David Dye to leave ‘World Cafe’ host chair next spring

David Dye, host of the nationally syndicated World Cafe music show since 1991, will step down as host next year, producing station WXPN announced Monday.

Dye, who has hosted World Cafe since its 1991 debut, will move into a part-time role at WXPN starting April 1, 2017. He will continue to contribute to World Cafe, host another weekly show and develop a new local music show for weekends.

The decision to make the transition was “very much” Dye’s choice, he told Current in an email. He said he’s been contemplating a move for six months.

The show’s 25th anniversary “seems like the perfect juncture to get off the treadmill of daily radio and see what is next,” Dye said in a press release.

“It’s impossible to measure the impact that David Dye has had on artists and audiences with World Cafe,” said Roger LaMay, WXPN g.m., in the release. “The show’s tremendous success and high acclaim is due mainly to his efforts. We look forward to honoring him with some one-of-a-kind musical tributes and by making sure that his program has a long future of national musical discovery.”

More than 200 stations carry World Cafe, a mix of interviews with musicians and live performances covering a variety of genres. The daily two-hour program is distributed by NPR.

WXPN will celebrate Dye and the show’s 25th anniversary in March with concerts at World Cafe Live, the station’s live music venue in Philadelphia.

WXPN won’t pick Dye’s replacement until February, according to LaMay. The station recently hired Talia Schlanger, formerly host of CBC Radio 2’s Weekend Morning and a guest host on q, as a contributing host and producer of World Cafe. Schlanger will be “a big part of whatever direction we go in,” LaMay said.

Before Dye announced his plans to step back, the station moved to reinvest in the show with the opening of a World Cafe bureau in Nashville. WXPN will also hire an additional producer for the show.

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