Darel Snodgrass
Classical Music HostI began piano lessons at age 6, trumpet at age 9, and began teaching myself the guitar at 10. My electronics knowledge comes from my father, who had the RCA television and stereo shop in my hometown of Pocahontas, Arkansas for nearly 20 years. My dad is still fixing televisions at age 79.
I attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville as a music major, and worked weekend shifts at the U of A radio station (my first experience playing classical music on the radio). I spent a summer playing piano, guitar and bass at the defunct “L'il Abner”- based theme park Dogpatch USA, near Harrison, Arkansas. After a few years playing music professionally, I finished a BS degree in Radio/TV production at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
After another few years playing music in the Ozarks, I moved to Memphis with my wife. I’ve served as Operations Manager of WKNO-FM since 1988, and morning Classical Music host since 1994 – conducting more than 4,500 Checking on the Arts interviews along the way.
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The acclaimed Tony Award®-winning musical "SUFFS," about the brilliant, passionate, and funny American women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote, is coming to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Memphis for four performances only.
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The event was broadcast live on WKNO-FM at 10 am on July 4th.
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The 2026–2027 season marks the 75th season of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO), beginning with Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony and Mason Bates' Cello Concerto on Saturday, September 19, and Sunday, September 20, and concluding with the Grieg Piano Concerto and Dvořák's 7th Symphony on Sunday, May 22, and Sunday, May 23.
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Memphis' independent, ever-evolving musical collective, Freeworld, will be performing at the Overton Park Shell on Friday, June 26, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
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Dixon Gallery & Gardens curator Julie Pierotti discusses "Café Society: Art and Sociability in Paris, 1855–1914," an exhibition exploring the cafés that shaped artistic and social life in Belle Époque Paris.
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The Green Room at Crosstown Concourse continues its highly eclectic concert series with guitarist Marisa Anderson, whom The New Yorker calls "one of the most distinctive guitar players of her generation" and whom NPR refers to as "this era's most powerful players."
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Bassist Curtis Lundy discusses the enduring influence of jazz legend Ray Brown ahead of a centennial tribute concert in Jackson, Tennessee.
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Patricia Gray and Sabrina Laney Warren discuss the 20th annual "Belvedere Chamber Music Festival," celebrating two decades of chamber music with performances by emerging composers and musicians.
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Artist Debbie Likley Pacheco discusses her exhibition "Living in Layers," featuring works that blend digital photography, image manipulation, painting, and wax, to be on view at Dixon Gallery and Gardens.
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The North Mississippi Allstars are coming to the Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) on Saturday, July 18.