A list of the things that have changed in the South Florida music scene since the Reagan administration’s first presidential term constitutes a scroll, with practically all being for the worse.
Yet something that hasn’t changed during that time frame is WLRN (www.wlrn.org) deejay Michael Stock’s Folk & Acoustic Music radio program, which streams and airs Sundays from 3-5 p.m. on 91.3 and 91.5 FM from Palm Beach County south to the Florida Keys.
The 68-year-old host started the show at WLRN in late 1981 and has since turned it into must-hear material for much of South Florida, particularly fans of acoustic music spanning folk, blues, country, bluegrass, gospel, world, protest music and beyond.
All of which led up to Stock’s induction into the Folk Alliance International’s Folk Radio Hall of Fame in November.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Stock says by phone from his home in Miami Shores. “It was a very nice surprise. They let me know in October, but said not to tell anyone until they announced it in mid-November.”
Folk & Acoustic Music features an hour of Stock spinning recorded tracks that he accurately says “you won’t hear anywhere else,” plus an hour of live performances by both touring acts and area artists from the WLRN studio. It’s a purposeful antidote to most radio programming, local and otherwise. You won’t hear autotuned vocals, sampling, synthesizers, drum machines, or any other predictable pop fodder.
South Florida has been consistently represented on Stock’s show in live appearances by the likes of Joel Zoss, Mel & Vinnie, Grant Livingston, Raiford Starke, Matt Sabatella, Pink Slip, Steve Minotti and more. But perhaps no one has appeared more often than singer, guitarist, harmonica player and songwriter Rod MacDonald.
The Delray Beach resident, who has more than a dozen album releases, was a major figure in the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York City through the 1980s and into the 1990s before he relocated to South Florida.
“Rod has an open invitation to appear on the show anytime he wants,” Stock says. “He’s an amazing songwriter.”
“I think I first appeared on ‘Folk & Acoustic Music’ when I was in South Florida around 1982,” MacDonald says. “I’ve tried not to abuse his open-door policy since I moved down here, so it’s become about twice a year since then. Which means I’ve probably appeared more than 60 times. And I was one of what were obviously many people who voted for his induction into the Folk Radio Hall of Fame.”
Recent budget cuts by federal and state government have made life purposely difficult for WLRN and all public broadcasting, and the station has had to rely even more on donations from subscribers and fans of its largely news-based format. Folk & Acoustic Music’s hours were even trimmed from 2-5 p.m. to 3-5 p.m. in early 2025.
“I’m not sure exactly why that happened,” Stock says. “I just have to look at it as making the show easier to present, even if it’s upsetting to not be able to provide artists with as much exposure. I’m supposed to be unbiased with my opinions on the air, but thankfully they don’t censor me at all when it comes to the music I play. They never have. And my guests are allowed to express their opinions, which they often do.”
Stock has pre-recorded programming, a rarity, to air while he’s in the Big Easy to attend the annual conference of the Folk Alliance International. That event takes place at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel from Jan. 21-25.
Before starting his radio show 44 years ago, Stock became a concert promoter in the 1970s in order to give folk music more of a live presence in South Florida, even opening a folk music nightclub called the Deco Gecko at the Shelborne Hotel in Miami Beach, his birthplace. Influenced by Bob Dylan, like many, Stock even tried becoming a folk singer, songwriter, guitarist and banjo player before turning toward other musical pursuits.
So the native Floridian might’ve had a different career trajectory through proximity if not for a decision made by his parents.
“They decided to come from Brooklyn to Miami Beach for their honeymoon and they never went back,” says Stock. “I got turned on to Dylan around 1974, and might’ve been the only fan of his at Miami Beach High School. I had this dream of going to New York City and emulating what he did. But so did a lot of people.”
Still, Stock’s recent induction into the Folk Radio Hall of Fame proves that, while he never became Dylan, he’s far from a complete unknown.