Funky Friday 25th Anniversary Dance Party in Ardmore

It’s the 25th Anniversary of Funky Friday on WXPN and we’re celebrating by taking the show on the road!

Funkmaster David Dye will be your host on this whirlwind tour, making stops in three locations including Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore PA. Put on your dancing shoes and enjoy Friday a day early as we get Funky in Ardmore on Thursday, November 1.

The Dance Party is FREE, but RSVP is required.

Can't wait to get funky? Enjoy this “Funk Essentials” Spotify playlist featuring David Dye's picks to get the party started!

Related events:

• Funky Friday Dance Party and Live Broadcast in Lancaster on 11/2
• Funky Friday Dance Party in Easton on 11/3

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Since mid-1995, Dye has hosted Funky Friday, which was launched on a hot Friday afternoon in August 1993 by then-WXPN DJ Elise Brown. As the show grew in popularity, it has expanded in length, and can now be heard every Friday from 4 pm to 7 pm.

Dye, who hosted WXPN’s nationally-syndicated music program World Cafe from 1992 to 2017, was already widely known as “Mr. Friday Night” from hosting The Friday Flashback for more than a decade on Philly radio station WIOQ-FM before he joined WXPN. That show evolved into a weekly, live radio broadcast from West Philadelphia nightclub the Chestnut Cabaret, featuring Dye spinning rhythmic music. “So I feel like I understand listeners’ Friday night mindset pretty well by now,” he laughed.

For Funky Friday, Dye is liable to spin anything funky from the 1950s to brand new funk, but music from the predominantly funky 1970s is always well-represented (and requested). Dye creates special features for the show’s 6 pm hour, such as artist blocks, funk songs from specific years, and themes such as “brothers and sisters” (Sister Sledge and the Neville Brothers, for example). About 20 percent of Funky Friday’s content is listener requests.

When asked about the show’s enduring popularity with WXPN members and listeners, Dye takes little credit. “Funk is the ultimate party music because it’s so upbeat,” he said. “It’s about having fun, so it’s perfect for the transition from the work week into the weekend, and it gets everybody happy and moving. It's impossible not to dance, even in your car seat or in front of the stove. Over the years I have received many videos of kids and their parents funkin' out."

As part of the show’s 25th anniversary celebration, Dye has provided this “Top Five” list of funk songs that are guaranteed to get the party started:

1. James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
2. Aretha Franklin - Rock Steady
3. Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
4. Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
5. The Isley Brothers - It’s Your Thing (or Fight the Power in non-broadcast settings, due to language)