The History of Galactic Travels

Prehistory

In 1996, Robert Rich resurrected his legendary Sleep Concerts. Upon hearing of this, I contacted Robert through the Hearts of Space label and arranged for two shows. This first show took place at the Open Space Gallery (how apropos!) on October 18, 1996, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, before a small but appreciative crowd. After the show, Robert went to WDIY for a radio version of his Sleep Concert. This was WDIY's first overnight broadcast. There wasn't another until two years later!

The Right Place...

After two years of excellent programming, Jim Ferrani retired from Deep Cuts, a Progressive and Art Rock program. I was asked to fill the Thursday 11 pm to 1 am time slot with the space music program I had proposed many months earlier. Thus, the show was born.

The Beginning

Under the name EMUSIC^*, the show took to the air on January 23, 1997... and with style. I inaugurated the show by playing the DAT (Digital Audio Tape) I recorded of the Robert Rich concert that took place at the Open Space Gallery (see Prehistory above). Ninety minutes of the highest quality space music and the only interruption was the station ID at midnight (to satisfy FCC requirements!) during a fortuitous lull in the performance.

The Mission

Galactic Travels is designed to bring WDIY listeners hour-long soundscapes of electronic, ambient, and space music. It is the host's intention to help WDIY fulfill its mission statement by promoting electronic music on the air, in the Lehigh Valley, and around the world.

The Continuing Mission

On June 16, 2005, EMUSIC^* changed its name to Galactic Travels by agreement with emusic.com. Galactic Travels continues the tradition of presenting hour-long soundscapes of electronic, ambient, and space music, both recorded and live.

WDIY is commercial free and listener supported radio for the Greater Lehigh Valley area and the entire world!

Bill Fox, Host of Galactic Travels, also has a website where you can learn about his various musical adventures.