Fiona Ritchie
 | This article contains promotional content. (March 2024) |
Fiona Ritchie | |
|---|---|
 Ritchie in 2011 | |
| Born | 1960 (age 64–65) |
| Career | |
| Show | The Thistle & Shamrock |
| Station | NPR |
| Country | Scotland |
| Website | thistleradio |
Fiona Karen Ritchie MBE (born 1960) is a Scottish radio broadcaster of The Thistle & Shamrock, a weekly, Celtic music program for 40 years on National Public Radio (NPR). She curates ThistleRadio, a 24/7 web-based Celtic music channel. She was the co-author of The New York Times Best Seller Wayfaring Strangers.
The radio program has won numerous awards since its inception in 1981, offering a fusion of traditional and contemporary Celtic sounds, interwoven with interviews, in-studio performances and Ritchie's own trademark commentary in her "soft Scots" dialect.[1]
Early years
[edit]Ritchie was born and raised in Scotland, where she went to the University of Stirling for her undergraduate education. While there, she was invited to spend one semester in North Carolina in the United States, which was when she first heard NPR. After graduating in Scotland, she returned to North Carolina and, she was hired by WFAE FM, the NPR station in Charlotte, to oversee fundraising and promotion. [citation needed]
In 1981 Ritchie began a weekly hour of Celtic music. The Thistle & Shamrock was picked up for national broadcast within two years. Ritchie visited radio stations presenting live broadcasts and events, and in 1989 and 1990, traveled to 22 US cities with The Thistle & Shamrock Concert Tour.[citation needed]
Return to Scotland
[edit]Ritchie re-settled in Scotland. She has visited and raised funds for NPR member stations and hosted Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts to Chicago's Grant Park.[citation needed]
In the UK, Fiona Ritchie has presented programs for BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 2, launching the Radio Scotland world music series "Celtic Connections" in 1993. She has produced and presented many live concert performances and broadcasts, including a musical event for Prince Charles in 2001 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, and has acted on the Scottish advisory committee for the British Council.[citation needed]
In 2006, Ritchie launched Thistlepod, a free podcast from NPR.Her partnership with NPR Music gave rise to ThistleRadio in 2012, a 24/7 web-based Celtic music channel, later hosted by SomaFM internet radio.[citation needed]
In 2014 her book, Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia, her book was published by UNC Press.[2] The book was co-authored by Doug Orr with a foreword by Dolly Parton. Wayfaring Strangers appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list in two different categories.[citation needed]
The Thistle and Shamrock ended in September 2024.[3]
Awards and honours
[edit]Ritchie's awards include six World Medals from the New York Festivals International Competition for Radio Programming, and a Flora Macdonald Award from St. Andrews University (North Carolina), which also conferred upon her the degree of honorary doctorate. Hundreds of Thistle & Shamrock tapes and vinyl albums, along with concert recordings, playlists, newsletters, and related materials are now part of a working archive in the Scottish Heritage Center at St. Andrews University (North Carolina). The archive is open to anyone interested in studying the rich heritage of Celtic music. Ritchie also serves on the Advisory Board of the Swannanoa Gathering folk arts workshops at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.[citation needed]
In 2003 the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage honoured her for "creating an on-air community, serving as a musical ambassador, and connecting listeners with the best of traditional and contemporary artistry.”[citation needed]
Ritchie was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting and traditional Scottish music.[4] In 2016 she received the Hamish Henderson Award for Services to Traditional Music, named for the influential folklorist, poet, songwriter and scholar who died in 2002. The award is presented annually to an individual who has made a substantial difference to the Scottish traditional music world. Upon receiving this honour, Ritchie was also inducted into Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
Ritchie's ThistleRadio music channel on SomaFM was awarded Best Music Show: Country/Folk/Blues in the 2017 Online Radio Awards presented by the British streaming service Mixcloud.[5] In 2018, Folk Alliance International inducted Ritchie into their Folk DJ Hall of Fame.
References
[edit]- ^ "Celtic Connections: A Visit to the Studio". The Scots Magazine, Oct 2007. D.C.Thomson & Co.Ltd. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ^ Fiona Ritchie & Doug Orr (2014). Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. iii, iv, xxii. ISBN 978-1-4696-1822-7.
- ^ "NPR's "The Thistle & Shamrock®" radio program to end this fall". NPR. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
- ^ "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b23.
- ^ "Mixcloud announces 2017 Online Radio Awards winners". 13 September 2017.
External links
[edit]- Thistle Radio – official site
- The Thistle & Shamrock via streaming audio
- Thistle Radio on SomaFM
- "Hamish Henderson Services to Traditional Music Award"
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1960 births
- Living people
- American information and reference writers
- American writers about music
- American women podcasters
- American music podcasters
- NPR personalities
- Scottish expatriates in the United States
- Scottish radio presenters
- Alumni of the University of Stirling
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- 21st-century American women