Meet BC Radio's Country Mainstay

Times and technology sure have changed since George Hauenstein ’81 launched his WZBC radio show, Sunday Morning Country, in 1979. For one thing, Hauenstein has gone from dropping record needles in the campus studio to uploading digital audio files from his home in Albany, New York. But the weekly four-hour show, which may be the longest continuously running music program in the station’s half-century history, sounds much the same to FM radio and online listeners. And its host is as dedicated as ever.

“When I met my wife, she knew Sunday mornings together would be shot,” Hauenstein said, laughing. A lover of sprightly bluegrass, new and classic folk, and lesser-known album cuts from legendary country artists, Hauenstein produced and hosted the show from its inception through 2007. He’d drive more than forty miles from his home outside Boston to the WZBC studio, where he played albums and hosted in-person interviews and live on-air performances featuring influential country musicians like Del McCoury and Jim Lauderdale.

Moving even further away prompted Hauenstein to pass the microphone to a successor. But when she moved on a decade and a half later, in 2022, Hauenstein, now advancement director for the Rensselaer Newman Foundation, eagerly accepted an invitation to return remotely. He still starts every Sunday show as he always has, with the Porter Wagoner song “Country Music Has Gone to Town.” Said Hauenstein, “It keeps me connected to BC. Many of the earliest listeners are still listening today.” ◽