The Medicine Ball Caravan is an hour-long weekday morning music program on KRVS

KRVS

KRVS is a radio station broadcasting a World Ethnic format. Licensed to Lafayette, Louisiana; it is currently owned by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and features programing from American Public Media, National Public Radio and Public Radio International.Programming covers various types...

 88.7FM in Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette, Louisiana

Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...

. Airing every Monday through Thursday mornings at 11 am (CST) with repeat broadcasts each following morning at 2 am. Produced and hosted by the station's Music Director

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

, Cecil Doyle, the show features a wide array of musical styles that feature not only local Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 sounds but also classic and contemporary recordings with occasional live in-studio interviews and performances.

Development

The show came about in 1997 after the departure of former station managing director, Lisa Richardson. Cecil was hosting both a World Music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

 and Reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 program and offered to cover Richardson's duties until a replacement could be appointed. At the time, richardson was hosting a Wednesday morning singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 hour called The Hungry Ear. Richardson wanted to retain her show's namesake, but Doyle considered other titles. Figuring that his eclectic mix recalled some sort of musical medicine show

Medicine show

Medicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled "miracle cure" medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were common in the 19th century United States...

, he considered naming it simply, The Medicine Show. This title was already i use by annual broadcasts of concerts dedicated to the formation of a traditional music

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....

 chair for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...

 in the name of the late Dr. Tommy Comeaux. Wanting something with a similar feel, Doyle remembered the obscure 1971 musical documentary, Medicine Ball Caravan, which featured a California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 bus tour of acts that ranged from Doug Kershaw

Doug Kershaw

Doug Kershaw, born January 24, 1936, is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1949, Kershaw has recorded fifteen albums and charted on the Hot Country Songs charts.- Early life :...

 to Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...

. Figuring this represented the musical range of the program, he adopted the name.

Programing

Medicine Ball Caravan soon became a weekday morning follow-up to the station's syndicated airings of David Dye's World Cafe

World Cafe

World Cafe is a two-hour long, nationally syndicated music radio program that originates from WXPN, a non-commercial station licensed to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The program began in 1991 and was originally distributed by Public Radio...

. The program tends to feature new independent releases linked with classic tracks to show the newer tune's influences, intended or not. Live in-studio guests through the years have included Zachary Richard

Zachary Richard

Zachary Richard is a Cajun singer/songwriter and poet. His music is an innovative combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles.-Biography:...

, Henry Butler

Henry Butler

Henry Butler is an American jazz pianist.He is known for his technique and his ability to play in many styles of music. Referred to by Dr...

, Tracy Bonham

Tracy Bonham

Tracy Bonham is an American alternative rock musician best known for her 1996 single "Mother Mother".Raised in Eugene, Oregon, Bonham is a classically-trained violinist and pianist...

, Citizen Cope

Citizen Cope

Clarence Greenwood is an American songwriter and producer. His eclectic mix of blues, laid-back rock, soul, and folk has a large and profoundly dedicated following, built over the past decade of touring due to solid word of mouth....

, Micheal Doucet, C. C. Adcock

C. C. Adcock

C. C. Adcock is a rock and roll musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound, and for his efforts to preserve and promote swamp pop music...

, Dirk Powell, Red Stick Ramblers

Red Stick Ramblers

The Red Stick Ramblers are a Cajun Music and Western Swing band who formed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana while the members were attending Louisiana State University. Their name comes from a translation of Baton Rouge, which means "red stick" in French...

, Lost Bayou Ramblers

Lost Bayou Ramblers

The Lost Bayou Ramblers are a Grammy-nominated Cajun music band from Pilette, Louisiana.-Career:The Lost Bayou Ramblers were formed in 1999 by Louis Michot and his brother Andre Michot...

, Scott Ainslie, Scott H. Biram

Scott H. Biram

Scott H. Biram, aka Scott Biram, SHB, Hiram Biram, or The Dirty Old One Man Band is an American blues, punk and country music musician, based in Austin, Texas.-Biography:...

, Wayfaring Strangers, Sonny Landreth

Sonny Landreth

Sonny Landreth is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, but soon after, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana...

, Guy Forsyth, Gina Forsyth, Rachael Sage

Rachael Sage

Rachael Sage is an American singer-songwriter and producer.She has shared stages with Sarah McLachlan, Judy Collins, Marc Cohn, The Animals and Ani DiFranco, and was named one of the Top 100 Independent Artists Of The Past 15 Years by Performing Songwriter magazine...

, Dayna Kurtz

Dayna Kurtz

Dayna Kurtz is an American singer/songwriter from New Jersey. Her music is described as a blend of Jazz, Folk and Pop. Critic James Reed of the Boston Globe wrote in a review of Beautiful Yesterday that "there's no logical reason why singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz is not a full-blown...

 and The Malvinas.