emotions are going through as you leave this part of your life behind?

It's a real mix; 32 years is a long time to be so identified by and with something. In some ways, it's strange and sad to me that I am leaving MVY because I have loved it so much. But mostly I am excited about what's to come and the person that I feel emerging through the transition.

6. What have been some of your biggest career highlights?

Becoming a full-time air talent and WMVY MD in 1988; becoming PD in 1993; developing as an air talent and interviewer; showing up on the air day in and day out, no matter what.

7. What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?

The power of openness and generosity of spirit.

8. What is the best advice you would give to young programmers/promotion people?

Cultivate a receptivity to ideas and suggestions outside of your subjective opinions, while being confident in what you know to be true. And expand your experience of what you know to be true.

9. What do you view as the most important issue facing radio today?

With there being so many ways for people to access music, and with these multiple sources being so ubiquitous, there is more necessity and more opportunity than ever for music radio to distinguish itself from these sources. The intimate experience of person-to-person musical curation coming from an actual geographical place is the unique power of radio.

10. So - what's next?

Expanding my experience of what I know to be true ....

Last non-industry job:

Singer-songwriter; modern dance composer and accompanist

First record ever purchased:

Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced

First concert:

The Beatles at Boston Garden 1964

Favorite artist of all-time:

Joni Mitchell

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time away from work?

Meditating, singing, playing guitar, reading, practicing yoga.