We will get a history lesson on today's KDHL AM Minnesota program when Gary Anderson and Roger Buddy Koopman join us to talk about the Big Band era.

The Paradise Center for the Arts has the Buddy Koopman Orchestra performing at their January Thaw fundraiser this weekend in downtown Faribault.

Roger Buddy Koopman of Faribault started the band in 1948, the same year KDHL went on the air. Buddy was still in high school and there were a number of bands in the area in those early years. Slowly they all faded away and the Buddy Koopman group played regularly for nearly 60 years until age caught up with some of the key members.

Gary Anderson began playing in the band when he was 13 in 1963, and when Buddy asked him to take over the group he jumped at the chance. Anderson will tell the story much better than I could because I was not there.

Anderson says there is a new generation of fans that love this music and enjoy swing dancing.

Saturday's January Thaw concert is at 7:30PM at the Paradise Center for the Arts and tickets are $20 for nonmembers, $15 for members and $10 for students.

If you can't listen at 9:30AM and want to hear about the golden age of radio, which coincided with this time in our history, go to www.youtube.com/user/KDHLRadio.

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Buddy Koopman's Orchestra
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