Nolan Porterfield has enjoyed a rich and varied career that has now culminated in an active retirement. It’s a retirement where he hosts a unique and much-loved radio show heard across Kentucky by people who enjoy being transported to another time through the sound of old scratchy records.

Nolan Porterfield and his “Old Scratchy Records” show can be heard Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m. on Western Kentucky University’s public radio service. WKU Public Radio is broadcast from Bowling Green on WKYU-FM at 88.9, but is also heard throughout the state. It is simulcast at 89.5 in Owensboro, 89.7 in Somerset, and 90.9 in Elizabethtown. The service can also be heard online at wkyufm.org.

“Old Scratchy Records” showcases music from the early 20th century that was recorded on the now defunct 78 r.p.m. record format. Porterfield plays music from a broad timeframe encompassing about six decades from the late 1800s to the end of the 78 r.p.m. era which occurred around 1960, but the bulk of his playlist comes from the 1920s to the 50s. There is a deep variety in the types of music ranging from early jazz to big band and early country/western to standards and much more. He attempts to focus parts of his show around particular themes or certain artists, but sometimes will just play a song ‘because it’s a good record that needs to be played’.

The entire show is completely programmed and produced by Porterfield in a custom built studio located in his Alvaton home using his extensive personal record collection. While he says it’s a small collection compared to some that he is aware of, he keeps approximately 3,000 records in his home studio and estimates he has another 7,000 to 8,000 in storage.

“I’ll be down in the storage area, come across a wonderful record, and wonder ‘Well, why did I cull this one?’ so I’ll bring it back upstairs.” Porterfield revealed. “Then I’ll be up here in the studio and pull out something and say ‘Why do I have this thing up here?’ so I’ll put it back in storage. A lot of the records keep making the trip up and down the stairs.”

Porterfield said he has always been interested in records. “You know, some people collect things like art or postage stamps. But those are things you can just look at.” Porterfield opined.  “An old record is art you can use. The cover is visual but the thing also makes noise!”

His collection started with about 150 records he bought new when he was growing up. He kept adding to it by going to flea markets, auctions, yard sales and thrift stores. Porterfield says it’s now harder to find records in those places. Today, he finds most records through mail order auctions where people often bid too much. But he also says “a record is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it.”

The collection itself was the inspiration for the show. In 1996, an employee of the radio station and friend of Porterfield, Naomi Lewin discovered he had the record collection. She suggested to the station’s manager, Jane Moore, that WKYU devote airtime to the records and “Old Scratchy Records’ had about a three month run that summer. But Porterfield had prior commitments and couldn’t devote the time for the weekly show, so it went off the air. When Porterfield’s schedule calmed down, he mentioned the show to the current station manager, Peter Bryant, and the show came back on the air in 2000 and has been on the air since.

Bryant says that Old Scratchy Records is an asset to WKYU. “The show is utterly unique and because of that, it generates a very loyal following of listeners.” Bryant said. “The music that Nolan plays is not easily accesible anywhere else and he also brings his own set of impressive creditials to the show and presents the music in an informed and entertaining way. And while we provide some assistance like replacing a record stylus when it wears out, Nolan freely volunteers his time to do the show.”

Porterfield has held several jobs in many different fields over the years, but his two part-time stints in radio broadcasting seem to be the bookends at this point of his professional life. Growing up in West Texas in the 1950’s, Nolan said he was introduced to electronics and building radios by his high school physics teacher. It was the beginning of what he calls his fascination with the transmission of sound. He aspired to be a radio announcer. It was a dream fulfilled when he became a member of a local band who appeared regularly on a local radio station.

“In high school, I fronted a string band, known as The Caprock Playboys, which had a 30-minute sustaining show over the local 250-watt station, KPET, Lamesa, Texas.” Porterfield recalled in a interview with Clayton Miller in 2002. “I was in hog-heaven – until I found out that DJs at that level earned about fifty dollars a week. So after high school and a year of college, I moved laterally into the newspaper business at about fifty dollars a week.”

Fans of “Old Scratchy Records” can thank a West Coast tobacco company sales manager for leading Nolan Porterfield to some of the types of music he plays on his show. While Porterfield was still in high school, he became involved in a correspondence club where members communicated with each other through homemade audio tapes rather than mailing traditional written messages. Through involvement in Tape Respondents International, Nolan met Al Lindbergh.

Al was in his forties and before becoming involved with the tobacco company in California had previously worked as a musician, a radio announcer, and other show business jobs in the Chicago area. Lindbergh’s show biz connections, his musical knowledge, and the fact he had access to a large music collection influenced the tapes that he mailed to young Nolan. The two men traded tapes regularly for about 35 years until Al passed away in 1988.

“Al really opened up the world for a fuzzy-headed Texas country boy.” Porterfield reminisced in the 2002 interview. “We probably met fewer than ten times over the years but he became something of a surrogate father to me. He was an immense influence and source of all sorts of knowledge. I certainly wouldn’t be doing ‘Old Scratchy Records’ had it not been for Al.”

After his brief stint in college and working for a newspaper, Porterfield was drafted into the Army and stationed in Chicago. While there, he also worked part-time for the Tribune Company and radio station WLS. He had access to audio equipment and music through both the job and his military assignment, so Nolan used it to keep in touch with Al and some of his other TPI friends.

After leaving the Army, Porterfield went back into media and worked in the newspaper advertising business for a few years in several Southwest U.S. towns. Eventually, he went back to college, earned his M.A. and PhD, and wound up teaching American Literature and creative writing at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri from 1964 to 1995.

“I enjoyed teaching and loved the students. But toward the end, it was becoming a bureaucratic paper pushing job, so I was glad to retire.” Porterfield said. “I was planning on relaxing for about a half year after retirement and then get back to doing something. I’m still waiting on that six months! I’ve been pretty busy since I ‘stopped working’. I guess I’m now self-employed.”

In addition to teaching students to write, Porterfield is himself an accomplished writer. He is the author of five books, including the acclaimed biography of the ‘father of country music’, “Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America’s Blue Yodeler”. He also wrote “Last Cavalier: The Life and Times of John A. Lomax” which tells the story of pioneer folksong collector John Lomax. Porterfield also has written and published many short stories and wrote a novel set in West Texas after World War II entitled, “A Way of Knowing”. It’s a book that Porterfield jokes that only about six copies were ever sold and five of those were bought by his mother.

Toward the end of his teaching career in Missouri, his wife, Erika Brady, landed a job at Western Kentucky University so he moved to Bowling Green with her after he retired. In addition to teaching in the WKU Folk Studies department, Brady is also known to area radio listeners as the host of another popular WKYU show, Barren River Breakdown.

Even though they live in the same house, the hosts of Barren River Breakdown and Old Scratchy Records maintain distinct personalities for each of their shows. “We each kind of do our own thing with the shows. I’ll sometimes ask her for ideas for a show theme or she’ll ask me what I think of some bluegrass song. But I’m still trying to get her to play more Western Swing since I’m from Texas. You know Bob Wills is still the king!” Porterfield laughed.

Porterfield is bolstered by emails and letters he gets from Old Scratchy Records fans. He also gets to hear direct feedback from his listeners when he does the show during fund drives at WKYU. Listners are appreciative of the unique show. Porterfield tells the story of one man whose young son loves listening to the show each week. And that seems to be happening across the listening area, as the appreciation of the older music is passed to a new generation of fans.

“We used to joke that the show might end because the listener base would die off!” Porterfield laughed. “But people keep tuning in. Older people listen because they enjoying hearing music they heard long ago and had forgotten. But I think younger people get drawn in by the novelty and variety of music that they may never have known existed.”

WKYU station manager Peter Bryant agrees. “It’s a positive audience draw. Older listeners enjoy the show, but some of the younger listeners are hearing this music for the first time in their life. It’s new music to them. And while the show is about the music, a big part of the show is Nolan. Anybody who spends 10 minutes with Nolan understands immediately that he is the real thing. He is passionate about the records, the technology that went into recording them, and the preservation of them today. It’s much more than just some DJ playing a record. For Nolan, it really is a labor of love.”

Chris Houchens is the Online Director of the Daily News and the Amplifier. You can read his marketing blog at www.ShotgunConcepts.com and find out more about his writing and speaking at www.ChrisHouchens.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/shotgunconcepts.