WXPN is a non-commercial radio station licensed to The University of Pennsylvania. The university also has a second station, WQHS that is operated by college students. But 'XPN, which stands for Experimental Pennsylvania Network, is staffed by professionals. Established in 1945, it's been a foundation of Philadelphia radio for quite some time. And in the mid-1970's declared itself "freeform radio," resisting the trend to identify as a certain format such as Rock, Country, Jazz, etc. That rebel spirit continues to this day with the management of the station upholding its musical diversity and finding inventive ways for the station to support itself through grants and listener support.

Over the years the on-air staff has included well-known broadcasters such as Gene Shay (Folk), Jonny Meister (Blues) and John Diliberto (New Age), to name a few. And is where many longtime Philly DJs ended up after escaping the increased commercialization of mainstream radio.

So in July 1994 when I walked in to begin my new job as an overnight Disc Jockey, Michael Tearson was in the studio wrapping up his shift. In the 1970s I had grown up listening to him on the Rock station WMMR, as did everyone I knew. I couldn't believe Tearson was turning the microphone over to me. Later when he stopped working at WXPN, I was moved up to his shift. It was all very surreal.

But before long I was moved up to the mid-day time slot. And it was during the day that many musicians on concert tours stopped at 'XPN to be interviewed by David Dye for the World Cafe, a syndicated show aired on stations across the country.

The World Cafe studio was across the hall from the on-air studio so it became routine for an 'XPN staffer to open my studio door and say something like, "Jackson Browne is wrapping up with David. And he'll be over here in 5 minutes." Consequently I often was conducting impromptu live interviews with various artists during my shift.

Another unexpected event while on the air at 'XPN was seeing the news come across the Associated Press Wire of Jerry Garcia's passing. Many Philadelphia radio listeners remember me as the first voice to share that sad news with them. After which I called David Gans in California and put him on the air with me; sharing stories about Jerry Garcia and playing hours and hours of the Grateful Dead's and Jerry's music.

Also WXPN hosts many concerts at venues throughout the city. Which meant many times I would be on stage announcing performers. Including our annual 'XPN music festival and Philly Weekly concerts as seen in the photos below.

However, while working at 'XPN I was also attending Rowan University which led to some unexpected opportunities for teaching broadcasting ...