The Folk Sampler is a nationally syndicated public radio (NPR)

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 show, that showcases folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, & bluegrass music

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 both modern and old.

Since 1978, the host Mike Flynn

Mike Flynn (NPR radio host)

Mike Flynn is a radio DJ, who is the producer and host of The Folk Sampler, a syndicated radio program of folk music.Flynn grew up in sparsely populated rural Kansas....

 has been broadcasting his show from the foothills of the Ozarks. It was in 1982 that The Folk Sampler became syndicated by public radio. Each weeks show has a theme which all songs featured fit into either by release date or actual song theme. After selecting a theme for a show Mr Flynn has to work though over 6,000 record albums, 3,000 compact discs, and 2,000 cassettes. It's reported that he spends 15–20 hours a week preparing each show.